The World and Everything in It — October 21, 2020

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Republicans are losing the battle for Senate control, if you believe polling data. We’ll check in on the handful of races that hold the key to the balance of power.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: That’s ahead on Washington Wednesday.

Also the latest international treaty has nothing to do with how nations interact here on Earth.

Plus, we’ll revisit a young woman in search of a diagnosis for the condition that’s kept her in a wheelchair since childhood.

And Janie B. Cheaney offers some pointers for parents new to homeschooling.

REICHARD: It’s Wednesday, October 21st. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Senate set to confirm Barrett on Monday as PPP funding bill fails » Senate Republicans tried to push a standalone bill to the Senate floor Tuesday to refuel the Paycheck Protection Program. But the effort fell short. Democrats shot it down in a procedural vote. 

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer charged that Republicans aren’t serious about passing real relief. 

SCHUMER: Leader McConnell is now using this week to hold show votes on coronavirus relief. 

Democrats say Senate GOP proposals don’t go nearly far enough. 

McConnell accused Democrats of playing politics with the small business relief program. The GOP bill aimed to deliver a quarter of a billion dollars in PPP funding.

Meantime, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still talking with the White House about a wide-ranging relief package in the $2 trillion range. The speaker walked back a Tuesday deadline she had set to reach a deal on a pre-election relief bill. 

Pelosi said both sides have made “good progress” in their talks and will meet again today. 

And if they do reach a deal, McConnell said the Senate stands ready…

MCCONNELL: Obviously, if that were to come over, we’d have to consider it and would consider it. 

But it’s unclear if he could muster enough conservative Senate votes to back another multi-trillion-dollar bill.

McConnell also told reporters yesterday that the Senate will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Monday. 

UK scientists to intentionally infect subjects to test vaccine » A group of scientists in the UK is preparing to launch a study that would intentionally infect nearly a hundred people with the coronavirus. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Imperial College London and a group of researchers are planning to infect 90 healthy young volunteers with the virus. 

This type of research, known as a human challenge study, is not common because some question the ethics of infecting otherwise healthy people. 

But the researchers say this technique could help them quickly identify the most effective vaccines to battle a disease that’s killed more than a million people. 

Pending approval from regulators, volunteers between 18 and 30 years old will participate in the study. 

The British government plans to invest at least $33 million in the research.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Justice Dept. files landmark antitrust case against Google » The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google. 

It alleges that the tech giant abused its online dominance to stifle competition.

The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. 

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen told reporters that “Google is the gateway to the internet.” He said “It has maintained its monopoly power through exclusionary practices that are harmful to competition.”

Google called the DOJ lawsuit “deeply flawed,” adding that “People use Google because they choose to—not because they’re forced to or because they can’t find alternatives.”

Supreme Court backs Pennsylvania ballot extension » The Supreme Court ruled this week that Pennsylvania can count mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day. WORLD’s Anna Johansen reports. 

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: The justices split 4-4 on the Republican effort to block the September ruling from the state’s top court. That ruling ordered officials to accept ballots as long as voters didn’t mail them after polls closed. Some 18 states have also set a post-Election Day deadline.

Republicans argued that violates a federal law that sets elections for a single day. They say the decision to alter it constitutionally rests with lawmakers and not the courts. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen. 

Senior UAE delegation visits Israel » A senior delegation from the United Arab Emirates visited Israel on Tuesday for the first time since the two countries agreed to normalize relations.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… 

NETANYAHU: We are making history in a way that will stand for generations. 

During meetings in Israel, the two sides signed what Netanyahu called “concrete, practical agreements.” 

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin accompanied Emirati officials on the flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv. He said the new ties create a foundation for economic growth and prosperity. 

MNUCHIN: With greater economic prosperity comes stronger security. Along with the United States, Israel and the UAE share a similar outlook regarding threats and opportunities in the region. 

Israel and the UAE announced in August they had agreed to normalize ties under a deal brokered by the Trump administration. Officials from the two countries signed accords on the White House lawn last month. 

Also this week, President Trump said the United States will remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. That is provided that Sudan follows through on its pledge to pay more than $300 million dollars to American terror victims and their families.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration works to get other Arab countries, like Sudan, to join the UAE and Bahrain in forming diplomatic ties with Israel.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the battle for Senate control.

Plus, Janie B. Cheaney with some tips for new homeschoolers.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN: It’s Wednesday the 21st of October, 2020. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. First up: the battle for the Senate.

BROWN: At the beginning of this year, Republicans seemed likely to keep their narrow Senate majority. But Democrats have steadily chipped away at seats that were once reliably red. The latest polling shows them poised to take control of both chambers of Congress.

REICHARD: If that happens, it will come down to just a few races. 

Well, it’s Washington Wednesday, and joining us now to talk about those races is Kyle Kondik. He’s a political analyst at the University of Virginia.

Good morning!

KYLE KONDIK, GUEST: Good morning.

REICHARD: Democrats are defending several seats that Republicans hope to pick up. Let’s begin there, starting with Alabama. How is Democrat Doug Jones doing in his bid to keep his seat against Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach?

KONDIK: Jones has looked like an underdog really the whole cycle in his bid to win a full term in the Senate. He, of course, won a special election against a very weak Republican opponent in late 2017, but I think if you look at all of the Senate seats across the country and I think Democrats overall are poised to make gains. But the single seat that’s probably likeliest to flip remains Alabama, which would be a Republican pick up.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about Michigan. John James is the Republican candidate there. Has he made any headway against Democratic Sen. Gary Peters?

KONDIK: Yeah, there are a lot of Democrats who are concerned about holding Michigan. It’s a state that flipped to Donald Trump very narrowly in 2016, but a lot of people seem to think that Biden is going to win the state. That’s what polling indicates and the Trump campaign in general seems pretty bearish about holding that state. And yet Gary Peters, the Democratic senator, he often polls behind Joe Biden in polling, although he’s generally still leading John James in that race. I think Peters is still favored in Michigan. We’re in an era where the presidential results and the senate results in a given state in a year are generally usually pretty similar. Peters may end up doing worse than Biden but so long as Biden carries the state by more than a point or two, Peters should still be OK but there’s a lot of money flowing into that state. And, obviously, Republicans aren’t playing offense in the senate in many places. Michigan is one state where they feel like they can play offensive and they’re doing so. There’s a lot of outside money coming in there. James has also done a good job of fundraising, keeping relative parity with Peters. In many other states the Democratic senate candidates have been vastly outraising the Republican candidates.

REICHARD: So those are two seats Republicans are hoping to take. Let’s turn now to the four seats Democrats want to flip. Starting with Colorado.

KONDIK: Yeah, Corey Gardner has been, I think, an underdog for much of the cycle against John Hickenlooper, the former Democratic governor of Colorado. Frankly, Gardner is probably a more talented candidate than Hickenlooper and is arguably running a better campaign, but Colorado is a state that has trended more Democratic over time. Donald Trump lost Colorado by about 5 points in 2016 and most people expect him to lose it by more in 2020. Gardner does not have the kind of built-in crossover appeal that maybe some Republican senators have had in the past. And so I think it’s just going to be hard for Gardner to generate the kind of crossover support he needs to win.

REICHARD: And in Maine, Senator Susan Collins is facing the fight of her political career. How is the GOP push to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court playing into that race?

KONDIK: One of the problems for Collins is that she long had a lot of bipartisan crossover appeal in Maine and so she’s had pretty easy reelections since her first election in 1996. But she, like so many other politicians, has become more of a nationalized figure and I think that that was sort of crystalized in the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation vote two falls ago. The increasing salience of the court as an issue probably reminds a lot of voters of maybe why they didn’t like Collins over Kavanaugh even though Collins has suggested that she didn’t think it was right for Amy Coney Barrett to be nominated and confirmed before the election. Collins has generally been behind in polls. One little wrinkle in Maine is that it uses a rank-choice voting system for a lot of races, including the Senate race. And so there are two other candidates running and so it’s pretty likely that Collins and the Democratic candidate Sarah Gideon, neither of them will get to 50 percent in all likelihood, so they’ll have to reallocate the votes of those who voted third party. Probably the more prominent third party candidate is more of a liberal candidate who has been telling her supporters to rank Gideon second. A lot of Republicans don’t really like the rank-choice voting system and perhaps won’t even use it, and so that’s another problem, to me, for Collins. And so I think Collins is an underdog at this point, although that race continues to be fluid.

REICHARD: OK, North Carolina now. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis also faces an uphill battle to keep his seat. How has the confirmation process affected that race?

KONDIK: I’d say I don’t think the confirmation process has really impacted North Carolina as much as a couple big news developments involving the candidates. Thom Tillis had a positive COVID test. Cal Cunningham, the Democratic candidate, has been caught up in a scandal in which it seems pretty clear that he had at least one extramarital affair. And Cunningham has continued to lead in that race, but I do wonder if by the time we get to the election, the weight of the scandal will drag down Cunningham. But we also may be in an era where a sex scandal maybe doesn’t mean quite as much. Also, North Carolina is a state where a lot of people have already voted. I think North Carolina is up to close to a third already of total votes cast from four years ago. So there’s already a significant chunk of the vote in in that state. Maybe you put a pinky on the scale for Cunningham, but I think that race is a toss-up.

REICHARD: And finally, Arizona. Republican Martha McSally remains pretty far behind Democrat Mark Kelly in just about every poll. Is the outcome in that race pretty well set?

KONDIK: Mark Kelly has been a favorite in that race for a long time. He generally performs a little bit better in polls than Joe Biden does in the state. But Biden is generally leading in Arizona, too. Arizona is a state that has long been kind of a pretty conservative Republican place but over time it has trended more Democratic and I think that’s been particularly true in the Trump era. McSally ended up losing a Senate race in 2018 to Democrat Kirsten Cinema. She got the appointment to the other seat following the death of longtime Senator John McCain. McSally has never been quite able to catch up to Kelly in that race. I think some of the polls that show and have shown Kelly up by double digits are probably overstating things, but Kelly has had a pretty consistent lead in Arizona. If Democrats don’t win Arizona for the Senate, that’s probably a broad indication that things are really going haywire for them on election night.

REICHARD: Any other races that might end in a surprise on Election Night?

KONDIK: Well, look, I think that you have to add Iowa to the list of really top tier Democrat targets at this point. It’s kind of similar to North Carolina in that Theresa Greenfield, a Democrat, has pretty consistently led Joni Ernst, a Republican, in a state that the president won by almost 10 points but seems guaranteed to be pretty significantly closer this time. And then there are a bunch of other red states or kind of purplish states with races. You’ve got two Senate elections in Georgia, Alaska, South Carolina, Montana, open seating in Kansas. Those are all seats that I think the Republicans probably will be able to hold, but maybe not. And if the Democrats are able to win one or more of those seats, it would be part of, probably, a larger kind of sweep on election night. The Republicans are holding the line in a lot of these places, but the playing field is bigger than I think they hoped it would be.

REICHARD: The analysts over at Five Thirty Eight are predicting the Democrats will likely take control of the Senate. And Joe Biden remains ahead in national polls—by double digits, as you mentioned. Are these Senate races primarily a referendum on the president or are other factors driving the Democrats’ momentum?

KONDIK: On one hand, Senate races are a lot more nationalized than they used to be and I think we saw this in 2016 in that for the first time in modern history every state that had a Senate race voted the same way for president and also for Senate for the same party in both races. That said, there are still ticket splitters. You are still going to see some differences in the vote tallies between the Senate candidate of one party and the presidential candidate of that party, too. And I think from the Democratic perspective, if they really are going to make very significant gains, they may need to flip a seat or two in states that Donald Trump is going to win. And, look, polling has indicated that that’s possible, although, I do still think Republicans hold the edge in some of these states that we’ve talked about—Alaska, Kansas, South Carolina, Montana, etcetera.

REICHARD: Last question here. We have two weeks until Election Day. With early voting already underway in many places, it seems unlikely that something could happen between now and then to drastically change the race. But it’s 2020, so you never know! What are you watching for in the next two weeks?

KONDIK: Look, I mean, we are in a time where it seems like there are a lot of big news developments almost on a daily basis. You never know what might come up. We also have the debate coming up on Thursday, which is probably the last kind of big tentpole event of the election season. What I would say is that if something significant does happen, don’t necessarily assume it’s going to change anything, because we’ve had all of this stuff going on throughout the year and the numbers have moved some, but not a whole lot.

REICHARD: Kyle Kondik is a political analyst at the University of Virginia. Thanks so much for joining us today!

KONDIK: Thank you.

MARY REICHARD: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Africa reporter Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Ten killed in Nigerian protests against police brutality—We start today here in Africa.

PROTESTER: End police brutality…

At least 10 people have died in Nigeria during protests against police brutality.

The protests began two weeks ago. Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets, calling for an end to a notorious police unit: The Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS.

Human rights groups accuse SARS of torture and sexual abuse. Following days of protests, the government disbanded the unit. But the unrest continues.

PROTESTER: I am just a young Nigerian and I am angry and we are all angry here, we want police brutality to end, we want SARS disbandment complete.

Protesters are now calling for widespread police reform. More than 10,000 people clogged the streets of Lagos over the weekend. Police responded with force, firing tear gas, water cannons, and live bullets into the crowd. Protesters say that’s further proof that things need to change.

The Nigerian government has announced a new police unit to replace SARS, and pledged to hold officers accountable.

Kyrgyzstan president resigns—Next, we go to Asia.

Kyrgyzstan’s embattled president is stepping down after weeks of unrest. Sooronbai Jeenbekov is the third president in 15 years to resign after a popular uprising.

A disputed parliamentary election sparked the chaos. Pro-government parties swept the vote, but protesters say they rigged the election. Hours after the polls closed, protesters stormed government buildings and demanded the president’s resignation. They freed several activists from prison, including opposition leader Sadyr Zhaparov . They appointed him prime minister.

Jeenbekov initially refused to step down, but relented when protesters began facing off against the military. He said if he stayed in power, he feared “blood would be shed.”

French teacher beheaded—Next, we go to Europe.

AUDIO: [Paris crowd]

Thousands of Parisians gathered this weekend to mourn the murder of a teacher. Samuel Paty was beheaded in Paris on Friday after showing cartoons of Muhammad in class. Police say an 18-year-old man from Chechnya was behind the killing. He claimed responsibility in a social media post minutes after the attack. Police shot and killed him when he refused to surrender.

Samuel Paty taught history and geography. During a recent class, Paty led a discussion about freedom of expression and showed students the controversial cartoons of Muhammad. The father of one of Paty’s student’s filed a complaint. He publicly called for Paty’s dismissal, saying the pictures were “hateful” and offensive to Muslims. Paty began getting threatening phone calls. Ten days later, he was killed outside the school in a Paris suburb.

Police have arrested 11 suspects associated with the beheading, including the attacker’s parents and brother.

Jacinda Ardern wins second term—And finally, we end today in New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a second term in office on Saturday, by a landslide.

ARDERN: Let’s step forward together. Ka Hoake tonu tatou. Let’s keep moving. [applause]

Ardern took office three years ago. At age 40, she was one of the world’s youngest female leaders. During her first term, New Zealand faced a lethal volcanic eruption, and the Christchurch terror attacks when a gunman killed 51 people at two different mosques. Ardern gained widespread support for her sympathetic response.

Over the past few months, Ardern has implemented strict lockdowns on the island nation. The strategy almost eradicated COVID-19 in the country, but also sent the economy into its deepest recession in decades. But Ardern earned widespread praise for her handling of the pandemic. She credits that strategy for her landslide victory.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

MYRNA BROWN: A teenager in Texas has set two Guinness World Records, all without lifting a finger. 

This month, Guinness announced 17-year-old Maci Currin of Cedar Park, Texas, has the longest legs for a teenager in the world. 

At nearly 4½ feet long, Maci’s legs make up more than 60 percent of her 6-foot, 10-inch stature.

That distinction comes with a second world record: She’ll also be named by Guinness next year as the world’s longest-legged female. 

Maci says her height is not without its challenges.

CURRIN: Going to public spaces, a lot of people stare and they take pictures without asking, and it’s kind of annoying.

And buying clothes that fit—huge challenge.

But she says she’s learned to embrace the upside of being that tall. 

For example, her long legs have proven an advantage on her high-school volleyball team. 

Maci said “I hope that tall women can see that the height is a gift and that you shouldn’t be ashamed that you’re tall.”

REICHARD: Own it!

BROWN: It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN: Today is Wednesday, October 21st. So glad you’re starting your day with WORLD Radio. Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: The quest for a diagnosis.

A few months ago we introduced you to Lauren Compere, a young woman living with quadriplegia.

BROWN: Today, Senior Correspondent Kim Henderson returns with more about the search for a diagnosis for Lauren’s medical condition. Here’s the story.

KIM HENDERSON, REPORTER: Evidently 2015 was a big year for Lauren Compere, if the sparkling crown in her home office is any indication.  

AUDIO: [PAGEANT ANNOUNCER]

That’s when she was named Ms. Wheelchair Mississippi and first runner up to Ms. Wheelchair America. Lauren says the best part was making friends who had disabilities, too—like Rebecca, who recently came for a visit.

LAUREN: We rolled back behind my house and talked about things I can’t talk about with anyone else. As much as I love my parents, I can’t talk about any of that stuff with them. So it’s a beautiful thing. 

But even at those pageants, Lauren was different from the other contestants. They all knew why they were wheelchair-bound—connective tissue disorder, muscular atrophy, stroke, plane crash injuries. But for Lauren, a diagnosis for the quadriplegia she’s experienced since birth has always been out of reach. 

LAUREN: It can be difficult to fight if you don’t know the enemy that you’re fighting, that could give me treatment specific treatment options that are a lot more targeted…

A diagnosis could possibly help others, too, she says. But Lauren admits there’s a negative as well.  

LAUREN: On the flip side of the coin, you know, getting a diagnosis could mean that there is a chance of living a shorter life, and there’s an expiration date. 

David Braden is just one of many doctors who’ve worked for years to uncover the cause of Lauren’s disabilities. 

BRADEN: Lauren’s a trooper now. She’s been through a lot and she’s, um, you know, she’s never let it slow her down, so it’s pretty impressive.

Braden deals with her auto-nomic nervous system issues.

BRADEN: She has episodes of dizziness and fatigue. What we call postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. So I’m managing that part of her medical care. 

Braden says Lauren’s case is interesting because her neurological issues also remain undiagnosed. 

BRADEN: The issue for me, is there a relationship between that undiagnosed part of her neurologic issue and the dysautonomia or the autonomic dysfunction that she has? And so it’s just always kind of hanging out there and looming. Is there something that links this all together that explains all of her problems? 

LAUREN: Oh, you want the albuterol? 

Part of Lauren’s daily regimen involves a breathing machine. Lisa, her mother, helps her get it started. 

LISA: She’s supposed to do this [LAUREN: Supposed to do this] how many times? [LAUREN: Thirty, twice a day] Ready? [Sound of machine]

Last year, Lauren applied for and became a case study at The Undiagnosed Diseases Network. It’s a team of researchers who study DNA, trying to find mutations. While they were in Nashville for those appointments, a doctor pulled her parents aside.  

LISA: He said, “I just want y’all to know there’s nothing that y’all did or did not do that caused her to be this way.”

That was life changing for Lisa, who had always blamed herself for Lauren’s condition. She’d gotten sick during a backpacking trip when she was 15 weeks pregnant.

LISA: I’ve heard that, you know, off and on, different doctors saying, nah, that didn’t cause this, but at Vanderbilt they poured through all of her medical records. They really have an investigative mindset. So I trusted him, I guess, more than anybody else. 26 years of thinking that I made a very stupid decision. 

AUDIO: [GETTING WHEELCHAIR IN VAN]

At home, it’s all hands on deck when Lauren’s personal assistants aren’t around. Dad gets her in the van. Mom does her hair and makeup. And 21-year-old Will? Well, Lauren says her brother has her back. Especially a few months ago.

WILL: Lauren rolls out from her bathroom and something doesn’t look right with her and I’m like, “Lauren, are you okay?” 

Turns out she was having a seizure. They had to rush to the hospital. 

LAUREN: The stroke/seizure—whatever it was—again, that’s undiagnosed. That had never happened before. And we don’t know what caused it. We don’t know if it’ll happen again.

Unexplained symptoms like that only add to Lauren’s challenges. But she sees her disabilities as an opportunity to share the gospel. One memorable instance occurred at a high-security women’s prison in Louisiana.

LAUREN: The cool bond between me and all of these individuals is that they are in bondage. They’re in bondage because of maybe decisions or circumstances that occurred, and I’m in bondage. I’m in this physical bondage. And I’m able to say to them I choose to be free, and they can choose to be free.

AUDIO: [LAUREN SINGING WITH MUSIC]

One of Lauren’s favorite songs is by Sarah Groves. It’s based on the words of Psalm 84:11: No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

As Lauren has contemplated what that means, she’s concluded the main “good thing” is peace with God—even when so many questions remain.  

LAUREN: Even though I’ve struggled with the health of my own body and the sheer emotional exhaustion from day to day living, I know that God never withholds His good things from me.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Madison, Mississippi.

MARY REICHARD: Today is Wednesday, October 21st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from WORLD Radio, supported by listeners. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Janie B. Cheaney now with some tips for parents adjusting to their new homeschooling journey.

JANIE B. CHEANEY, COMMENTATOR: If you are a parent of school-age children, I don’t have to tell you that COVID-19 has created some educational dilemmas. In the confusion of now-they’re-open-now-they’re-not school districts, frustrated parents are seeking out other options, even teaching their own kids at home.

A Florida-based homeschool curriculum publisher told me that sales are up 20 percent over previous highs. She writes—quote—“Many [parents] say that they have found how much they enjoy having their children home. Then there are those who have been shocked at how weak their students’ skills are.” End quote.

The education establishment has been unaccountable for sliding standards far too long. Turns out, educating a population is complicated, even in the best of times.

But educating one child is simple. If you’re considering homeschooling, allow me to share three life lessons for anxious beginners.

I was home-educated in eighth grade, due to a serious bout with myocarditis that kept me confined for a year. Thanks to my big-city school district, a tutor came to my house three mornings a week. That, along with some homework, easily kept me at grade level. First lesson: if nine hours or less per week is sufficient, schooling doesn’t take six hours a day.

Years later, when my daughter started kindergarten, I informed her teacher that we would be keeping her home for a week in October while her grandparents were visiting. The teacher begged me to reconsider, as our little girl would be missing out on some important work: “We’re going to be learning days of the week.” Her concern was catching, but when I shared my second thoughts with my husband, he just stared at me. Then he asked, “Can’t you can teach her the days of the week?” Second lesson: education doesn’t take an advanced degree.

Just before we began homeschooling I felt prepared, having purchased grade-level textbooks for every subject. It felt good for about two days into our actual school experience. After that it became a continual struggle to work everything in during the allotted time. Gradually I changed tactics, discarded most of the textbooks and began relying on the public library. Third lesson: education doesn’t require a test-and-textbook model.

What began as an experiment expanded to 12 years and two high-school graduations. If I could distill my experience into guidelines, they would be these:

Enjoy your kids. Include them in your daily routine as much as possible. Read to them. Talk to them. Learn along with them—enthusiasm is contagious. Start noticing what they’re good at. Encourage and facilitate what they’re good at. Memorize poems and Bible verses. Limit screen time and prefer books over the internet for finding information. Enjoy your kids.

Most of all, be grateful you can do this. And pray for those who can’t.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

MARY REICHARD: Tomorrow: Third party votes. Some people dissatisfied with the two-party system are throwing their support behind Libertarian candidates. We’ll tell you about the movement and why some of its positions are problematic for Christians.

And, we’ll tell you about a new international treaty that’s out of this world.

That and more tomorrow. 

I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. 

Go now in grace and peace.

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