It's a Classical Life

  Hi all, and welcome back! This week's 'oldie but a goodie' Bitesize Inspiration comes from Charlotte Mason. If you don't know about Mason she was a British educator who dedicated her life to improving the role of education in children's lives in the nineteenth century. So much of what she believed and endeavoured to teach has been lost in our modern school system (at least from what I've seen in over seventeen years of teaching!) This quote is at the heart of her belief of what education should be - an atmosphere, a discipline, a life. Let's have a quick look at each of these. Atmosphere refers to the environment in which we learn. This can be the school environment, but also the atmosphere at home and the attitude towards learning. Education shouldn't just refer to those thirteen years of registered learning - it should be a part of our whole lives (see here for my thoughts on being a lifelong learner). Discipline isn't about punishment and cruel...

  Hello all! Welcome back and I'm so glad that you have taken time out of your busy lives to pop in here. This week has been a bit hectic in our house. The weather has gone from hot to cold almost overnight, bringing it with it a range of seasonal illnesses. I'm not sure what it is about October, but we always get tummy bugs! The forecast shows the weather climbing back up next week - I hope so! I'm ready to pull out summer dresses and put away jackets and woollens! How is it where you are? I love seeing all the beautiful autumn scenes on social media at this time of year - nature that good makes anyone a good photographer! I wanted to share a poem with you today that I read years ago but saw again recently on Cheryl's Frugal Corner blog. I love blogs that still share inspiration and ideas, and don't rely on YouTube or other social media to get their message out. Reading things (in case you hadn't realised by now), is my favourite way of accessing information a...

Welcome back to It's a Classical Life! Recently I read Jane Austen's  Northanger Abbey  and loved it. I was surprised, however, to see how low it rated on many other classic-lit lovers Jane Austen lists, often trailing behind the widely popular  Pride and Prejudice  or  Emma . The reason I loved the book so much was mostly because of the main character, Catherine Morland, a heroine in her own eyes (and in mine too!) I felt that Catherine really held her own against some of the other more dominating characters, and her love of reading was definitely a bonus for me! Northanger Abbey  has also been referred to as Austen's own tribute to books and reading, and I think the beautiful character of Catherine Morland reflects this. She is the perfect character to bring the books that she reads to life - in turn bringing  Northanger Abbey  to life for us. Her imagination is wondrous, and her young life allows her to experience everything through the lens...

  Hi there! Thanks for stopping in here today. Sometimes I am at a loss for what to post here, simply because I feel that so many other writers have already commented on the things that I want to comment on. Sometimes I feel like I am repeating myself with my quest for simple living, joy at home, contentment in everyday life, and being inspired by the classics. Sometimes I just think I need to take a step back and not keep pushing myself to write or produce something new. The last thing I want for this blog is be redundant and repetitive. No-one gains inspiration from that!  Serenity, inner-peace, true contentment, whatever we want to call it as at the heart of Lao Tzu's quote this week. This quote, like so many others that I like to inspire me here, can be taken a number of ways. I won't go into them here, but I'd love to hear how this quote speaks to you. Is it calling you to switch off, and be present once your working hours are done? Is it reminding you that some thin...

  When looking at the definition of a proverb, the term short or pithy is often included; as in, a short, pithy piece of advice or general truth. Proverbs can be found in all cultures, and have been around for millennia. Most of these general truths are based in the truths of the culture from which they come. Today's Bitesize Inspiration is an Italian proverb (and the image is one taken from my trip to Venice in 2004) and one that tickles my fancy.  The Italians are famous world-wide for their high-quality shoe making skills so to think that many a pair of shoes is worn out between saying and doing implies that we are great at the ideas, less so at the execution of ideas. I know a few people who are really good at coming up with ideas, but expect others to see them through. I also know people who are happy to be the action people, as long as they don't have to come up with the ideas (being the meal planner and then actually making the meals is the first idea that...