Every September we study poetry: we read it, we analyze it, we write it. Oh no, you say, my kids wouldn’t enjoy poetry. Ditto for mine. (Or so they thought.) The benefits of poetry: Build neural networks. Learn a new language. Become cultured. These were my original reasons for reading snippets of William Wordsworth as … Continue reading
Math wasn’t easy for me, so I didn’t want to see math, let alone teach it. When I attempted true unschooling for a time (yep, I really did that), I discovered the unbelievable…there is no way to get away from arithmetic. You need to understand math: add, subtract, multiply, divide, estimate, and understand decimals and percentages. Consumerism … Continue reading
I ate up Julie Bogart’s recent book, The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning and Life. Ten years ago, I would have inhaled it and allowed the gems of oxygen to seep into my respiratory cells, so I could breathe, really breathe in my homeschool world. So many gems of wisdom I had … Continue reading
The days are long, still the years are short. A three day twelfth birthday extravaganza has nearly done me in. I’ll need some downtime. But some days are long, still the years are short. Make the memories live large, and this birthday they were large. Madelyn and I planned the details for weeks. We printed … Continue reading
The Most Important R: Reading Give a kid a book, open their minds to the world. Once upon a time I bought into the notion that reading couldn’t be accomplished outside of a kindergarten class, a phonics program, or an easy reader series. My children have taught me otherwise. Each of my children had different … Continue reading
https://media.blubrry.com/homeschoolmamaselfcare/p/capturingthecharmedlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/What-is-an-Education-Anyways.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download “Education cannot make a person into something; it can only provide space for a person to discover who they are. Being fully human is not derived from doing things the way that someone or something has told us to, but by being who we are, the person we … Continue reading