A Recap of '24's Reading (& Organizing My '25 Reading )

somewhat random stack of books

 I participate in the Schole Sisters 5x5 Reading Challenge every year. I believe I missed their debut year but since I have met the challenge. I usually start out real strong- at least in the planning phase!- and end up rearranging and re/moving titles to suit what I actually read versus what I had planned. This year I don't think I actually made a starting plan but was determined to finish anyway. I just had to look at what I had read for the year and it was easy to see what categories they fit within. Here's a recap of my '24 5x5 (copy/pasted from my SS posting):

I put hearts by the books that I liked the most. Dark red ♥️ are ones I liked most in that category. Double hearts 💕means I read it twice/love it more than all others (*I read the Bible three times). And if not for audiobooks 🎧, I think my year would have been so much worse off! I wouldn't have “read” much of anything!! I did have a few re-reads 📖, and I will do that again next year, though I may not put them on the 5×5. 

Fiction-Historical

• Flight of the Heron, D. K. Broster ❤️🎧 - Bonnie Prince Charlie time period (18th century Scotland) (this was a book that another bestseller is based off of; I thought very well done but not enough to read the series)

• All Clear, Connie Willis 💗 📖 - WWII, England (time travel) (I just love this series!! ahem, except “To Say Nothing of the Dog”… 🫣) 

• Not Saying Goodbye, Boris Akunin - 1918-1921 during the Russian Civil War (my book to “Finish a series” …which I did not finish…there’s one more book that I’m not reading) 

• Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas 🎧 - 1815-1838, France and Italy (exceptional book…but a bit of a weird ending lol)

• Matagorda, Louis L’Amour - late 19th century Texas (a good surprise Bahamas Little Free Library read!)

Christmas

• Christmas Reindeer, Thornton Burgess (sweet story)

• L. M. Montgomery Christmas Collection, Smidgen Press ❤️ 🎧 (wonderfully compiled!)

• Letters from Father Christmas, J. R. R. Tolkien ❤️ 🎧 📖 (so fun and sweet! makes me wish I’d done FC with my kiddos)

• The History of the Nutcracker, Alexandre Dumas (The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain) or (The Chimes), Charles Dickens (this was… odd… I’d never actually heard/watched/read the story that the ballet is based off)

• Winter Fire: Christmas with G. K. Chesterton, Ryan Whitaker Smith (was alright, not as good as I’d hoped… maybe I’ll appreciate it more next year)

Self-Improvement

• The Holy Bible* 💕 🎧 📖 

• Mindset, Carol Dwick 🎧📖 (a bit different the second time through… my perspective is different)

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey ♥️ 🎧 (need to read this again and apply what I learn!)

• A Bit of the World’s Work, Anne E. White (love Anne’s writing!!)

• Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius 🎧 (need others to “work through” this one with)

History- Non-American

• Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations, Norman Davies ♥️ 🎧 (2nd Davies book and I think he may be my favorite history author of late)

• History of Sweden, Captivating History 🎧 (interesting enough to learn about other Scandinavian countries)

• Little Book of Language, David Crystal 🎧 (I honestly don’t remember much of this one at all… oops)

• History of Norway, Captivating History 🎧 (interesting enough…)

• History of Denmark, Captivating History 🎧 (still interesting enough…)

  • extra: (The Anarchy: the East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire), William Dalrymple 🎧 just not going to get it finished in ‘24; good though!

Free Reads

• The Holy Bible 💕 🎧 📖 (nothing better)

• The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side, Agatha Christie 🎧 (Christie is just so good; I did figure whodunit fairly quickly)

• Peace Like a River, Leif Enger ♥️ 🎧 📖 (beautiful… lol but I know “haters gonna hate” 😆)

• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke 🎧 (what did I just read?! lol jk… it was very interesting but was confusing at first)

• Singing Silently, Ezra Manes (a surprise poetry Bahamas Little Free Library read!)

  • extra: The Ickabog, J. K. Rowling ♥️ 🎧 (really really liked this one!!)

• extra: The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean, Susan Casey 🎧 (so interesting! I am terrified of the ocean so learning about crushing depths gave me a wee bit of anxiety but I was so intrigued the whole time- our God has made such an amazing world!)

So now that I am planning for '25, I will take note of previous years' success/weakness and (hopefully) plan accordingly. I am using graph paper to keep track of my reading progress with each book, marking out so many boxes to represent the total page count per book. Each square will represent between 10-30 pages, depending on the book. I will fill in the box when I complete so many pages. It'll help me visualize my goal. 

I am also shopping from my shelves as much as possible this time around (I've said that before!). I had created a list of hopefuls at some point near the end of '24 but I seriously have no recollection of how I came across many of the titles and I didn't add author names either! How bizarre! (It is by no means the most bizarre thing I have found myself to have done...but anyway.) Most of that list I do not own so while I will keep it for reference, I decided on a whole new plan.

I always read history and education (and the Bible, which I didn't even add to this list because it's a given). The rest of the categories are usually flexible. 

Key: 📚= I own a physical copy; 

✅= library borrow/Hoopla; 

🅺= I own a Kindle copy; 

💻= online (might print)

          🎧= audiobook

           Books in bold are ones I've added since my original posting 12/30/24 

        (Books in parenthesis are books that fit more than one category)

History (Non-fiction)

• Bauer - History of the Ancient World (774 pp) 📚

• Bauer - History of the Medieval World (663 pp) 📚

• Bauer - History of the Renaissance World (678 pp) 📚

• Larson - The Splendid and the Vile (503 pp) 📚

• open

Education

• CM Vol. 4, Bk II - Ourselves (200 pp) 📚

• CM Vol. 3 - School Education (247 pp) 📚

• (Hicks - Norms and Nobility (157 pp) 📚)

• (Wiker & Witt - A Meaningful World (252) 📚)

• open

Nature/Seasons

• Gooley - The Secret World of Weather (332 pp) 📚

• Horvitz - Night Sky Tracker (111 pp) 📚

• Old Farmer's Almanac 2025 (256 pp) 📚

• Lehner - Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants, and Trees (124 pp) ✅

• Ignotofsky - The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth (121) 📚

Math

• Orlin - Math with Bad Drawings (345 pp) 📚

• Bellos - Here's Looking at Euclid (336 pp) 🅺

• open

• open

• open

Other

• Substack - Up to 5 articles per week (~260 pp) 💻

• Hawke - Rules of a Knight (175) 📚

• Gooch - Do Not Lose Heart (232) 📚

• (Ellul - Propaganda (352) 📚)

• Fleming - Casino Royale 🎧  ✅

Bookclub Reads

WLC

• Baehr - Wormwood Abbey (230 pp)  ✅ (Jan. 17, 2025) - finished 01/05/25

• Martin - Wrapped in Rain (336 pp)  ✅ (Feb. 21, 2025)

• Barr - The Making of Biblical Womanhood (256 pp)  ✅ Mar. 21, 2025)

• Dickens/Collins - No Thoroughfare (120 pp) 📚 (Apr. 25, 2025)

AO Forum

• Ellul - Propaganda (352 pp) 🅺 (TBA)

• Wiker/Witt - A Meaningful World (252 pp)  📚 (Jan. 6-Jun. 9, 2025) 

Sophie Sistership (Schole Sisters)

• Hicks - Norms and Nobility (157 pp) 📚

I am sure this list will change over the year but I am hopeful that at least these first books will be successfully read because they are ones that I really want to read. The Bookclub Reads are not ones of my choosing necessarily but I have committed to participate so I will do my best to follow through. It is kinda nice that I have hard timelines for those ones.

Here's to a great reading year! But more importantly may it be a year of reading widely, thinking deeply, and applying faithfully! 

These Truths (Lepore), The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth (Ignotofsky)

 It has been quite awhile since my last posting! Well, life happens. As the year wraps up, I am reminded of some of the goals I'd set for myself. One was that I would put down narrations from readings. I did not read a lot this year and most of what I did 'read' was audiobooks. My total was 29 books. Only a couple of those were simply to 'check off a box,' and even those were not ones that I wish I hadn't read. So the year didn't quite go the way I planned but here we are at the end and gearing up for the coming year.

I got books for Christmas! Not gift cards to buy books, but actual books that were on my wishlist. That is the best, I think. One of those will have a narration post today. The other books I will read next year so there will be postings from those then.

The first book is one that I came across from the Wildwood Curriculum (a secular Charlotte Mason curriculum that you can easily find by a search). I believe they have it listed in Form IV for American History. As I am an historian I immediately looked up Lepore's book These Truths. It is available from Hoopla as an audio so I started there while I waited for the hardcover to arrive at my local library. I am just finishing up chapter 3 in this narration, pages 100-108.

The second book is The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth by Rachel Ignotofsky. I happened across this book while at one of Charlotte Mason events I'd attended last year I believe. There are others formatted the same but this one caught my eye. It is a nice introduction to ecosystems and habitats, while being visually appealing. I would definitely include this in a library and schoolroom, at home or elsewhere. My narration is over pages 51-53.

But before I get going with those (or rather before you read those), would you be interested in the Substack account that I've set up? It's not quite narrations of readings, as it's got plenty of my own thinking penned down, but it might have other areas of interest. Right now I am writing through Huxley's Brave New World Re-visited. Perhaps I will see you there. 

And now, let's see what I have learned. 

One in five slaves left in search of freedom. One man renamed himself "British Freedom" and Yankee Doodle was rewritten in London.

Not many made it to the British lines. Many were returned and punished. One girl received 80 lashings and hot embers in the gashes. The British were thought to have the advantage and would win. They began with 30-some thousand troops compared to the 19,000 colonists, of which were untrained, a motley crew. Even though it seemed absurd that the colonists would win there were factors in their favor. Howe (British) focused on NY but as the colonies had no capital city to capture that would necessitate a surrender, it didn't really seem to matter. Also, Howe continually declined to follow through with successful campaigns which would have strained his own forces.

Added to this, the British were fighting on many fronts of its Empire. The colonies was just one of many and some felt the colonies were insignificant. The French-Indian War, which had also been fought in North America, spilled over elsewhere. In 1777 Howe captured Philly, but Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. This enabled Franklin (and other delegates) to secure a treaty with France. France joined as an ally with the colonists (and declared war on Britain?). Holland, as a supplier to the colonists, was seen as an enemy, so Britain declared war on Holland. At some point Spain joined in the fray. France's involvement meant a cessation of trade from the West Indies and Britain. This was devastating to the islands. One fifth of the slaves of the islands died. 

To the Americans, the war was a civil one, not a world war, between those who fought for independence and loyalists. It was estimated about 1/3 of the population was loyal to the Crown, another 1/3 undecided. But the writer supposes no one took into account the "loyalists" in the "whole" slave population and "nearly all" of the natives. The Brits seemed to always be waiting for that large loyalist group to materialize in each place instead of pressing their advantage of military numbers. They were trying to win the hearts and subdue the minds of America, but in this they failed. When they lost, it was more like they abandoned the colonies. 

When a peace commission convened at first the Crown was willing to compromise--until the colonists demanded recognition of their independence. At this time there were other factors the Crown thought to be of more importance: bolster the sugar islands. In order to do this the plan was to forget the north and middle colonies, focusing on keeping the southern colonies to resupply the islands. Clinton (British) captured Savannah, GA, in '78, with plans for Charleston, SC, next. At this Congress (America) suggested enlisting slaves to fight. But the South was having none of that! Clinton took Charleston in May '80.

In 1781, Cornwallis (British) stationed his troops at Yorktown. They were immediately besieged. He surrendered the same day the Brits sent reinforcements from New York to assist him. While the Brits lost in America, they defeated a French and Spanish fleet in the West Indies. Lepore says this suggests more about Britain's priorities than their weaknesses.

After the peace, loyalists were presented with the decision to go or stay. A mass exodus commenced. It was estimated that 1 in 40 people left with the British. The largest number was of ex-slaves: 15,000-20,000. Harry Washington, who had left George Washington seven years before, was one who boarded a ship for Nova Scotia. His name and over 2,000 others was written down in the "Book of Negroes."

60,000 Loyalists rushed to the British when Cornwallis surrendered. A vast number of people went to the places where the British were in hopes of catching a ride out of the colonies. More than 1/2 who sailed from Charleston were slaves. The black soldiers who's served under Cornwallis made their way to the harbor to catch a British warship waiting for evacuees. Of the many died before reaching their destination. Many were also recaptured. 

Once in New York, Charleston, or Savannah, those hoping to escape--talking primarily of slaves or blacks now--there was still the possibility of capture. One man wrote in his memoirs that blacks were afraid to sleep because they'd heard others had been pulled from their beds. The Book of Negroes, mentioned previously, had been ordered by Washington so slave owners could sue for compensation of lost property later. Even though there were guards and patrols to stop the people, some jumped from the docks and swam to the longboats. Some Brits tried to hack off the fingers of those who wouldn't let go of the sides. 

The Revolution was both radical and conservative regarding the institution of slavery. Unfortunately it failed miserably to meet the challenge of ending it. Lafayette suggested to Washington that they join together to end slavery. Washington was receptive to the idea. 

In 1783 James Madison was faced with a conundrum. What to do with Billey? Billey was born in 1759 and had been Madison's property since. However, in '77 there was a PA law that stated a child born to a slave woman after March 1, 1780, would be free after 28-years of slavery. But then in '82, VA passed an abolition law allowing owners to free their slaves. Not many did. 

Because of the PA '80 abolition law, Madison couldn't sell Billey. He couldn't force him to go with him anywhere else either because it wasn't clear if legally he had the right. Madison felt that Billey was exposed to much that would have made him unfit company for other slaves. (He was thought to have a "mind thoroughly tainted.") Madison could have been sneaky and smuggled Billey for selling further south. But Madison's conscience wouldn't allow this either. He did sell Billey, into indentured servitude, after which Billey changed his name, married, and worked as a merchant's agent.

Others were not so fortunate. Harry Washington had gone to Nova Scotia with a large group of other free blacks. But there was strife in the community of slaves, whites, and free blacks. Soon the whites were attacking the free blacks, stealing their land and many free blacks were forced to part with belongings, down to their last blankets to buy the most meagre of rations. Some dropped dead in the streets of hunger. Some ate their cats and dogs.

The peace treaty of '83 granted independence and sovereignty to the United States. The US agreed to make good on all debts to British creditors. France and Spain were largely ignored in the treaty. Britain was left with an empire very different than at the start of the revolution. 

The terms of peace cut the number of slaves in the British empire in half, so that the anti-slavery movement gained more traction there. The opposite was true in America. Slave owners in the South began to gain more political power in the US, while those in the West Indies lost theirs. The islands were forbidden to trade with the US causing riots. The freed slaves from the colonies had gone to other places and were now demanding rights, such as the vote and representation. So while America's revolution challenged empire, it also brought to light a political and moral critique of slavery. It was felt more deeply in Britain than in the US. 

George Washington rode into New York to see the Stars & Stripes flying where just hours before it had been the British flag. Later that night Washington gave 13 toasts. Some of there were:

"To the memory of the heroes who have fallen for our freedom."

"May America be an asylum to the persecuted of the world."

"May the remembrances of the day be a lesson to princes."

England would have no slaves; America, no king. 

Asia

Asia is the largest continent on earth with a diversity of ecosystems. It holds deserts and wetlands. In the south are the monsoons with extreme rainfall and in the north is Siberia--a frozen tundra. Many mountains are found in Asia, the Himalayas being the world's highest. The mountains block wind currents and cause varied climates across Central and Southeast Asia. The mountains are also a barrier or wall for animal migration.

Asia was the home of the Cradle of Civilization such as the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley in India and the Yangtze River Valley in China. As people increased farming, they changed the landscape around them. With the population increase there was also an increase in inventions, creativity, and people were able to spend less time farming and more time thinking and creating. This led to inventions such as the wheel, irrigation, mathematics, record keeping, and domestication of animals. Asia is the most populated continent.

Ecosystem of the Northeast Siberian Taiga

The Land of Little Sticks or The Sleeping Land were the first names for the cold, dry and seemingly endless forest of Siberia in northern Russia. It is one of the oldest unaltered forests of its kind in the world.  The temperatures are extreme--down to -70F--with very little snowfall. Summers are warm but brief--highs of 60F. The cold temperatures mean the animals are some of the world's furriest! The lynx and brown bear, along with hares, make up some of the animals. 

Siberia butts up to the Arctic Circle and the ground has been frozen for millennia. This permafrost makes it almost impossible to farm! But with global warming, the permafrost has been melting--for the first time. Melting permafrost means released carbon and methane gases that had been trapped in the ice for millennia. These gases contribute even more to global warming. 

The forests have remained largely untouched and they have been able to do what they do best: release oxygen into the atmosphere. 

Many of the rocks in Siberia are volcanic and very very old. 

Worldwide, taiga biomes make up about 17% of the earth's surface. 

There are over 300 different species of birds that visit Siberia in the summer; only about 30 species stick around! 

There is a crater caused by the melting permafrost that locals say is a gateway to the underworld because of the strange noises from it. Batagaika Crater. 

Melting permafrost is exposing fossil remains of wooly mammoths as well as ancient bacteria. 

The forest is a year-round carbon sink, ridding the atmosphere of excessive CO2. It is also rich in mineral resources such as coal, iron, fossil fuels, and gold. 

Greatest threat: Global warming is melting the permafrost; releasing excess gases that add to the problem. Over logging, without replanting, threatens the benefits of this ecosystem. Coal mining and fur trapping also threatens the animals and ecosystem. 

A Note on the Teaching of School Science (1928)

 Another from the Parents' Review Articles 'archive' - still working on the subject of science. 

Over at the AmblesideOnline Forum we are reading through some of the Parents' Review Articles. 

The article that we are planning to read/discuss is "A Note on the Teaching of School Science" from 1928. Come over and participate in the conversation!

The article is fairly short, only taking a few minutes to read. I've recorded it as well. You can find it here. 

A Mesh (or Mess) of Ideas

 Where do I start to explain this meshing of ideas happening in my mind? Well, here are the reads/listens that have encouraged this post (not in order of appearance):

• A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman (for the Grow Up challenge with Schole Sisters)
• Ourselves by Charlotte Mason
• The Art of Manliness episodes: "The Real Reason You Procrastinate" and "Social Skills as the Road to Character"
• Character is Destiny by Russell W. Gough
• Humilitas by John Dickson
• Schole Sisters episode: "Empathy is Bad for Your Kids"

Other than Gough's and Dickson's books, the others I have read/listened to recently or am reading/listening to now. Honestly, I've not fleshed out how these all play together, or what the theme is, but "personality" is something I am encountering at every turn. There have been a myriad of definitions of personality and just as many opinions about those definitions. 

But honestly, what's personality got to do with it anyway? 

I'm terrible at defining my terms but it is important to be sure I am thinking along the same lines as others when trying to work through the ideas they present. This is one thing for which I am very thankful to Mystie Winckler of the Schole Sisters (or you might know her at Simply Convivial). She always demands that we define our terms. Sometimes what one person thinks a word or idea 'means' is quite different than how they are using it.

Personality: a characteristic way of feeling, thinking, and behaving (Britannica); individual differences in patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving (American Psychological Association); traits and thought patterns (Psych Central)

To this I add my definition of "personality": "the state of being a person, with the common attributes known to be exhibited by people, in general, having character and intelligence." Although I understand that some people would say that is "personhood." Personhood is the legal definition of what is considered a person. Since the government seems to think they can make decisions about everything, I might change my definition to: "the legal status of being a person, with the common attributes to be exhibited by people, in general, having character and intelligence." But that does open a whole 'nother can of worms, does it not?

Character: the combination of mental characteristics and behavior that distinguishes a person or group; distinguishing nature of something; moral strength (American Heritage Dictionary); the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing (Dictionary.com); the good qualities of a person that usually include moral or emotional strength, honesty, and fairness (Britannica)


It would seem that 'personality' and 'character' are almost the same thing.

Nerve: courage that allows you to do something dangerous, difficult, or frightening; the rude attitude of someone who says or does things that make other people angry or upset (Britannica); the power of endurance or control (Merriam-Webster)

Intelligence: the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations (Merriam-Webster)

Those are the ones that come to mind right away with my trying to wrestle with the above-mentioned reads/listens. 

As I think about personality, character, nerve, and intelligence, different theories of how people learn and behave come to mind. Multiple Intelligence theory (Gardner) and one I've found more recently called Big Five Personality traits (Goleman) remind me of my college days' learning. I am sure there was much I let pass me by but tailoring the teaching and material to the students was something that was very pushed. It is very interesting however that the ideas and agenda pushed were not tailored to the students. (Oh, that's another can of worms.) 

But honestly, what's personality got to do with it anyway?

If we know how a person is, their preferred syle of learning, their preferred mode of communication, their this-or-that, and tailor our way of doing things to suit them, how does that benefit them? Or us? And, what about our personality? What if their way is contrary to our way? Should we simply put our foot down and say, "hey, I don't like that so you need to do it differently"? Do we put our 'differences' aside and work through it? Should they have to cater to our way of doing things?

We all have preferences and some things will bother us more than others. But at what point is it okay to either let our preferences have the right-of-way (or the only way) or someone else's to dictate what we do?

This is the meshing of ideas from all of those readings/listenings: we all need to realize that we are people who are all in this together. In whatever situation we find ourselves in, we have to work together. There is no point when one person's 'personality' should take center stage to dictate to everyone else how things are to be done, because it will not be necessarily the best for everyone, or the situation.

I really want to think more about the idea of 'coddling' (aka: negative empathy) based on those preferences and its effect on relationships but I think that'll come as I read more of Friedman's book. Also, none of the links I put in earlier have stuck so if you just do some googling you'll easily find what I've referenced here in terms of reads and listens.

Sovietistan (Turkmenistan)

 Today's post will be what a lot of my posts will be like unless I am somehow able to finish an entire book very quickly. That does not happen very often. (This was originally penned in June.)

This book is called Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland and I am listening to it on audio. I have the ebook on my phone as well but I've not actually used it. One reason I decided to start this blog was so that I could write down what I'm hearing. There is a higher tendency for me to space out while I'm listening to a book than when I'm reading one, but time is short (I drive a lot) and the reading simply doesn't get done. 

But I digress. 

The start of the book, as I recall, is an introduction of the author into what I will call, though I do not recall if she does, the 'Stans. She is a journalist but in order to get into these places she has been granted a student visa. She's a bit paranoid (albeit probably justifiably) of authority figures in the areas she is visiting. The start though is in a place where there is a crater that continues to burn. I believe it is called the Gates of Hell. (An obvious issue with listening rather than reading, the names may not be at all like you think they are.)

At one time gas was discovered in this particular area and that was a great thing. The necessary companies became coming in to get it all set up to 'mine' and therefore profit from the gas. Apparently the ground opened up and the process had to be halted. The escaping gas was horrid for the locals; smelly and I'm guessing just generally unsafe. The decision was made to burn it off so that the gas wouldn't continue to leak out. Well, that was close to 50 years ago! The whole town was evacuated as well but it was because they didn't want tourists coming in to gawk at the burning hole. 

There are maps in the physical (and digital) books, which is great for this type of book. But I didn't have that when I was listening. 

She recounts her adventure getting to the 'Stans. At the airport in Istanbul many people ask her to carry packages or their luggage for her. She pretends not to understand them and finally she is told the reason she's being asked by just about everyone. There is a limit on luggage/packages that can be brought by each individual. But these people go to other places, buy lots of stuff, and bring it back to their own place to sell. Apparently women stuff things in their dresses and people tape stuff to their bodies. 

Just about everything sold in Turkmenistan was brought from Turkey.

The states that Erika will visit and detail are ones that were created after the fall of the USSR in 1991. I guess it's probably better called 'dissolution' than fall as it's still there, unlike the Ottoman Empire. Anyway, each of the states she'll visit were made independent for the first time in their histories. 

I'll have to come back to add more later. 

Art Training in the Nursery (1890/91)

 As I will be speaking on Art for Set Your Feet 2023, I am scouring the Parents' Review Articles for any and all things related. I had come across an article regarding nursery artwork years ago but this one I had not read. I think this is helpful for those who focus on the picture study so much that they neglect the instruction of drawing. Granted, Mrs. Steinthal is talking about starting children young with instruction in drawing, but the appreciation for good art should be presented from their very beginning. 

Mrs. Steinthal doesn't take a lot of time on the "how" of training (she doesn't set out a lesson plan here) but gives good advice for those who don't want to be lamenting later that their kids don't want to participate in art making. Start 'em young, she says! Give them things that they care about to draw and paint- their toys are excellent pieces to begin with. We all like when we create something that resembles reality (or even just what we had envisioned) and kids even more so, I think. 

In the nursery, in the entire house really, good art needs to be chosen; not an over abundance of it. It doesn't need to be overwhelming, just worthy. 

I love the example of the three-year-old who commented on the complementary colors in the painting of "The Betrothal of the Virgin" by Lorenzo di Viterlo! 

Source for image.

Recording of this article.

Cultural Value of Science (1920)

Over at the AmblesideOnline Forum we are reading through some of the Parents' Review Articles. 

The first article that we are planning to read/discuss (2023) is Cultural Value of Science from 1920. Come over and participate in the conversation!

I have recorded this in sections for those who would like to hear, perhaps while you read. (I am very much an amateur at recording.) 

Section 1 recording 

Section 2 recording 

Section 3 recording