The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson was published in 2019 and is a very readable and comprehensive book about the human body covering interesting aspects of anatomy, physiology, disease, the history of medical science, the immune system, conception and birth, and much more. The author includes amusing (and sometimes horrifying) anecdotes to … Continue reading The Body by Bill Bryson
Charlotte Mason
A Lopsided Education
The Unconquerable (While Still We Live) by Helen MacInnes (1944)
Twenty-three year old Sheila Matthews had been living with her Uncle Matthews in London after her parents died when she was very young. As this story begins, she is visiting the Aleksander family in Poland. Andrew Aleksander had met her when he had visited her Uncle in London and had gone home and talked about … Continue reading The Unconquerable (While Still We Live) by Helen MacInnes (1944)
October Nature Study in Australia
Last weekend we went on a bush walk and saw an echidna out in the open. Usually we hear them before we see them but this one was in the middle of a path through some bush. The varied gold, brown tones of its spikes were in their full glory so it took me some … Continue reading October Nature Study in Australia
Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
In 1805, Walter Scott sat down to write the opening chapters of Waverley, a book that was to usher in an entirely new type of literary genre, the historical novel.In the same year Scott had published his narrative poem, The Lay of the Minstrel, which was received enthusiastically, but when he submitted the first few … Continue reading Waverley by Sir Walter Scott
Dispatches from Lockdown #2
Just about all the men we know have grown beards, if they didn't have one already, and many are sporting razor cuts or obvious amateur jobs. It's desperate days when your husband gets his 16 year old daughter to razor cut his hair. It doesn't look too bad, actually, despite my initial horror when he … Continue reading Dispatches from Lockdown #2
Charlotte Mason Exam Week
This past week has been an exam week for Year 11, Term 2. We've followed the AmblesideOnline schedule but with quite a few changes and substitutions. These are some sample questions & answers from this week: Poetry: 1. Write 8-10 lines of poetry from memory: The Donkey by G. K. Chesterton When fishes flew and … Continue reading Charlotte Mason Exam Week
The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World was published this year (2021) and is a sequel to Prisoners of Geography which I wrote about here.In that book Tim Marshall focused on the fact that geography has played a major role in history. In this new book he explores ten … Continue reading The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall
Home Schooling in Lockdown
Just about everyone where we are is homeschooling these days, but not out of choice. I prefer to say that we are home educating because our situation looks nothing like school. We have been teaching our children for 28 years and it is a normal part of life that we don't think twice about, but … Continue reading Home Schooling in Lockdown
Successful Home Schooling
How do You Measure Success? A couple of days ago I read this in the introduction to the Bible in One Year for the day: ‘We lived in Oxford for three years. I was training for ordination in the Church of England and studying for a degree in Theology at Oxford University. One of the … Continue reading Successful Home Schooling
Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald
Helen Macdonald is a British writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. Vesper Flights was published in 2020 and is a collection of forty-one of short essays that point the reader to ways of seeing the world from a different perspective to their own.Hard science gives us evidence of the harm that results from our … Continue reading Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald
