Keeping a copybook in the younger years is excellent training for many things, one of which is keeping a commonplace book. Principles and practices for copybook and commonplace book have a great deal of overlap, particularly in the selections to be reproduced.

Years ago, when I first heard Chris Perrin talk about the concept of scholé, he posed the question: "How have you practiced scholé in your homeschool?" My Eeyore proclivities surfaced, and I immediately thought of all the ways I had failed to do it. Happily,

I'm honored to to announce that Simply Convivial is hosting a guest post by yours truly today: Teaching Kids to Keep a Commonplace. Thank you, Mystie!

I teach literature to high school students at our local classical education co-op as part of a larger Humanities Curriculum. In this post, I detail the simple template I use to structure our weekly literature studies.

Picture Study, as Charlotte Mason practiced it, is just as simple as it sounds: “A friendly picture-dealer supplies us with half a dozen beautiful little reproductions of the work of some single artist, term by term.

My sleepy three-year-old is carried from the car to his bed in big brother’s strong arms. He drowsily blinks up at the star studded sky. “Caleb, did you know that God is a Spirit? He doesn’t have a body like men.” My mother’s heart quietly rejoices . . .

“It doesn’t matter what my child reads, as long as he reads," says the well-meaning but ill-advised friend. Yes, of course, I answer, just as it doesn’t matter what my child eats, as long as he eats.  Books that are shallow and condescending to children are nothing more than junk food for the mind.

When I was expecting my first child, who turned out to be children (twins!), I heard a radio program about homeschooling. My husband and I were immediately convinced — we would certainly home educate our children.