Main Lesson The first two hours of every morning are devoted to the Main Lesson which focuses on a single subject for three to five weeks. Mathematics, language arts, history, geography, botany, biology, earth science and many other subjects are presented during this period, allowing time for the students to experience the many facets of each subject while their concentration is at its peak of the day. As the children progress through the grades, the curriculum cycles back over many topics to treat them in increasing depth. For example, the study of geography starts in the fourth grade beginning with the classroom and expanding outward in ever-growing circles through school, grounds, neighborhood, town, county, state, region, etc. There is time to model and paint maps , learn poetry from and about their region at different times in history and thus to study the geography and the history by experiencing the culture, literature and arts that are bound up with the land. This study continues in the later grades in ever-increasing complexity and sophistication, with the study of each of the continents, their geography, history and culture. Beginning in the elementary grades, children chronicle their collective and individual experience of the Main Lesson blocks by writing and illustrating their own books. They work on their Main Lesson Books at school and at home – amplifying, condensing, restating, transcribing and, in later years, researching – activities that inspire and enhance the learning process. The books are filled the students’ original writing, mathematical concepts and detailed drawings, resulting in a rich and beautiful compendium of each child’s work. Good penmanship is worth struggling for because the book is to be beautiful and this creative energy becomes a tremendous impetus to all further study.