About
Be a Time Traveler. Explore an old abbey with Catherine Morland, travel to Italy with Aeneas, & discover hidden treasure with Huckleberry Finn.
I have been teaching for almost 20 years, and teaching literature for the past 10 years. I was inspired to teach literature to middle and high school students when my oldest kids were young teens. I wanted them to have the opportunity to go deeper into these great stories and discuss them with others. I now offer in-person courses here in my little corner of the world and online through Zoom. Seeing my students get excited about class and enthusiastically discussing these great books brings me so much joy.
Time Travelers
As we read these works together we will become Time Travelers, appreciating the work in its own literary tradition, its time in history, its culture.
We are a part of the great conversation, engaging with these books and entering their world. As we explore these works, we will gain an understanding of how to read any book and how books uncover the riches of other books.
Course Information
A big part of these courses is developing the art and skill of reading well. Class time will be devoted primarily to teaching and discussion.
Most (but not all) homework will consist of reading. These classes will focus on good literature, but in the act of reading and discussing, students will also be bettering their grammar, spelling, critical thinking, and writing skills. If your student has already read one or more of the books in the course - all the better!
In every course, in addition to the books and short stories, we will read a Shakespeare play each semester, as well as some poetry selections. I assign a limited amount of reading so there is time to read attentively, to understand, and to enjoy.
Course Details & Sign Up
We will meet for 27 weeks, September - April, with breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break.
In-person classes meet once a week on Wednesday in Springdale; online classes meet once a week on Thursday through Zoom.
The cost is $250 for a year-long, two-semester, class.
Please contact me for more information.
Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into sub-individuality. But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do. C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
More About Me
I've always loved teaching, and had so much fun teaching swim lessons for several years. Being in the sun and the water is something I look forward to all year. Some of my literature students now were my itty bitty swim student then. It delights my heart to be a part of their lives as they grow, and makes me feel old- in a good way.
Another favorite thing is baking/ cooking. This is something I've had to do a lot of over the years, the sheer amount of practice helped me to become better at it, and I've come to enjoy it quite a bit. Before homeschooling, I had the privilege to make desserts for a high-end restaurant, which was both exciting and challenging.
When we get the chance I love traveling with my husband and kids. We've had some really fantastic adventures together. The most important thing about any trip, though, is figuring out which books to bring.
I read because it's life-giving. It's like water, food, and sun. When I really get into a book or a story, I can't help but go deeper and deeper and find out more and more. It's a treasure hunt, and so rewarding. I am constantly learning through reading, taking classes, attending discussions and lectures, and reading in groups. A couple of highlights lately are reading Dante's Divine Comedy with Hillsdale College professor, Stephen Smith, and reading and discussing Spencer's The Faerie Queene with my son, who is in college. C. S. Lewis is a great guide for Spenser.
My comfort reads are Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books, Golden Age detective mysteries (think Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham), and P. G. Wodehouse- he makes me laugh so much.
Jane Austen is the queen. All hail. When we were teens my best friend was gifted the complete novels of Jane Austen in one volume. I picked it up and could not stop reading. This friend was (is) very long-suffering and loaned me her new gift before reading it herself. I read quickly through the entire thing and was hooked for life. Later, for my birthday, she bought me (probably at the Books-A-Million by the mall, long before the days of Amazon) my own copy of Pride & Prejudice which I read and reread and am still rereading. I think she gave a hint to the man whom I would later marry, and his first gift to me was an old hardback copy of Sense & Sensibility and Northanger Abbey. It remains one of the best gifts I've ever received.