The Lawgivers: A Review of a New Plutarch Translation
Of all Charlotte Mason’s recommendations, I found her advice to read Plutarch with children one of the least appealing. I enjoy old books and love learning, but somehow, it seemed especially daunting...
View ArticleWhat Grade Are You In? A Bit of Common Sense from Understood Betsy
Summer is winding down in the northern hemisphere and schoolbooks are being dusted off and swimsuits put away. I always enjoyed getting back into an orderly and predictable schedule (as orderly and...
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Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947
I was poking around in my mother’s bookshelf this past summer, and I found a treasure — our Aunt Edie’s handmade commonplace book. It’s not a very big book, and after many years of love, is a bit...
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The Benefits of Reading: Seven Tips for Reading More
Why spend time reading? Just in case you need an excuse to read to your children (or just to read for yourself), the infographic below outlines a host of benefits of reading. Although there are many...
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Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Art of Historical Fiction
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was recently renamed the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, a remarkably generic name for such a prestigious award. A lot has been said about the change, and most that I...
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Middle School Reading Lists: What a difference 100 years makes!
I recently came across an interesting comparison of two middle school reading lists. The author, Annie Holmquist, compared a list from 1908 with a current list from the same state on the basis of time...
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When is Reading Hard?
Reading, Comprehension, and Knowledge Do you enjoy reading? I do. I grew up reading voraciously — new books, old books, books set in the city, the country, in foreign lands, and many books that...
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Choosing Books for Boys
Choosing books for boys isn’t all that hard. Give them adventure — the kind with blood and courage, dirt and ingenuity — and watch their imaginations soar, assuming they haven’t been “Eustaced”* by the...
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Why Freshmen Fail: A Review
Why Freshmen Fail and How to Avoid It by Carol Reynolds, Ph.D. I picked up Professor Carol‘s new book, Why Freshmen Fail, at the Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth, thinking it might be a...
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David and the Phoenix: One of the 1001 Good Books
David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd One of my childhood companions was an old copy of David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. It was one of the books I turned to whenever I wanted to travel...
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Holiday Gifts You Can Read
Give the gift of delight There’s a lot to be said for gifts you can read. Books provide hours of delight at just pennies per hour, and of course, I have a few suggestions (it was hard to whittle down...
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A poem, truth, and the month of May
Under the Willows by James Russell Lowell, 1819 – 1891 May is a pious fraud of the almanac, A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind; Or if, o’er-confident,...
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Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947
I was poking around in my mother’s bookshelf this past summer, and I found a treasure — our Aunt Edie’s handmade commonplace book. It’s not a very big book, and after many years of love, is a bit...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Benefits of Reading: Seven Tips for Reading More
Why spend time reading? Just in case you need an excuse to read to your children (or just to read for yourself), the infographic below outlines a host of benefits of reading. Although there are many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Freshmen Fail: A Review
Why Freshmen Fail and How to Avoid It by Carol Reynolds, Ph.D. I picked up Professor Carol‘s new book, Why Freshmen Fail, at the Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth, thinking it might be a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
David and the Phoenix: One of the 1001 Good Books
David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd One of my childhood companions was an old copy of David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. It was one of the books I turned to whenever I wanted to travel...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Holiday Gifts You Can Read
Give the gift of delight There’s a lot to be said for gifts you can read. Books provide hours of delight at just pennies per hour, and of course, I have a few suggestions (it was hard to whittle down...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Charlotte Mason was Right! Education is an Atmosphere
Charlotte Mason said that “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life,” and she was right. An extensive study published in 2010 on “Family Scholarly Culture and Educational Success” (PDF),...
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A poem, truth, and the month of May
Under the Willows by James Russell Lowell, 1819 – 1891 May is a pious fraud of the almanac, A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind; Or if, o’er-confident,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947
I was poking around in my mother’s bookshelf this past summer, and I found a treasure — our Aunt Edie’s handmade commonplace book. It’s not a very big book, and after many years of love, is a bit...
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