The Bibliovore's Wife

Which do you have more of, intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? What motivates you to learn and to educate yourself? In Charlotte Mason education, intrinsic motivation attached to inborn curiosity is the  focus, while teachers' "talky-talky" is kept to a minimum and grades are omitted in place of continuing with the content until each child masters it. She also says that " all education is self-education ." How does that work with adults who are done with formal school but not done with learning? In our family, both sides have historically been self-educators who never stopped reading for pleasure and knowledge no matter how much formal schooling we completed (which was a lot). This year, for the Bibliovore, wife, and Eldest, here's what we did to self-educate! (Next week, I'll share my complete reading list from this year.) The Bibliovore's Self-Education His focus areas this year have been the autism spectrum, generative AI, and, continually, history...

Around this time of year, sometimes a month or two earlier, one tends to run across resource lists or resource guides for celebrating holidays in a particular fashion. At least two of my neighbors had Christmas trees up a full month ago, and many others tossed carved or whole pumpkins to the curb starting in late September. I'm a more church-year kind of girl, and decided to use an older sense of " resource " for this post. There are zero specific product recommendations (at least those that require purchase). I hope you enjoy the ideas! Cross-posted to my Substack . Atmosphere of the Home If you scan this post, you might notice that I took a line from Charlotte Mason  in designing my headings. In our household, we've started home education before finding out we were autistic and also well before Child gets old enough to "attend" school. I'm also a second-generation homeschooler, with at least 2 family members likely on the spectrum, so I have some  expe...

I hope you enjoyed last week's post  that pairs well with this one. The background research and thinking ideas over for my upcoming book is continuing to go slowly but surely. This post is the second one specifically addressing my target audience, neurodiverse Christian homeschoolers. The fundamental question I am asking and (hopefully) answering: what should a mother read to prepare for this venture? Neurodiversity in Women Compared to men, women are diagnosed  with ADHD or autism spectrum disorders later in life and often initially with mental health conditions. Many symptoms present differently, and possible differences in masking due to neurobiology and socialization mean that women might not suspect a neurodiverse condition until later. While I don't have a diagnosed case of autism, all the signs point that way. How did I come to suspect that's the case? The Bibliovore had long known of one neurodiverse diagnosis and suspected autism as a second. Most of the traits tha...

As of the writing of this post (about a month in advance of publication), I've just completed the "book" prereading I've set myself for the upcoming book! There's a lot more research and thought to be done, but the foundation is there. This post is the first one dealing specifically with my target audience, neurodiverse Christian homeschoolers. The fundamental question I am asking and (hopefully) answering: what should a father read to prepare for this venture? Neurovidersity in Adulthood One key term in this discussion is neurodiversity--originated in the 1990s or a bit earlier by high-functioning autistics (think Asperger syndrome as an approximation). The intent was to de-stigmatize autism and enable those in society to be more aware of the strengths of an autistic brain. A more recent term, intended to be both broader and more accommodating of the possibility that autism may be much more common than previously thought, is neurominority. According to  Ortega 20...

Depending on the time of life, this post's topic is either my favorite or my least favorite! Grammar and composition, specifically in English, was my least favorite subject growing up and being homeschooled--but it has grown enough so that I was able and happy to use it in part-time work for several years during college, in the academic resource centers at two different institutions. Because I didn't  like it when I was going through the childhood-era education years, I'm putting this post toward the end of my homeschooling-thoughts series. You can check out previous posts in the series here:  health education ,  life sciences ,  history ,  geography , math , and foreign language . Here's a related tidbit about my upcoming book: one of the later chapters will address how neurodiverse parents can address practical skills instruction if they're not necessarily strong in those skills themselves. In parents with autism spectrum disorder, language skills can be impai...

Hello, and welcome to another post in my homeschooling-thoughts series for all K-12 subjects! As you might remember, I've been exploring subject-specific home education strategies on this blog in 2024. Especially in toddler years (Child #1), one can set up children for success in later work by nurturing their love of learning and discovery, as well as being mindful of the destination ahead (a well-rounded, well-educated mind in a healthy body, mens sana in corpore sano ). This week, I will explore foreign language education, which I have a tiny bit of experience in but not that recently. Here are links to my other posts on  health education ,  life sciences ,  history , geography , and math . First, though, I wanted to give you a heads-up about the 2025 blogging theme --I am in the early stages of researching for a new book! The general topic will be homeschooling strategies for Christian parents who are themselves neurodiverse. More to come . . . Basics In my years of b...

Welcome to another post in my homeschooling-thoughts series! As you may remember, I've been exploring subject-specific home education strategies on the blog in 2024. Even in toddler years (Child #1), one can set up children for success in later work by nurturing their love of learning and discovery, as well as being mindful of the destination ahead (a well-rounded, well-educated mind in a healthy body). This week, I will explore one of my weaker subjects, geography. Here are links to my other posts on  health education ,  life sciences , history , and geography . Basic Background for Mathematics Sources for this section inclue 3 glossaries ( ThoughtCo ,  Math is Fun ,  Story of Mathematics ) and Encyclopedia  Britannica . I know I'm trying to summarize an impossibly large amount of information in an impossibly small space, but I'll try anyway. General Areas and Some Terms According to the encyclopedia, mathematics is "the science of structure, order, and relatio...

I've been exploring subject-specific home education strategies on the blog in 2024. Child #1 won't start formal homeschooling for a few years, but I love being prepared! Even in toddler years, one can set up children for success in later work by nurturing their love of learning and discovery, as well as being mindful of the destination ahead (a well-rounded, well-educated mind in a healthy body). This week, I will explore one of my weaker subjects, geography. Here are links to my other posts on  health education ,  life sciences , and history . As with history, geography is an area in which I feel weaker in knowledge and understanding. That's part of the beauty of homeschooling, especially when one spouse has knowledge and interest in areas in which the other is lacking. The Bibliovore has a thoroughly historical mindset and thus a decent grasp of geography (see below). I, meanwhile, have more of a STEM mindset. I look forward to learning about non-STEM areas along with our...

Throughout the remainder of this year, I will be continuing a series of posts on home education in various subjects required by or related to those required by the state we currently reside in. As I said in an earlier post, this is partly to develop my own homeschooling philosophy and specific ideas via writing, and partly sharing some toddler-appropriate ideas and visions that may be of help to you. This post is on history education, focusing on how to sequence said education in the K-12 age range. Earlier posts in this series are on  health education  and  life sciences . Check out this page also on characteristics of a historical  mindset . Some Historical Vocabulary Last year, I stumbled across  The Homeschool Historian . The objective of this blog/website is to provide good-quality, ideologically neutral (as possible!) historical educational materials and information developed by a Christian with substantial historical training. I am appreciative of her app...