It is the first day of fall next week. I appreciate each season for its own sake, but am partial to summer and, since I am predisposed to hate the cold from a lifetime in northern Michigan, fall brings a foreboding feeling to me of cold and dark days ahead. But today, it still feels… Read More Seasons Change

Embracing Charlotte Mason’s principles, most of us find affects more than school. Some of her ideas shape other areas of our life. They are life-giving for more than just our children’s education. For example, take short lessons. I have found myself, instead of despairing about the lack of time I have to accomplish some task,… Read More First Things First

What is the first word that comes to mind when someone mentions that infamous year, 2020? Your memory may conjure feelings of fear, revulsion, annoyance, boredom, endurance. Most of us want to put it far behind and never return to it again.  Whatever your possible negative associations, I bet you can think of some positive… Read More Hindsight is 20/20 

When you stop to consider the phrase, it’s odd. There really is never any such thing  as “time out.” We can’t take ourselves out of time, just drop out. Still, the summer is a great break from school, which is what I mean by time out. It is time not to have to hit the… Read More Time Out

What is the first emotion you feel when the last day of the school year ends? Relief? Joy? Guilt? Gratitude? Euphoria? Regret? Some combination of these? There is nothing like a long needed rest. If no one else is around to congratulate, encourage, or commend your accomplishment in teaching this past year, I officially am… Read More This Moment in Time

This month’s post is a common concern I hear during consults or receive via email: the difficulty of settling on one curriculum plan. Everyone wishes Miss Mason had simply left us lists. She would not, and we would not like them if she did.  We hear a lot these days about “fear of missing out.”… Read More FOMO

Whether this past year has been your best or your worst, there is one really good thing that happened. You have added another row of bricks on your house of wisdom. And so has your child. I used to shrink a little when people remarked that I had “so much wisdom.” I don’t usually feel… Read More Wisdom Builds

Beginnings are exhilarating. We perk up with a fresh start to a new calendar year, new school year, a new class or hobby or home or friend. Better than starting, sometimes, is just looking forward to the turn of a new season or an upcoming event. Once that “new” season or occupation has begun, though,… Read More Now and Then

Below is my reading list from three years ago. Reading is such a private world activity that I publish the list with a bit of self-consciousness. There are so many reasons for reading a book, and most of these reveal mine: for knowledge, for comfort, for entertainment, for help, to pursue areas of personal interest…… Read More Reading List

Every year I aspire to have my Christmas shopping done by Labor Day. I do get started—a little, but then fall is busy and before I know it is Thanksgiving and my hidden stash looks pathetically inadequate. You might think my default to ordering books to give as gifts is due to this lack of… Read More The Gift of a Book