A reading circle for homeschooled children
Where mind meets friendship.
Fable and Hare is a small reading circle for children aged seven to ten. The same eight children gather twice a week around one classic story. They read it, talk it over, learn through it, make and bake things side by side, and come to know each other along the way.
Charlotte’s Web · Peter Pan · The Wind in the Willows
01
The Idea
Plenty of activity. Not enough belonging.
Dance, gymnastics, music, theater, baseball. Many homeschool weeks are spent in the car. Our children spend hours beside other children, and still the deep friendships are hard to find.
Fable and Hare is built for that: a small group, a good story to think hard about, and enough unhurried time together to become real friends.
i.
Known, not just included.
The same eight children, every session. Small enough that every child is heard, and that everyone knows each other by the second week.
ii.
A story in common.
Friendship needs something to stand on. Worrying over Wilbur or laughing at Mr. Toad gives children a shared world, and a shared world is where friendships begin.
iii.
Learning, lived inside the story.
Writing, math, and science, taught through the book itself. Measuring for the week’s baking. Watching how a spider builds her web. Writing the chapter we wish the author had added. Not a replacement for the lessons you teach at home, but a rich companion to them.
iv.
Calm, and worth keeping.
A few things, done well and unhurried. Nothing made here is meant for the bin. Every craft is something a child will want on their shelf for years.
“I’m not looking for busy activities. I’m looking for beauty.”
Bri Silvius, founder
02
The Year
One book at a time, all year long.
Each book is its own four-week term, with up to six terms in the year. Children may join for one, though staying from term to term lets friendships carry from one story to the next.
I.
Charlotte’s Web
E. B. White
A pig, a spider, and a barn full of neighbors. A story about what it costs to be a true friend.
Begins November 10
II.
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie
A boy who won’t grow up, a girl who looks after the lost, and the question of whether we would follow them out the window.
Term to be announced
III.
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame
Riverbanks, motorcars, and four friends who keep finding their way home.
Term to be announced
IV–VI.
And more to come
Titles to be announced
The rest of the year’s books will be chosen with the same care: classics worth reading aloud, and worth talking about.
Coming soon
The first term, Charlotte’s Web, begins Tuesday, November 10.
03
A Session
Two hours and a quarter, unhurried.
Every session follows the same gentle shape.
We gather.
Children settle in and we read aloud from the week’s chapters together.
We share.
Each week, one child is our Star of the Week and brings something they love to show the group. The old show and tell, and still one of the best ways to be known.
We talk.
Who are these people to you? What would you have done? Children learn to listen to one another and build on each other’s ideas.
We make.
One keepsake, tied to the story and made slowly, side by side, with good materials. Something that sparks curiosity long after the book is closed.
We bake.
A small food craft from the story, made together and shared at one table. Donuts on the very first day. Individual blueberry pies. Spider suckers when we meet the spiders.
And on the last day, a party.
Every book ends with a celebration. By then, the table is full of friends.
Photograph to come:
small hands, blueberry pies cooling on the sill.
04
The Term
Eight children. Eight sessions.
Sessions
Eight
Twice a week, for four weeks
Each session
Two hours and a quarter
Mornings, 10 to 12:15. An early-afternoon group may open if there is interest. Days to be announced.
Ages
Seven to ten
Class size
Eight children
On purpose, and never more
Tuition
$250 per term
All materials, keepsakes, and baking included
Begins
Tuesday, November 10
Location to be announced
Eight is deliberate. It is small enough that every child is known and every voice is heard. When the eight seats are filled, the term is full, and the next family on the list is offered the first seat that opens.
05
The Teacher
A note from Bri.
Portrait to come
After twenty years of homeschooling our seven children, I know how hard real friendship can be to find. We have driven to every lesson and practice you can name. Our children were surrounded by other kids, and still longed for friends who truly knew them.
I believe a shared story is one of the best places for friendship to begin. When children meet the same characters, worry over the same chapters, and bake at the same table week after week, they stop being a group and start being friends.
So we go slowly. We talk about who the characters are to us, make things with our hands that are worth keeping, and leave room for the children to find each other.
Someday I hope this little circle grows into a schoolhouse in a garden. For now, it begins with eight children and a good book.
Bri
06
Join the List
Hear first when enrollment opens.
Families on the interest list are invited to enroll before seats are offered anywhere else.