The CMP Review — Week of December 29
December 29, 2025
I switched over my planner for 2026 and felt that little spark of excitement that comes with the clean slate of a new year. After 7 years with the Jibun Techo B6 Slim, that fresh start feeling never gets old. Every year when I order my planner, I toss in a new pen to hit free shipping and this time I got a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen. The little happy face on the nib makes me smile every time I uncap it. Happy planning!@tessakeath
December 30, 2025
The Charlotte Mason method began with home education. In Mason’s own lifetime, of course, it expanded to reach governesses, tutors, teachers in small private schools, and finally classes in state schools. But throughout this evolution and expansion, the home schoolroom was never forgotten.
Among my favorite Parents’ Review articles are the occasional pieces by mothers and fathers who taught their children themselves. As they share their real-world hints and practical experiences, I feel more connected with a tradition that is more than a century old.
One such article is a 1923 piece by a mother named Mrs. Thompson. Her “Hints for Home Schoolrooms” are as applicable now as they were in her time. The world has changed and some of the practical details have changed, but the principles have not. Read or hear hints for today from one of our own here.
@artmiddlekauff
December 31, 2025
2025 brought us a plethora of newly published vintage and original articles, recorded talks from our friends, new resources, as well as the 10-year anniversary of Charlotte Mason Poetry!
Thank you so much for being with us in 2025. We look forward to serving you in 2026.
The Charlotte Mason Poetry Team
January 1, 2026
When I finished college, I was so glad to be done that I thought I would never set foot in a school again. I was ready to be working, and I figured that anything I still needed could be picked up on the job.
My discovery of Charlotte Mason gradually awakened in me a love of knowledge. I’ve tasted and seen that knowledge is good. Would I want to go back to school? Certainly there are many things I would like to study. But life and responsibilities are different now, making such options seem not so realistic.
But a younger man — he could go back to school. He could get a master’s degree. He could take advantage of this season of life. That is, unless he has grown weary of learning, weary of knowledge, weary of school.
Thankfully my son had the will to do what I didn’t — to get his second degree. A few weeks ago I got to watch his commencement. Today marks the beginning of a new year. What does it have in store for the new graduate? And what does it have in store for you?
@artmiddlekauff
January 2, 2026
Any puzzlers out there?
We have two Brambly Hedge puzzles and they are exceedingly sweet. (Sweeter still to put it together with grandma.)
Let’s make a list of literary inspired jigsaw puzzles, for those who wish to combine the two loves of 📚 and 🧩
@antonella.f.greco
January 3, 2026
Can you guess this little beauty by its markings?
@rbaburina
January 4, 2026
The final poem that Charlotte Mason wrote for “The Saviour of the World” was (as far as we know) a meditation on the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Mason’s vision had been to write eight volumes of poetry covering the entire Gospel History. She made it as far as Matthew 20:16 in her incomplete seventh volume. I wish she had made it farther, but I find in this a sobering reminder that our time to work is limited. Her final poem is fitting:
He found you idle in the market-place,
Early or late, what mattered to His grace?
He bade you to His vineyard, gave employ,
And named the wages each one should enjoy
Charlotte Mason was bidden to Christ’s vineyard and given an employ. Perhaps an earlier start would have meant more poems. But what does that matter to His grace? I am thankful for the poems we do have, and I hope that you will use them in your homeschool and in your devotional life, to the glory of God in Christ.
Find her final poem here.
@artmiddlekauff
🖼️: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard by Johann Christian Brand