Finding Splendor in the Ordinary
It’s fall! Officially!! Pumpkin spice latte’, corduroy and crisp breezes! Delish! And that also means it’s time for that seasonal clothes switcheroo…you know when you go through all the closets and freshen things up a bit! It’s fun to add a couple of pretty autumn pieces to spruce things up a bit! Might I suggest something very simple? My girls and… Read More
As a classical home educator I sometimes focus on just doing the next thing. I’m living this knees-to-the-ground work; it isn’t a theory, or an article – this is real life. Babies and teens; dishes and laundry; books and discussion; active work and scholé – I invest myself wholeheartedly, and there are some days I barely keep up. Sound familiar? In living… Read More
Do you cherish these board-book-filled days as much as I do? They’re sweet and tender aren’t they? We’re all preparing the soil in these delight-filled early years, and it is no less important that we do so with sweet and sturdy little books that are inviting and build the imagination with the good, true and beautiful. I’m often asked about our… Read More
By now, if you’ve been reading here at all, you know that we’re in the process of really re-thinking our spaces, re-modeling them significantly in order to address our family needs, and so…things are a little upside down here for a few months. It meant letting go of a space that was set aside as our learning room, saying goodbye… Read More
Preparing the soil. It’s such an evocative expression, isn’t it? Most of us are tending our gardens, attempting to coax some semblance of life out of them while the heat and lack of rain seek to thwart our best efforts. We water, tend, weed – and if we are attentive and nurture, there is growth and fruit. Sometimes an abundance… Read More
I’m so excited and thrilled to be on my way to the Denver Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference again! I had a fantastic time speaking to all of you wonderful ladies in 2012, and I’m thrilled that you would welcome me back again! My bags are packed and your workshops are written and ready – I’d love to see you there tomorrow!… Read More
Some time ago, the CiRCE Institute shared a 2003 conference talk by Dr. James Taylor on the topic of using the Good Books and the Great Books as part of teaching literature. It is an extraordinary talk and I took copious notes, just a few of which I’ll share with you below. As Dr. Taylor observes in this talk, The… Read More
I’ve shared with all of you that we are pursuing some remodeling plans. It’s exciting…and daunting. As I planned our booklists this summer, I kept in mind that our year would need to be flexible and I began to consider ways to stretch outside of comfortable routines and spaces. Earlier this summer, I shared with you that I had to… Read More
I’m in the midst of planning week here, and I thought I’d take a minute to share the Morning Basket plans for the year and for Term 1! If you’re new here, or need extra information, check out this post on the Morning Basket: Morning Basket: Ageless, Inspiring, and Still Standing It contains history, explanations, and links to past posts… Read More
How injurious then is our habit of depreciating children; we water their books down and drain them of literary flavor, because we wrongly suppose that children cannot understand what we understand ourselves; what is worse, we explain and we question. A few pedagogic maxims should help us, such as, “Do not explain.” “Do not question,” “Let one reading of… Read More
I’m linking to an older post of mine that has a craft that we enjoyed as part of honoring the Most Sacred Heart. June – Month of the Sacred Heart – A Craft Revisiting that post was fun – the young lady that was crafting the Sacred Heart in that post has now graduated, is working as a summer intern… Read More
The teaching selection I chose for this week speaks to a key component of a Charlotte Mason education – Atmosphere – and an aid the teacher must make use of to ensure a fresh atmosphere. Our own current family circumstances allowed me an opportunity to reflect on atmosphere from a unique position that I’ve really come to appreciate. From: Towards a Philosophy of Education,… Read More
I have been meaning to post some yummy recipes from my menus that we’ve enjoyed lately! This has been a busy graduation week here – delightful though! Since the week was busy getting ready for graduation (and I missed this week’s CM Teaching Tuesday post) I thought it would be fun to throw together a quick post full of pictures… Read More
As we wrap up our year, I’m looking back at a few plans and books to review and chat about. Without a doubt, our Morning Basket time continues to serve our growing family. What began around 8 years ago as a common point in the day with shared reading time, has evolved and grown into something that is full, and… Read More
I’m continuing a series that I’m really enjoying and I’m (re)learning so much! Join me as we discuss Charlotte Mason and her thoughts on our role in teaching. Today’s lesson: Open Doors We wish to place before the child open doors to many avenues of instruction and delight, in each one of which he should find quickening thoughts. School Education,… Read More
I thought I’d share some pictures of my Katie’s First Holy Communion Day. The day was such a blessing and it is a precious, treasured joy when a child receives Our Lord for the very first time in Holy Communion! (Photo credit for most of these images goes to my daughter, Sarah) I pray you all had a beautiful Mother’s Day!… Read More
I’m beginning a series of reflections on teaching and teachers based on Charlotte Mason’s writings. I decided to do this because in recent reading in Charlotte Mason’s volumes, I just kept coming across these little gems on the topic of teaching, and they really began to stand out to me….and sink in. I enjoyed visiting with these ideas over the… Read More
A few months ago we began a book discussion of The Living Page by Laurie Bestvater. It’s been delightful digging into some of these ideas with you. At the author’s request, the book discussion will not continue and past posts discussing the book’s content have not been retained on this blog. I am truly so grateful to those that joined the earlier… Read More
This journey into home education often causes hand wringing and angst right about now as parents consider what books, what curriculum, what plan to consider for next year. How to choose? And, unlike my mom, who home educated my brother and sister on a shoestring budget, and had minimal resources and tools to choose from, today we have a flotilla… Read More
I know it’s late to be posting our simple plans for the Feast day, but I thought I’d list them nonetheless because these ideas are simple and would be easy to follow in your own home. Today, on the Church calendar, we remember one of the greatest events in all history – the Incarnation of Our Lord! Our redemption and salvation began… Read More
I have been looking for so long for a program that allows me to customize our copywork. I used to have a friend in Startwrite, but that was several years ago. They’ve since been through a number of wonderful revisions, but none of them work on a mac. So, if you’re a PC user, I would definitely recommend Startwrite, but… Read More
I’m bringing this post on St. Patrick forward since his Feast day is approaching. I thought it would be helpful to read it ahead of the Feast so you could make preparations for the simple craft if you were interested. I also updated the post with a few book recommendations we’ve enjoyed! Hope you enjoy!
For the 40 days of Lent, Novena.com is offering a special .99 app titled simply, Novena. (For the iphone) It’s a beautiful app with traditional images from holy cards and it’s a lovely way to use your smartphone to help you pray through Lent…and beyond. The app allows you to search for novenas under various categories: Health Occupations Situations States… Read More
Please visit — Notebooks – Acquiring Habits of Intellectual Effort — if you haven’t read it yet. It contains a distillation of my thoughts on the foundational ideas from Charlotte Mason on her notebooks. The following are simply resources and links that have been of use in our own home as we work in our notebooks – toward “acquiring habits of intellectual… Read More
