“It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division in the world will be between people who wish to live like creatures and people who wish to live like machines.” –Wendell Berry (quoted in Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth) I picked up a little book on procrastination at the library this summer with…
There’s a proverb among backpackers about the difference between type 1 and type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is fun in the moment, like playing in the pool in the summer or going to Disney World. Type 2 fun is not fun in the moment, but it is fun to look back on and tell…
When I was homeschooling, I loved reading books and blog articles detailing other homeschooling families’ curriculum choices. It was especially fascinating to see how different families’ personalities manifested themselves in their curriculum choices and to get a feel for the wide of range of possibilities that are open to homeschoolers. In that spirit, here’s what…
Family backpacking is a team effort, and as we’ve taken more trips over the last few years, my husband and I have divided the backpacking planning duties. John is the lead planner. He conceptualizes the trip and does all the trip planning. He spends hours studying maps, reading about trails, watching backpacking videos on YouTube,…
Sending our oldest daughter to college and retiring from homeschooling this fall have elicited more sadness from my husband and me than we expected–even though this is a natural change and taking steps to become more independent is truly a good thing for our kids. Still we are grieving the passing of the stage in…
Is there some freewheeling watcher Shooting marbles in the sky? Holding your years between their fingers Watching it burn till the fire dies Brandi Carlisle’s hauntingly beautiful new song, “Returning to Myself,” is the perfectly moody song for mothers whose children are growing up. O, my darlings, how I love you I love you and…
Last year I implemented a class catechism in my high school level British Literature class at our homeschool co-op. Like a traditional catechism used to teach the doctrines of Christianity in question and answer form, the class catechism is a series of questions and answers taken from the books we read throughout the year. This…
Deadly fights with monsters and dragons, gory details, lavish treasure hoards, legendary weapons, feats of heroic strength, feasting with friends, and luscious wordplay—what’s not to love about Beowulf? This fall the students in my British literature class read Beowulf and then wrote about life lessons for the 21st century from this thousand-year-old poem. They did…
(Choosing passages for a class catechism is like choosing from a box of yummy donuts!) Earlier this spring, I read Josh Gibbs’ book called Something They Will Not Forget: A Handbook for Classical Teachers. Gibbs describes a common and disheartening experience: realizing just how little you remember from a course you took recently or, for…
Despite the huge growth in homeschooling over the last few decades, something about opting out of school still feels a little bit odd or contrarian. Four years ago, when we were first considering homeschooling,* we were mostly motivated by a practical difficulty with transportation at our current school and a sense of curiosity: would the…