Becky Aniol

Becky holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and music, a master's degree in Christian education, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Christian education. She taught classical upper school grammar, literature, and history and lower school composition and grammar for two years, elementary school music for one year, and Kindermusik classes for four years before the birth of her children. She now loves staying home with her four children, Caleb, Kate, Christopher, and Caroline and homeschooling them classically.

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Author Archives: Becky Aniol

A Homeschool Mom Reads: July

August 3rd, 2015 | 0 Comments

After the fun beach and car reading of June, I was ready for some nourishing fare this month, and that was just what I got. I have rarely had such an encouraging and refreshing month of reading, in terms of the books themselves, as I had this month. I started about three or four books… Continue Reading

Reader Questions Answered: Young Earth History Curriculum and Dates

July 16th, 2015 | 0 Comments

These are some recent reader questions that reflect questions I get fairly often regarding history curriculum and history dating of ancient times from a young earth perspective. Since these seem to be common questions with a similar theme, I decided to combine them into a post and include my answers in case they would be… Continue Reading

My Curriculum Recommendations: 2nd and 4th Grade

July 3rd, 2015 | 0 Comments

As I plan for our upcoming school year, what am I buying? I still love much/most of what we’ve been using. We had a few things that didn’t work for us this past year, so I’ll note those changes and why they didn’t work. Also, we’re transitioning into our second history cycle, so that necessitated… Continue Reading

A Homeschool Mom Reads: May and June

July 2nd, 2015 | 0 Comments

Here’s what I read in May and June. (January through April can be found here.) May: The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall The fourth book in this series. I personally really enjoy the Penderwick books (light, clean fun and well written), but there’s too much teen boyfriend/girlfriend stuff for me to give these to… Continue Reading

A Homeschool Mom Reads: January through April

May 1st, 2015 | 0 Comments

At long last, I finished my master’s degree in Christian education in December. Much as I’m thrilled to be done, I loved the external pressure of hard book lists and required reading deadlines. Don’t get me wrong. I love to read on my own. But…I probably wouldn’t pick up some of the heftier, weightier things… Continue Reading

The App That Rescued Our Memory Work

April 29th, 2015 | 0 Comments

I posted this photo on facebook a few days ago as I was gearing up for and getting excited about our simplified summer morning routine (as opposed to a full homeschool morning). I mentioned that our summer Morning Time (see Cindy Rollins on Morning Time) includes mostly reading aloud, listening to music and stories on… Continue Reading

Four Approaches to Classical Christian Education, Part 2: Towards a Definition

February 26th, 2015 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Classical Christian Education: Four Distinct Approaches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I recently wrote a post introducing a new series about the four distinct ways that evangelicals are doing classical Christian education in 2015–more than 30 years after Doug Wilson re-introduced us to Dorothy Sayers and the Trivium. I asserted that, despite the many who claim that classical Christian education is the Trivium and its “stages,”… Continue Reading

Classical Christian Education: Four Distinct Approaches, part 1

February 12th, 2015 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Classical Christian Education: Four Distinct Approaches You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I’m guessing that a lot of homeschool parents, like me, encountered classical Christian education (CCE) through either Doug Wilson’s excellent book Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning or through Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise’s very helpful The Well-Trained Mind. Wilson first convinced me of CCE, and Bauer and Wise made me think that I… Continue Reading

List of Classical Conversations and Veritas Timeline Cards

September 3rd, 2014 | 0 Comments

Last spring I did a review of Classical Conversations history. I mentioned that I’d provide a list of the Classical Conversations history timeline events and people as well as the Veritas history timeline events and people (read my review of Veritas history here), since I pick and choose and mix the two together. You can… Continue Reading

The Much-Requested Timeline Song

July 18th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I keep getting emails requesting our timeline song, which I promised awhile back that I would post. Here it is at long last! I explained in one of my earlier history posts that I teach my children a literal, six-day creation. This worldview influences the timeline of history because interpreting history and archaeology using biblical… Continue Reading

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Curriculum Recommendations and Best Prices

July 2nd, 2014 | 0 Comments

Today I’m here with my curriculum recommendations for first, second, and third grade. I realize that I haven’t done curriculum recommendations for kindergarten yet, and I will do a post for that soon, but I didn’t use nearly as much curricula for kindergarten as for these other grades, so I’m going to start here. I’ve… Continue Reading

Homeschooling with Little to No Prep

April 2nd, 2014 | 0 Comments

I was talking with a friend the other day, and she commented that she didn’t know how I was doing grad school, blogging, and doing everything else as a wife and mom, plus homeschooling and all the prep involved for two grades. I answered that really have very little homeschooling prep for the most part,… Continue Reading

History Review: Classical Conversations

February 24th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Today I’m back with another history curriculum review. So far we’ve looked at Veritas Press History, Story of the World, and Mystery of History. In this review, I’ll examine Classical Conversations history. I have been receiving Classical Conversations catalogs in the mail for some time now. (If you homeschool or would like to, I’d strongly… Continue Reading

Our Daily Homeschool Schedule

February 10th, 2014 | 0 Comments

I often get asked what our day looks like. How do we fit it all in? Do we ever leave the house? Do my kids ever play, or do I ever get a minute alone? Honestly, I’m always curious how other people’s homeschool day is structured, too. I love to make adjustments as I add… Continue Reading

Review of Mystery of History

January 30th, 2014 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Now that the holidays are over and we’re back to school, I’m returning to my history reviews. We’ve looked at Veritas Press history and Story of the World. Today, I’d like to examine Mystery of History. Overview/Format This curriculum is designed for multiple ages, with the target audience of 4th through 8th grade, but includes… Continue Reading

Must-Read Books on Classical Christian Education

January 17th, 2014 | 0 Comments

The question I get asked most when discussing education is what books I recommend to get started with classical Christian homeschooling. So, here are what I consider “the essentials.” (I have a much longer list if you’ve read all these and want more!) If you’re considering homeschooling, curious about classical Christian education, or want to… Continue Reading

Should children study the KJV?

December 9th, 2013 | 0 Comments

As I am contemplating what textbooks we will use next year for our homeschooling (yes, I plan this far ahead so that I can take advantage of winter and early spring sales as I find them), I’ve been increasingly impressed with Memoria Press. I’ll be reviewing their history curriculum as part of my Teaching Your… Continue Reading

History Curriculum 2: Story of the World

November 15th, 2013 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

In my last post I examined Veritas Press History. Today, I want to take a look at Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. It’s another popular choice with homeschoolers (though this series isn’t just for homeschoolers), and I’ve also seen it used in Christian schools. Story of the world is written by someone with a Christian worldview and is… Continue Reading

History Curriculum Evaluation 1: Veritas

November 1st, 2013 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I am beginning my reviews of children’s history curricula with Veritas Press History. If you’ve missed the posts leading up to this, I explain here why it’s so important that Christian children learn to love history, here why history must be taught from a Christian perspective, and here what kind of a history curricula fosters a child’s love for… Continue Reading

Criteria for a good history for children

September 30th, 2013 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Teaching Your Child to Love History You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

I have one more introductory post before I begin reviewing different history curricula. In this post I will give some basic criteria for a good history curriculum. Again, this series is not just for homeschoolers! In my previous posts I’ve talked about the importance of teaching children to love history and why history must be… Continue Reading