Deep meaning lies often in childish play. -Johann Friedrich von Schiller The outdoors used to be a place where children could run, play, build, create, and do the mildly hazardous things children love to do. I remember walking the 5′...
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...
Essay writing is not the only tool for studying literature. Students can benefit from the occasional opportunity to approach the great books in a fresh way, so here are a few alternatives to writing a literary analysis.
Want to know what homeschooling is really like? No matter what curriculum you use, homeschooling is a deeply personalized journey. What it looks like and how it feels will be based on each family’s unique blend of talents, interests, knowledge,...
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.
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.
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
Summer is coming soon, and although formal class time may end for some homeschoolers, it’s easy to keep minds active if you create a learning lifestyle. This is a wonderful season to tackle outdoor projects and learn practical skills, as...
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!
A look at the literature portion of the the Common Core Standards (CCS), with an excerpt from Hard Times by Charles Dickens.
Common Core Standards are a cause for concern. The CCS promise to nationalize mediocrity and increase control over every aspect of K-12 education, and ultimately over every citizen. Here are articles and resources to help you learn more, including an alphabetical list of state groups opposing CCS.
13-year-old Logan LaPlante talks about a real-life education model that makes learning relevant. Hackschooling (aka homeschooling) works.
In celebration of “Virginia Home Education Month,” I was invited to put up a homeschool display at the Cochrane-Rockville branch of the Pamunkey Regional Library. You can see photos below.
Here is a collection of favorite quotes on lifelong learning, learning and freedom, unschooling, institutional schooling, homeschooling and general truth about learning by speakers from C.S. Lewis and Charlotte Mason to Aristotle and Mark Twain.
Gifted students learn differently, and most learners have a primary learning style that makes teaching easier. Learning to adapt your curriculum to your student rather than trying to squash the student into a curriculum is an important part of becoming a great homeschool teacher.
Knowing when to drop what isn’t working, or how to supplement or adapt your curriculum is an important part of becoming a great homeschool teacher.
Class Dismissed is described as “a feature-length documentary that focuses on showcasing alternative education strategies that are working for many families.” It follows a family who pulls their two daughters out of a highly rated institutional school in order to teach them...
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?”
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.
Join us for a great Carnival of Homeschooling, featuring articles on time and what to do with it, words, nature, celebrations, and more.
Charlotte Mason’s Educational Manifesto declared that not only did children have a right to knowledge, but they also had an appetite for such knowledge, and that appetite, if not squelched, would motivate them to learn.
Consider the education of America’s founding fathers: What kind of study produced a group of men capable of conceiving a constitutional republic, bringing it to life, and guiding it through its formative years?
Have you been looking for a quick way to communicate the fact that homeschooling works? This well-designed infographic provides the statistical evidence you need to scare your neighbors support your decision to homeschool.
Long before anyone thought of warehousing children for the bulk of their young lives, parents were teaching their children. Somehow, despite a lack of official certification, the world muddled along. Here is an infographic on the history of homeschooling, plus a recommendation for three great books.
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!
A veteran homeschooler, conference speaker, and vendor shares tips and strategies to make the home-school convention a highlight of your homeschool year.
One of the best ways you can teach writing is to share good models. I especially like working with excellent essays, as they tend to expand not only vocabulary and usage skills, but also because they expand thought. Here’s an example.
Here is the Wintery Mix Carnival of Homeschooling, with a healthy variety of posts on topics as varied as reading aloud, being on the bottom of the gymnastics stack, and visiting the optometrist. Enjoy!
Self-reliance means looking ahead, anticipating potential dangers, and setting aside resources to care for your family in the event of an emergency. Come to the Self-Reliance Expo to find resources and learn how.
Here are seven horrifying lessons John Taylor Gatto wrote about teaching during his 26 years as a schoolteacher. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling is adapted from a speech given at a ceremony in which Gatto was named the New York State Teacher of the Year for 1991.
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