Recent Posts
How I Manage Deadlines: 5 Ways to Keep Projects on Track
In college, I never pulled an all-nighter and often turned assignments in early. Here's how I did it—and how you can get better at managing projects, reduce stress, and never pull an all-nighter again.
Our Children's Future: Eight Current Trends in America to Prepare For
What will the world be like in two decades? I analyze current trends in America and discuss how I can prepare now to help my children flourish.
Gardening, Year 2: What I Improved and How I Planned, Planted, and Harvested My 200-square-foot Garden
Could I replicate year 1's magnificant tomato harvest? Here's what I planned, how it went, and what I learned.
Five Ways to Invest Wealth and Keep Value During Uncertainty
The economy will crash eventually. To keep my wealth, should I trust the dollar, the stock market, commodities, real estate, or local businesses?
Gardening, Year 1: How I Planned, Planted, and Harvested a 200-square-foot Garden and What I Learned
I used the square foot gardening method to grow flowers, herbs, and tomatoes. I was most excited about tomatoes. If I grew some, the garden would be a success!
Planning for Success: How Effort Makes Good Luck More Likely
Don't wait for success to happen to you. Make your own good luck—put in the elbow grease to make success more likely!
Building Raised Garden Beds in Our Backyard
Our first home improvement project was to create a 200+ sqft garden in our backyard. Here's how we built our raised wooden garden beds!
How to Practice Self-Denial—and What You'll Gain By Doing So
Human desires are insatiable. But if we do the counterintuitive—practice self-denial instead of giving in to those desires—we build virtue, gain freedom, and step closer to the eternal.
Book review: Homeschooling with Gentleness: A Catholic Discovers Unschooling by Suzie Andres
This book discusses questions such as: Is moral education separate from academic education? What are common objections to Catholic unschooling?
Forming Good Habits and Breaking Bad Habits: Aristotle's 4 Levels of Virtue
Virtues are good habits. Vices are bad habits. We can learn from Aristotle's four ascending categories from vice to virtue when struggling to become better people.
The Best Reason to Have Children
It amazes me that strangers feel comfortable saying to parents 'You sure have your hands full!' 'Why so many kids?' 'Are you expecting another one?' Uh ... it's okay to want and love children!
Recovering Beauty in Modern Life
Beauty is vital to humans, but there's a breakdown of beauty in present culture—in architecture, art, music, more. Why? How can we recover and cultivate beauty?
Why Outdoor Time Is Important For Kids
We spent a lot of time outdoors. Being in nature makes everyone happier—and allows our kids to have more freedom and independence.
The Power of Waking Up Early: 9 Tips for Becoming an Early Riser
I default to being a night owl, but rising early enables me to do more and be better. Here's how I switched my mornings from lazy to productive.
Book Review: Forest Therapy by Sarah Ivens
A book filled with suggestions for seasonal ways to embrace nature, ideas for incorporating the outdoors into daily life, and research on how being outdoors improves well-being.
Book Review: Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher: A Manual for Christian Dissidents
This book argues that communist totalitarianism is coming to America, soon, and we have to prepare now if we're going to survive. But Dreher isn't nearly worried enough.
How to Afford Homeschooling and Other Alternative Education For Kids on a Budget
Want to get your kids out of public schools, but afraid of the costs? Here are some tips on how to afford your kids' educational journey.
Book Review: The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation
This book presents a strategy for Christians living in a post-Christian nation: namely, that we've lost the culture war and need to focus on preserving the light.
Dialogue Takes Two: Why Sharing Ideas Matters
Friends have shut down conversations because they disagreed with me. But dialogue is important—for finding common ground, truth, understanding—and it's only possible if everyone in the conversation is willing to talk.
Only a Parent Can Understand Love
I thought I knew what love was. Then I had a son and it changed everything. I felt love for the first time, and it was that day that I really grew up and became a man.
The Nebulosity of Categories and Where the Usefulness of Personal Labels Ends
My identity is multifaceted. Unlike Randy, whose primary label is 'trad Catholic', I don't hold one aspect of myself up as the core. Why not? Flexibility, and room for dialogue and change.
How We Live Debt-Free in a World of Chronic Debt
Debt is ingrained in the modern economy, but it’s not the best way to manage money or build wealth. We live debt-free, paid cash for a house, and can maintain our freedom on $20k/yr. How? Read on.
America Needs Strong Towns and Community, Not More Infrastructure
How do we build prosperity? The key is in little actions that have big payouts—because human cities are complex systems that learn and adapt, not complicated machines we can fix.
How We Are Intentionally Building Strong Community Ties
Before moving to Idaho, I'd never been part of a strong community. Now, my friends are people I can truly rely on—which is how it's supposed to be! Why is strong community so rare? And how can you build your own?