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More BIG Changes for Me and My Family
I got a job! The Classical school in our area was looking for a part-time science teacher. Homeschooling has been tough these last couple months, and the kids miss interacting with friends–they won’t admit it, but I know they do! I also miss being part of a school community. As you know from my posts, we did Classical Conversations for a couple years in the city we lived in previously. I like the Classical education model (I believe Charlotte Mason was a Classical educator) and Samuel does, too. I’m excited to continue with the same type of model we enjoyed before. Samuel will be going to school just in the…
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How to Connect Education and Emotions [with help from C.S. Lewis]
I recently started reading The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. I had a feeling I would enjoy the book, and so far that’s true! I staunchly believed as a young person that I could not understand philosophy. These days I enjoy philosophy more and more, as you can probably tell from my blog posts–and I find that I can understand most of it! I attribute a lot of my joy in understanding philosophy to R.C. Sproul. He made philosophy accessible and relatable to those who felt intimidated by it. Brian and I watched some of his series “The Consequences of Ideas” when Ligonier ministries offered their material for free…
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An Odd Social Distancing Phenomenon
I have a very wise friend who over the last few years has given me some incredibly helpful advice. We chatted for a few minutes recently when she picked up some eggs from my house. She asked me how I was doing, and I told her the odd truth: in spite of the social isolation due to the coronavirus, I’m doing very, very well–maybe even better than I was before. She looked at me pointedly and said, “Probably because you’re not overexerting yourself.” I thought about this for a long time after our conversation. It does explain why, despite not being able to be around groups of people (which I…
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Charlotte Mason vs. Neo-Classical vs. Classical (Part Three)
Welcome to part three of my series on education. Congratulations for sticking with my sometimes-scattered thoughts for so long. Here come my conclusions. First, Dorothy Sayers may be correct in saying that most children in the elementary grades like the repetition of grammar. I, however, can attest that her “ages and stages” plan does not apply to every child. I have a young boy living in my house (he shall remain nameless) who gets bored, irritable, and antsy when we try to do memory work. He wonders why we’re repeating the same things over and over again. Why aren’t we moving on, Mom? Can we do something else? We already…
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Charlotte Mason vs. Neo-Classical vs. Classical (Part Two)
You may be wondering how Charlotte Mason differs from classical education and how classical education differs from neo-classical education. I asked myself the same question not too long ago. After reading a slew of discussion forums and articles online, I came up with these working definitions. I’m going to begin with neo-classical because that’s where we’ve found ourselves the last couple years. Neo-Classical Popularized by Dorothy Sayers’ essay “The Lost Tools of Learning,” neo-classical education divides the trivium (grammar, dialectic [or logic] and rhetoric), so essential to classical education, by grade levels. According to Classical Conversations (CC), which I categorize as neo-classical, students in preschool through sixth grade study grammar.…