Karen Andreola's charming book is part of The Gentle Art of LearningTM series. It has all the right ingredients to inspire even the reluctant writer or the student who has experienced discouragement. Karen's JUMBO book of Story Starters encourage children to write in ways they have never written before. Karen's carefully-crafted story starter suspends a student in the middle of a predicament. He is then faced with the question; What happens next? This is his cue to expand and embellish the story however he wants. He learns to write freely; with imagination and zest - and with far more boldness than he may be accustomed to. The action-packed stories are especially appealing to boys. Thumb through the pages to choose whatever story or illustration catches your fancy. Karen has written a large selection to satisfy the varied interests of both boys and girls. To spark even more curiosity, each story is illustrated with one or more engaging, and often amazing, 19th century pictures. The settings are sometimes: intense, sometimes funny, sometimes sweetly domestic, but always pose a challenge. Here is your child s opportunity to: rescue those in danger, comfort the sick, cheer the lonely, laugh with the ridiculous, tame the wild, and do battle for good! Awaken the dormant writer in your child with this lively approach to creative writing. Story Starters is designed to: Replace dry, dull writing with exciting writing Invoke sympathy for the characters and encourage writing with feeling Expand a child s literary powers with the practice of narration Develop a child s imagination with embellishment of story plots Stimulate reasoning powers with opportunity for problem-solving Reawaken and interest in language arts Uphold Biblical virtues Story Starters: is a JUMBO 458 pages filled to overflowing with choices and excitement! Karen s Story Starters helps homeschoolers save because it is a one book per family, non-consumable, lavishly illustrated, multi-skill levels (grade 4-12), supplemental English course. Your Student's next writing adventure is waiting between the covers of Story Starters.
Karen Andreola is the author of Mother Culture®: For a Happy Homeschool; A Charlotte Mason Companion; Pocketful of Pinecones; Lessons at Blackberry Inn; and Story Starters. She home educated her 3 children K-12.
Revival
Karen and Dean Andreola were largely responsible for igniting the modern-day revival of Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education among home educators. While serving in a Christian literature mission in London, Karen began homeschooling in their tiny rented flat. In an age before the Internet, Karen asked Dean to find Miss Mason's long-out-of-print writings. Astonishingly, none could be found for sale in the whole of England. As Providence would have it, an elderly bookshop owner told Dean of the Charlotte Mason College in the Lake District. Soon after, Dean made the trip. He received on loan from their archives all 6 volumes of CM's Home Education series. Karen began reading. Experimenting through trial and error, she began adapting the principles to her home life. Upon returning to the States in 1987, the Andreolas arranged for the republication of the 6 volumes. They kept the pink books in print for 25 years.
The Gentle Art of LearningTM
In the 1990s the convenience of podcasts, videos, blogs, and FB communities did not exist. Karen often felt alone. But help was on the way. One day she received on her doorstep 77 hardbound volumes of the Parents' Review from the CM College archives. The heavy cartons came with a big international freight bill. Thus began the years of sifting through articles some over 100 years old to find golden nuggets of wisdom relevant for today. Karen shared her discoveries and experiences: in homeschool magazines, her own magazine, and as key-note speaker at conferences. Her interpretation of CM's philosophy, trademarked The Gentle Art of Learning, attracted many to the method. It gave parents the confidence to say, I can do this. Homeschool leaders privately acknowledge they first understood the ideas of CM through Karen's book, A Charlotte Mason Companion.
Freelance Reviews
From 1995 to 2014 parents looked forward to reading product reviews the Andreola family wrote for several Christian homeschool catalogs.
Mother Culture® Discovery
An obscure article, anonymously written, was published in 1892. It lay quietly undisturbed in the Parents' Review until Karen discovered it. What was the article that intrigued her? It was titled "Mother Culture". It struck a chord in Karen's heart. As she considered how it might benefit mothers today, ideas bubbled over into her own magazine in 1993. Over the next decades, she revived, expanded, and introduced Mother Culture to a new generation. Her articles, books, speaking, and catalog reviews (later, blogging and FB) created enthusiastic interest. In this way, Karen popularized Mother Culture among busy, hard-working home educators. Privately she answered hundreds of letters from stressed or discouraged moms. Heartfelt sympathy and a desire to encourage led her to choose Mother Culture ® as the hallmark of her work, ministry, and trademark. Today, the original Parents' Review article is linked as an online reference without mention or knowledge of Karen's origin-story. Yet had it not been for Karen Andreola, Mother Culture® as we understand it today might have gone undiscovered for perhaps another 100 years.
