Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Celebrating Charlotte edition

Happy Birthday Charlotte Mason flowers

In The Story of Charlotte Mason it gives Charlotte’s birthday as January 1, 1842. Though we don’t know for certain whether she was born on January 1st or if it was just recorded on that default date because the actual date is unknown, it’s still great to start the year remembering Charlotte and her wonderful ideas and methods.

So it seems fitting that the theme for this first Charlotte Mason blog carnival of 2012 should be favorite moments using her inspiring methods. We at Simply Charlotte Mason are honored to be able to host this collection of blog posts and hope you will enjoy reading them. Join us in celebrating Miss Mason’s life and all she means to our homeschools!

What do you like the most about CM educating?

Nadene presents Celebrate Charlotte Mason posted at PracticalPages. Her post is quite the encouragement as she is “looking ahead to more CM and looking back with gratitude for the wonderful years of CM-inspired homeschool.”

Michelle has given a great overview of some of Charlotte’s gifts to us in 9 Features of a Charlotte Mason Education posted at Holistic Homeschooler.

For an up close Peek inside the Book of Centuries . . . with FREE printable clip art! pop over to Adventures in Mama-Land. Jay3fer says, “One year into our Book of Centuries, and it’s working out great—even for a child younger than these are usually recommended for.”

As Charlotte taught us, the way to make history come alive is by teaching it through living ideas, not just facts. Michelle reminds us of this wonderful method in Teaching History through Ideas posted at Holistic Homeschooler.

Shirley Ann’s post, Winter Clarity, posted at Under An English Sky, encourages us to remember the power of good habits in this new year. She explains, “This post is a bit of Charlotte Mason philosophy applied to my own life. I feel that Charlotte Mason’s ways can impact not only our ‘classrooms’ but also our own personal lives.”

Join Michelle for a great day of Charlotte Mason-style Nature Study and Field Trip: Signs of Wildlife over at Holistic Homeschooler.

Barb tells some of her story and reminds us of a liberating irony that comes with using the Charlotte Mason method in The Irony of Homeschooling: We Think We Are The Teachers posted at Harmony Art Mom.

In Ten Reasons We Are Loving Using Ambleside Online, Queen of Carrots lists “some of our favorite reasons for using Charlotte Mason methods via Ambleside Online. Plus some pictures of great moments” over at Introducing the World.

Be sure to read Term 1 for a sweet recap of how Charlotte’s methods are working in Phyllis’s homeschool in the Ukraine at Hunsucker’s Home.

Lanaya shows how the feast of Charlotte Mason’s approach provides delight for each of her children in Their Uniqueness, posted at Gore Family News.

And amy in peru wraps up this edition of the Charlotte Mason blog carnival by listing the Top 10 things I love about Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy at Fisher Academy International.

Outdoor Secrets Audiobook Giveaway

What is a birthday celebration without a party favor? In honor of celebrating Charlotte, it is our pleasure to give away a free copy of the Outdoor Secrets audiobook. This living science book, originally published in 1903, is full of sweet nature stories that include little hidden nuggets of character training. And now your children can enjoy listening to the stories read aloud by Ruth Shafer while you run errands or make supper. You can listen to a sample on our site.

Simply leave a comment describing a favorite part about CM educating. Next week we will use random.org to select the commenter who will receive either the CD set or the mp3 download as our gift. The winner will be announced in next week’s post. Join the party and let us know what you like about Charlotte Mason’s wonderful approach to educating!

Next Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

If you would like to join in the fun and have your blog featured in a Charlotte Mason blog carnival, visit this FAQ for all the details.

The next carnival will be on the theme of Imagination and will be published over at Fisher Academy International on January 24. Get your post links to Amy by January 23 (You can submit your posts at the Blog Carnival site.), and she will put it all together for everyone to enjoy. If you would like to do some extra reading on what Charlotte said about imagination, see the article “Imagination as a Powerful Factor in a Well-balanced Mind” and Volume 4, Book 1, pages 35–48.

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30 Comments

  2. I think my favorite part of CM educating is using living books. I love seeing the relationships my children form with the authors and characters in science, history, and literature. Learning stays a joy for them, it does not become stuffing unrelated facts in until they’re ready to burst.

  3. Wow! I didn’t realize I had submitted 3 articles! 😛

    Great carnival! Thanks for hosting.. looks like I have a lot of reading to do later!

  5. As always a wonderful carnival of ideas and thoughts.
    We are in our 4th year following CM principles (and using AO online) and of course for me the huge draw has always been the books. I love all of them and we have such a good time reading and listening and learning together.
    I also love to rest in the fact that there are those who have gone before and proven these methods to be good and right.
    So many other curriculums say to do MORE but CM continues on the path of DO RIGHT. Paving the lines of habit in excellence and character are well worth the effort and need not be separated from school time.

  6. If I’m honest, what I love most about a CM education is all the fun extras! I never studied nature, art, classical music, and poetry. It’s a bit selfish, I know…but in a good way. 😉

  7. I love reading these carnival articles. My favorite part about CM is the emphasis on nature study and narrating what is observed in nature in a nature book.

  8. What a wonderful medley of CM inspiration here! Thanks for hosting this lovely carnival – a great way to start the new year.

  9. Thank you for this birthday celebration. I am certainly indebted to CM. The very first thing that I read in her manifesto for teaching that impressed me and gave me freedom the most was this. I am really not the teacher, the living books are and the authors who wrote them. And infact instead of becoming more of a prominent figure in our school I was to “get out of the way” Bravo CM what a difference this perspective has made in my own enjoyment of home education.

  10. Thank you for hosting this! I think my favorite aspects of a CM education are the beauty and the richness. It’s not just utilitarian!

  12. I think my favorite part of a CM education is looking forward to my kids’ older years and knowing that they will know HOW to learn. They will be able to take information, glean the ideas, and then use the ideas in a myriad of ways. It’s a wonderful way to teach!

  15. A few of my favorite things (as I am learning about CM) and getting ready to homeschool our oldest child. The gentle approach to learning, the emphasis on time outdoors. I look forward to learning along with my children.

  17. The richness of ideas from all kinds of beautiful venues. A love for learning simply can’t be refused using Charlotte’s methods. They have helped make life our school, rather than the other way around!

  18. My favorite part of a CM education is getting an education myself through her amazing insight. Every time I read something from one of her books I find at least one tidbit of information that can be chewed on for a long time. Thank you for your encouraging posts every week. They make the amount of information in her books less daunting by being fed a bit at a time.

  19. Educating each child as a person–I will always remember the first time I read that. CM has taught me to have a relationship with my children when teaching them.

  21. Delightful posts, and great giveaway! Probably my favourite part of a CM education is using living books. Through using the booklists on Ambleside Online, my children and I have been introduced to so many wonderful books that we will never forget.

  23. Our favourite part of Charlotte Mason educating is that being alive and engaged with your children and the outdoors is so important and vital to life. Learning how to do this and developing a routine for our family has been a real blessing and we are getting better everyday as we strive to use all the CM method has to offer. We love it!

  26. Thank you for introducing us to so many good blogs! My favorite part of CM educating is inviting beauty into our home through living books.

  28. I enjoy CM’s ideas so much — nature studies, living books, etc. It makes our school days special. There is much I’m still learning about CM and I just recently found your site and it is helping me to glean more, thanks so much.

  29. Sonya,

    Thank you for putting together the carnival. I’m looking forward to digging into the various offerings this week.

    There are so many things we have loved about a Charlotte Mason education that it is difficult to label a favorite! I guess it would have to be the joy in sharing the love of learning this education has engendered in my children! It is a delight sharing what we are all learning!

    Thank you for your contribution to the cause!

    Blessings~
    Dana

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