Homeschool Art the Charlotte Mason Way

In her Philosophy of Education, British education reformer Charlotte Mason wrote, “Every child should leave school with at least a couple hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination.” (vol. 6, p.43) Miss Mason set aside time not only for her students to express themselves artistically but also for them to study the lives, styles, and works of the great masters.

Nurturing a Hyggelig Homeschool

Cozy. Peaceful. Calm. 

I'd venture to guess that when you began thinking of homeschooling, these were the words that played on permanent repeat in your head. You envisioned pastoral scenes--children meandering through lush fields, collecting nature samples in hand-woven baskets or gathered on an heirloom quilt in the backyard, reading a hardbacked classic out loud to one another.

You hoped for the stuff of Instagram.

But a week or so in, and you're realizing that your homeschool looks nothing like the picture on the front of the homeschool catalog. Your days are loud. Disordered. Chaotic.

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2020-2021

Curriculum planning is normally the perfect preamble to the lovely year ahead. I head to my local homeschool convention and spend hours slowly sauntering through the vendor hall. I always go with a tentative shopping list in hand, but usually leave with several fun extras that were not originally on it. 

There's just something about getting to see, touch, and flip through curricula that can't be replicated by looking through a catalog or shopping online.

Finding Your Charlotte Mason Rhythm

Written by Talvi McCuskey.

Thinking about beginning any foreign feat can be a daunting task. When I first realized that I would soon have to begin formal schooling for my oldest child, I was quite scared. After all, I had never done this whole home education thing before.

The weight of my child’s education resting solely on my shoulders felt like a heavy burden. I had an idea of what method I wanted to pursue to teach her. But as with most things in life, there was a gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.

What is a Living Book Anyway?

Charlotte Mason called them living or full of life. Some have referred to them as whole or complete, lacking in nothing. Still, others describe them with words like imaginative, original, or full of human touch.

No matter what moniker you give them, one thing is clear, a living book is anything but average. Living books are the best. Those aren't my words, mind you. (Although, I don't disagree.) They are Miss Mason's. She writes,

"For the children? They must grow up upon the best . . . There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told." (Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p. 263)

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2019-2020

With a curriculum shopping list firmly in hand, I scoured the shelves of my state homeschool convention determined to find great books at great prices! I'm fairly certain that I lugged home my body weight in GOOD READS...but that's between me and my chiropractor.

Our homeschool has always been defined by learning-a-la-carte. We are eclectic and refuse to be boxed in by any one method or mantra. Naturally, my curriculum choices for 2019-2020 reflect my pieced-together style.

In the upcoming school year, I'll have one child taking college classes for dual credit, two kids in junior high, and two in elementary.

My homeschool planner is heavy with my big plans! No doubt, it will be a full year.

25 Great Living Books for Sneaky Summer Learning

Ah summer! With its simpler schedules, winsome weather, and daily adventures lurking around every corner, summer has a way of showing me how to slough off the pressures of the homeschool year.

I wish that were it.
I wish I could just pack up the learning, set it all in a back corner somewhere, and then dust it off three months later when I need to get the wheels spinning again.

But that's just simply not possible--at least not if I want to avoid the summer slide, that ghastly phenomenon that occurs when children's brains sit in idle for three months out of the year causing them to forget nearly 75% of what they previously learned.

Homeschool Curriculum 2018-2019

Like a shock of cold water, my 11th year of homeschooling (12th, if you count preschool) has awakened some renewed excitement in my bones. We're trying a few new things this year and returning to a few very old things. Like a 1990s DJ wearing neon colored Zuba pants, I'll be mixin' it up come fall. (Only without the neon colored Zuba pants because let's face it, those weren't flattering on the 13-year-old me, let alone the 38-year-old me.)

Teaching All Ages with Living Picture Books

Written by Jessica.

When my children were each preschool-aged, I taught using thematic units that were about a week or two long. Often these were on seasonal topics (Apples, Leaves, Animals in Winter, Turkeys, Snow, Spring Weather, Seeds and Plants, Pond Life), with other fun topics thrown in about topics of current interest (Trains, Firemen, Pets, etc.). Creating thematic units simply meant that I’d choose piles of beautiful picture books on a topic and then add in hands-on art, so-simple “science,” and print-and-go thematic math and letter activities that I found for free online. It was perfect for each of my preschoolers and worked for including younger tots, too.

100 Childhood of Famous Americans Biographies in Chronological Order

In a letter to his friend Robert Hooke, Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Newton understood the importance of reading biographies: they provide mentors from different times and different places. They inspire bravery, ingenuity, and greatness.

Reading Comprehension the Charlotte Mason Way

The dreaded book report. 

It's a black-and-white inquisition designed to prove whether or not a child read a book and actually understood what he read. 

I remember loathing the weekly book reports assigned to me in Mrs. Hurst's second-grade class. Each week, I'd pick up a new-to-me book and be transported to meet far out people in far off places. I'd get lost in the language of literature only to be dragged back to reality when Mrs. H handed out those hateful book report forms. She meant well. It was her simple way of being able to assess the comprehension and completion of 35 students. To her credit, she added cute little clip art and awarded scratch-n-sniff stickers whenever appropriate (Scratch-n-sniff stickers were like childhood gold on the 1980s playground. There was a whole underground market for them by the swing set every afternoon. Don't tell my mom.) But in the end, her little mimeographed report forms were nothing but joy killers making an entire class of reading hopefuls disdain the very idea of reading. For every book we read, we had to complete a lengthy fill-in-the-blank style report. 

Reading became work, so I didn't want to do it anymore.