To read more about Charlotte Mason picture study and to see the other Picture Study Aids I offer, click here. A picture is nothing but a bridge between the soul of the artist and that of the spectator. Eugène Delacroix As I wrote in my Artists from the 1800s list, Eugène Delacroix is credited with bringing the Romantic movement to France. He was a giant in the art world of the 19th century, even during his lifetime, and many contemporary artists, as well as artists since, have highly respected and emulated his work. His oeuvre includes a wide rang ..read more

Now I am going to give you a prescription, — for some woods medicine, — a magic dose that will cure you of blindness and deafness and clumsy-footedness, that will cause you to see things and hear things and think things in the woods that you have never thought or heard or seen in the woods before. Here is the prescription : — Wood Chuck, M. D., MULLEIN HILL. Office Hours: 5.30 a.m. until Breakfast. Rx No moving for one hour . . . No talking for one hour. . . No dreaming or thumb-twiddling the while. Sig: The dose to be taken from the top of a stump with a bit of sassafras bark or a nip of In ..read more

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing”… Is there, then, not need for more “Mother Culture”?  “Mother Culture” Parents’ Review – Volume 3  On being asked, whence is the flower. In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, To please the desert and the sluggish brook. The purple petals fallen in the pool Made the black water with their beauty gay; Here migh ..read more

Please note that I have been given AmblesideOnline’s permission to use their name in the title and body of this post as well as their permission to use their Artist Study rotation to make these files. When children have begun regular lessons (that is, as soon as they are six), this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of the term. Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 308) His education ..read more

Recently, I had a great conversation with Dr. Timothy Eaton of the This Golden Hour podcast all about homeschooling. We chatted about some of the reasons why we’ve chosen this path for our families as well as why I believe art should play an important part of any homeschool. We also talked about some of the challenges that come with homeschooling, but also about the wonderful rewards of getting to spend so much time with our kids. You can listen at the link below, or read the transcript here! The post Why We Homeschool (and Include Art History!) (my interview on the This Golden Hour podcast ..read more

To read more about Charlotte Mason picture study and to see the other Picture Study Aids I offer, click here. All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles… unless they are made and painted from life, and there can be nothing… better than to follow nature. Caravaggio The history of the art world includes no shortage of tumultuous personalities, including Vincent van Gogh, Francisco Goya, and Edvard Munch. Each century has its own unique characters, but one from the late sixteenth and early seventeent ..read more

This post is unashamedly shallow in that it is all about judging books by their covers. It is all about pretty books. Before you hit the back button or move on to the next website, hear me out! I am not in any way saying that you should buy only beautiful books. Especially because the most beautifully designed books can make significant dents in the wallet. Some of the best books on my shelves are battered old paperbacks with cheesy, poorly designed, torn, or even no covers, and each one of them holds a special place in my heart just as much as the more attractiv ..read more

The very first item I ever listed in my shop was a wreath with Charlotte Mason’s educational motto in it. That was back in August of 2017. About a year later, I had several more designs available, and I had been told by some of those who bought them that they were using them as covers for their homeschool planners, binders, and notebooks. I was honored! At the time, I was deep in the throes of making Picture Study Aids and didn’t spend much time designing anymore, but I missed it. Graphic design is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, and for that reason, I decided I might expa ..read more

Art and homeschooling are two subjects close to my heart, so it makes sense that Picture Study is something that I write about often here. When I first started offering the Picture Study Aids in 2017, I was elated that I was able to use my degree in art history for something that benefited the homeschooling community. Since then, I’ve written posts on why it’s important and how to do it, but I’ve never really answered the question: what is Charlotte Mason Picture Study? Charlotte Mason made the statement that education is the science of relations. This means the relationships your child (or y ..read more

It’s time for one of my favorite posts of the year: what I read in 2023! Reading not only allows me to grow and learn, but I also see it as a way to pamper myself. I have always loved to read and this appreciation has only grown as I’ve gotten older. Finding ways to fit it into my days has actually been a fun challenge and the results paid off quite a bit this last year as I read more books during the last 12 months than I have in a long time. Here’s a review of what I read in 2023 and my plans for 2024! Overall Goal My overall goal was to read 36 books this year, which worked out to 3 per m ..read more