I’m re-reading a biography of Amy Carmichael titled “A Chance to Die,” written by Elisabeth Elliot, with my third child’s book group and something different struck me this time in the chapter titled, “The Inescapable Calling.” Amy is riding a gig along a country road one day with a man her family affectionately called “D.O.M.,” […]
Which Blow Breaks the Stone? Read More »
You may have already heard the story, but in case you haven’t, a young woman in 1906 applied to Charlotte Mason’s training college and is quoted in The Story of Charlotte Mason by Essex Cholmondeley as saying: On my arrival at Ambleside I was interviewed by Miss Mason who asked me for what purpose I
Learning to Live in 2020 Read More »
Sisyphus by Titian, 1549 A couple of years ago I heard Dick Keyes speak at a CMI conference I spoke at out here in California. He had two wonderful talks, one on imagination and one on heroes. At the end of one of his talks, he touched on the topic of Christian Tribalism – a
Our youngest son is now four and as I revisit Charlotte Mason’s ideas on habit training, or maybe some collectively gathered ideas on training and educating, I’ve come to realize the importance of the flip side of habit training – the side that maybe we don’t consider often enough. I think for the most part,
The flip side of habit training Read More »
Note: This post was originally published on August 26, 2011 and is being re-posted – because I think we can all afford to hear it again and again. And because I haven’t blogged in a very, very long time… I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty
Hidden Even to Ourselves (CM Vanity) Read More »
This is a really inspiring description from the April 1923 L’Umile Pianta of what one “H.E. Wix” described as the distinguishing points of Charlotte Mason’s elementary schools: What is it that distinguishes P.N.E.U. Elementary Schools from the ordinary School? It is a difficult question to answer, primarily because the “ordinary school” is indefinable. Many persons think
They live closer to life Read More »
The Voyage of Life – Youth by Thomas Cole, 1842 As we head past the transition between my reading most of the books to my oldest daughter and her reading her own school books – which happened progressively during YR4 & YR5 – I found myself a little sad at the prospect of her reading her
A Changing Landscape – Growing in Distance Read More »
“Those first-born affinities That fit our new existence to existing things.” Charlotte Mason quotes this more than once, it’s a verse from William Wordsworth’s poem Prelude describing something I’m not so sure any of us really know how to quantify. What does she mean by it? She begins her entire section devoted to the task
Those first-born affinities Read More »
My husband and I finally sat down and watched Les Miserable after hearing many mixed reviews about it. We loved it and blubbered ridiculously together. My favorite scene had to be Jean Valjean’s (Hugh Jackman) turmoil in the church after he is given the candlesticks. His moment of coming to terms with his sin and
The Unbearable Burden of Legalism Read More »
How contrary to popular educational methods would be the idea of leaving a child’s question unanswered; worse yet, leaving them to form wrong opinions? Well it seems that it was no less absurd 115 years ago based on a Parent’s Review article titled Elementary Science-Teaching by one Mary Everest Boole. But it is, in fact,
How *not* to be “a mere crammer” in science/nature study Read More »