Category: Inspiration and encouragement

My late father-in-law, Garland Campbell shares life lessons from his parents.

Reflections of an Honorable Man: Things My Parents Taught Me

It’s almost the end of the year and I’m looking back at all that has happened. Like most years, 2023 brought a mixed bag of events — some happy and some sad. It seemed as though we attended more memorial...

What can you learn with the freedom to adventure?

Learning through Freedom to Adventure

What is education? Is it sitting in a classroom; watching video lessons; or reading stacks of books? Or is education the process of gaining knowledge through study and experience — learning through the freedom to adventure? For two boys in...

Old year gratitude, New Year hope and a poem.

Old Year Gratitude; New Year Hope

This year — 2020 — is almost over. It’s been quite a year! Decades from now, I’m guessing that people will remember it most as the Year of the Pandemic; the year that Covid-19 changed the way that many of...

Peacemaking and mending breaches is part of life, and poetry, story, and song can help us learn how to do the things that matter.

Peacemaking and Mending Breaches

Remembering Things that Matter I rarely post anything about current events, but once in awhile, it happens. I’ve been thinking about peacemaking, mending breaches, and restoring what has been broken. For issues that have existed for years or decades or...

How to homeschool the Charlotte Mason Way by Anya Campbell

Homeschool 101: Charlotte Mason Style

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...

What To Do When Everything Changes

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...

Books are the holiday gifts you can read.

Holiday Gifts You Can Read

Give the gift of delight There’s a lot to be said for gifts you can read. Books provide hours of delight at just pennies per hour, and of course, I have a few suggestions (it was hard to whittle down the list!)....

Keeping thanks in Thanksgiving can help you make great memories.

Keeping Thanks in Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to spend time with loved ones and give thanks for the blessings of the year. Ideally, the holiday is something to anticipate with joy. Realistically, I know that the prospect of spending a day or more with a houseful of volatile opinion...

Virtue, education, and the electorate on election day 2016

Virtue, Education, and the Electorate

An orderly line of voters snaked halfway around the parking lot at the polling place this morning. The crowd courteously made way for seniors with canes, wheelchairs, or walkers, with quiet thanks to those who sported evidence of military service. My...

A leaf from the St. Florian Psalter.

The Book of Psalms in Music and Art

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...

Illumination coloring page by Daniel Mitsui

Handwriting and Reading: Ideas Worth Sharing — IWS #4

It’s time for another Ideas Worth Sharing post, so even thought my internet connection is barely working, I’m going to attempt it. You’ll notice that almost all my links this time have to do with handwriting and reading. That’s because it’s...

How to Wisely Praise Children

Praise has power. Well-earned and properly given praise has the power to motivate and build confidence, while improperly directed praise can create unhealthy attitudes, provide an inaccurate self-concept, and even make children unwilling to try new or hard things. What...

The greatest gift and the three wise men.

The Greatest Gift — and the Giveaway

The greatest gift of all When you are planning a gift, it can be hard to know what a loved one might need or want. There is one gift that is truly one-size-fits-all, and when truly given, it will not...

Aunt Edie made a commonplace book for quotes, poems, and paper memorabilia.

Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947

“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...

The Mighty Mug reviewed: The mug that won't tip over.

Ideas Worth Sharing: Tidying, Maps, and a Mighty Mug Review and Giveaway — IWS #3

It has been awhile since the last Ideas Worth Sharing (IWS) gathering post. Here are a few things I’ve enjoyed over the past few weeks. But first, let me give you the link to the Mighty Mug giveaway — I’ve had a...

"If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav'd. This will be their great security." Samuel Adams

A Poem for Independence Day 2015

In honor of Independence Day 2015, here is a classic poem about the nickname of the American flag. Use it as copywork or just enjoy it! I’ve also included a stirring rendition of America the Beautiful and few pithy quotes....

Springtime by Claude Monet, 1872

Ideas Worth Sharing: On Learning, Practicing, Autism, Entrepreneurship, and Dressing Well — IWS #2

I have a habit of adding great articles to my reading list, so I can read them more than once. Sometimes I don’t get back to them for awhile, and usually when I do, the delight remains. Some of the...

Autumn Carnival: Looking Forward, Looking Back

This 463rd Carnival of Homeschooling offers a smorgasbord of creative ideas, inspiration, and practical tips for homeschooling. As you read each post, I hope you’ll find kindred spirits among the bloggers, and lots of good things to read as you sit by the fire and sip tea.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)

Know Thyself: Are Personality Tests Useful?

If thou knowest thyself, it will follow thou wilt not puff thyself up like the frog that strove to make himself as large as the ox. Miguel de Cervantes Online personality tests seem to multiply like rabbits. Look around social media,...

Homeschool Lives, Homeschool Places: 451st Carnival of Homeschooling

In this week’s Carnival, you’ll get to tour a wide variety of homeschool lives and learning spaces. In addition, we have a couple of contributions from experienced home educators.

Take Heart: 26 Steps to a Healthy Home School – A Review

A review by Janice Campbell When I began homeschooling in the late 1980s, there weren’t many curriculum resources available. Many homeschoolers made do with discarded public school textbooks or struggled to persuade textbook publishers to sell directly to home educators...

Ira reading.

Ideas Worth Sharing: Education, Entrepreneurship, and Soul Care — IWS #1

Thursday seems a good day for an Ideas Worth Sharing (IWS) gathering post. Because I love patterns and systems, and like Hercule Poirot, order and method, these are roughly categorized by the areas of focus mentioned in Luke 10:27b – “You shall...

Valley-Forge-independence-day

Two Poems and a March for Independence Day

In honor of United States of America’s Independence Day on the 4th of July, here are are two thought-provoking, classic poems, plus one of my all-time favorite marches. The first poem, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “A Nation’s Strength,” would make an excellent...

Imaginative Authors Foresee the Future

In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift wrote of the two moons of Mars. Of course, it was 1735, and the two moons weren’t discovered until 1877.  In 1870, in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne described an electric submarine,...

Micro Business for Teens by Carol Topp, CPA.

College Alternatives, Part 2: Entrepreneurship, Apprenticeships, and Guilds

The last College Alternatives post focused on the skilled trades, such as machinist, electrician, arborist, and others. Since college has been pushed as a primary option for most students, there has been a labor shortage in many of the trades,...

Carnival of Homeschooling: Learning Lifestyle, Reading, and News

Learning Lifestyle In this pair of articles on the Circe Institute blog, Joshua Leland shares Why I Don’t Own a Television and Further Thoughts on Television. Since I am also television free and always have been, I found these particularly interesting and thought...

The Angelus by Francois Millet is a lovely painting depicting a young couple pausing for prayer in the middle of the day.

Gratefulness and Thanksgiving

Enjoy a poem (Gratefulnesse by George Herbert); a recipe (cranberry-orange relish), and a Thanksgiving sale, aka Homeschool Black Friday).

Re-imagining Education: Visions for the Future

Here is a playlist of a dozen interesting TED talks on education, mostly reflecting on the nature of education and traditional schooling and considering how it could be done better.

Summertime Carnival of Homeschooling

Today’s Carnival shares posts on the state of education and leaving a homeschooling legacy, helpful articles on planning and organizing your school year and day, and a few extras on things such as how to whistle, whether homeschoolers can redeem BoxTops for Education, and more

Hackschooling with Logan LaPlante at TEDx

13-year-old Logan LaPlante talks about a real-life education model that makes learning relevant. Hackschooling (aka homeschooling) works.