Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott I cannot give this book any stars. Not because I’m upset to have read it in any way. Not because I don’t think it’s a valuable read for one in my “profession.” But mostly because it was mostly beyond me. Oh, there were parts that I enthusiastically agreed…
I’m reading Beauty in the Word with a group of Reformed friends on Voxer. It’s an interesting dynamic as Caldecott, Beauty’s author, is stridently Roman Catholic and we find places of both profound agreement and disagreement (and, let’s be honest, confusion). There is much to love about the book, I find I’m marking every page…
We’ve talked about the intricacies of scaffolding in it’s base and structure – how it’s put together so it is safe and provides a standard. Today I’d like to think about it’s purpose. Scaffolding is meant to be set up, yes, but it is designed to also be taken down. It’s there for the building,…
Last week we thought a lot about the basis for our scaffolding: a base plate set on a firm foundation. We wanted to provide a sturdy, non-rickety form of scaffolding for our children. This is so that our kids can work Safely in Transparent Fashion. This week, I want to think more about the structure…
A scaffold, we learn, is set on a firm, level base plate. This plate is the firm foundation upon which the scaffold is built and provides stability for the whole structure. Does anyone want to stand on a rickety scaffold? I can’t think so (although I have no practical experience in this matter) The metal…
As you know I was at the Great Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati almost two weeks ago. It was a wonderful time of learning, encouragement, and being surrounded by like-minded friends. Perhaps you know that I don’t stay down at the Duke Energy Center all weekend; I don’t get a hotel room and stay downtown. Rather,…
As you likely know, we use AmblesideOnline for our homechool curriculum. One knock AO gets is that it occasionally uses old, sometimes racially insensitive (at best) or downright racist (at worst) books. There are books to offend many groups – Roman Catholics have issue with Trial and Triumph and Westward Ho!; This Country of Ours…
Did you know I was a Social Studies Education major? I love History, but at The Ohio State University, you can’t major in History Education, it must be ‘Social Studies’ with History and two other concentration areas (Geography and Economics were mine. I think that’s part of why I fell in love with The Well-Trained…
You know how sometimes when you start considering an ideas, it starts to show up in all sorts of places. What is the place of generalization as we educate our children in the 21st Century? What is the place of specialization? So many educators – of the homeschool and school variety – are enamored by…
We finished Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution as a part of our AmblesideOnline Year 4 studies on Tuesday. I loved the book; I read most of it aloud. I’ve been a big fan of Abigail Adams for years and this book only made me impressed by her more. Oh, she was imperfect, as we all…