Introduction

[Wayne MacKirdy]

Howdy...I am old geezer who has been teaching for almost 55 years...teaching across the board. My first assignment in the Army was as training officer in  1962. I taught Field Artillery survey to new enlisted men during the Vietnam era.

I have taught how to write computer applications for high tech companies, after spending 29 years in the Army...active duty for 6 years (19 months in Vietnam)...13 years in the Army National Guard (field artillery)...then another 10 years of active duty as a chaplain.

The best of my teaching career has been for the last 18 years, teaching in a home school enrichment school, with almost 300 K-12 students from about 117 different churches. BTW - it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that for the first time, none of my students were born when I started teaching there. But, some of first students now have their own children enrolled in the school.

Over the years, I have taught a variety of classes, but there have been several staples, all oriented on a Biblical Worldview...there are five different classes. There is an additional class that is quite fun: The Intentional Student. It is a bit of a combination of Mind Mapping + David Allen's Getting Things Done for Teens + a lot of supplemental material that I have added over the years.

My entry level class is a survey of theology, philosophy, science, psychology, ethics, sociology, politics, law, economics, and history.

The next class is a seeking for the evidence of the One who has the know-how, capacity, and will to bring everything in the Universe, including all living things, into existence. It is in the class where I use Google Earth the most, although there are elements in all the five classes where geographical references are needed.

I will leave the other three classes for another time.

I will close by saying that I am active in Civil Air Patrol, primarily as a communicator, using VHF and HF radios.

I also perform weddings here in Colorado dressed as an old Western preacher, and have performed over 500 weddings in the last 15-16 years.

And finally, my proudest role is as grandfather to 8 wonderful young people. Our son is an IT executive, his wife is in marketing, our son-in-law is an Air Force officer, and our daughter is a mother hen for many of the Air Force spouses...and she relishes her role as a mother to her children, and mother hen to the wives.

OK...I will stop.

Wayne MacKirdy

Chaplain, US Army, retired

Colorado Springs, Colorado