(A portion of the plenary speech at the Charlotte Mason Institute’s Annual Conference, June 20, 2015) Like Stella, I remember puzzling over Scripture. Once I read the parable of the sheep and the goats and suffered great anxiety about which of them I was; I also remember wondering whether I was giving someone In need a cup of water,… Read More Vision for Children, Sixth Installment
(A portion of the plenary speech at the Charlotte Mason Institute’s international conference, June 20, 2015) When I read Mason’s thoughts on a child’s sensitivity to the Bible, it reminds me of a passage from Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge, one of the favorite stories of my whole life, of 12-year-old Stella’s inner thoughts during her adoptive family’s nightly… Read More Vision for Children, Fifth Installment
(A portion of the plenary speech given at the Charlotte Mason Institute, June 20, 2015) One powerful example of this I recall is the memory I have of lying on the carpet in our living room, staring at the sun streaks across the floor, listening intently to a Scottish lady reading a story on the radio. I think I… Read More Vision for Children, Fourth Installment
{Read the first installment here} It is imperative, Mason knew, for children to be nourished by story – nourished in mind and heart. Only living stories satisfy their appetite for life, for living, and their books must be living, to feed the soul. This feeding is our duty, she says, : “Here a little, there a little – whence… Read More Vision for Children, Second Installment
Last week I had the joy of returning to the Charlotte Mason Institutes national conference. This annual event is something we look forward to all year long; it is a highlight of our year, a time of refreshment, friendship building, and learning. This year, I had the great honor of being asked to address the 300 attendees on the… Read More Vision for Children, First Installment
Emily and I bristle when, on a fairly frequent basis, a child in our library informs us that “fiction is fake,” or “I want to read a true book,” though we know that these ideas are not their own, but have been adopted from adults in their lives. All of us speak and believe according to the ideas we… Read More Charlotte Mason On the Reading of Novels
Frequently, I am asked by a parent in my library for a book on “character.” They want help in teaching their children about right and wrong, about virtue, about how to know how to make wise choices. Sometimes, they want a book specific to building a certain character trait or overcoming a bad one, such as lying, or selfishness,… Read More Do You Have a Book on Character?