In which a student of Charlotte Mason (British educator 1842-1923) imperfectly outlines first steps of the Mason method with an eye toward hope and encouragement to new home educators. By: Anya Campbell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ampc7/ Ideas on How to Begin I...
After the first of the Great Homeschool Conventions ended early, I drove home from Texas to Virginia. While I listened to audiobooks most of the way, there was plenty of time to think about what the next few weeks or...
December is the month when my planning instinct kicks into overdrive. I flip the calendar page on the first, and it’s as if I’ve opened a new channel in my brain. All the while I’m enjoying holiday preparations and wondering...
Of all Charlotte Mason’s recommendations, I found her advice to read Plutarch with children one of the least appealing. I enjoy old books and love learning, but somehow, it seemed especially daunting to fit in Plutarch along with everything else....
Summer is winding down in the northern hemisphere and schoolbooks are being dusted off and swimsuits put away. I always enjoyed getting back into an orderly and predictable schedule (as orderly and predictable as was possible in a household with...
How do you learn? If you wanted to learn about architecture, invention, drawing, painting, sculpture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, or cartography, how would you begin? Long before textbooks and workbooks were invented, people of...
Considering the greater good “Are you finished with school? Want to ride with me to the dump?” my husband Donald inquired, poking his head into the schoolroom. Pencils flew everywhere as the boys jumped up, ready to go. We hadn’t...
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was recently renamed the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, a remarkably generic name for such a prestigious award. A lot has been said about the change, and most that I have seen has been negative, with reactions...
I recently came across an interesting comparison of two middle school reading lists. The author, Annie Holmquist, compared a list from 1908 with a current list from the same state on the basis of time period, thematic elements, and reading...
The beauties of springtime have inspired poets for centuries. As I thought about what poems to include in this post, I realized how many May poems there are! Here are seven poems by some...
What shall we then read? When presented with a new experience, the committed reader tends to wonder, “What can I read that will shed light on this event, place, or experience?” A number of...
The Hero’s Journey is a classic story structure in which someone — often an unlikely hero — is called to adventure. Through the help of a mentor, he/she crosses to a challenging and unfamiliar...
February A poem from The Shepherd’s Calendar by John Clare (mini-bio at end) The snow is gone from cottage tops The thatch moss glows in brighter green And eves in quick succession drops Where...
Have you ever thought of writing evaluation as a teaching tool? That is exactly what it can be! Every writing assignment can help a student grow as a writer, as long as it is...
