I recently found my eleven year old son on his bed after his exhausting day of painting and yard work. “What are you up to?” I asked. “Reading.” Surprised, because reading is not usually his choice for relaxing, I curiously asked, “What book?” “The Kid Who Only Hit Homers.” Just in time I restrained myself from commenting.… Read More On the Rereading of Books
For most of us, Labor Day, a holiday for workers, marks a shift from summer’s leisurely pace back to the routine of the school year. Though we love the fun and freedom of summer, somewhere deep inside, we also relish getting back to work. Work is a gift. After all, if we were always at play, the world… Read More Work and Play
(The closing remarks from the CMI International Conference, June 20, 2015) Is this her reason for warning us against getting between the child and the book? We can hinder. Our task is to sow and to keep weeds from preventing growth, removing rocks and roots to give implanted ideas a fighting chance. Here is our God-given duty. Moral… Read More Vision for Children, Final Installment
(The next portion of the plenary lecture given at the CMI international conference, June 20, 2015) We must employ living books for all school subjects, not just for fiction reading- imagination stimulating, curiosity provoking books. Information is received, she said, if accompanied with enough narrative padding. Which tastes better, a vitamin C tablet or a fruit salad? Are their history… Read More Vision for Children, Ninth Installment
(This is a further portion of the plenary speech shared at the Charlotte Mason Institute international conference, June 20, 2015) My books have shown me what was good, and what was not. The best fiction books are not those without any negative or ugly incidents, but show characters who wrestle with difficult moral choices and reveal the subsequent… Read More Vision for Children, Eighth Installment
(A portion of the plenary speech at the Charlotte Mason Institute’s Annual Conference, June 20, 2015) Of course, as a child I had no idea faith and wisdom for life were growing in me, only now, by looking over my shoulder, can I see the trail of books that showed me the way. I’m pretty sure my mother… Read More Vision for Children, Seventh Installment
(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
(This is a portion of the closing plenary lecture at the Charlotte Mason Institute, June 20, 2015) Of all my childhood memories, many involve reading. One is lying in my trundle bed, probably I was two or three, listening to my mother read Mother Goose. I still remember those rhymes perfectly, can hear her voice rhythm in Hickory Dickory… Read More Vision for Children, Third Installment