The CMP Review — Week of September 28

September 28, 2026

“We may never see the result, but the little seed will take root and grow one day into a great tree—a tree that may be for the healing of the nations.” (V. M. Hood, “Reading in the Nursery”, PR28)

@tessakeath

September 29, 2026

It is one thing to read about how lessons are conducted in the Charlotte Mason method. It is another thing to witness a demonstration. It is one thing to see a demonstration by teachers who have studied Miss Mason’s writings. It is another thing to see a demonstration by a teacher who was trained by Miss Mason herself.

In 1915 just such demonstration lessons took place. The occasion was the 19th annual PNEU Conference. Although we can’t go back and watch them today, we have the next best thing: first-hand accounts by the House of Education students who taught the lessons. Over the next few months we plan to release those narratives.

The first was for the youngest students — of age “about six.” And the teacher was one of Charlotte Mason’s first House of Education students, Winnie Kitching, sister of Mason’s celebrated assistant Elsie. Read or hear her retrospective here.

@artmiddlekauff

September 30, 2026

Norman Rockwell holds a special place in my heart. My grandparents had a large print of The Farmer Takes a Ride hanging in their farmhouse, along with stacks of The Saturday Evening Post. We would pore over Rockwell’s illustrations, which were so full of detail that they were almost like a “seek and find.”

As an adult, our family lived next to the Norman Rockwell Museum, and my kids and I often visited his studio, where we even met some of his former neighbors and models.

This is one of those books I didn’t even know existed until I stumbled upon it in an antique shop. It’s toe-curling good, filled with anecdotes spanning the illustrator’s lifetime. Rockwell shares his working methods—including the color he always used for underpainting, Mars Violet—and what he gleaned from famous portraitists such as John Singer Sargent. He also writes candidly about his regrets and failings as a man, including a period when he and his wife partied too much, as well as his brushes with celebrities such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. His is not a rose-colored view of the past, but I found myself longing for some of the manners and sensibilities of the world he inhabited.

It’s a warm, candid, and charming self-portrait—and such a happy find.

@rbaburina

October 1, 2026

Over the years I have opened hundreds of Parents’ Review and PNEU Journal issues. What makes this one different?

All those years I was in one of two libraries — the Armitt Museum & Library, or the Library of Congress. Each time I was grateful for those two wonderful institutions. Each time I was grateful for the journals and articles I saw. Each time I felt that special joy of seeing an original copy of the journal Miss Mason founded. And each time, I had to leave.

Recently, however, a friend sent me a set of L’Umile Pianta and PNEU Journal issues from the latter years of the PNEU. (If you are reading this, friend, THANK YOU!) Among the set is the February 1985 issue of the PNEU Journal. A special issue indeed.

What makes this issue so special? It contained the book review of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake, which had been published the year before. The review, entitled “A Philosophy of Education Restated,” was written by Doreen Russo, a graduate of the Charlotte Mason College (formerly the House of Education).

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book launched the modern Charlotte Mason movement. But it was not a hard reboot. So many providential touches link Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s work with all that went before. Olive Norton’s school. The Joan Molyneux interview.

And this. The historic statement of Doreen Russo (CMT). “In her book Mrs Macaulay most ably reiterates and assesses Charlotte Mason’s ideas.” The old guard blesses the new.

It was a thrill to discover this article years ago at the Armitt. And it was a thrill to open it up in my own home.

@artmiddlekauff

🎵: “Snowflakes” by Ella Joy Meir

October 2, 2026

Autumn in Manitoba sets the trees in a blinding blaze of gold!

What colours are you seeing?

@antonella.f.greco

October 3, 2026

“Let also another great truth be added, that example is the great motive power in education, that it is not what you do so much as what you are which tells, and it must be admitted that by the side of the vast and rapid growth of the children there should be progress and growth in the Parents. We cannot afford to stand still. We must establish a higher education of Parents, we must make an effort to widen our own knowledge, and to increase our hold on the interests which make life really worth living…” (“Family Life”, PR4)

@tessakeath

After the marriage at Cana in Galilee, Jesus went down to Capernaum, and from there to Jerusalem. A member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee, came to visit Him by night. In that meeting, Jesus explained the new birth. Charlotte Mason’s poetic reflection on this meeting is one of the best expositions of her theological and scientific model of conversion. If you ever wondered how Scripture and science came together to form Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education, you don’t want to miss this poem. Find it here.

@artmiddlekauff