Books of interest, reading, reviews, articles, and more.
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....
Books and Reading / Home School
by Janice Campbell · Published September 10, 2019 · Last modified October 5, 2020
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...
Books and Reading / Justice and Peace
by Janice Campbell · Published July 17, 2018 · Last modified February 2, 2021
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...
Books and Reading / Charlotte Mason / Language Arts and Literature / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published April 23, 2018 · Last modified April 30, 2018
Reading, Comprehension, and Knowledge Do you enjoy reading? I do. I grew up reading voraciously — new books, old books, books set in the city, the country, in foreign lands, and many books that featured characters that lived lives very...
Books and Reading / Language Arts and Literature
by Janice Campbell · Published June 13, 2017 · Last modified August 23, 2017
Choosing books for boys isn’t all that hard. Give them adventure — the kind with blood and courage, dirt and ingenuity — and watch their imaginations soar, assuming they haven’t been “Eustaced”* by the sort of twaddle mentioned in Martin...
Books and Reading / High School, College, and Alternatives
by Janice Campbell · Published March 7, 2017 · Last modified March 8, 2022
I picked up Professor Carol‘s new book, Why Freshmen Fail, at the Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth, thinking it might be a resource I could recommend to parents of high-school and almost-high-school age students. I didn’t expect to find...
David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd One of my childhood companions was an old copy of David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. It was one of the books I turned to whenever I wanted to travel the fairie realms, and...
Books and Reading / Ideas Worth Sharing
by Janice Campbell · Published December 14, 2016 · Last modified January 9, 2017
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!)....
Under the Willows by James Russell Lowell, 1819 – 1891 May is a pious fraud of the almanac, A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind; Or if, o’er-confident, she trust the date, And, with her...
Books and Reading / Creativity and Soul Care / Ideas Worth Sharing
by Janice Campbell · Published October 12, 2015 · Last modified August 29, 2019
“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...
Why spend time reading? Just in case you need an excuse to read to your children (or just to read for yourself), the infographic below outlines a host of benefits of reading. Although there are many practical reasons to read...
I like old books (Who am I kidding? Some of my best friends are old books!), so if I come upon one that’s irresistibly priced, I’ll take a second look, even if the cover looks a bit shabby. Like this...
The 750th anniversary of the birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri is being fittingly celebrated today in Italy. Oscar-winning actor Roberto Benigni will visit the Italian Senate to read from Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, to an audience that will include Italy’s...
I love long, cosy winter evenings spent with a good book and a cat. This is when I whittle down the reading pile I’ve accumulated by my chair during the convention season and travel months. While some of my winter...
Books and Reading / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published June 24, 2014 · Last modified February 2, 2017
What’s in your to-be-read (TBR) pile? Mine is teetering way past the point of reason, and has overflowed onto a small bookshelf beside my chair, plus a few piles on the floor, to say nothing of those waiting in my...
Fairy tales, parables, and other true stories I have been thinking about fairy tales this week after coming across a bowdlerized (to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content) version that appears on a third grade Common Core...
Books and Reading / Home School / Language Arts and Literature
by Janice Campbell · Published August 13, 2013 · Last modified June 13, 2017
Reading and teaching literature in context is a bit like studying a map before you set out for a walk in a strange city. Context helps you find significant intersections, decipher archaic language, and find a path through old-fashioned rhetoric. Here’s how to do it.
Most modern readers have little context for the mindset, manners, and morals, or even many of the conflicts that consumed the characters in the novels of the late 19th and early 20th century. This lack of context can affect understanding and appreciation of the tales.
Books and Reading / Charlotte Mason / Language Arts and Literature
by Janice Campbell · Published April 17, 2013 · Last modified July 30, 2018
Charlotte Mason said that “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life,” and she was right. A study published in 2010 on “Family Scholarly Culture and Educational Success” (PDF), reports that a family’s “scholarly culture – the way of life in homes where books are numerous, esteemed, read, and enjoyed” matters. Here’s how!
Books and Reading / Home School
by Janice Campbell · Published October 16, 2012 · Last modified August 31, 2015
If you have a local library, support it through regular visits, volunteering, and other ways. As a homeschooler, you can help to shape your library’s collections and programs through strategic requests (nicely conveyed, of course!). And finally, an infographic on “Why Support Your Local Library?”
Books and Reading / News, Opportunities, and Events
by Janice Campbell · Published October 11, 2012 · Last modified August 31, 2015
Visit the Great Books Week site for a few ideas on how to celebrate, some quotes on great literature, and more. In a world of strife and turmoil, the classics remain beautiful and timeless. I hope you enjoy celebrating this week!
Books and Reading / Charlotte Mason / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published September 24, 2012 · Last modified October 9, 2015
Homeschooling can be challenging, but a good book can encourage and help to renew your mind. Here are three of my favorite books about family and learning.
Three poems for August: A bird came down the walk (Dickinson), August (Swineburne), and Summer Stars (Sandburg).
Summer reading is essential. Here’s why, and a partial list of what I’m reading.
Books and Reading / Charlotte Mason / Creativity and Soul Care
by Janice Campbell · Published April 10, 2012 · Last modified May 7, 2018
Here are two spring poems by two of my favorite poets: Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Lilacs by Amy Lowell. Both are suitable for copywork and recitation. Enjoy!
Books and Reading / Creativity and Soul Care
by Janice Campbell · Published December 23, 2011 · Last modified August 31, 2015
Sometimes a poem evokes the mood of a season more than anything else could. “Picture-books in Winter” by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Snow Storm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy are three of my favorites.
Books and Reading / Language Arts and Literature
by Janice Campbell · Published November 23, 2011 · Last modified May 6, 2022
Why study literature in the context of art, music, history, and worldview? Context — the history, art, and music related to a particular piece of literature — helps to bring a book to life and make it more understandable, especially...
Books and Reading / Creativity and Soul Care / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published June 30, 2011 · Last modified May 7, 2018
It’s time for our annual summer poem. This year, I chose a warm, evocative poem by Edgar A. Guest as well as a brief poem by William Carlos Williams.
Every year, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) sponsors a Summer Challenge to help writers, editors, and other entrepreneurs get a bit extra done during the slower months of summer. It’s not meant to ruin the summer...
Here’s our annual conference newsletter handout with booklists and articles. We’d rather be sharing it in person, but for now, you can download the Everyday Educator here.
We in the northern hemisphere may be melting in the July heat, but there are compensations. July poems from poets such as Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Amy Lowell, and Lewis Carroll remind us...
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA (1547-1616), Spanish novelist (Don Quixote and others), playwright, and poet was born at Alcalá de Henares in 1547. The attempts of biographers to provide him with an illustrious genealogy are...
In this brief article, scholar, editor, and translator Luis Sundkvist explores the life of noted Russian author Ivan Turgenev and considers ways in which his life and work intersected with the Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Biography...
Marianne Moore (1887 – 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. She won several awards for her poetry in her lifetime, and her poems are frequently anthologized. Poetry (1919) by Marianne...
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is seen as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets. His works include several collections of poetry, one novel, and...
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