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January 19, 2020 by Dawn Rhymer 1 Comment

Picture Study

This post is part of our series on our favorite homeschool resources.

After having been a member of the Aspen Grover Educational Community co-op for the past five years, my family is going it alone this year. This has been quite a transition.

While there have been many blessings of the co-op, at the heart of it was that we were families who 1) had chosen the Charlotte Mason method of education and 2) were willing to help each other in the education of our children.

I have held close to my heart what Nancy Kelly has shared about her Truth, Beauty, Goodness Community.

The point of our group is learning in community and allowing the mother to spread the feast to her children without having to plan every single subject and lesson, which can lead to burnout.

What was I going to do now that I no longer had this help? Were my children going to get a subpar education? Was I going to burn out?

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December 12, 2019 by Dawn Rhymer Leave a Comment

A Journey with Monet

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat — Coming into Giverny in Winter, 1885

It was very fitting that I was standing in “In Winter,” the fifth section of the Money exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. I let the audio device I had been dutifully holding near my ear drop to my side. I tried to remember anything I had heard which had captured my imagination. I couldn’t. I tried to remember in detail any of the paintings I had seen. I couldn’t. I felt cold and empty. Would I make it through the Monet exhibition with nothing to show for it? Would my spirit and my soul not grow in beauty and knowledge? Would I simply have checked a box?

The din of the crowd, each with his own audio device, and the visual cacophony of the exhibition overwhelmed me. There were so many people, so many paintings, and so much to hear from those who had carefully made the audio I had been listening to. But at that moment, none of it was living. My eyes darted frantically and desperately around “In Winter,” and I prayed for wisdom on how the amazing privilege of standing before Monet’s paintings would leave an indelible mark upon me. [Read more…] about A Journey with Monet

December 5, 2019 by Karen Canon Leave a Comment

Plutarch, with Glee

What do you do when a book is hard? Plutarch’s Lives is hard. The temptation of the parent is to ask questions, to prompt, to remind. To basically do the mind work so that they ‘get it.’ This little nugget below is in my commonplace book and, at least once a year, I find myself returning to it.

T.H. White wrote his version of the Arthurian legend in the years before and after World War II. The young Arthur, known as Wart, receives his education at the hands of a wizard, Merlyn.

The Wart did not know what Merlyn was talking about, but he liked him to talk. He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessings, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas. The Once and Future King, chapter V

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December 1, 2019 by Dawn Rhymer 5 Comments

Advent

Advent is here.

I have been greatly anticipating this day, and I am a little caught off guard by the excitement I feel about my family’s advent tradition.

Handel’s Messiah

Tonight we begin to listen to Handel’s Messiah. For several years, we have been using Cindy Rollins’s 25 Days to Handel’s Messiah: An Advent Devotional Guide. [Read more…] about Advent

November 30, 2019 by Dawn Rhymer Leave a Comment

Hymns for a Time of Need

Karen’s post, Folksongs are like Teapots, brought hymns to my heart and mind. Here is a piece I wrote in 2015 on the AmblesideOnline Forum. At the time, I had just finished reading Erik Larson’s Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.

“Mommy, why are you crying?”

The tears were streaming down my face. I could barely choke out the words to Abide With Me (AO Sept. 2014). We were in the middle of singing the hymn; it was not the time to answer the question. I brushed it aside with a whisper. “My eyes are burning.” [Read more…] about Hymns for a Time of Need

November 21, 2019 by Karen Canon 1 Comment

Folksongs are like Teapots

On a shelf in my kitchen is a collection of teapots. I have been a modest collector for twenty years. There is no purpose to the collection; I choose what pleases me. Many are gifts and each of these special ones has a note tucked inside that tells who gave them to me and on what occasion.

One of these dear teapots belonged to my Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother. My mother was given it the year that I was born. When I hold it in my hands, I imagine their hands as they held it and poured a cup of tea for their families in places far, far from me. As I do the same, they draw near to me.

Folksongs are like heirlooms or keepsakes…or teapots. They are treasures that are passed down, sometimes a little worse for the wear. When you sing them, you draw near to those who walked before you and through life experiences that you can only wonder at. [Read more…] about Folksongs are like Teapots