It’s March and I live in British Columbia so when I look out my window it’s spring. I have a favorite season but overall, I simply get excited about the changes that all the seasons bring. A new season naturally brings changes to weather, wardrobe, and activities but I like to purposefully exhaust as many [...]
Classical education is a new term for an old path. Over the last several years it is being rediscovered. It's the classic path, the path that was well travelled but somehow our adventurous natures took us beyond that path. As we try to rediscover how our Western Culture gave us a richness of beauty, truth [...]
These drawing books are simple and fun. There are no written instructions, making these books a great starting point for young artists. Older artists, like, ahem, mom really appreciate these books too; they sure help with the skills that make Nature Studies more fun. Drawing books also make great additions to Morning Time. These books [...]
Picture books are a wonderful way to introduce your children to all kinds of topics. The selection of quality picture books is amazing and reading aloud to your children is such a natural and gentle way for your children to learn. I can't encourage you enough to be purposeful in carving out a designated read-aloud [...]
The Zeezok Music Appreciation program comes in many pieces and the program is so versatile. My favorite thing about this program are the books about the composers. These books, by Opal Wheeler, are living books at their best. Each story is captivating and some of them include short pieces of music that a young aspiring [...]
The Vanderbeekers Series The Mitchells Series The Penderwicks Series The Fairchild Family Series
The Wind in the Willows Emma The Scarlett Pimpernel The Swiss Family Robinson Little Women My Antonia Eight Cousins Where the Red Fern Grows Anne of Green Gables
What About Socialization? There is one question that is guaranteed to get a response from a homeschooling parent. It goes something like this: What about socialization? What follows is usually an entertaining conversation. Asking a homeschooling Mom about socialization is like asking an alien about extra-terrestrial life. We live with these tiny humans. All we [...]
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Heidi Old Mother West Wind The Hundred Dresses Chu Ju's House Archer and Zowie The Penderwicks The Boxcar Children Charlotte's Web Beezus and Ramona Cupid and Psyche
The more I read, the more I want to read and realize that I will never get through my list. That doesn’t stop me from reading, but sometimes I wonder if my time is spent wisely on one text versus another. This is particularly true about the literary canon where I want to read every [...]
Common Writing Challenges There is no tyranny like the blank page, or so the saying goes. If you have taught writing you know that look. The eyes glaze over, heavy sighing ensues, and the pencil drops on the page. What shall we write about? Where shall we start? It is difficult to [...]
My family has a New Year's Eve tradition where we write a letter to our future selves. We open it a year later, on New Year's Eve. It's fun but sometimes discouraging. I've learned that writing a list of goals as a motivational tool can fall flat as you read through the list the following [...]
