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View so far: our homeschool journey
As we near the end of a school year, introspection tends to set in. Did I accomplish all I had planned for this year? Of course not. Did my children co-operate in all their lessons? Not exactly. In short, how did we do? Are my children getting a rich education? I think yes. As each year goes by, I get a different perspective. The preschool and most
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Lessons in stories
Image courtesy of Phaitoon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Recently I offered a column on the importance of story in terms of what makes a good story or what makes a story good. But the power of a good story is not just in the plot and its conclusion. The stories
Now what? Keep calm and carry on.
Certain recent political events have been discouraging, to say the least. Not that we should ever put our hope in any candidate to save us, or to fix what is broken. Our hope is in
Is your child smart? Let’s count the ways
This is the time of year when many of us gamely follow our chosen curriculum and plan, even when it becomes more than a little toilsome. Some of us may be slightly concerned that the year is not going exactly as we hoped back in the summer when carefully laid it all out. Perhaps that whiz-bang program
Transcendence of homeschooling
And so it begins, for some of us, another year. For others, the first year of educating our children at home. It is all too easy to get bogged down in all the stuff we can see — schedules, books, scope and sequence charts, quizzes, papers. These are the visible lines, the easy way to see if we are
Living ideas in living books
Our July/August issue focuses on my favorite topic — books! And just in time for our home education expo and curriculum fair, where you will find plenty more to add to your family library. No one has more relevant things to say about the importance of books, living books as she called them than dear
Dutch treat: Huzaren salad
Many writers I admire often put together posts or columns that contain a hodgepodge of ideas. Usually I come up with a main idea for this space but I fear my life has been so scattered lately that I am fresh out of main ideas. So I am putting together this editorial and calling it Huzaren Sla after
Lingering long on one’s lessons
I am often drawn to the teaching of Charlotte Mason. So many times it is a natural affinity. In preparing classes for a co-op I teach, I occasionally find myself a bit obsessed with a particular character. No worries! In a discussion of how history outlines can be mischievous in making one think the
Gifts for the taking
I must admit I have a kind of conflicted relationship with Ann Voskamp and her writings. On the one hand I am drawn to her gorgeous prose with its accompanying photographs of simple things beautifully arranged. On the other I read her musings, her battles within and I feel horribly inadequate. Why does
Vision and Revision
Before I started homeschooling, I listened to a series of tapes about a vision for homeschooling families. The speaker, George Grant was illustrating how we only use a small portion of the brain’s capabilities. He told a story of Teddy Roosevelt and how he was able to dictate two letters in different