Cultivating wisdom, knowledge, and virtue.
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...
Do you read poetry and share it with your children? I’d like to prescribe a dose of poetry every single day, but I know that might seem daunting. How about poetry every week instead? Start with simple poems, laying a solid...
Springtime puts me into a poetic frame of mind, so by the time April arrives — it’s Poetry Month, you know — I have a stack of poetry by my chair and favorite lines running through my head. Most of the...
Psalms in Music The Psalms were the first poetry and prayer that I encountered as a child, and they still bring daily joy, peace, and comfort. I recently found this playlist of the entire book of Psalms in music, sung...
Is there any reason for an ordinary person to learn decent penmanship? I believe there is, even if handwriting seems difficult or unnecessary. Clear italic or cursive penmanship is an art form that virtually anyone can master. Because handwriting is...
My granddaughter called this morning, and we talked about building snowmen. Since we are both living in a snow globe, it seemed a perfect topic. However, I did experience a pang of guilt upon hanging up. Remembering the years of...
Never be within doors when you can rightly be without. Charlotte Mason I have always loved Charlotte Mason’s idea of keeping nature notebooks, and tried different ways of doing it with my boys. We were never able to make a habit of...
“It is very helpful to read with a commonplace book or reading-diary, in which to put down any striking thought in your author, or your own impression of the work, or of any part of it; but not summaries of...
Outline of American Literature: Chapter 4 The Romantic Period, 1820-1860: Essayists and Poets By Kathryn VanSpanckeren TRANSCENDENTALISM Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Walt Whitman (1819-1892) THE BRAHMIN POETS Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)...
Cinderella OR A Little Glass Slipper This rags-to-riches folk tale of unjust oppression and triumphant reward features Cinderella, a young woman living in difficult circumstances. Through the intervention of a fairy godmother, she is...
William Cowper (1731–1800), an English poet, was born in the rectory (now rebuilt) of Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, on the 26th of November (O.S. 15th) 1731, his father the Rev. John Cowper being rector of...
A story is not a problem to be solved, but a continent to be explored. Dr. Randy Laist Using the Cinderella story, Dr. Randy Laist of Goodwin College discusses some approaches to literary interpretation,...
Poets write about so much more than landscapes, lovers, and flowers — they write about war, conflict, justice, and striving for virtue. One quote that I have heard many times is “Once to every...
