What a family values is readily apparent as soon as you step into their home. How it is arranged, the order or disorder, the style and quality of its content reveal in part, just as the outward appearance of an individual reveals something of their personality, but the evidence of what a family does with its time is most… Read More Living With Living Books Part 1: A Case for Books
Sometimes in homeschooling our children we lose sight of our goals in the day to day work. On the other hand, we also tend to overlook the importance of each small lesson in our eagerness to see results. Charlotte Mason encouraged us to spread a feast before our children, to give them a taste of a wide variety of… Read More The Tortoise and the Hare
Suspecting many of you share this mother’s concerns, I have decided to quote her letter in full here: Dear Liz and Emily, “I want to first say how much I appreciate your blog and your vision (I’d like to call it a ministry!). My 10 year old daughter is the only reader child in our house… Read More There is a Time for Reading
I have a clear memory of my grandmother at a Fourth of July picnic commenting to the family that summer was half over when we celebrated that holiday. My young heart rejected this idea. Summer was just getting rolling. Hadn’t I just gotten used to school being out and weren’t there many, many weeks till Labor Day turned us… Read More Dog Days of Summer
For as long as I have been homeschooling, just the last twenty-five years or so, summer has meant all the usual seasonal activities–change of routine, vacations, swimming, family visits and outings, gardening, and leisurely reading. Even if we continue formal school lessons, the pace is relaxed. However, as the teacher, school is never far from the back of my… Read More Marking Time or Making History?
I know you’ve been gone from this earth nearly forty years and some will think it silly of me to write to you now, but I am pretty sure that you would not. I am writing to share how much your stories have meant to me, and will continue to, and also to disagree with your self-mocking remark: “I… Read More Dear Kate,
“What have you read lately?” I often ask anyone I happen to be talking with.” I haven’t read anything for awhile …so busy…don’t have the time…” they trail off. This doesn’t surprise me anymore. It is truly the most common response. In fact, I feel a little shocked if anyone even talks about a book,… Read More Who Needs to Read?
A nationally historic event has occurred, but you will not be reading about it in the news. Nevertheless, it was momentous and the outcome may eventually have a tremendous impact on this country. It is certainly true that most of the world changing events that are now recorded in our history books were not initially… Read More Changing the World, One Library at a Time
When asked to tell his life story, Meindert DeJong wrestled to find something interesting enough to record. To most of us, the events of his life are far from ordinary. He basically described his life as divided between the writing part and the non-writing part. I contend that the non-writing part made the writing part remarkable. His simple storytelling is… Read More Hungry for a Good Story?
Though summer weather has been upon us for awhile, the official calendar summer begins tomorrow. I pause today on summer’s eve to reflect about summer. Growing up in a place where winter meant harsh weather, the prospect of the coming summer was a glorious promise – sunshine, warmth, beaches, freedom from school, leisure. Do you remember the bliss of “school’s… Read More Summertime: Pace or Space?