Overstuffed School Schedules vs. The Learning Lifestyle

There’s a new school year coming up, and as you plan, it can be tempting to create a school schedule that would stagger a grad student. I know- I’ve been there. I’ve started school years with so many classes planned for my boys that we would have been at the table for most of the daylight hours if we’d done it all.

Fortunately, I always got a reality check. It usually arrived around lunchtime of the first day or so, with the realization that we’d finished only about 2/3 of the essentials, and there was absolutely no way that anyone’s attention span was going to last through the fourteen electives I’d planned. Read more

Summertime- Blake, Rilke, Sandburg, Shakespeare

Summer has begun– a slower, sweeter time of year for many families. I enjoy each month of the year as it arrives, but the lushness of summer greens is a special delight. Each time I pick roses, I gather a variety of lovely foliage to complement them- hostas, crimson barberry, several types of ferns, a bit of lemon balm for extra fragrance, and whatever else strikes my fancy. The cool green, gray, and burgundy shades frame the lush roses beautifully. Roses, like most stars, are loveliest with a supporting cast!

It’s time for summer poems, and I’ve tried to choose three you may not know, plus a Shakespearean sonnet that always rewards another reading. These are lovely for copywork, or simply for reading and savoring. Enjoy!

To Summer by William Blake
O thou who passest thro’ our valleys in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair. Read more

Should Mom and Pop Stores Be Illegal?

In its “Intelligence Report,” the weekly tabloid, Parade, posed the question, “Should homeschooling be illegal?” as its weekly poll, and the query sparked a few thoughts. Aside from wondering if the name of the report is an intentional malapropism, the question caused me to consider whether mom and pop stores should be illegal. After all, now that Walmart has ridden onto the retail scene, consumers can have all their needs met in one tidy big box.

Unlike Walmart, mom and pop stores tend to be highly individual and focused directly on the needs of their own small target market. They don’t carry 47 brands of cereal or 18 kinds of ant poison– they just carry the things they believe to be best. Mom and pop stores may not be open at 2 a.m. for those late-running party needs, and worse yet, they may not offer the economies of scale that are available to a global behemoth. Read more