ERS at 95

We had a remarkable time with Mrs. Schaeffer (everyone else calls her Edith, the boys Noni [Hebrew for grandma], but I knew her as Mrs, so, like Mary Tyler Moore's Mr Grant, she remains Mrs to me). Very lucid and responsive and the gentleness of her demeanor came through.

Her daughter, Susan, was caring for her - Debby and Udo were away - so we caught up, discussing children's education. Susan was an early advocate of homeschooling in England and America and her youngest is heading a start-up school in Cambridge based upon Charlotte Mason's ideas.
We like her easygoing approach and are uncomfortable with the sometimes academically superior focus of classical Christian models which can smack - to me, at least - of an evangelical version of No Child Left Behind. Diane Ravitch, the education reformer and spearhead of NCLB, has recently blown the whistle on Laura Bush's program, saying that the focus on test scores (and not on the available research) proved to be a failure. Christians also stress behavior and character, so it's more well-rounded, but I'm reacting to the accelerated aspect.
It's a fascinating topic, dealing with child development, which we are familiar with since our boys faced these issues as adopted children from a low-stimulation environment.

"Low stimulation" doesn't exactly describe Michael & Jack these days; they are a long way from Siping and Deyang.

Michael - the urban cowboy - absolutely loved his get-up, refusing to change even in downtown Lausanne.

He really wants cowboy boots, so this may morph into Swiss Western wear - Alps, not the open range.