Browsing Tag

Preschool

Educational Philosophy, Home Education, Other Thoughts
Mothering a Book Glutton (Charlotte Mason and Gifted Kids)

The law is liberal, taking in whatsoever things are true, honest, and of good report, and offering no limitation or hindrance save where excess should injure. – Charlotte Mason Not all gifted children are early readers; it’s true. However, comma, from my extremely small sample size, I have deduced that the earlier a child reads, the more tempted they are to excess in this area — to spend their time only on reading. We call this Book Gluttony, which is Continue Reading…
January 8, 2019
Educational Philosophy, Home Education, Other Thoughts
In That Enchanted Place

Along a particular path at our local botanical garden there is a bush that blooms all summer in clear shades of orange and magenta and yellow. Bees throng to it — big, slow bumble bees with tidy yellow bags of pollen on their hind legs. Here, for just a moment, I always catch a glimpse of my former foster son. It never fails — we turn the corner and there he is, five years old again, wearing a striped shirt Continue Reading…
September 25, 2018
Educational Philosophy, Home Education
On Baking a Cake: A Few Thoughts About Atmosphere

About once a week or so, my daughter and I bake a cake. This isn’t something I ever purposed or planned. I’m not a skilled baker, lacking the nicety baked goods seem to require of a person. But somehow, this has become our Special Thing, our ritual. I suppose this might sound like something from an Eloise Wilkin book, but to be honest Eloise Wilkins books can make me feel bad; what sweet, clean, well-appointed lives her families seem to Continue Reading…
August 1, 2018
Educational Philosophy, Home Education
An Elemental Relationship

(on Charlotte Mason, sensory integration, and things seen at the dentist’s office…) Recently, during our biannual exposure to children’s television at the pediatric dentist, I saw a commercial that’s stuck with me. As I recall, the commercial introduces us to four-year-old Antonio, who is running around playing happily. We then meet his mother, a former kindergarten teacher who laments how difficult it is to get her son to take any interest in learning. We see little Antonio slumped despondently over Continue Reading…
June 28, 2018