Kenneth Hobson

@NadyaWilliams81 @thedispatch @craigfehrman I'm looking forward to reading this book. Our family has taken many road trips--mostly in the Western US, including two road trips that followed as much of the L&C trail as we could in a van. Great times!

Today @thedispatch, it's my privilege to write this piece on the noble tradition of the great American road trip, but mostly is a grateful tribute/review of @craigfehrman's fun new book on the Lewis &Clark expedition. Annnnd thedispatch.com/next-250/lewis…

@teachermother1 @NadyaWilliams81 I've also tried Peace twice. Really liked Cheerfully Refuse, though!

@NadyaWilliams81 I really wanted to like Peace Like a River - so much that I read it twice! - but I just could not.

Leif Enger is one of my favorite living novelists right now.

@DoloresGMorris Our oldest has one more year at home & homeschool. The college search is more challenging that I had thought it would be. Any decisions on where he's going?

This tiny one is off to college in a few months & I am not 100% OK. I'm thrilled for him. He is so ready! He is bright, curious thoughtful & kind. He's going to thrive! It's just that time is a sneaky little thief.

One of the most profound moral directives I've encountered is from Frank Serpico (which I discovered via @eigenrobot) Serpico was a NYC detective who blew the whistle on police corruption in the 70's, after which he was shot in the face. Sidney Lumet made a movie about him starring Al Pacino. As Pacino prepared for the role, he visited with Serpico and asked him why he stepped forward to fight this corruption despite the risks. Serpico replied "if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?" We are not worthy of appreciating beauty unless we are true. If we are false, we can't truly love something like a piece of music because our false nature poisons the beauty that comes to us. Beauty needs to strike us. It needs to stab directly into our souls. If we have allowed the lies to compromise us, then the beauty cannot reach to the depths of who we are. If we are liars, then we can't love the tremendous beauty of the world. Lies and corruption put our souls into a cage. A soul in a cage can never be true or free or good. We have to act on the truth. We have to let the music reach our hearts.

@richardrohlin @Alypius_Loft @annielcrawford @kalezelden Kids have increasingly contributed to reading parts in step 2 as they have gotten older.

@richardrohlin @Alypius_Loft @annielcrawford @kalezelden Another vote for the Archangel audiobook series. Our kids started with Midsummer Nights Dream. The pattern we follow: (1) mom reads aloud adaptation like Nesbit or Lamb, (2) read play aloud, everyone has a copy to look at, (3) listen to audio, (4) watch film adaptation.

Looking for advice for how to teach my children (and myself) Shakespeare. My boys are 10 and 8 and have never read or listened to him before. Are there any particular works to get started? Calling @annielcrawford and @kalezelden for help.

@freganmitts Amen!

Brilliant and much-needed bit of sanity on this topic.

@CaptainBookmark @LeahLibresco My copy arrived today as well. Ordered a week ago. Was going to request for my May birthday but didn't want to wait.

@LeahLibresco Where does one acquire this not from Amazon? The publisher still has it listed as preorder (despite listing release as today), B&N have it out of stock online/in stores, & last I checked Bookshop doesn't even show it in results.

Could not, in good conscience, wait till Father’s Day

@ChrisKindaReads Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Ivan Illich.

i feel like david copperfield might be peak

@teachermother1 My two high schoolers probably think we've done too much already! I'm taking them through Locke's 2nd treatise and we'll read selected Federalist papers next term.

As we approach the end of his homeschooling career, I asked my 17yo this weekend what we got right and wrong for high school. I braced myself for complaints about not enough time with friends or maybe our video game ban. "I wish we had done more political theory."

@BMcGrewvy Agree with all these points. The Faramir betrayal ruins it for me. Aragorn's arc is fundamentally changed for the worse as well. Theoden's ubi sunt is the best scene. I'll have to revisit where this occurs in the book, but it may even be better than book.

Just got out of Two Towers in the theater. Boy am I torn about this one--simultaneously some of the very best and very worst moments of the trilogy. What they did to Faramir is hard to forgive, but the Rohan stuff raises goosebumps every time.

@NMTimMcGrew @ShireReckoningW Followed! First I've heard of it.

I do not understand why @ShireReckoningW doesn't yet have 10K followers. Level up, tweeps!

@LuElla_DAmico @SketchesbyBoze @DixieDillonLane Read it last year with my two high schoolers as part of our medieval history. So good. We still talk about it. We read an anthology of Anglo Saxon writings alongside. Do check out the authors blog as well. aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com

Winters in the World is officially on my 2026 list. Both @SketchesbyBoze and @DixieDillonLane have recommended it. No higher honor, in my book, than being named by readers I trust.

@IvanaDGreco Ok, I love this period of history and was ready to write off this documentary based on those grumpy reviews. I'll give it a chance. What are those reviews missing?

I’ve now read several grumpy reviews of Ken Burn’s new documentary series, The American Revolution. I’m in the middle of watching the series, and all I can say is - in my opinion (for what little it’s worth) - it is superb. Visually arresting, deeply interesting even for those who feel they already have a good lay understanding, not politically captured …. Highly recommended if you are interested!

@BrandonWarmke I mean, they do say "knowledge" in that highlighted bit. But probably once it's been nuanced, it has little to do with truth. And "critical inquiry" is probably neither earnest inquiry nor anything approaching critical.

The entire "PhD in Higher Education Administration" degree ecosystem is training for how to do this. They just say it!

You have to understand that most deans, managers, and officers responsible for university admissions see themselves as joined together in a vast, collaborative social engineering project that uses the credentialing arm of leftist politics to promote social justice and equality.

@IvanaDGreco @TheArgumentMag @KelseyTuoc And yet local universities won't look at GPAs on homeschool transcripts for admission. They do admit homeschooled students, but GPA isn't considered--unless it's for courses taken elsewhere (local high school, licensed online schools, etc.).

Really enjoyed this essay @TheArgumentMag by @KelseyTuoc on students arriving at college unable to do basic math, yet getting As in math class. One of my most hippy beliefs is that grades are a terrible pedagogical tool . However, if we must have them (and perhaps we must), they should mean something.

@kelleylowens @HippyMomPhD I second House of Humane Letters. houseofhumaneletters.com Check out the Literary Life podcast for a taste.

@HippyMomPhD Check out House of Humane Letters

This week, I pulled my kid out of her literature class. I signed her up because I couldn't keep up with all the books she was reading. I wanted her to get to discuss, relate, learn about literature with other children who were equally fascinated with great writing. What she got was a class where they tested her on irrelevant plot details, rushed her through books, & had discussions via chat features. I understand the pressures on schools. They need ensure kids read the books, and they can't have everyone talking all at once... But they took my child who is in LOVE with reading & made it a chore -- something to get through... to endure not to enjoy I'm grateful that I have the choice to flee, to chart a new path immediately. We'll be going back to reading together & she's going to write book reports (something she's excited to do) But I’m still aching for something I can’t seem to find: a community of teachers and children who relish books, who read slowly and deeply, who treat stories as tools for shaping character and cultivating wisdom. If you know any groups doing this, please share!♥️

Fall in Iowa

@HootenWilson @DanielNayeri The family all loved Everything Sad is Untrue, including 14 & 15 year old teens. We talked about for days after. Would new book be appropriate for that age?

it doesn’t get much better than @DanielNayeri

@IvanaDGreco My 16 year old Tolkien and Lewis lover was in tears toward the end of this book.

Absolutely incredible book. Although marketed as a kids’ book, great read for an adult.