:: 1 ::
Our current read aloud is brought to you by the letter A. As in ANDREW PETERSON. As in I am loving On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.
Sometimes, I can be a chronological snob. It’s really a matter of efficiency — I don’t want to be the person who wades through all the bad books to find the good ones, therefore I usually read older books. When books have been around for a while, time has already decided which ones are good or bad for me.
But enough people were raving about this book that I decided … well … how bad could it be?
Um. NOT BAD AT ALL! In fact: quite good. I’m really enjoying it, and it reads well aloud, which cannot be said for many modern books (which read more like movies and seem like they are meant to be like Victorian children: seen and not heard). Anyhow, if you’ve been wondering about this one, I recommend it.
And yes … we already bought the other books in the series!
:: 2 ::
The Scholé Sisters retreat in Portland last weekend was a huge success! I kept waiting for the technological shoe to drop, but nothing major happened (which is a good thing). We’ve been asked a number of times if we plan to do something like this next year. The answer is: yes! We certainly hope to, we’ve been brainstorming already, and we think it’ll be even better than this time. I get excited just thinking about it!
In the meantime, we finally have a shirt:
We tried to have these done before the retreat, but unfortunately the quality of our first run wasn’t good enough. These, however, are great. So if you wear one to the used book store, and another Sister does, too, then you can find each other. 
Plus it’s cute.
:: 3 ::
Here is an announcement I put up on Facebook, in case you missed it:
Still only able to take 50 people. I know, I know. This is disappointing to some. The reality is that I want this to be personal, and even though not every one of those 50 people is going to participate in a personal way, there isn’t a way for me to scale it any further without losing the essence.
:: 4 ::
Are you starting school soon? I’m doing something I never thought I’d do: I’m starting a week earlier than I need to. The reason? My youngest son. He is Just Done. He’s bothering people for fun. He’s bored. While I think boredom is helpful and can foster creativity, sometimes it’s a sign of a need. In this case, it’s a combination of a need for more structure as well as more going in — the daily read alouds aren’t enough for his little demanding soul.
So we’re starting early. It’s okay. It’ll give us a chance to take an extra week off somewhere else along the way.
:: 5 ::
This month in 2014:
I wrote this back when Scholé Sisters was a website and not a podcast.
:: 6 ::
This week’s links collection:
- Notre Dame Prof: Our Schools Are Committing ‘Civilizational Suicide’ from Intellectual Takeout
- Not that you didn’t already know this.
- “[H]e writes that modern students’ ignorance is the education system’s ‘crowning achievement… the consequence of a civilizational commitment to civilizational suicide.'”
- Scary strangers, children, and boundary setting in the grocery store from The Cornered Cat
- You know what? Whether you carry a gun or not, it’s good to have a plan. We were followed by two men in Costco about a year ago, but we made it out okay because we had a plan beforehand, and when they came running into the crowded parking lot looking for us, all of us were already locked in the car — they didn’t know where we’d gone or which one was ours. These days, my children are all aiming for their black belts; what I appreciate most about karate has been the self defense training.
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? from The Atlantic
- It’s an interesting essay, but it’s possible blaming it all on phones is like blaming the disease on the symptom. To say “it’s the phones” seems overly simplistic to me.
:: 7 ::
Answering your questions:
- Question: I’m new to Charlotte Mason and am wondering what teaching history looks like in high school. I understand they will be reading and narrating harder and denser books. I don’t want to say “Is that it?” But is that it??? Thanks!
- Answer: Mostly, yes. But not quite. First off, if they haven’t already started, in high school a Book of Centuries should be added. We had always made our own until recently when we bought this one. Beyond this, though, are a number of options: Discussion, of course. Written narrations in which you ask your student to compare one person in the reading with another in the reading (or another in a different reading). Written sketches describing the characters of certain historical persons. Drawn illustrations of events. But in general, yes: a Charlotte Mason education really is as mind-bogglingly simple as it seems. If you want to read more about the BOC, I highly recommend Laurie Bestvater’s book, The Living Page.
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