…so besotted (infatuated) is our educational thought that we believe children regard knowledge rather as repulsive medicine than as inviting food. Hence our dependence on marks and prizes, athletics, alluring presentation, any jam we can devise to disguise the powder. […] This atrophy of the desire of knowledge is the penalty our scholars pay because […]
The Possibility is Still There Read More »
We recently headed back to a local creek for nature study. There’s so much here that we’ve discovered over the years. Giant water bugs are smaller this time of year. Early last year we wondered what they ate in this creek since there didn’t seem to be anything else of significant size. Then we found
Nature Knowledge Gained Without Lessons Read More »
I recently heard a very liberating discovery dug up in the May 1914 edition of L’Umile Pianta. But before I mention it here’s part of Redeemer’s description of the ‘magazine’: In 1895 the House of Education Old Students’ Association was formed to provide current and ‘old’ students who were scattered abroad, opportunities to keep in
A Programme to Fit the Child Read More »
How often today do we come across children who can’t hold a conversation, can’t sit still, can’t focus? What is our society’s answer? ADHD – medicate! Is this really the answer? In some cases, perhaps, but in so many children? What are the stats now? I think in some states it is 10% or higher.
The Habit of Attention Read More »
I’ve been hearing a lot about students needing to meet STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) requirements lately in the AO Forum. I also received an email this morning with offers for a new Homeschool Robotics Class highlighting teaching methods and materials that help your children learn STEM subjects.What do you think about all this
I am coming rather late to this treasure of a Parent’s Review article – Imagination as a Powerful Factor in a Well-balanced Mind by E.A. Parish – 98 years late to be exact! More recently, within CM circles it seems to have made its rounds with Nancy Kelly of Sage Parnassus leading a session by
The Great Need of Imagination Read More »
One of my favorite things about reading Robinson Crusoe was his thoughtful reflections on what was happening in his life. The author gave us a window into the thought process in Crusoe’s mind as his character is forged through circumstances hand placed in his life by God Himself. I was reminded of this today as
We’ve completed reading through Henry V, our first Shakespeare play! Well, we’d read many of his plays in story form in Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, which I’m now re-reading with my 8yo son, but this was our first ‘real’ play in full Shakespeare language. Here’s a list of the Lamb’s tales we read over the
Shakespeare King Henry V Read More »
Courtney, our local Classical Ed connection has been turning me on to audios over at Circe Institute, the latest being “Good to Great: Teaching Literature From Grammar to Rhetoric” by James Taylor, author of Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education, the book our group will be reading next. This is a talk that was issued
A kindness is like a flower that has bloomed upon you unawares, and to be on the watch for such flowers adds very much to our joy in other people, as well as to the happy sense of being loved and cared for. ~Charlotte Mason, Vol. 4, p.109 For all the books we’ve read to
The Atmosphere of Economic Woes Read More »