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...
Category: Inspiration and encouragement
Remembering What Matters Even in Difficult Times
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...
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...
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
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
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...
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...
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 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’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...
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...
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....
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.
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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.
Great Education Quotes
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.
Storming? Time to Enjoy Books, Games, Music and Crafts
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...
