How many songs do you still know from high school? The old band – cooler than ice cream in its day – revs up the radio and you’re right back, lyrics sure after all these years. Which is why Holistic Boy learns a lot of things through music. He had the optional challenge of memorizing… Read More Exodus
After going through my posts on the writing process, blogger Kevin commented that I seem to “write with intent rather than for ‘mere’ expression.” A lot of his poetry arose from the fun of it and the wish to express himself in a particular way. He also asked if I always analyze what I read, if… Read More Calling All Artists, Thinkers, Writers
At seven-and-a-half, Tennyson memorized the first seven verses of John 1 in Latin and English in the homeschooling with Classical Conversations, a global home education program based on the ancient Classical model of learning. I set each text to song and he downed them like dessert. In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum,… Read More Long Live Latin
Your toe broke through the sole. We peeped into a row of run-down restaurants for a new shoe and then stood beneath the eaves, watching cloudburst pound the pavement. I cradled you — seven years tall. I would carry you in the rain. You grew a few years smaller in my arms before slipping into… Read More Carry You In The Rain
I couldn’t resist this post. Five-year-olds memorized facts in seven subject areas along with 1) the names of all the U.S. presidents 2) 24 verses of a chapter from the book of Ephesians and 3) enjoyed hands-on explorations in science, art, and music. Middle and high schoolers also wrote papers, redrew the map of the… Read More We Underestimate The Human Brain
I was about 23, teaching 5th grade in a diverse Philadelphia public school. Hailstones and Halibut Bones, the beautiful book of color poetry that inspires kids out of mediocre writing, sparked lovely poems in my own students. (It is the most recent edition that offers vibrant pictures). The contagious delight the kids took playing with… Read More The Writing Process, Part 4: Sensory Details
I’m not asking Hamlet’s existential question. To be or not to be? To live or kill myself? It’s literal grammar. To eat –> She eats. To dance –> She dances. To be –> She be. She is. The verb TO BE conjugates, or breaks down, into the form is when referring to a singular third… Read More The Writing Process, Part 3: To Be or Not To Be
A Holistic Journey 