Certain things in life seem common to all men.  The physical things are the most obvious: we all need to eat and to sleep, and we all need shelter.  But on perhaps even more important levels of psychology, emotion, and spirituality, we need peace, love, truth, and consolation.  On one of the most basic levels of humanity, we need someone to put his or her hand on our shoulder and comfort us…

When I was growing up, my homeschool materials were essentially limited to the books that we could obtain. If I were really lucky, I might be able to get a poorly-produced educational video or cassette tape. That was about it. In striking contrast, we homeschooling parents now have a plethora of academic riches, and as the technological advances continue, the argument to homeschool only becomes stronger. The opportunities increase daily, and I wanted to just share a few of the resources that we have been using lately. I plan on writing about some of these over the next year both in print and online, but I wanted to start by encouraging homeschooling parents to purchase an essential homeschooling tool: an Ipad…

Thanks to some good friends generously giving us tickets and inviting us to go along with them, Veronica and I recently went to see an NHL hockey game. I have four alpha-male boys, yet somehow it is my daughter Veronica, the possessor of impeccable cosmetology talents, who is the biggest hockey fan among my kids…

On March 19, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, the foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Joseph was chosen by God to be the foster father of the Incarnate Son of God. In our current culture, with the feminist movement still strong, the importance of fathers has been denigrated, disrespected, and questioned…

Men in our society are often criticized for being perpetual adolescents. Yeah, maybe– but it’s not all our fault. I recently did a little research into the medical facts about adolescence, and experts seem to agree that the major problems with male adolescence are things such as acne, the desire for junk food (which results in weight gain), difficulty relating to girls, and a desire for approval from peers (which manifests itself in the need for material things such as nice clothes or a flashy car)…

Some homeschooling parents believe that unless they can do a great job, then homeschooling is not for them. That must be a tremendous cross for these Moms and Dads to carry. Thankfully, it is one that I do not shoulder. If you are burdened by this “great-or-nothing” form of what I call academic scrupulosity, let me suggest something to you: stop trying to do a great job; do a good job instead…

A number of studies have confirmed that speaking in public is the biggest fear that Americans possess; in fact, the fear of public speaking surpasses the fear of death for many people. Perhaps the human condition is such that we all have fears that are inexplicable. For instance, I have been increasingly claustrophobic for many years. I don’t fly on planes; I don’t like closets; and I don’t go on elevators. This can sometimes be a real inconvenience; in fact, when my family recently rented a vacation spot with a penthouse on the 14th floor, I climbed the stairs. It even got to be sort of a game for my children. Lisa and the children would go up the elevator, and they would time me to see if I could beat my previous record of jogging up 14 flights…

Most of us probably don’t think about it much, but a father’s work can have a big impact on the lives of his children. I hadn’t thought about this much until last year; up until then, I had been a financial consultant for many years. I never fully realized how much that shaped me in the eyes of my children, but after a recent career change, it is finally dawning on me…

In the final days of August and the first days of September, thousands of parents proudly posted “First Day of School” pictures of their children on blogs and on their Facebook pages. These moms and dads were proud to show how their little ones were ready to begin academic life, with some of the girls clad in variants of multi-colored checkerboard dresses (which, for some reason, has never come to be known as “Catholic plaid”), and the boys in crisp white shirts and red ties (thereby making sartorial arguments for Catholic universality)…

Over the past several years, I have seen some of my friends divorce. When we see marriages fail, we might consider the occurrence an opportunity to work on our own…