I’ve had a lovely correspondence with a new blog-friend, Melissa of WhatKnot. (Do stop by her blog and take in her beautiful photos of her kids and her crafts, and her charming way with words.) In an exchange of emails about homeschooling, Melissa pointed out that many people who homeschool (including me) seem to have [...]

Somewhere along the way, I inherited my grandmother’s button box. I don’t think I originally appreciated it as much as I do now. My grandmother (I assume) made it from an old cigar box. She covered it with lots of beautiful buttons, and painted it in matte black paint. There are buttons missing in spots [...]

Or: How about a post on writing? One of my essays has now been rejected four times. It’s a piece about a trip we took to Spain a few years back, a piece about how travel abroad can bring out the most beastly behavior in children–with actual examples of my children’s beastliness. It’s also about [...]

Today’s wonderings brought to you courtesy of Mr. T. Is being an ice cream man a good job? Is Mr. Tdore Roosevelt dead? How did John McCain fight big tobacco? Do ants have pupils? Is George Bush a Democrat or a Republican?  I wonder what it would be like to turn your skin inside out. [...]

Well, we are just ripping along with the 100-Species Challenge. At this rate, we’ll get to our 100th species about 75 months from now, which puts us at the beginning of 2015. That’s actual statistics, not hyperbole. I’ll try to do better. This was a fun one though, so I thought I’d share it here. [...]

At the homeschool conference, I went to several sessions with Catherine Levinson, a Charlotte Mason speaker. She had a lot to say about cultivating habits in kids. Apparently Charlotte was a big believer in cultivating habit. The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days.—Charlotte [...]