More on England

I love all things England; I guess that makes me an Anglophile.  I have wanted to travel, maybe even live, in England for a good portion of my life.  As child books transported me to different locations in the world and different times in history.  England was my favorite location and English authors have always held a special place in my repertoire of reading materials.  I am a fan of mystery stories, so Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers are like old friends of mine who I visit through their writing when I need some light reading.  Churchill and Chesterton, Lewis, Tolkien, Orwell, Potter, Dickens, Doyle, Kipling, and Shakespeare have their places on my bookshelves in our school room library.  And more.

  In high school, my fascination with the Kings and Queens of England morphed into becoming a student of history in college.  When I researched what kind of education I wanted to provide for my children as we homeschooled, my sister told me about a British educator named Charlotte Mason who taught students, parents, and teachers in her lifetime.  It was an easy fit for me to use Charlotte Mason’s methods in my school and to base our curriculum on Western Civilization beginning with the Birth of Britain. 

I have dreamed about visiting England for a long time.  Whenever Bryan and I would talk about which country we want to visit for our first trip overseas, I voted for England (his vote was for the Netherlands since both his parents were born there).  

The idea that an island has birthed a civilization (or at least perpetuated it) that expanded to all the ‘corners’ of the globe makes me want to see the land and its historical landmarks.  I want to feel the history of the place and to experience the people who live there.   I want to absorb the culture, the history, the air, the sea.   

I have a running list of British idioms that I am practicing as a fun way to prepare for the journey (that’s ‘trip’ in American English).  Bryan is looking forward to a fry up; I know how to ask directions for the loo (or bog?). We look forward to a lovely time as we stay a fortnight in the country.