This article originally appeared on a new site about the Christian renaissance in Russia, called Russian Faith. Their introductory video is at end of this article.

Since Russia has so swiftly become the world’s official bulwark of conservative values, it is quite surprising that it has systematically lagged behind in one obvious realm: Homeschooling.

For most Russians, homeschooling has always been enveloped in a fantastical aura, something associated mainly with special needs and/or with Amish-like Protestant groups in America.

But lately, as more Russian Christian families gain a voice, energized by growing state supports and society’s intensifying religiosity, the demand for alternatives to the official public school system, corrupted by materialism and Darwinism during the Soviet Regime and, now, by liberal values, has grown more popular and apparent.

A new film by Alexey Komov about the disastrous consequences of Soros-funded educational reform in 1990s Russia based on the American model, the problems in American school systems, and how home-schooling presents a solution to the crisis. A Russian version of the film can be found here, with full transcript (in Russian).

More and more Russian parents are frightened and reluctant to hand over their child’s education into the hands of strangers, realizing, that in doing so, they are also relinquishing the moral upbringing of their own child, and allowing them to become inculcated with morals and values that may be completely foreign.

This is where Alexey Komov and Irina Shamolina, the pioneers of homeschooling in Russia, come in. The Russian couple, passionate about education, homeschools their three sons. Irina leads a popular blog about education and Alexey is the representative the World Congress of Families in Russia. Both have been fascinated by, and intensely studying, homeschooling since 2012.  With time, they came to the conviction that homeschooling options were urgently needed in Russia.

They traveled regularly to the US, which has the most developed homeschooling systems in the world, trying to learn about and experience the lively Christian homeschooling scene of the country.

They finally settled upon the Classical Conversations, a Christian homeschooling organization, started in the 1990s by Leigh Bortins in North Carolina. The model creates communities of homeschooling Christian families that meet weekly and aims to teach children in a classical manner. It is based on educational theories gleaned from Ancient Greece and the Trivium concept of the Middle Ages.

Thus, the child is homeschooled for most of the week, and the parents nurture and teach their own child within their intimate family circle. However, this system also addresses the need of the child…and the often ignored need of the parents…for socialization and community with like-minded people with weekly meetings. These also always begin with prayer and provide children with skills that parents may not be able to develop in children on their own.

Aleksey Komov and Irina Shamolina adopted the existing Christian homeschool curriculum and translated the resources. They also worked to adapt the program to a Russian Orthodox perspective, making it relevant to Russian culture and reality.

They found American supporters, and along with other Russian enthusiasts, helped them create an utterly beautiful website.

The program launched this fall, is 27 cities and 370 kids strong – in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It has met with unexpected, lively interest and seems to be turning into a movement among Russian Christians.

Importantly, Classical Conversations in Russia also immediately received wildly enthusiastic support from one of the most famous priests in Russia, Fr. Dmitry Smirnov.  Fr. Dmitry is incredibly popular and has a huge audience, perhaps bigger than that of any other religious figure in Russia. He is also the head the of the Russian Church’s Department for Family.

Public education happens to be Fr. Dmitry’s pet peeves and he advocates homeschooling in many of his sermons. He is convinced that school corrupts the child’s mind, and is a highly artificial, unnatural, and destructive environment for growing children. He insists that the ideal environment for the child is the home, full of siblings and lots of love and faith.

Fr. Dmitry devoted one of his interviews on his highly popular blog to Classical Conversations, interviewing the American founders, as well as the Russian founders. Naturally, as a result, many members of his fan base decided to try out homeschooling.

The movement is gathering more power with every month.

According to the founders of Classical Conversations: ‘Firstly and foremost we are a community of families.’ In other words, the idea is that the family units, working together, provide emotional and spiritual support for each other in their lives and service to God.

This stance echoes with modern Russia’s preoccupation with strengthening and rebuilding family units; both to counter a population slump and to lead lives most fitting to the morals of a Christian society.

The idea of community, too, is especially appealing to the Russian traditionalist, since Russian culture and religion greatly values ‘community,’ often even over the sacred Western value of ‘individualism.’

The families meet for group classes every week. Each meeting begins with prayer and parents are required to come, simply because Classical Conversations model creates a really wonderful support system not simply for children, but for parents as well.

Parents involved in Classical Conversations are also given opportunities to attend free, three-day workshops, that aim to help them become better teachers of their own children, building them up on the more difficult subjects and giving them practical strategies.

The philosophy of Classical Conversations stresses family education as a system where God is at the center of the family and the community.

The Classical Education model breaks down schooling into 3 major phases.

• The first one, called ‘Grammar’ refers to teaching students skills for learning and retain information (knowledge).
• The second stage, Dialectics, refers to analyzing information and transferring skills between subjects (understanding)
• the third, most sophisticated one, refers to using, presenting and sharing knowledge with others as well as serving Truth over oneself (wisdom).

Much emphasis is put on presentation skills throughout the entire curriculum, as sharing knowledge and learning to present information well is considered to be key in one’s education.

All in all, homeschooling has found itself a new home. And it has all the potential to thrive in contemporary Russia, which may offer the most fertile ground in the world today for a system that supports Christianity, community, and family.

Source: Christian Homeschooling Becoming Popular in Russia…Finally

We all know how smoking can damage health. In the short term the act makes one smell terrible, feel sick, and just generally make life difficult. It’s hard to quit smoking–ask anyone who’s been down that road. Sometimes it can feel like quitting the habit is nearly impossible. The keys to quitting smoking are twofold: have a plan and have a goal. First, you’ve got to set a date to quit. On this day, no more smokes–for good. The second step is to set a goal that smoking prevented you from reaching. The third and final step is to realize that goal. With a bit of willpower and help from nicotine replacement devices you’ll be able to quit smoking for good.

First things first–set the date to quit. Setting a date helps your brain to get in the mindset of being a non-smoker. During this time, take note of when you smoke. Maybe it’s in the car; maybe you have a cigarette after a meal. Your smoking habit should be completely terminated once the quit date arrives. Get rid of lighters, ashtrays, and, of course, those pesky cigarettes. Your health is the most important asset you’ve got.

The act of smoking is tough to give up for sure, but what’s even harder is the nicotine rush. We all know how it is–smokers jonesing for a cigarette can get a bit moody. It’s not the fault of the person; it’s merely his or her brain looking for a fix. To combat the annoyance of nicotine cravings, it’s necessary to have a replacement. Don’t be ashamed at tapering down from nicotine. Any chemical addiction will take a while to withdraw from. While gums and patches do the trick, vaping takes away more than just the cravings.

Premium vaporizers have exploded in popularity over the past few years–for good reason!! The vape community is welcoming and knowledgeable. Anyone who’s looking to move on from traditional cigarettes should shop for vaporizers online. From cheap starter options to more advanced rigs, you can find what you’re after.  You can then customize your own style of vape fluid with almost any flavor imaginable.

Once you’ve quit smoking and are back in full health it’s time to get active. Consider joining a local sports club–something like a softball team or soccer meetup. Smokers have never been known for their athletic ability, but once you’ve ceased smoking, you’ll be in the best shape of your life. It’s really easy to get started; just check out the scene online. You can shop for athletic equipment or read slowpitch softball bat reviews. Either way, once you’re geared up, it’s game on!

For the sake of your own health and for the benefits of others, quit smoking. The process might seem like a gargantuan task, but you don’t want to look back on your life wishing you could’ve quit sooner. When you smoke, you’re not only jeopardizing your health–you’re harming others as well. Quitting any habit is difficult and uncomfortable, and smoking is no different. To succeed in beating your addiction, you’ve got to try your best everyday.

by Catherine Morris –

Millennials care deeply about education, but perceptions of its impact and how to resolve some of the challenges facing higher education vary across racial and ethnic lines.

A GenForward survey found that millennials are split on the fundamental issue of what the main goal of a public school education should be. Nearly four out of 10 millennials believe that the main goal of education should be academic preparation, and just under three in 10 believe it should prepare students to be good citizens. The remainder believe that the purpose of education should be workforce preparation.

“The findings challenge a fair amount of existing preconceived notions about millennial viewpoints on race and education and the notion that millennials are a monolithic group,” said Dakarai Aarons, vice president of strategic communications for the Data Quality Campaign.

Millennials are divided on whether college is a necessary pathway to success. The majority of Latino and Asian Americans millennials believe that college is necessary to succeed, while more White and Black millennials are likely to say that college is one of many pathways to success.

“This is not to say that they don’t believe in college or the importance of higher education, it’s just that they are more likely to say there are alternative ways of achieving success in society,” said Dr. Vladimir E. Medenica, postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago.

More than 80 percent of millennials say that they support the concept of free college tuition. While Black, Asian American and Latino millennials were more or less unified in their support for free college, fewer white millennials were. Only 73 percent White millennials said they supported free college, compared to 85 percent of millennials of color.

Millennials hold differing views on college access and affordability. Only a small fraction — approximately one in 10 — say that college is affordable and that everyone who wishes to go, can. They majority, or 63 percent across all racial lines, believe that college should be affordable to all provided that students are willing and able to take out loans and work part-time to fund their education. About a quarter believe that only the wealthy can afford to attend college.

In addition to college costs, freedom of expression at schools has been a point of contention in recent years, with protests erupting around the appearance of controversial speakers.

In general, millennials are supportive of limiting the expression of political views that are considered upsetting or offensive to certain groups on college campuses. Nearly half of Latino, Asian American, and White millennials were in favor of limiting freedom of expression on college campuses in extreme cases. Just over a third of Black millennials agreed.

Similarly, those who said that such speech should not be limited at all were again more or less unified by race, with one exception. Approximately a quarter of all Asian American, Black and Latino millennials said that it should not be limited, compared to the 38 percent of White respondents who said that it should not be limited.

According to its website, the GenForward Survey is a product of the GenForward Project at the University of Chicago, and is “the first of its kind—a nationally representative survey of over 1750 young adults ages 18-34 conducted bi-monthly that pays special attention to how race and ethnicity shape how respondents experience and think about the world.”

Source: Survey: Millennials Divided Over Goal of Public School Education – Higher Education

By Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene –

Source: Are Your Schools Tracking Absenteeism the Right Way?