NoodleFood

Ready for the Day
LePort Schools
Activism Recap

Posted: 29 Nov 2010 08:02 AM PST

Last week, I received my much-coveted print of Bryan Larsen's painting Ready for the Day. It was my first purchase from Quent Cordair Fine Art, and I've been nothing but pleased with the experience.

Here's the painting itself, posted with permission:

This painting was love at first sight for me. When I look at it, I don't feel like I'm looking at a stranger: I feel like I'm seeing myself in some ideal way. I experience that calm ease of preparing myself, mentally and physically, for some important work that I've chosen for myself. I love that feeling, and this painting seems to capture that so perfectly for me, in a very immediate and intimate way.

For those of you who have bought from Quent Cordair Fine Art before -- or you'd like to do so -- what speaks to you in just that personal way -- and why? Please post your links and explanations in the comments!

LePort Schools

Posted: 29 Nov 2010 07:00 AM PST

The following is from Heike Larson. It was posted on OGrownups in late September. I'm reposting it here with her permission, albeit rather later than I'd hoped!

Over the summer, I have had the great pleasure of working with LePort Schools in Orange County to design their new web site. Our goal: to make accessible to parents a clear, compelling description of what a life-affirming, conceptual education can and should look like, from preschool through 8th grade.

I'd like to invite you to check out the site, and let us know what you think: www.leportschools.com

On our blog, we comment on a range of education topics, with posts written from a conceptual education perspective, and informed by the day-to-day experiences at our school. Check it out, and subscribe if you find it interesting: www.leportschools.com/blog.

Amy Mossoff, at her blog The Little Things, just blogged about the site. Here's what she had to say, to give you added incentive to check it out:
LePort recently unveiled a new web site. It holds an amazing wealth of information that can be useful for just about all parents. I'm particularly excited about it because of how much it is going to help me with homeschooling. It may sound crazy, but this web site will replace Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Trained Mind as my homeschooling bible. It's that rich, and that good.

The web site goes beyond giving some vague mission statement with a hodgepodge of ideas thrown in, as most school web sites do. In dozens of organized, easy-to-navigate pages, rich with content (and beautiful photos), it covers just about everything that makes LePort what it is: pedagogy, curriculum, motivation, teacher qualifications, enrichment, personal development, and more. Every principle is clearly related to the school's mission:

Our Goal: A Student Who Flourishes As A Joyous Child Today, and As A Successful Adult Tomorrow
We hope you enjoy it - and do let me know any feedback you may have.

I've only just now taken the time to poke around LePort's web site, and I love what I see, such as Heike Larson's blog post on choosing a school, Ray Girn's post on teaching cursive handwriting, and the description of how they teach. I'm looking forward to exploring further, and I suspect that anyone involved with or interested in education will find more than a few interesting gems on the web site.

So... go see for yourself!

Activism Recap

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 08:55 PM PST

This week on We Stand FIRM, the blog of FIRM (Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine):