Dixie Dillon Lane

1 week ago | frontporchrepublic.com | Dixie Dillon Lane

Three ash trees once grew in the parking lot next to my childhood home. The first of the three was useless to me, as its lowest branch was far too high to climb. The second had branches more amenable to my purposes, and I climbed them occasionally for a change of pace. But the third—the middle tree in the line of three—was perfect for climbing in every way. The branches began low and were balanced, circling like a staircase up to a high open hand.

1 month ago | frontporchrepublic.com | Dixie Dillon Lane

It was Thursday night, and I really didn’t want to go to book club. “I really don’t want to go to my book club,” I told my friend Nadya in a message. “I’m so tired. I think I should probably just stay in.”Three little dots told me Nadya was thinking, and I had a suspicion I wouldn’t like what she would write: “It matters that you said you would go. Saying you would go means something.”And so of course, I went.

2 months ago | nadyawilliams.substack.com | Nadya Williams |Dixie Dillon Lane

Shortly after we moved to Ohio, my talented friend and fellow homeschooling-mom-and-writer sent me Shirley Jackson’s hilarious memoir of literary motherhood, Life Among the Savages. In a particularly relatable moment, Jackson describes directing her creative efforts to somehow cram all the books in the family’s possession into their house. They end up lining the upstairs hallway with bookcases, which solves the problem for a time.

Feb 13, 2025 | schooloftheunconformed.substack.com | Ruth Gaskovski |Dixie Dillon Lane

When I first started out homeschooling over fifteen years ago, I was fortunate enough to connect with two “veteran” homeschool moms who generously shared their insights into different curricula and learning routines with me. They offered me an opportunity to examine their resources along with the reasons for choosing them. I much preferred this method of examining potential curricula, as it saved me from being overwhelmed with catalogues and online reviews.

Feb 13, 2025 | schooloftheunconformed.substack.com | Ruth Gaskovski |Dixie Dillon Lane

It is useful to remember that history is to the nation as memory is to the individual. As a person deprived of memory becomes disorientated and lost, not knowing where they have been or where they are going , so a nation denied a conception of the past will be disabled in dealing with its present and its future. Arthur M.