The Prince and the Pauper is a long-ago case of mistaken identity set in Britain’s glorious crown London, in what we in nowadays-America would call the suburbs. A poor boy (Tom Canty) and a rich boy (Prince Edward Tudor) exchange garments and lives for what they think will be a few vain, fleeting hours that […]
THE KEY TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE The most practical reason for Latin study is that it also teaches English. Over half of our English words are derived from Latin—and it’s not just any half, it’s the difficult half! The common one- and two-syllable words of everyday speech are English, but the big, three- to five-syllable […]
Letter from The Editor Winter 2021: Two Stories When my wife and I visit my mother and stepfather, we often duck out to go for a walk in nearby Holton, a beautiful old town that lies on the prairie in eastern Kansas. We park along the street, walk the neighborhoods, and then poke around in […]
Cheryl Swope: Andrew, you have devoted much of your adult life to classical education. Why? Andrew: When I started, it was because I smelled something beautiful. It sang to me. I thought, “That makes sense. That’s the kind of education I want for my children.” I think you could say I pursued classical education on […]
Written years ago on April 24, just after Michael & Michelle turned thirteen. We rose on schedule, accomplished our morning jobs, and began schooling at 8:25 a.m., as is our custom. I gave an overview of our day and week with our visual schedule and calendar. I read our daily Bible lesson as my children […]
The first race I ever trained for was a marathon. I was twenty years old and had never run more than a mile in my life. I simply needed an outlet—and a goal to make progress toward. Running became my conduit for stress relief. At the time, my uncle was an active runner and marathon […]
Letter from The Editor Winter 2021 C. S. Lewis says, “the right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments.” How do we inculcate just sentiments in our children’s minds? In our own minds? We can do this with good books. Good books impart just sentiments and soothe parched thinking. It is said that […]
The American writer Flannery O’Connor spoke a simple but profound truth when she said that “a story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way. … You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate.” The great fairy tales and fantasy stories capture the meaning of morality through vivid […]
What is more wondrous than fairy tales? Or more dangerous? What can we learn from how a nation regards its legacy of fairy tales? Far from being fanciful stories to entertain a child, fairy tales offer sophisticated narratives cloaked in layers of symbolism and filled with nuanced or direct reflections of a culture’s fears, values, […]
In addition to the people, the books in my house are my treasures. Our books aren’t rare or collectible. We usually buy paperbacks. The titles vary wildly; they run the gamut from Hop on Pop to City of God. I have a habit of hoarding favorites. I own several copies of my daily devotional because […]