The CMP Review — Week of September 14

September 14, 2026

“The most important possession of a young bird lover should be a well-kept note-book, and in years to come it will be found that there is no greater pleasure than to read over old note-books, recalling as they will many a delightful ramble or expedition among some of the most charming scenes to be found in the whole world.” (“The Study of the Nesting Habits of Birds”, PR26)

@tessakeath

September 15, 2026

Swedish Drill has always been an area of relative interest to me. After all, Charlotte Mason herself wrote, “For physical training nothing is so good as Ling’s Swedish Drill,” and that’s quite an endorsement. However, whenever I tried to dig deeper, I kept running into obstacles. I usually encountered reasons NOT to pursue Swedish Drill today, rather than reasons to embrace it in our time.

That was, until this past April. I went to a small Charlotte Mason retreat in Arkansas. One of the breakout sessions was “Swedish Drill” by Melissa Petermann. Naturally, I was interested. Perhaps Petermann had answers. There was only one way to find out. With a mostly open mind, though tinged by a hint of skepticism, I jumped right in.

That was when it clicked. I realized that Melissa Petermann had the answers. “Please, will you share your ideas on Charlotte Mason Poetry?” I asked. Thankfully, now she has. Have you heard good things about Swedish Drill, but also had doubts like me? Read or hear Petermann’s new article here Your homeschool may never be the same again.

@artmiddlekauff

September 16, 2026

September is a special time for planner lovers, when new releases for the coming year begin to appear.

This year marks a change for me as I move to the A5 Collective from Faded Chronicle, while continuing with the Coram Deo from Truth & Beauty Studio for prayer and reflection.

And if you love planning, we have a few helpful tools on our site—including various PNEU lesson timetables, the House of Education student schedule, and Charlotte Mason’s personal schedule.

Are you making any changes for 2027?

@rbaburina

September 17, 2026

In The Basis of National Strength, preserved for us in volume 6 of the Home Education Series, Charlotte Mason contemplates the ongoing education of the “working man”:

Some men naturally take to learning, and will struggle manfully with their Latin grammar, and Cicero, their Euclid and trigonometry. Happy they! (p. 333)

I think of that sentence from time to time when I am working on Latin. With no background in the language, and no teacher or class, it’s an exercise in self-study. I began six years ago so I could better teach my son. But now that he’s graduated, I continue for other reasons.

Is it easy? No. Do I struggle? Perhaps not “manfully,” but I do my best 🙂

The focal point of my effort is to read (translate) the Libellus de Supplemento, a 15th century volume. I work on this one day per week, with the rest of the week spent building up my vocabulary and grammar. So far, that vocabulary and grammar has not been quite up to the challenge of the Libellus.

Until recently, that is. One day I looked at a sentence of the Latin and it dawned on me that at a glance I knew what it was saying. No dictionary, no painstaking parsing, no puzzling, no pondering. The sense was as plain as day.

I have no responsibility, no grade, no teacher to satisfy. Just a hunger to understand a document composed six centuries ago. And as the fog begins to clear, and I begin to see clearly, I think I see where the joy of language learning really lies.

@artmiddlekauff

September 18, 2026

My zinnias are still going strong. They are just beautiful. I love them so much. And they continue to attract lovely creatures to observe.

If you have zinnias, keep an eye as they dry up and save the seeds for next year. I did that last fall and I’ve had a very successful zinnia season this year!

@antonella.f.greco

September 19, 2026

Speaking of zinnias, this is a “new to me” moth. It was fun to watch it quickly flutter its wings while moving from flower to flower.

@antonella.f.greco

“Philosophically,” writes Edward J. Carnell, “truth has only two loci.” Writing in his 1952 A Philosophy of the Christian Religion, he explains:

“When a Ph.D. candidate is examined for his knowledge of the Eudemian or Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, his interrogators are concerned only with his ability to compose answers which correspond to the data in Aristotle’s system. Whether or not the student is ethical in his own person is hardly a matter which directly concerns the philosophy department. In the same manner, the professors are hired to teach, not witness to, the truth…

“But suppose that the mother of the Ph.D. candidate is on hand. Since she is related to her son personally, she is concerned with another species of truth. Thought can only prepare for the type she is looking for; it is not an end in itself. She wishes above all else that her son be the truth, namely, that he reflect goodness and honesty in his own character. What worth is a theoretical knowledge of morals if he is lewd and predaceous in his social relations? The mother does not disparage the theory; her only concern is that the boy live in accordance with the morals he learns.”

Carnell calls this mother’s wish the “third locus of truth.” It is a truth beyond the reach of philosophy. By philosophy, a person “may comprehend formal truth after memorizing a world view” — the first two loci of truth. “But he is the truth only when he is kind, humble, and gentle in his own character.” This is a truth that lives not in the mind, but in the heart.

In the Gospel of John, we read that “many believed on his name, beholding his signs which he did.” But had they arrived at third locus of truth? “What profit in a faith of the mind alone,” asks Charlotte Mason, “That reacheth not the springs of love in a man?” Read or hear her full reflection here.

@artmiddlekauff

🖼️: Christ Healing the Blind by El Greco