CMP Review 2026-04-30

April 30, 2026

Not every kid in the co-op makes it to every class. Not everyone makes time for everything. But there is one class that no one misses. Every one of every eligible age is there. No one is late. No one is inattentive. From the youngest to oldest, everyone has something to narrate. Everyone has something to take away.

I listened with fascination this past weekend at the Natural State Charlotte Mason Retreat. What was this prince of offerings that was the highpoint of the children’s day? Shakespeare perhaps? Or some exciting traveler’s tale?

Plutarch.

The attendees at the breakout session all breathed a collective gasp of disbelief. Plutarch was to be feared, to be endured, to be overcome. Was it too hard for some? No, said our teacher. Was it difficult to generate interest? No. Do you live in some different world? No, I’m right here with you.

“The father of Plutarch had him learn his Homer that he might get heroic ideas of life,” wrote Charlotte Mason. “Had the boy been put through his Homer as a classical grind, as a machine for the development of faculty, a pedant would have come out, and not a man of the world in touch with life at many points, capable of bringing men and affairs to the touchstone of a sane and generous mind.”

How interesting. If we make Plutarch some kind of grind, what do you think we will get out? But what if Plutarch is a door to heroic ideas of life? Why then, there is standing room only.

Our breakout session teacher was Dr. Larry Hunt. I wish I could sit in on one of his classes at the co-op. I need heroic ideas of life too.

@artmiddlekauff

Dr. Hunt’s Conversations on Character Plutarch Courses are available at Simply Charlotte Mason.