I’m excited to announce that the latest version of my free calendar is now available for download! This simple, minimalist monthly calendar is a great way for homeschool moms to plan the homeschool year, assign tasks for older children, keep attendance records, write out the weekly schedules, and more! I have ours attached to a wall grid in our homeschool space, and I highlight days with different colors to keep track of when our terms begin and end, field trips, days off from school, feast days in the liturgical calendar, birthdays of friends and family, and events with our local homeschool group. Best of all, it’s completely free!

To give you a little background on this particular download, during my son’s first-grade year, our math program, RightStart Level B, introduced calendars in one of the lessons. Of course, he knew what a calendar was before then, but this was more thorough instruction as he memorized the months of the year, how many days were in each month, and learned how to find and read dates. I decided I should probably include a calendar somewhere in our school area so we could cross off school days and he could get used to using one.

I wanted something simple, clean, and useful. Something that would be easy for him to cross off each day, as well as being fairly gender-neutral. I did a few searches online for free printable homeschool planners that included a calendar, or even just a standalone free printable calendar, but I couldn’t find any I liked among the various free resources. So, I decided to make my own and share it with other homeschool families!

This May 2026 to July 2027 printable calendar includes 15 calendar pages and is designed to be printed on 8.5×11—or approximately A4-sized paper, but I’m sure you could make it fit on other sizes. Before the school year begins, I like to print mine on cardstock so I have all the months ready to go as they come.

Each calendar page features the name of the month and year in large, cursive letters and numbers; a small hand-drawn illustration that I tried to match to the season (for those in the Northern Hemisphere); the days of the week; and numbered squares. They do not include holidays, and the starting day of each week is Sunday. These are black-and-white and contain very little detail to save ink and keep things simple. (And it also matches the Printable Homeschool Assignment Charts we use for weekly assignments!)

You can print off a copy to hang in your homeschool area, another one to keep in your own planner, and one for each of your children to use as a weekly planner or assignment sheet, or use it in any way that is most helpful to you. You can even use it for events outside of your homeschool, such as creating a menu plan or keeping track of appointments. Feel free also to color it in if you’d like – my kids have enjoyed doing this each month!

At the end of the year, I make a copy of each month for both of my children and include it in their school archive 3-ring binder. This way, we have a record of everything we did that year, which is extremely helpful for future reference.

I try to have the newest calendar up by the beginning of May every year, and since it is one of my favorites among the free printables I have available, I do plan to offer it well into the future. Enter your email address in the form at the end of the post to get your copy of the free printable homeschool calendar!

(If the form isn’t loading for you, you can also sign up here.)

The post Free Printable 2026-2027 Calendar for Homeschoolers! appeared first on a humble place.

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing”… Is there, then, not need for more “Mother Culture”?

“MOTHER CULTURE” PARENTS’ REVIEW – VOLUME 3

You were forever finding some new play.
So when I saw you down on hands and knees
I the meadow, busy with the new-cut hay,
Trying, I thought, to set it up on end,
I went to show you how to make it stay,
If that was your idea, against the breeze,
And, if you asked me, even help pretend
To make it root again and grow afresh.
But ’twas no make-believe with you today,
Nor was the grass itself your real concern,
Though I found your hand full of wilted fern,
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clovers.
‘Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over
(Miraculously without tasting flesh)
And left defenseless to the heat and light.
You wanted to restore them to their right
Of something interposed between their sight
And too much world at once—could means be found.
The way the nest-full every time we stirred
Stood up to us as to a mother-bird
Whose coming home has been too long deferred,
Made me ask would the mother-bird return
And care for them in such a change of scene
And might out meddling make her more afraid.
That was a thing we could not wait to learn.
We saw the risk we took in doing good,
But dared not spare to do the best we could
Though harm should come of it; so built the screen
You had begun, and gave them back their shade.
All this to prove we cared. Why is there then
No more to tell? We turned to other things.
I haven’t any memory—have you?—
Of ever coming to the place again
To see if the birds lived the first night through,
And so at last to learn to use their wings.

The Exposed Nest by Robert Frost

I know there was a winter somewhere. We heard news reports of many, many feet of snow on the East Coast and flooding in other areas. But none of it made its way here, and so spring has begun, but I don’t think fall, aside from a lack of pretty foliage, ever really ended. There’s still hope that the snowstorms Colorado tends to spit out in April and May will make an appearance. This girl, who grew up with feet of snow in Minnesota all winter long, can dream. Also, our reservoirs and aquifers can dream.

A busy few months! In January, my daughter turned 12 which means I almost have only teens. Just a few years ago, the idea of having one teen was terrifying, and here I am close to having two. Hopefully, we all survive!

At the beginning of February, we held our annual Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat. This was our tenth anniversary, and to celebrate, we added an extra day with a full morning immersion of various subjects. I taught picture study and Shakespeare, which I enjoyed! During the main retreat, I led a workshop on Charlotte Mason in the early years, a topic close to my heart, as I often want to tell moms with younger children to slow down. Please. And so I got a chance to do that, and I enjoyed the discussions and interaction I had with each one of the moms who attended. I love this retreat and am so honored to be part of it.

In March, my son began his counselor training for our annual summer horse camp. I will not be volunteering again this year, as I have the past three years, which is both sad and a relief. I have so many things on my plate that I decided it was in the best interest of my family (and my sanity) to sit this year out, and it was a good decision. Other than that, everything feels status quo, but status quo is so, so busy. There is probably a lot more to write about, but I’ll just leave it at these things.

On to the culturing!

Read (or Finished Reading)

For Me

The Art of Advent: A Painting a Day from Advent to Epiphany by Jane Williams. I enjoyed this one much more than the Lent version!

A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season edited by Leslie Leyland Fields. I had high hopes for this one, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped for.

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley. This was our selection for the book discussion at the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat this year, and it was my second time reading. I usually enjoy books about books, and this is a fun little diversion.

The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton Porter. It’s been years since I read a Gene Stratton Porter book, but this one was chosen for the moms in our homeschool hiking group, so we read it together. It’s not my favorite of the porters, but there were definitely aspects of it (bees! country life! gardens!) that I appreciated.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3, Vol. 4, and Vol. 5 by Beth Brower. Really, the audiobooks of this series are just perfect for listening to while doing chores, cooking supper, or driving places by myself. They’re so entertaining!

The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction by Adam S. McHugh. I don’t normally pick a word for the year, as some do, but this year I felt the desire to really focus on my ability to “listen.” I feel like I could use a lot of improvement in this area, so I began listening to this on my morning walks. There was a lot to take away, a lot to ponder, and a lot to put into practice. Some of it was challenging, and I don’t know that I necessarily agree with some aspects (I was reading Bonhoeffer at the same time, and they seem to contradict each other on the idea of dying to self if I interpret correctly), but I really appreciated his overall message. I plan to pick up a copy so I can do some commonplacing.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. So many of my friends have absolutely loved this book, and because of this, I don’t think it could have possibly lived up to the very high expectations I had for it. I will say that it was an enjoyable read, and I liked the story, especially the twist at the end.

For School

(I’ll write more about these in my school year-end recap posts in June.)

The Modern Age: From Victoria’s Empire to the End of the USSR by Susan Wise Bauer

Miracle At Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith

Currently

I am currently reading (or listening to) Rembrandt is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith; Ruth; When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man; and The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 6. I’m reading Parents and Children with my Charlotte Mason book group. And for my morning liturgy, I’m reading The Poetry of Robert Frost and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society.

With my son, I’m reading The Two Towers, and with my daughter, I’m reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Reading Challenges

Commonplaced

Some favorite quotes from this quarter’s finished books:

A Radiant Birth: Advent Readings for a Bright Season

“The unmeasured mercies of God are indeed unsettling, dangerous.” (Leslie Leyland Fields)

“It’s not difficult to remember or experience, with our baptized intellects or imaginations, times of new understanding about the almighty. The Bible is full of metaphors that reveal God in images such as a rock, a banner, a mother hen, a lover, and artist. But all too often I have felt “in the dark” about God himself—unable to see him. Even though Jesus came close to us in the incarnation, it all seems so long ago. I long for the immediate, unmistakable knowledge of his presence now, the smell, the sight, the touch of him.” (Luci Shaw)

The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction

“A loud, overcrowded, hyperactive life is the antithesis of the listening life. The hyperactive life is so often trying to prove its worth, make its mark and justify its existence. The listening life waits, quietly and humbly, for God to make his mark on us.”

“In those rare moments when we are able to sit in the quiet, release the noise and the anxieties that drive us into noise, and attune ourselves to God, we are training, preparing ourselves to be listeners in all of life.”

“What I am on a quest for is the heart of a listener. When the Lord asked King Solomon what he wanted, Solomon asked for what is usually translated as an ‘understanding heart’ or ‘discerning mind,’ but in the Hebrew it is literally a ‘listening heart’ (1 Kings 3:9). That is my prayer as well—for a listening heart. The most gifted teacher cannot give you a listening heart. Those who develop a listening heart are those who want to be a particular kind of person. That is why I care less about the what of listening and more about the who. Who do I have to become in order to have the capacity to listen? Who is the person who makes for a great listener?”

“I believe that true listening wars against the entrenched selfishness of the human heart. The listening heart is one that seeks to give, to learn, to welcome, to serve. In a small but real way, listening imitates the self-emptying act of Jesus, who voluntarily released his claims on ruling in order to serve and give his life. The listening heart strives to put away control, all the ways we can manipulate a conversation for our gain. It is able to stop in the middle of a thought and say, ‘You’re right.’ The heart of a listener is one that submits, that begins to live out Paul’s exhortation to ‘be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ’ (Ephesians 5:21). The listening heart seeks to be present, to be focused on something other than itself and to give its attention away.”

“The who of the listening life is not limited to the listener. As strangely commonsensical as this sounds, we must remind ourselves that we are listening to people. Good listening blows away the straw man. People are complex, layered, multifaceted, beautiful, wounded, contradictory, beloved image-bearers of the Creator. They are minds, hearts, souls and bodies, spilling over with dreams, passions, hurts, regrets and fears. As H. Jackson Brown puts it, ‘Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something.’ Philo of Alexandria is believed to have said, ‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.’ We ought to tread carefully and gently, and focus on hearing the hearts, not just the words, of people in our lives.”

Made

Food

No major food projects this quarter, but I’m hoping that changes in the second quarter. I’d like to get back into a good Cook Once Eat All Week routine (she also has another book coming out in August that I’m excited for!), but this quarter was just so, so busy that I never got to it. It’s ironic that when I need those extra meals the most, I don’t have the time to make them.

My son has started his garden plans and seeds are in the grow light trays, so I did pull out Everything Worth Preserving to see what I can make this summer based on what he’s planning to grow.

Project 333

At the end of March, I pulled out all of my clothes and did my first spring wardrobe switch since I began Project 333 last September. Before I did my last switch in December, I bought an Ikea Frakta bag (inspired by Simplifying the Satherns) to store all the clothes I’m not using for the current season, and this was also the first time I got to pull everything out. There were several things I had forgotten I owned, which was kind of fun! I put away a few pairs of jeans, some sweaters, two dresses, and some of my winter hiking gear, and pulled out some cropped jeans and short-sleeve shirts. I still have a few pieces from Short Story Box that are polyester, and I’d like to replace them with natural fibers eventually, but they fit really well, so they’re hanging up in the closet for now. I also got another short-sleeve t-shirt (mine was storm blue) and a new dress (I have been so happy with everything I’ve gotten from Quince!). Aside from hiking clothes and lounging clothes, which I don’t count as part of my 30 items, I ended up with:

29 items!

I noticed that I tend to have a lot of dark-colored items because I believed for a long time that lighter colors don’t look good on me. Now that (I think) I have a clearer idea of my color palette, I may try softer shades for the warmer months. I may also aim to upgrade my loungewear so I can wear it out of the house and include it in my 30 items, but I’ll have to budget for that.

I plan my wardrobe switch weeks the same week that I have my closet on the cleaning schedule, so it has worked well to purge everything and then give the closet a thorough cleaning. It’s a nice way to start a new season, and I love that I’m more intentional with my wardrobe now and have more outfits I can wear when going out of the house, but less clothing overall.

Moved

March was definitely the best month in terms of movement this quarter. January started well, but as I got closer to the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat in February, almost everything else was pushed aside as I prepared for it. The random day of ice skating at the end of January was my daughter’s birthday party. Other than that, I wouldn’t have had anything that week.

After the retreat, we went through several weeks of sickness for various people and animals in my family, and my husband traveled quite a bit, so it was hard to get back into a good routine. In March, though, when everyone was mostly feeling better, I started up the Nourish Move Love beginner workout plan (3 days/week) again and got more walks in, and I feel like I’m back into a good rhythm. I’m at the point where I don’t necessarily look forward to workouts, but I appreciate how I feel afterward and know the benefits are good. It also helps to have friends who are motivated to move as well!

On the Blog

Lenten Art Devotions and Fine Art Prints for Families

26 January 2026

Charlotte Mason Bible Lessons Resources

9 February 2026

Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum (+ free booklist!)

23 February 2026

2026-2027 AmblesideOnline Picture Study Free Printables!

9 March 2026

Charlotte Mason Homeschool Co-op Lite

23 March 2026

New in the Shop

Messiah: Lenten Art Devotions and Art Prints Volume VII

Options Messiah: Lenten Art Devotions and Art Prints Volume VII

Cicero “A home without books…” Quote with Watercolor Book Art Latte Mug

Options Cicero “A home without books…” Quote with Watercolor Book Art Latte Mug

Nature Sightings

As the first quarter included the beginning of spring in March, I restarted my lists for the year. Not many wildflowers yet, but definitely quite a few birds!

The post Mother Culturing: First Quarter 2026 appeared first on a humble place.

Being able to homeschool in community has been something I’ve been overwhelmingly thankful for at various stages of our homeschooling journey. Over the years, we’ve been part of a large, very structured and organized Charlotte Mason homeschool co-op with moms teaching specific subjects to all the kids, which I wrote about a few years ago. After that ended, we were on our own for school subjects, but we joined a group that met in parks a few times a month to socialize.

Both groups had their advantages and disadvantages, but in recent years, I discovered they were not the only options! In this post, I’m sharing the “lite” version of a homeschool co-op we’ve been part of for the past year, and how this happy hybrid has been just right for us.

How it Began

This group actually began as a hiking/nature study group between two homeschooling moms who had known each other for several years. They decided to meet weekly for an afternoon hike and nature journaling to hold each other and their kids accountable for this part of a Charlotte Mason education that often gets skipped over.

After they had been meeting for a few months, a chance encounter at a local Charlotte Mason book group the three of us attended led them to invite my kids and me to join their weekly excursion. Admittedly, I was hesitant at first. When I was told it was weekly, that felt like a lot, especially since the most we had met with any of our other homeschool groups was once every other week. I wasn’t sure I could commit to something that often.

On the other hand, however, we were at a kind of turning point in our homeschool community experience. I had spent the previous seven years driving an average of 45 minutes or more down to Colorado Springs to participate in the other groups we were part of. While I love that area of Colorado, and have zero regrets about our time with our friends down there, the time we had to spend in the car just to get to one event was eating up more of our schedule than I liked. There were several women in the group who have become very good friends, and I am so thankful for that. But because it was a more casual group, we never knew which families we would see, and the kids my kids had connected with sometimes didn’t go when we did. Between that, the distance between our homes, and busy schedules, maintaining those friendships for my kids had always been challenging.

At the same time, another family, whom we had grown very close to over the previous two years and had done many things with, was getting ready to move across the country, so we would be losing an enormous part of our community when they left. I was honestly feeling a little panicked about my kids’ (and my own!) social life as it felt like it would be minimal or non-existent once their moving truck left the state.

So, I swallowed my apprehensions and said we’d join this new group the following week. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, as I didn’t know the other moms very well and hadn’t met any of the kids. But honestly, I felt a little desperate to find more of a local community and thought this might be it, as their invitation came just as I was praying for this very thing.

And it really was an answer to prayer. We joined them at the end of August 2024 and have been meeting with them almost weekly ever since. At first, we continued with just the weekly hiking group, but have slowly been adding more activities together (and a few more families!) along the way, until it has become something of a hybrid between a full co-op and a more casual social group.

As I’ve had experience with both, this really has been the happy medium for me that is just right for our family. I don’t have the extra work (which, at times, felt like a lot) that comes with being part of a larger, more structured co-op, but we also share several subjects and other activities with some of the families in our group, so our kids have those common experiences.

Charlotte Mason Homeschool Co-op Lite

Because I’m a list-maker, I’m going to lay out the various elements of our group and how we organize and structure the things we do together. It is really very simple, and I think that’s why it works so well for us!

Weekly Hikes

The weekly hike is the heart of our group and, as I wrote above, how it all started. This, along with coming to the hikes at least a few times per month and doing nature journals during the hikes, are also the “requirements” the families who have come together to form this group have agreed to commit to.

We meet at 1:30 at a local trail or park, review our nature study lesson and goal for the week (more on that below), then hike or walk halfway through the trail (sometimes all the way) before we stop to make an entry in nature journals (the moms sometimes update their lists) for around 15 minutes. Then we continue on the hike, or return the way we came.

One of the amazing (and organized!) moms in our group created and maintains a spreadsheet for us with a row for each week of the year. She has a column for:

• the date
• the location/meeting place with a link to a Google map of that location, usually the parking lot where the trail begins
• the meeting time – this is usually the same every week, but on the weeks we meet at our assisted living facility (more on that below), we meet later for the hike, and in the summer, we meet earlier
• the goal – this comes from the Sabbath Mood Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum (we’ve gone through Level 1, Rotation A this year, and it has worked very well for us! Nicole has information about licensing in a group setting on her FAQ page)
• the lesson – this also comes from the Sabbath Mood Homeschool Nature Study Curriculum and includes a link to the video for that week’s lesson that the families watch at home before we meet for our hike (we do ours during Morning Time the day we go on our hike)
• the trail – this is a link to the specific trail we’ll be doing that week on AllTrails
• notes – for any additional information, for instance, if the location isn’t clear or if it’s a longer hike, suggestions for packing a lunch or bringing swimming gear

At least two of the families have met consistently nearly every week in this way for almost two years now. There are a few exceptions:

• When our hiking day happens five times in a month, we use the last week for a narration/game day. Usually, the organized mom in charge of the spreadsheet reserves a room at a local library, the kids bring written narrations from home, and read them to each other before spending the rest of the time playing board games together.
• We don’t normally balk at inclement weather, but there have been a few times when it’s been bitterly cold (I think the last time we did this, it was around 3℉ in the afternoon). We usually make a last-minute decision on those days and either don’t meet or gather at one of our homes for an afternoon of play.
• When most of the families can’t come due to unexpected events or illness, the remaining families decide whether they want to still meet. When life is particularly busy, it has been nice to mutually decide to take a break that week (we actually just did this last week).

For our hike locations, we try to stick to a few favorites each month so we can see how they change throughout the year. However, we will also throw in other locations at random times, especially during certain times of the year, like summer, when we can drive further away from home and do longer hikes, and autumn, when specific locations have good fall foliage.

We keep a steady pace on hikes and generally only stop to do our nature journals, so we are usually able to return to the parking lot in a decent amount of time, even on longer hikes. When we’re done at the park, nearly every week, a few of the families will visit a local ice cream parlor together (we have specific ice cream places for specific hikes), and sometimes make our way to another park where the moms sit (or walk) and chat and the kids play (this is especially nice in the summer!) for a little longer.

Subjects

While the only thing we actually do together on a weekly basis is the hike, and we don’t all use the same curriculum (we currently have a mix of A Delectable Education and AmblesideOnline), a few of the families have also chosen to line up some of our subjects. So while we don’t teach these things when we’re together, our kids are doing the same Shakespeare play, Plutarch life, hymns, and folksongs at home. We also have some overlap with our composer and artist studies, loosely based on the AmblesideOnline rotation.

To plan for this, last summer, those of us interested in participating in this aspect of the group agreed on three plays and three lives to do throughout the school year. One of the moms then chose six hymns and six folksongs (two for each term), also from the AO rotation. This schedule is open to any family that wants to use it, but it’s not required to be part of our hiking group. It’s just a fun way for our kids to do school “together,” and we sometimes find the girls singing their folksongs while we hike (On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at has been a favorite this year).

Group Science/Handicrafts

Some of the families meet approximately once per month throughout the year for kids from various forms to do their science experiments together. The younger students are following the Sabbath Mood Homeschool Form 2 and Form 3/4 science guides at home, so those moms decided which specific science subjects they wanted their kids to do over the year. These guides generally have quite a few experiments scheduled, so they don’t do all of them together, but combine as many as they can.

For our high schoolers, most of the students participating in the group science days are doing the Novare Introductory Physics Program, which includes five experiments over the course of the year. When we meet, they do these together, guided by another one of our moms who takes copious notes and does a fantastic job of leading them through the experiments. This has been a huge benefit for us as these experiments are much better done in a group setting.

We usually meet fairly early in the morning on these days at the home of one of the families (who also generously takes coffee orders via text as we all make our way there!), with each form having a designated spot and a teacher/mom in the house to complete their experiments. When experiments are done, or for younger kids or those without an experiment scheduled that day, the grandmother of the hosting family usually has a handicraft activity planned. We’ve done things like stained-glass creations and leatherwork, and this has been a huge hit with the kids!

Assisted Living Facility

A few of the families began this tradition last year after we listened to The New Mason Jar Podcast episode that outlined this idea. One day per month, before our hike, we spend about an hour at a local assisted living facility visiting the residents. The kids recite Bible passages and poetry, then we sing folksongs and hymns together. After this, we pass out art prints to the residents, and the kids and moms sit with them while they all talk about the piece together. Originally, we were going to do a more traditional picture study session, but because this is a memory care facility, we’ve found it’s more enjoyable to just look at the art together. There have been a few occasions when we’ve had some time to ask the residents more questions about themselves after we look at the art together, and we’d like to do that more often.

Celebrations

An idea I brought over from our old groups was a time of celebration for our families together. We do this twice per year, near Christmas break, and then again when our school year is done, at the home of one of the families. The event includes food, recitations of the pieces the students learned in the previous term, a performance of a scene from our Shakespeare play, displays of handicrafts, and just having fun!

Other Activities

We are fortunate in that there are quite a few extra-curricular offerings for homeschoolers in our area, and we have intentionally planned for our kids to participate in some of them together. These include a once-per-week, hour-long homeschool PE program; a once-per-week, full-day STEM/Aerospace program; a speech and debate program that meets throughout the month and offers competitions year-round; and local sports programs.

And very randomly, last summer, several of us, along with some of our kids, also drove west in the wee hours of the morning to hike Mount Sherman, one of Colorado’s peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation. It was an awesome experience, and we plan to repeat it this summer at a different location!

Things for Moms

Because Charlotte Mason suggested that, “If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children…, we should have happier households,” we have taken her advice to “Let the mother go out to play!”

We started these traditions by forming our own little book group. Each mom takes a turn picking out three book titles; then the group chooses one, and we spend a few months reading that book together. Spontaneous discussions come up during hikes, and we have even planned a moms’ night out where we watched the movie version of the book after we had all read it.

We also visit local large, semi-annual book sales in our area. This actually includes our extended Charlotte Mason homeschooling family network, and we have been known to call across the book-sale room to each other when we find a book we know the other will need for a specific year or that they’ve been looking for. I used to really not enjoy going to book sales on my own, but this has become so much more enjoyable with friends!

The trips to the book sales could also fall under the category of moms’ nights out, as we usually get a meal before or after (sometimes both) the visit to the sale, but we also periodically do this outside of book sales as well. Usually, we get dinner together, go for a walk, get ice cream or coffee, and/or visit a bookstore afterward (of course).

And that is our happy hybrid homeschool group as it stands! We’ve bounced around ideas for other things to share, like book discussions for the kids, but for now, this system is just about right.

The post Charlotte Mason Homeschool Co-op Lite appeared first on a humble place.

Please note that I have been given AmblesideOnline’s permission to use their name in the title and body of this post, as well as to use their Artist Study rotation to create these files.

When children have begun regular lessons (that is, as soon as they are six), this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of the term.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 308)

His education should furnish him with whole galleries of mental pictures, pictures by great artists old and new;––…–– in fact, every child should leave school with at least a couple of hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination, to say nothing of great buildings, sculpture, beauty of form and colour in things he sees. Perhaps we might secure at least a hundred lovely landscapes too,––sunsets, cloudscapes, starlight nights. At any rate he should go forth well furnished because imagination has the property of magical expansion, the more it holds the more it will hold.

Charlotte Mason (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 43)

The Charlotte Mason Picture Study method is a simple yet effective way to introduce your children to fine art. By setting aside intentional time on a regular basis, specifically for art appreciation using this method, you are giving your students the gift of developing relationships with pieces of art and introducing them to different artists who will become like old friends.

Picture Study (or picture talks) not only exposes them to great works of art that they will encounter in various ways throughout their lives, but this practice also develops your child’s sense of beauty, expands their powers of observation, exposes them to the ideas of great artists, and teaches them that art is for everyone! This method is extremely versatile and works well for all ages, including older students and younger children. (I have posts about why picture study is important and how to do it if you’d like to read more!)

Because I believe in the power and beauty of picture study and highly encourage this practice in every homeschool, not just those adhering to Charlotte Mason’s philosophies, I am happy to announce that the 2026-2027 AmblesideOnline Picture Study art print files are now ready and available as a free download!

Each free (and no strings attached) PDF file includes printable versions of six or seven paintings (one file from a single artist and the other file from two artists who were contemporaries), taken from the AmblesideOnline Artist Study rotation, which gives your student ample opportunity to become well acquainted with each artist’s work. This year, these artists include Auguste Renoir, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Pieter de Hooch. Unfortunately, because the majority of the pieces by Norman Rockwell that were chosen for the rotation are not in the public domain, I am not able to offer a printable file for his work.

As always, I attempted to find the highest resolution images I could on the internet, which can sometimes prove problematic. I have also found that there is a delicate balance of providing high-quality images while maintaining a relatively small file size. If you do have questions about printing the files, I have a few tips and suggestions here for printing your picture studies at home, having them printed at an office supply store, or purchasing prints from an online supplier if that would be helpful.

Beneath each art piece is the title, the artist’s name, and the date it was painted, as well as permission to print it at your local copy shop for personal use. You can find the files and more resources for these artists, as well as others, including Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Leonardo da Vinci, on the Picture Study Resources page or here:

Auguste Renoir

1841-1919
(French – Impressionism)

Download the Prints Here

Jacob van Ruisdael
& Pieter de Hooch

ca. 1628/1629-1682 & 1629-ca. 1679
(Dutch – Dutch Golden Age)

Download the Prints Here

As with previous years, I will be offering one free Picture Study Aid with background information on the artist and the paintings included later this year, and that will be for the art of Jacob van Ruisdael. I will post that here on the blog once it’s available (you can sign up for my newsletter to be notified as well!). I will also offer printed Picture Study Aids and professional art prints for Auguste Renoir and Jacob van Ruisdael in my shop, though these will not match the pieces selected by AmblesideOnline. Pieter de Hooch was a contemporary, and his art is very similar to that of Johannes Vermeer, an artist I already offer in my shop, so I offering a Picture Study Aid for his work.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

The post 2026-2027 AmblesideOnline Picture Study Free Printables! appeared first on a humble place.

Are you thinking about homeschooling your child for kindergarten? In this post, I share how we did ours and offer tips and resources for planning your own Charlotte Mason kindergarten year!

I have several posts on my website about homeschooling younger children. One of these talks about the benefits of starting your kindergarten year later rather than earlier, and also how using simple, gentle lessons for your five- to six-year-old child is a wonderful way to ease them into more formal schooling. This is part of the “why” behind our choice to homeschool kindergarten in the beginning. And while I am (obviously) very in favor of homeschooling and know full well the benefits of choosing this path, I also understand that this decision can also be hard to make.

So if you’re seriously considering the homeschooling route but still wondering whether you can teach your child, the first thing I want to say is this…

You can do this.

In reality, you have been leading your child’s education since the day they were born. Maybe not in the traditional sense of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but in the larger sense of how to be. How to observe the world around them. How to treat others. How to form good habits. What things to take delight in. What things to avoid that might harm them.

You, of all people on this planet, know your child best, and that means understanding their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what fascinates them and holds their attention. You know how they respond to how other people treat them. And you know best when they show signs of feeling overwhelmed and need to take things slowly.

Homeschooling Kindergarten

Kindergarten, in particular, is a perfect year for homeschooling for the first time. You can use this time, when your child is still very young, to see how you both can thrive by educating at home.

Because the kindergarten year doesn’t have to be complicated and really shouldn’t include the academic rigor that the upper grades will offer, you have the flexibility of going at their (and your!) own pace. This means you can take your time without feeling pressured to meet the sometimes unreasonable standards set by our public education system. You can educate your children in the way that best meets their needs, rather than conforming to a system that sets guidelines across the board and often fails to take each child’s unique abilities and personality into account.

With all that said, I understand, especially for those new to homeschooling, that facing that first year can be intimidating. Trying to sift through the many booklists, curricula, online programs, and advice out there can leave you feeling overwhelmed. In reality, as I said above, the kindergarten year does not have to be complicated, and really shouldn’t be. That’s why I began offering the Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum nine years ago. It keeps the kindergarten year simple while also serving as a gentle introduction to the world of academics. In this post, I’m sharing the book list with anyone interested in crafting their own Charlotte Mason kindergarten year!

Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten

I want to emphasize, before diving into the book list, that Charlotte Mason did not recommend any formal education for children before the age of six.

How much time daily in the open air should the children have? And how is it possible to secure this for them? In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mothers first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air. And this, not for the gain in bodily health alone––body and soul, heart and mind, are nourished with food convenient for them when the children are let alone, let to live without friction and without stimulus amongst happy influences which incline them to be good.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 43)

I wholeheartedly believe that “education” is being forced on children at far too young an age in modern times, especially as young children should be spending large parts of their days outside. However, for the child approaching their sixth birthday who is showing interest in “school,” I do not necessarily think that these “full six years of passive receptive life” and a simple, gentle kindergarten have to be mutually exclusive. Ms. Mason agreed with this when, in a 1912 Parents’ Review article, she wrote:

…let us be content to be the hand­maids of Nature for the first five or six years, remembering that enormous as are the tasks she sets the children, she guides them into the performance of each so that it is done with unfailing delight; for gaiety, delight, mirth, belong to her method. If a child chooses to read and write before he is six, let him, but do not make him; and when he does begin, there is no occasion to hurry; let him have a couple of years for the task.

Charlotte Mason (“Three Educational Idylls,” The Parents’ Review, volume 23, November, 1912 – emphasis mine)

In Home Education, Ms. Mason wrote specifically about the Kindergarten Method (as German educator Friedrich Froebel had established it), suggesting that the home was an ideal place for a year of kindergarten and a mother the ideal teacher:

If the very essence of the Kindergarten method is personal influence, a sort of spiritual mesmerism, it follows that the mother is naturally the best Kindergartnerin [or kindergarten teacher]; for who so likely as she to have the needful tact, sympathy, common sense, culture?

Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 178)

Though every mother should be a Kindergartnerin, in the sense in which Froebel would employ the term, it does not follow that every nursery should be a regularly organised Kindergarten. Indeed, the machinery of the Kindergarten is no more than a device to ensure the carrying out of certain educational principles, and some of these it is the mother’s business to get at, and work out according to Froebel’s methods––or her own.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 179)

My original inspiration for creating this curriculum was that my oldest child’s birthday falls in August, and as we prepared for his sixth birthday, I didn’t think he was quite ready for first grade. However, I did feel that he was ready for something a little more structured than what we had been doing ﹣ though nothing too rigorous, as is the case with most kindergarten classes these days ﹣ which is why I began to determine how to work out my own “educational principles.” And that is how this curriculum was born.

That year, inspired by Charlotte Mason’s ideas, we spent our days being exposed to beautiful ideas by reading picture books together, playing simple math games (as well as counting and coloring together), feeding his natural curiosity by developing relationships with the natural world through observation, and making handicrafts together. We also continued to focus on habit training, which is also so important in those early years. All of this while still allowing plenty of outdoor playtime every day. Nothing was rigorous or demanding for either of us, and we were able to ease ourselves gently not only into the world of “school” for him but also into the world of homeschooling for both of us.

If you’re new to Charlotte Mason in general and want to learn more about her, a good starting point is Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake, which offers a great overview. However, nothing can replace Ms. Mason’s own words, and the generous women behind AmblesideOnline (AO) have made all of her original six-volume series available for free online (or you can buy print copies) as well as modern paraphrase versions. If you find it easier to read along with others, the AO forums host several book groups that are reading through a volume at any given time. Charlotte Mason Poetry also periodically offers the Idyll Challenge, which involves groups reading the books together over two years. I did this from 2020 to 2022 and enjoyed it very much!

And now, on to the books!

A Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Day

For us, an average day during my son’s first-grade year (during which we used AO Year 1) took about 2 hours. In contrast, the Charlotte Mason kindergarten curriculum, without a morning time, takes about 20 minutes per day if you’re doing 4 days per week, as we did (with a nature walk day on Friday). If you choose to do five days per week, it would take even less time each day. With the morning time that we also included, it was about 40 minutes in all. Some days were longer than others, but for the most part, we usually began at around 9:30 to 9:45 and were done by 10:15 or 10:30.

Subjects

In the list below, I’ve included links to free books where possible. I highly recommend using BookFinder to find any books you might want to purchase and Freegal for free music.

Also, I highly recommend pre-reading! This is something you will want to do throughout your homeschool journey, and the sooner you get into this habit, the better it will be for you later on. Different curriculum makers have different ideas about subjects and topics that are “okay” for their children to read or hear at specific ages. There have been times when I have assumed a book would be okay for our family simply because of who suggested it or the list on which I found it, but then discovered that it had content that I wasn’t comfortable with for my kids at that age. Going through the readings on your own before you read them to your kids to make sure the content aligns with your family’s values is highly recommended!

History

1. Fifty Famous People (free on Kindle and Gutenberg – please note that this is not the same book scheduled for AO Year 1; though it is by the same author, the title of that one is Fifty Famous Stories Retold)

This is a book you’ll want to pre-read (see the note above)! While I don’t think the material is offensive, for sensitive kids, be aware that there are mentions of battles and weapons.

In case you’d like an alternative to Fifty Famous People, a reader mentioned Beautiful Feet Books as a good source as well, and I was particularly interested in their Child’s First Book of American History.

Children Just Like Me introduces you and your kids to children from around the world and provides a little information about their lives, including their families, cultures, favorite foods, religions, and school activities.

I chose The Irish Twins because my family is Irish, so I wanted to expose our kids to some of our heritage. However, Lucy Fitch Perkins wrote quite a few of these books covering other countries and nationalities as well (free on Kindle and also a few on gutenberg.org – check to make sure they’re age-appropriate on the Yesterday’s Classics website – ages are listed after the book description for each of these), so you can easily switch out however you see fit. I also recommend pre-reading this and the other “Twins” books as well.

I suggest Old Mother West Wind because it provides a good introduction to some of the characters you and your child will read about later if you choose to do AO. However, if you go with another curriculum, I still think all of Burgess’s books are fantastic, so I highly recommend them.

Seed Babies is just a fun book all around. My only suggestion to go along with this is to grow your own beans at home as you work through the chapters so your student can see what’s discussed in the book firsthand!

As I mentioned above, if you’re doing school four days per week, Friday can be a day for a nature hike. This is actually the most important part of nature study in a Charlotte Mason education (especially at this age), but it’s also very simple to do, and benefits both your kids AND you!

For Science in Seconds, I recommend reading each unit at the beginning of the week so you can pick an activity and know what you’ll need for science time in advance (I’ve also included overall supply lists and weekly supply lists in the curriculum).

The Beatrix Potter Complete Tales linked above includes all of the readings scheduled in the curriculum and is a beautiful addition to your book collection. The Children’s Treasury of Virtues is no longer in print, but I was able to find it at a reasonable price and in very good condition through bookfinder.com. You could also buy each of the three books it contains separately: The Children’s Book of Virtues, The Children’s Book of Heroes, and The Children’s Book of America (all by William J. Bennett).

Poetry

1. Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls by Helen Ferris

Even into later childhood, my daughter has loved reading through this book on her own.

This is an excellent collection of poetry from many different poets on several different subjects to add to your home library! I recommend reading a poem every day.

Math

1. MEP Reception (free)

I have also written a guide here for MEP Reception that helps walk you through some of the more confusing activities!

I highly recommend MEP Reception if you want or need to do some math activities, but don’t want to spend a lot of money (or anything beyond printing costs). My kids really enjoyed the games and the crafts, too. The activities are engaging and mostly short, with no structured math.

I’ve also included a supply list of the things we used in the Supply Lists section of the curriculum book. For the most part, these are probably things that you have around the house.

If you want to start using a math curriculum that will carry you through 8th grade and are willing to invest in it early on, we have been using RightStart Math since Year 1, and I can’t recommend it enough! I will also add that I felt that the MEP Reception year more than prepared us for RightStart Level B in first grade.

Reading

1. Bob Books Pre-Reader Collection (includes My First Bob Books: Alphabet and My First Bob Books: Pre-Reading Skills)

The Bob Books Pre-Readers are not strict reading instruction; instead, they review alphabet sounds, patterns, and sequencing as you read the short stories and do the activities at the end of the books with your student.

My son wasn’t quite ready to learn to read when we started our kindergarten year, and I didn’t want to pressure him to do so, so we took it very slowly. If your child is showing interest in learning to read and has these basic skills down, I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons during Year 1 with both of my kids with success. However, there is evidence that starting reading later is not necessarily a bad thing, so don’t feel pressured to begin early.

I also believe cooking is a handicraft, and I highly recommend The Nourishing Traditions Cookbook for Children for getting your kids involved in the kitchen at an early age (I do have a printable schedule for this book in a homeschool setting here, but I recommend it for older children)!

I hope this list of book ideas for your homeschool kindergarten year has been helpful! You can receive a free printable booklist with all of these books by entering your information in the form at the end of the post!

Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum

Now that you have the book list, what’s next? If you’re not sure how to spread all of this out over 36 weeks, I also offer a Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum in PDF and printed form!

With this complete curriculum guide, you will also get…

Recent Reviews

You can pick up your own copy of the curriculum below!

Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum

$14.99 – $24.99Price range: $14.99 through $24.99

Shop now

The post Charlotte Mason-Inspired Kindergarten Curriculum (+ free booklist!) appeared first on a humble place.

One of my favorite aspects of the homeschooling (and especially Charlotte Mason!) community is hearing how others approach their subjects and what resources they use. The majority of the resources I use in our homeschool I learned about from friends with older kids or from websites focused on Charlotte Mason education. Because of this, I decided to share the resources we use in our homeschool, and this post will include everything we’ve found helpful for teaching Charlotte Mason Bible lessons! I love the simplicity of Ms. Mason’s approach to teaching the Bible to students in that she kept it simple and allowed the text to speak for itself, without accompanying every reading with a moral lesson.

Below are the resources we’ve used at various times, which have been so helpful in making our Bible lessons more engaging and leading to great discussions!

Charlotte Mason Bible Lessons

The method of such lessons is very simple. Read aloud to the children a few verses covering if possible, an episode. Read reverently, carefully, and with just expression. Then require the children to narrate what they have listened to as nearly as possible in the words of the Bible. It is curious how readily they catch the rhythm of the majestic and simple Bible English. Then, talk the narrative over with them in the light of research and criticism. Let the teaching, moral and spiritual, reach them without much personal application. I know of no better help in the teaching of young children than we get in Canon Paterson Smyth’s Bible for the Young.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education)

The AmblesideOnline Bible-reading schedule beginning in Year 2 is based on the J. Paterson-Smyth commentaries Ms. Mason mentions in the quote above, so I started ordering them when my son was still in Year 1. I began reading them in advance of Year 2 and thought they were fantastic, offering great insight. These are not meant to be read to your student verbatim; they are more of a resource for you, as the teacher, to provide a little more background on the readings. I included these in my pre-reading time and underlined the parts that I wanted to share with my kids.

Generally, with the kids, I read the parts where he “sets the scene” to provide a better idea of the setting and any additional information that might be pertinent to the lesson. For instance, when we read about Moses as a boy, I showed my students the picture of the Egyptian “copywork” from the book. And when we read the story of the friends lowering the invalid down through the roof to be healed by Jesus, I built a little model with books as he outlines in the commentary. He does get a little heavy-handed with moralistic teaching at times, and I did not read those parts to my kids.

I have had friends who have found the Paterson-Smyth commentaries challenging, either because they did not have enough time to pre-read them before the lesson or because the wording was difficult to understand. In that case, a resource to consider that I haven’t used but have heard good things about is The Children’s Feast guides, which aim to make these commentaries more accessible.

I use the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible for our lessons. Originally, I followed the advice of Lynn Bruce from AO and used the King James Version (KJV), which is also the only version approved by the church I attended in my childhood. However, I had reservations as the language can be challenging to a young child, and I wanted to make it as accessible to him as possible. Later, I read a post on New Testament Bible lessons by Art Middlekauff of Charlotte Mason Poetry in which he mentioned that Ms. Mason used the English Revised Version when she wrote The Saviour of the World, which used more modern language than KJV but is hard to find. My preferred version is ESV, which also uses more modern language, so that’s what I ultimately decided to use with my kids, and that has gone very well for us.

When we go through our Bible lessons each week, I simply read a portion of that day’s passage (I generally break it up by the paragraphs or sections in my Bible), then allow my students to narrate. In the lower grades, if I wanted to “set the scene” as outlined above, or give a little background information about cultural differences or historical relevance, I would add that from the Paterson-Smyth commentary after they narrated.

As they’ve gotten older, I’ve also included very brief readings from my Bible commentary to clarify the passages when needed. Then I move on to the next portion until we’ve read the whole passage for that day. (Sidenote on the commentaries that I own: I don’t necessarily recommend these, but I’ve had them since I was a teenager, so they’re on my shelf, and they’ve come in handy for looking things up. I think any commentary that you prefer will do.)

Bible lessons are meant to be so simple that there is no need to add a whole lot of extra explanation to them (especially of the moral lecture kind). However, I also think that the Paterson-Smyth books have offered insight into passages that I have read many times before that I may not have otherwise considered.

An atlas is helpful to have on hand to see where a particular passage is set, especially since some locations in the Bible are known by different names. You can show your student that many of these stories overlap and how specific places are particularly sacred. My favorite one to use is the SPCK Bible Atlas linked above, but the Student Bible Atlas is another good option that I have used in the past. I usually leave it open to whatever map is appropriate for our passage that day while I’m reading to my kids, and then point out the various places mentioned in the passage after they’ve narrated.

Keep in mind that these are Bible “lessons” and not meant to be a personal devotional time. That is a different item to include in your schedule outside of school time. Keep these lessons simple, focusing on what the passage says in the greater story of God’s plan. If there is a deeper meaning to be had, leave that to the Holy Spirit!

The post Charlotte Mason Bible Lessons Resources appeared first on a humble place.

Lent is a time of contemplation.

During these 40 days, we contemplate Jesus’s life here on earth. The precious three years of His active ministry in which He gave us His sacred words, His healing, as well as His beautiful example of love. He showed us how to live. We meditate on His life and His sacrifice in this season of spiritual renewal, and we enter into self-reflection to discover what might be holding us back from living His way.

As with Advent, we already know what is coming. We enter this season, however, not anticipating a birth but rather waiting for a death. As Jesus did so long ago, we know that this story includes overwhelming grief. And pain. And blood. And as with His birth, His death was unexpected. A shock to those who had followed Him. Our Hallelujahs are silenced. Christ has died.

But though the story includes a death, it does not end there, and that is the miracle of Easter. That is the beauty of the Resurrection. Our grief gives way to overwhelming relief. To joy. To thankfulness. The Messiah has come. Christ is risen. Death has been defeated. A new way of living and a new freedom from the slavery of sin is His gift to us.

And though He has ascended into heaven again, we know that He will once again come back to us. That His Resurrection wasn’t His final appearance here. Our Hallelujahs return. Christ will come again.

Lenten Art Devotions

Christmas and Easter can easily be considered the most important holidays of the modern Christian calendar, with Easter arguably at the top of the list. Because of this, a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to find a way to set apart these holidays and the preceding liturgical seasons from the rest of the year for my family.

Visual art can offer a way of allowing us to engage in true contemplation. To notice details and immerse ourselves in a story. To let that example soak into our hearts and minds and stay with us. By looking at an object or painting that presents a subject beautifully, we can quiet our minds and truly focus on that subject while also taking in the beauty of the art itself.

As such, I was inspired to combine my goal of setting apart these holidays with my love of art, and I began offering art devotions for the two liturgical seasons preceding these important holidays: Advent and Lent.

For the Lenten season, the 40 days after Ash Wednesday through Good Friday and leading up to Easter Sunday, we focus on the ministry of Jesus here on earth. His life is an enormously common theme in art history, and there are so many rich and beautiful images that offer more ways to contemplate that, as well as His example of love. I enjoy discovering how artists have interpreted common themes and portrayed Him, especially during those three years before His death. I’m excited to announce that this year’s volume is now available!

As with the selections I’ve included in past years, I am very excited about the art featured in this year’s volume! These carefully curated paintings include:

You can find Messiah: Lenten Art Devotions Volume VII, along with the six accompanying high-quality art print sets in the shop! The 16-page Lenten art devotion guide can be ordered as a book with professionally printed copies of each piece, or as digital files to print at home.

The guide offers an art selection for each week of Lent, along with brief meditations that include Bible verses, a hymn, and a poem to accompany each painting. It also includes a resource section at the end for the hymns, containing links and QR codes to sheet music, instrumental versions, and live recordings. The PDF option includes printable versions of each piece, and I also offer professional prints on thick, smooth-coated cardstock for purchase separately.

As with the Advent Devotions guides, these seasonal art devotions are not meant to serve as a traditional picture study and differ from the Picture Study Aids in that I have not included information about the paintings themselves (other than title, artist, date, medium, dimensions, and current location). My vision for adding art to our liturgical traditions was not to include more academic opportunities but rather to offer more opportunities for contemplation and meditation. My hope is that these Lenten art devotions allow you to contemplate the time of Jesus’s ministry here on earth and immerse yourself in the beauty of His love for us!

The post Lenten Art Devotions and Fine Art Prints for Families appeared first on a humble place.

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing”… Is there, then, not need for more “Mother Culture”?

“MOTHER CULTURE” PARENTS’ REVIEW – VOLUME 3

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sov’reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding ev’ry hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

Light Shining Out of Darkness by William Cowper

January is easily the busiest month of the year in our family, so the last quarter of the year sometimes feels like the calm before the storm. I especially revel in those last two weeks of December when we don’t have any school planned (except math. always math.) and I cling to that quiet. But now, here we are in January and settled quite firmly in the middle of the chaos. It’s all good, though! These are good things, and they are temporary. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

We were pretty well established in our new school routine when the fourth quarter began in October. We began the month with our homeschool group’s first visit to a local assisted living facility, modeled after the ideas shared in this episode of The New Mason Jar podcast. We visit them once a month and sing songs, read poetry and scripture, and, of course, bring art to share with them! We learned on that first visit that this is actually a memory care facility, so they often don’t remember us or that we’ve been there in the past, but we’ve slowly been getting to know the ones who come regularly, and it has been a great experience for the kids and us moms as well.

The image at the top is from our annual trek to The Crags (C’s arm and a Gray Jay), which we usually do in late September but didn’t get to until October this year. I love this hike. It’s especially perfect in the fall when the aspens are changing.

At the end of the month, the families of our homeschool group were invited to spend the weekend at one family’s cabin, so we headed down to southern Colorado for it and had a great time! I continue to be so, so thankful for this community we found in 2024. It has been very life-giving for us.

At the beginning of November, my husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary with lunch at a local restaurant (that serves gluten-free crab cheese wantons!), mini cakes from a tiny local bakery that specializes in gluten-free baking, and our annual trip to the golf course where we got married. Aw. That month, my son also spent a week with his STEM/Aerospace class building a remote-control plane, which he got to fly at the end of the week.

We spent most of Thanksgiving feasting together at home, but shared dessert with friends at their house in the afternoon, which was a great way to spend the day!

In December, we drove up to Denver to see the Camille Pissarro exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. My husband and I actually went up there for a date in November, so I got to see it twice, which is not a bad thing! We went on two different Tuesday nights, and the first time we nearly had the entire exhibition space to ourselves. The second time it was a little more crowded but not nearly as bad as I’ve experienced in the past when visiting in the daytime (especially for Monet…that was rough). I’m hooked on Tuesday nights at the art museum! The pictures above are the closest I get to selfies, but I managed to get two with paintings in my Camille Pissarro Picture Study Aid and, of course, one with a slightly different translation of my quote.

Christmas was, again, spent together at home, and I was so glad for the quiet! We spent the day before and the day of reading and eating chocolate, and just resting after a hectic year. And of course, the week after had me reflecting on the new year and goals I’m adopting for myself, which I’ll talk about next!

New Year Goals

Food

I am changing my diet a little bit in the new year to help with some health-related issues. Aside from that, however, I don’t have any specific new goals in this area other than to be better about following the meal plan and just accepting that I have to make supper every day, even when I don’t want to.

Health

It was a good year of walking and hiking for me, and I definitely want to continue doing these things and add in more movement with these resources:

Cleaning/Organization/Chores

I need to overhaul our cleaning routine again, as I think what we have now is unrealistic. I’ll keep doing as much of it as I can, but most likely won’t be able to really look at it at least until the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat is over in February (January is always a busy month because of that), or when we finish our school year in June. I’ll use these resources to do that:

Finances

This won’t be changing much other than a renewed goal to follow our budget more closely with these resources:

Spiritual

Last year, I mentioned that I decided to “read through” the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and found books that I thought would work well for each fruit. Here are the books:

I’ll continue plodding my way through these books in my morning reading time. I only finished two last year, so it’s probably going to take me quite a while to finish this list, but since patience is one of the fruits, this is not a bad thing.

And now on to the recap!

Read (or Finished Reading)

For Me

Shades of Light by Sharon Garlough Brown. I struggle with anxiety disorder, and it was particularly acute last year for various reasons. I saw this book recommended in a few different places with rave reviews for those struggling with anxiety, so I thought I’d give it a try, but I didn’t care for it.

The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears. (For the Art Book Reading Challenge.) I so wanted to like this one as it’s about art history! and is a mystery! and is the first in a series of art history mysteries! And it was interesting, but fell a little flat for me. I won’t continue the series.

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku. (With the moms of our homeschool hiking group.) This was so moving. Though he had every right to, he did not write it with the voice of a victim. His continual reminder of kindness and how important it is was so inspiring.

Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 by Dallas Willard. I enjoyed this one very much and found it inspiring as well. It got me into the habit of praying Psalm 23 when I’m feeling particularly anxious, and that has helped. I also adopted the practices of daily prayer he mentions toward the end of the book to embrace faith, death to self, and love. I highly recommend this one.

Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses by Amber Lia and Wendy Speake. This was a good way to start my days, as I listened to it on my morning walks, and it reminded me to be more intentional in my responses to the kids. I think it would’ve been exceptionally helpful when I was a new parent.

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley. A friend gave me this for my birthday, and I enjoyed it so much! My husband and I visited the Met back in 2002, and it was so interesting to hear more of the “behind the scenes” stories of the museum. It also made me think that maybe I’d like to be an art museum guard one day as well.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. (For the Tea & Ink Society Classics Reading Challenge.) I checked to see what I was missing from my various reading challenges in November and saw this recommended for the “Medieval or Renaissance classic” category. I started pre-reading it a few years ago for my son, but decided to wait until he was older, so I didn’t finish. This time, I got to the end, and it was….interesting? It’s amazing how many different Arthurian stories, and variations of those stories, there are.

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. (For the Tea & Ink Society Classics Reading Challenge.) I’ve read four Cather books in the last three years, which was completely unplanned, and while I wouldn’t say she’s one of my favorite authors (The Death of the Archbishop was especially hard to get through), I’m glad I’ve read her work. This one was slow to start, then got very good, then got tedious. I know I’m in the minority, but I didn’t like it as much as O, Pioneers!.

In Search of God’s Will: Discerning a Life of Faithfulness and Purpose by Trevor Hudson. This was on the Renovaré book club list for October. I didn’t sign up for the book club itself, but decided to participate from afar. I appreciated many of the points he brought up, and they made me think about aspects of my faith in different ways.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. (For the Tea & Ink Society Classics Reading Challenge.) Another last-minute read for the classics challenge! As I said in my year-end reading post, this was depressing but profound, so basically Russian?

Frank Mechau: Artist of Colorado by Cile M. Bach. (For the Art Book Reading Challenge.) I had never heard of Frank Mechau before reading this book, but I’m so glad I learned more about him! His later style is very appealing to me, and I plan to visit the local places where his art is still on display.

Village School by Miss Read. I picked this for myself for Jólabókaflóðið. It wasn’t my first choice, and I thought it might be a little boring, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower. “I am not going to read any more of the Emma M. Lion books because they’re just so popular and everyone is reading them.” – Me, August 2025. I really did say that to the other moms in our hiking group, as so many of our mutual friends are reading these books, and I was, admittedly, a little annoyed at seeing them constantly pop up on my Goodreads wall (which is ridiculous in and of itself). I am gladly eating crow now, though, as I too have been sucked into Miss. Lion’s world. I read the first book earlier in 2025 and found it entertaining, but didn’t feel like I needed to keep going, especially as I have other books I really want to read. But later in the year, another friend suggested the audiobook versions, and they are perfect to listen to when I’m cooking supper or driving somewhere by myself or doing chores around the house—a fun little diversion.

For (or With) the Kids

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I had never read a Kate DiCamillo book before this one, but I’m so glad we started! All three of us really enjoyed this one, and it inspired us to read more by her.

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester. I picked up almost the entire set of these books at a used book sale in October, when a friend insisted I get them, even though I had never heard of them (they are recommended for AO Year 9). I’m glad she did. I pre-read the first one for my son, and we will definitely be continuing the series.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander. This was my Jólabókaflóðið pick for my son. Lloyd Alexander was a favorite author of mine when I was in elementary school, but I never read the Prydain Chronicles. The first book was fun, and we look forward to the others!

The Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander. This was my Jólabókaflóðið pick for my daughter. Another series from Alexander that I did read when I was younger and enjoyed very much. It’s funny to think that I read these books when they hadn’t been out long, and my daughter is now reading them 35 years later when they’re antiques.

Ishtar’s Odyssey: A Storybook for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide. I’ve heard of these books before, but never looked into them until two friends (same as above) recommended them for Advent. We enjoyed gathering each evening before bed to read the next installment of the book during Advent, and I tried to incorporate some of the food suggestions he offers at the beginning of the book throughout the season as well. I hope to go through the Lent book this year.

For School

I’ll write more about these in my school year-end recaps in June.

This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall.

Coriolanus by William Shakespeare. (Still one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.)

Currently

I’m currently reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter, Metabolism Repair for Women by Lara Briden, The Poetry of Robert Frost, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society by Eugene H. Peterson, and The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction by Adam S. McHugh.

Reading Challenges Results

Read all about what I read in 2025 here! Or follow along with my reading adventures on Storygraph!

Commonplaced

Some favorite quotes from this quarter’s finished books:

Life Without Lack

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me

Made

Food

We cut back a lot on eating out this quarter, so a great deal of cooking was done, but nothing much out of the ordinary. Other than freezing a few meals and making stock, I didn’t do any major food projects. I hope to get back to periodic once-a-week cooking after the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat in February. But that reminds me that I need to batch-cook a few meals before then for my husband and daughter to have while I’m gone!

Project 333

The last week of December included my Project 333 day, and I went through my wardrobe again, purged, and came up with about 36 items to serve me for the next few months. I used Christmas money to get some new Xero shoes, but for the most part, my winter wardrobe was a repeat of my fall wardrobe, which is fine, since wearing what I have doesn’t cost any money!

Moved

I continued walking 1.5 to 2 miles a few times a week in the morning, though I didn’t realize how many days I skipped until I looked at the charts below. I think it was mainly due to busyness, poor sleep (I generally don’t walk if I haven’t slept well the night before), or snow. I don’t usually shy away from weather, but if thick snow is falling in the morning, walking is a little less appealing. Our hiking group also didn’t meet over Thanksgiving or Christmas break, and I usually walk with friends while my daughter is at her weekly gym class, but that ended in early December, so I missed those default activities that are usually an easy way to get movement in. I did, however, begin weight training at the end of December as I mentioned above! Here is what the quarter looked like:

January is already looking better, so hopefully I can keep this momentum.

On the Blog

Products | Art History

Family Art Devotions for the Season of Advent

Picture Study Aids | Art History | Charlotte Mason Homeschooling | Homeschooling | Picture Study

Rosa Bonheur Picture Study Aid and Art Prints for Homeschoolers

Dallas Lore Sharp Lists | Charlotte Mason Homeschooling | Downloads | Freebies | Homeschooling | Nature Study | Printables

11 Things to Hear for Winter Nature Study

Books | Art History

2026 Art Book Reading Challenge!

Reading Recap | Books

What I Read in 2025 (and 2026 reading goals!)

New in the Shop

God With Us: Advent Art Devotions and Prints Volume VII

Rosa Bonheur Picture Study

Nature Sightings

There is definitely a lot less to add or check off in my lists books this time of year, but I did manage to add a few things:

And we forgot to put the bird cam out for most of the quarter, so I don’t have any new bird photos from that. Hopefully next quarter!

The post Mother Culturing: Fourth Quarter 2025 + New Year Resolutions appeared first on a humble place.

It was a good reading year! I think this was primarily because it was also a challenging year in other ways and, as I’ve written before, reading is a means of relaxation and, admittedly, escape, for me. It’s a way for me to take a little time for myself. I wrote back in 2020 (ironically at the beginning of the year before Everything happened):

When life is difficult and the struggles are coming fast and furious, reading not only allows me a means of escape, but often it can put my troubles in perspective. I can listen to Debussy on a homemade radio in the middle of the night in a pre-World War II, German orphanage. I can sit in a shell outside of Seattle and imagine the overwhelm of knowing I’m going to the Olympics. And I can just take a break from heavy things in general and cheer for a “mature” governess finally having a good time.

I have learned that reading is a sort of lifeline for me, and I am allowing myself this guilty pleasure even, and especially, when life is hard.

It’s still true today, and probably will always be true. And now on to books!

2025 Books

Overall Goal

My goal for the year, as has been the case for the last several years, was 36 books overall (3 books per month feels very doable to me, so I haven’t changed this), and as of right now (with three days left in the year!), I’ve read 62 63 books total. This is down from 73 books last year, 98 books in 2023, 67 in 2022, but up from 52 in 2021. The downward trend isn’t ideal, but I try to keep in mind the season of life I’m in, and it is just plain busy. Much busier than I’ve ever been before, so I’m okay with where I am. You can see a list of all the books here!

Personal Goal

My personal reading goal, meaning books that I don’t read for school or for my kids, was 36, and I’m close to that at 33 34 books. I have a few I’m working on right now, and I may be able to finish one or two, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get to three. This is a bit of a fluid goal, as many of the books I read for my kids could easily count for this category, since they’re books I’m interested in as well, but I also want to challenge myself to read books outside of what I read for them. You can see the books I read just for myself here!

Tea and Ink Society Classics Challenge

This a great classics challenge I’ve participated in the last few years!

1. A classic you discover in a used bookstore – The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Does the used book sale room in the library count as a used bookstore? I got this book a few years ago in that manner. It was very sad, but very well-written.
2. A Russian novel or short story collection – The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. This was depressing but profound, so basically Russian?
3. A classic about immigrants or pioneers – I have books in other categories (#4 and #8) that could’ve fit into this category, but didn’t get around to reading one specifically for it. I thought about putting The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson in this spot, as he breaks out of his Happy Valley to explore the world outside and find a new life for himself, but eventually returns home, so that might be a stretch.
4. A classic set on your own turf – The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather. (The first part of the book takes place in the fictional town of Moonstone, Colorado.) I’ve read four Cather books in the last three years, which was completely unplanned, and while I wouldn’t say she’s one of my favorite authors (The Death of the Archbishop was especially hard to get through), I’m glad I’ve read her work. This one was slow to start, then got very good, then got tedious. I know I’m in the minority, but I didn’t like it as much as O, Pioneers!.
5. A book you were supposed to read in school – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I was never actually assigned this book in school, but I should’ve been. I pre-read this for my son’s ninth-grade year, and it was intriguing to hear about the events surrounding the birth of our nation firsthand from Franklin’s perspective.
6. Nonfiction nature writing – (I’m still hoping to finish The Land of Little Rain before the end of the year! I will update this post if/when I do.)
7. A science fiction novel or short story collection – Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. So many of you said this is one of your favorite books! I hope to read the rest of the series at some point.
8. A classic by an author you’ve only read once – Maggie-Now by Betty Smith. This was so frustrating! But well-written, though I didn’t like it as much as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is the only other book I’ve read by Smith.
9. A classic World War I or World War II novel – The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy (WWI). I read this with the kids, and it was very good. Seredy was such a good writer.
10. A Jane Austen novel. Persuasion (third time!). I usually read at least one Austen book every year, so this was an easy category. Just when I think Pride and Prejudice is actually my favorite of her novels, Persuasion reminds me it’s still a contender.
11. A poetry collection by one of the Romantic poets – Didn’t get to this one. I am a v-e-r-y s-l-o-w poetry reader and am currently reading through Robert Frost, who doesn’t fit in this category.
12. A Medieval or Renaissance classic – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I started pre-reading this a few years ago for my son, but decided to wait until he was older, so I didn’t finish. This time I got to the end, and it was….interesting? It’s amazing how many different Arthurian stories, and variations of those stories, there are.

Art Book Reading Challenge

This is my own challenge!

1. A book about an artist from the 19th century – Camille Pissarro: The Audacity of Impressionism by Anka Muhlstein. This was perfect timing for studying Pissarro this year with my kids, and the Pissarro exhibition at the Denver Art Museum!
2. A book about a landscape artist – I had a book about Claude Lorrain sitting on my shelf, but I just didn’t get to it.
3. An art fiction book – The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears. I really wanted to like this, especially as it’s the beginning of a series about art history adventures, but it was only okay. (I also read Shades of Light by Sharon Garlough Brown, which could also fit in this category.)
4. A book about an art controversy (e.g., art theft, forgery, repatriation, etc.). – The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick. This was a fascinating dive into the world of art theft, and again, perfect timing, with the Louvre thefts.
5. A book about an artist from the 18th century – I started A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley by Jane Kamensky, but most likely won’t be able to read the last 300 pages before the end of the year. It actually fits one of the categories in next year’s challenge well, so I’ll finish it then!
6. A book about an artist from or the art of your state/region/country – Frank Mechau: Artist of Colorado by Cile M. Bach. This was fascinating and gave me a great appreciation for this new-to-me local artist!

Other Art Books

I read a few other art-related books this year as well including All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, The Art of Lent: A Painting A Day From Ash Wednesday To Easter (I’m also currently working through The Art of Advent: A Painting a Day from Advent to Epiphany), and Images of Faith: Reflections Inspired by Lilias Trotter.

Fruit of the Spirit

I wrote at the beginning of the year that I made a list of books corresponding to each of the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and I’m still slowly making my way through it. Here are the books I’ve read so far, including the ones I completed this year:

1. (Love) To Love as God Loves by Roberta C. Bondi (finished in 2024)
2. (Joy) Let Go by François Fénelon
3. (Peace) Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 by Dallas Willard

So far, I’ve appreciated each of them so much for how they help me focus on each “fruit” and think about how I can make each one a habit.

2026 Reading Goals

Overall Goal/Personal Goal

I’ll be sticking with my 36 books total goal, so if life suddenly explodes, I’m not failing at everything. But that will also be my personal book goal. I have set this for myself for the last several years and have yet to meet it, so hopefully next year will be the year!

Read Your Bookshelf Challenge

I began doing “classics” challenges in 2017 when I participated in the Back to the Classics Challenge. I am eternally grateful for that challenge, as it got me to actually read classic books (for that year, it was anything before 1966), and I discovered that not only do I like them, I actually prefer them to modern literature now. Imagine that. When that one ended in 2022, I switched to the Tea and Ink Society Classics Challenge and followed that for the last few years.

Since reading classics is apparently no longer challenging for me, I’ve decided to pivot this year and will try the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge. In the intro video, Chantel stated that it doesn’t have to be only books you own, but since I began visiting our local free library in 2024, our home library has grown quite a bit, and most of the books we own I have not read, so I’m restricting it to the ones that are already in our home.

I’ve added a few different options for each category, depending on what other goals I want to pursue, versus books I’ve just been wanting to read for a long time (these are in bold; however, since I own all of these, they are all at least on my TBR list). I’m going to be doing the Art Book Reading Challenge again (more on that below), so I have a few books that can overlap. I also need to pre-read for my son’s tenth-grade year (these books are indicated by an *), so it would also be good if I could hammer a few of those out.

Here are my options:

1. January – title includes an article (a, an, the)
   • Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard
   • The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer*
   • Les Misérables by Victor Hugo* (les is an article in French :))
2. February – three or more objects on the cover
   • Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
   • God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew*
   • Hard Times by Charles Dickens*
3. March – weapon on the cover
   • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
   • A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley by Jane Kamensky
4. April – title includes a conjunction (and, but, for, so, etc)
   • Love and Freindship: And Other Youthful Writings by Jane Austen
   • Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
   • The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home: The Happy Luddite’s Guide to Domestic Self-Sufficiency by Rosanna Nafziger Henderson and Ken Albala
5. May – includes a place
   • The Magnificent Mountain Women: Adventures in the Colorado Rockies by Janet Robertson
   • Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe*
   • The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King
6. June – title is five or more words
   • The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard
   • Tending the Heart of Virtue by Vigen Guroian
   • Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity by Ronald Sider
7. July – has a map
   • The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 by David McCullough
   • 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion by Morgan Llywelyn
8. August – water
   • Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith by Richard Foster
   • Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle
   • A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
9. September – animal
   • The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
   • Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich
   • All Creatures Great and Small: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World’s Most Beloved Animal Doctor by James Herriot
10. October – bookish
    • The Midnight Library by Eric Haig
    • Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson
    • Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill (I feel like I should start the year with this one)
11. November – transportation
    • Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
12. December – true or false
    • And the Word Came With Power by Joanne Shetler
    • It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered by Lysa TerKeurst

Art Book Reading Challenge

And, finally, for my own challenge: the 2026 Art Book Reading Challenge! I hope to get through all the categories this year. Here are my ideas:

1. A book about an artist from the 20th century
   • I haven’t decided on this one yet, but Norman Rockwell is the AmblesideOnline first term artist for next year, so I may pick up his autobiography.
2. A book about portraiture or a portrait artist
   • A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley by Jane Kamensky
3. An art fiction book
   • I used to keep track of new books by Tracy Chevalier, an art fiction writer, and read them as soon as a new one came out. Somewhere along the line, I fell off the bandwagon, so I may try to read at least one of the ones I’ve missed (The Glassmaker looks the most intriguing).
4. A general book about art
   • Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith by Russ Ramsey. So many people have asked me if I’ve read this and what I thought of it. I’ve started it several times but never made it far, usually because the book was due at the library and I couldn’t renew it (and it’s hard to find a reasonably priced used copy!). I plan to make it a priority this year.
5. A book about an artist from the 17th century
   • Rembrandt’s Eyes by Simon Schama. I really enjoyed Simon Schama’s History of Art when it aired on PBS quite a few years ago, so I was drawn to this when I saw he was the author. Apparently, this is a Rembrandt year!
6. A book about female artists or a single female artist
   • I’m leaning toward Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits right now.

I’m excited for more reading in the new year!

The post What I Read in 2025 (and 2026 reading goals!) appeared first on a humble place.

It’s that time of year! In this post, I’m announcing the categories for the 2026 Art Book Reading Challenge!

Why participate in an art book reading challenge?

As I wrote back in 2022 when I posted the first art book reading challenge, one of the best ways I know of getting deeper into the art world is by reading a biography of an artist, or any kind of book that explores various aspects of art. From these books, I have learned so much about the people behind the art as well as specific movements, techniques, and the world as a whole at various times in history. Knowing more about the artists and events that have affected the art world gives the art more depth and has provided me with an appreciation for paintings or sculptures that I only gave a passing glance in the past.

If you’d like to join me in learning more about the world of art, you can find the six categories as well as a few suggestions for each category in the list below! (Those marked with a * are books I have not read, but they received positive reviews and would be what I would read for that artist.) And, if you happen to be on The StoryGraph, you can join the challenge there!

The 2026 Art Book Reading Challenge Categories

A book about an artist who was primarily active in the 20th century, though they may have been born in the 19th century, or worked into the 21st century.

And of course this list could go on for a long time! You can find a very thorough list of 20th-century artists here.

A book related to portraits, or specifically about an artist known for their portraits (even if they painted other genres as well).

A “fun” category! Fictional accounts most likely take a lot of artistic license (no pun intended), but I have been surprised at how much research some authors have done to instill quite a bit of truth in their tales. Goodreads has suggestions here. (I do not recommend anything by Dan Brown).

I made a category for “art controversies” last year, but there were so many general “art” books that popped up over the course of the year that I wanted to read that I decided to make this category more broad. Any book related to art fits here!

Another time period-based category. This one includes some well-known names as well:

I also have a list of more 16th-century artists here!

These lists aren’t exhaustive at all, but simply offer a few ideas for the different categories. If you plan to read along, please leave a comment below with what you hope to read for each category!

The post 2026 Art Book Reading Challenge! appeared first on a humble place.