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...
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...
Inspiration and encouragement / Justice and Peace
by Janice Campbell · Published June 9, 2020 · Last modified October 14, 2020
I rarely post anything personal, 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 even centuries, there are no quick...
Charlotte Mason / Home School / How to . . . / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published March 31, 2020 · Last modified February 7, 2022
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...
Creativity and Soul Care / Home School / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published March 20, 2020 · Last modified March 24, 2020
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 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!)....
by Janice Campbell · Published November 23, 2016 · Last modified August 17, 2017
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...
Ideas Worth Sharing / Justice and Peace
by Janice Campbell · Published November 8, 2016 · Last modified June 8, 2020
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...
Creativity and Soul Care / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published August 10, 2016 · Last modified January 9, 2017
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...
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...
by Janice Campbell · Published February 8, 2016 · Last modified September 29, 2020
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...
by Janice Campbell · Published December 23, 2015 · Last modified December 24, 2015
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...
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...
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...
Inspiration and encouragement / Language Arts and Literature / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published July 5, 2015 · Last modified June 29, 2022
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....
Entrepreneurship / Ideas Worth Sharing / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published May 15, 2015 · Last modified July 8, 2016
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...
Charlotte Mason / Inspiration and encouragement / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published November 18, 2014 · Last modified August 31, 2015
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.
Creativity and Soul Care / Ideas Worth Sharing
by Janice Campbell · Published August 26, 2014 · Last modified August 31, 2015
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,...
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.
Home School / Ideas Worth Sharing / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published August 15, 2014 · Last modified August 31, 2015
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...
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...
Inspiration and encouragement / Language Arts and Literature
by Janice Campbell · Published July 4, 2014 · Last modified June 29, 2022
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...
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,...
Entrepreneurship / High School, College, and Alternatives / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published April 29, 2014 · Last modified January 23, 2020
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,...
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...
Creativity and Soul Care / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published November 27, 2013 · Last modified November 26, 2020
Enjoy a poem (Gratefulnesse by George Herbert); a recipe (cranberry-orange relish), and a Thanksgiving sale, aka Homeschool Black Friday).
Ideas Worth Sharing / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published August 7, 2013 · Last modified September 22, 2020
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.
Home School / Inspiration and encouragement / Organization
by Janice Campbell · Published July 30, 2013
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
Home School / Inspiration and encouragement / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published February 19, 2013
13-year-old Logan LaPlante talks about a real-life education model that makes learning relevant. Hackschooling (aka homeschooling) works.
Inspiration and encouragement / Learning Lifestyle
by Janice Campbell · Published January 30, 2013 · Last modified April 22, 2015
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.
Creativity and Soul Care / Inspiration and encouragement
by Janice Campbell · Published October 29, 2012 · Last modified March 18, 2020
In the mid-Atlantic region, we’re battening down the hatches in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. Preparations include drawing water, gathering candles and oil lamps, and trying to get everything washable washed in case the power goes out. Once the basics are...
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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