Overall category for all blog posts.
We’re excited about hosting the next CM Blog Carnival on September 16. (A blog carnival is an event where bloggers all write posts about a topic, which are collected and linked to on the hosting blog.) The theme for this carnival will be “narration.”
So many CMers have questions about this basic method, and I’m sure all of you moms out there with experience could shed a lot of light on the subject. If you have a post about narration, either one you’ve written in the past or one you want to write specifically for this carnival, please share it. [Continue reading Next CM Blog Carnival on Narration …]
We know of several groups that are using Laying Down the Rails for their weekly or monthly book discussions this coming year. How exciting! I wish I could be a part of each group and hear all the comments. It is always so helpful to learn what other people are doing and how they are applying Charlotte’s habit-training principles.
If you will be leading one of those discussions, here are a few ideas to help get the comments started. [Continue reading Habits Book Discussion Tips …]
This week’s Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival contains a lot of encouragement and ideas on habit training. Be sure to check it out over at Barb-Harmony Art Mom’s Handbook of Nature Study blog.
Picture a banquet, a feast, lavishly spread on a long table. Now, keep that picture in your mind, for that is how Charlotte Mason described the abundance of ideas that we should make available to our children in their school work.
“We spread an abundant and delicate feast in the programmes and each small guest assimilates what he can” (Vol. 6, p. 183).
So how are you coming in preparing this year’s feast? [Continue reading This Year’s Feast …]
Wow. We never dreamed we would sell out our first print run of Jack’s Insects within four days of its release. But that’s what happened. Quite the enthusiastic response! [Continue reading Enthusiastic Response to Jack’s Insects …]
Several years ago I heard about an intriguing living science book that Charlotte Mason had used in her schools. The book was called Jack’s Insects, and I looked everywhere for it. I couldn’t find it anywhere — online or off. So I kept it on my watch list and went on about my schooling. Imagine my excitement when I finally spotted a copy this year from an antique book seller online! [Continue reading Jack’s Insects …]
Be sure to check out the biggest CM Blog Carnival yet! Cindy is hosting the Back to School Planning Bash over at On Our Journey Westward. She has posted more than forty entries from CMers, sharing ideas for Daily Schedules and Curriculum Choices, Schoolroom and Other Organizing Ideas, and Plans for Particular Subjects. Enjoy!
I love doing the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminars! It’s so much fun to meet other CMers and spend the day discussing how practical and do-able the Charlotte Mason method really is.
So what is an All-Day CM Seminar like? Glad you asked. [Continue reading CM Seminars in Nashville & Charleston …]
Final exams. What memories does that phrase bring to your mind? Too often final exams are approached like evil dragons that students must occasionally slay. And too often a student prepares for the fight much like a foolish knight who frantically stuffs down his throat all the healthful foods that he has neglected for so long, vainly tries to polish his rusty sword, and seeks a friend who might know the best shortcut to conquering the ferocious beast. Only in our case the student probably begs the teacher to tell him what will be on the test and then stays up all night cramming the necessary facts into his short-term memory. Sound familiar? [Continue reading End of Term Exams in the Charlotte Mason Method …]
The past few weeks we’ve been discussing Charlotte Mason methods for assessing what our children remember. Last time we looked briefly at narration.
Now, those of you who have already read it, no peeking. What do you recall about narration? No, you don’t have to remember word-for-word each point that was presented. Just try to draw that memory from last time back out of your mind for a moment. What can you remember? (By the way, I hope you are getting in the habit of mentally narrating what you read.) [Continue reading Pre-reading Reviews …]
Last week we started a new series discussing the Charlotte Mason methods we can use to evaluate, or assess, what our children are learning. If you missed that introduction, you can read it on our SCM Blog.
Today let’s talk about perhaps the most well-known of those assessment methods: narration. In its basic form, narration is retelling in your own words. Such a method may sound easy enough — and in some ways it is a simple and natural method — but it also requires a good grasp of the subject matter. [Continue reading The Charlotte Mason Method of Narration …]
As we wrap up a school year and plan for the next one, the question lurks in the back of our minds: How much does my child remember?
Some assessments are built right in to the subject, like math and spelling. You can tell right away how much your child remembers by watching him solve an equation or spell a dictation exercise.
But what about history, geography, science, and other subjects that we simply read together? How do we find out whether the child is remembering what we’ve read? [Continue reading How Much Does My Child Remember? …]
Maybe you can relate. When my children were younger, we would always run out of time to do hands-on projects. By the time we got out all the materials and cleared a space for the activity, we had about ten minutes to work on it before we had to begin cleaning up. How frustrating! [Continue reading A Project Week Idea …]
Do you feel like a cloud is hanging over your head this summer? I don’t mean a typical rain cloud; I mean a cloud called “Planning.”
Sometimes that planning cloud casts a little shadow over all our activities. We know we have to deal with it sometime, but it’s so easy to push off planning to another day. [Continue reading A CM Planning Getaway …]
We had a great time in Iowa the past two weeks. It was so good to meet all of you Iowa CMers! And while we were there, I was able to finish the next book of daily lesson plans: Joshua through Malachi & Ancient Greece. [Continue reading New Joshua through Malachi & Ancient Greece Book …]
We are in Iowa this week getting ready for the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators’ conference Friday and Saturday, June 6 and 7, in Des Moines. You can find the details on the NICHE site.
Sonya will present a habits workshop, Smooth and Easy Days, based on our book Laying Down the Rails on Saturday at 11:15 AM. (As always, check the schedule at the conference for any last-minute shuffling.) Come learn why habits are so powerful, which habits Charlotte Mason encouraged parents to focus on, and lots of practical ideas for how to cultivate those good habits.
We’ll also have the new Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education book and DVD available for you to get your hands on. Those of you who can’t make the conference can still download a sample of the book from our site.
We’re eager to meet all of you Iowa CMers, so be sure to stop by the SCM booth and say hello to Sonya and her husband John. We would love to see you there!
We hope that you found the planning series helpful. We’re very pleased to announce that our new Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education book and DVD are now available on our Web site. We’ve taken all the goodies from the planning series and added even more practical tips, ideas, and worksheets to help you plan your best year ever. [Continue reading New Planning Book and DVD …]
We’re pleased to announce several new features on the CM Organizer and CM Bookfinder are now up and running. Here’s a quick overview:
- Daily Journal note
CM Organizer users asked for it, and here it is. With this new feature you can add a general note about the day without tying it to a specific resource or assignment.
- Check Your Local Library feature
Nobody asked for this one, but we think it’s really neat! Use this automatic link in the CM Bookfinder to check if a resource is available at a library near you.
- Some rearranging and “spiffing up”
We’ve moved a few things and given them a fresh new look in order to prepare for more upcoming upgrades. Stay tuned!
Take a look and let us know what you think.
We’ve all seen those looks: the glazed-over eyes, the dulled expressions, the partly-concealed yawns. Let’s face it, sometimes our children just “check out” during the school day. Are those dull wits an unavoidable part of homeschooling, or is there something we can do in our planning to encourage “fresh wits”? Charlotte Mason had a great suggestion. [Continue reading The Secret to Fresh Wits …]
Certainly one of the biggest challenges facing a homeschool mom is trying to teach with little ones underfoot. You might have laid out the best plans in the world, but those plans might never become a reality if you fail to consider the preschoolers in your home. [Continue reading Preschoolers in the Mix …]
We just wanted to drop you all a quick note to let you know that SCM will be at the Georgia Home Education Association conference this weekend, May 2 and 3, near Atlanta. You can find registration details at GHEA’s site.
Sonya will present a habits workshop, Smooth and Easy Days, based on our book Laying Down the Rails on Friday at 11:00 AM. (As always, check the schedule at the conference for any last-minute shuffling.) Come learn why habits are so powerful, which habits Charlotte Mason encouraged parents to focus on, and lots of practical ideas for how to cultivate those good habits
And be sure to stop by the SCM booth in the exhibit hall to say hello to Sonya and her husband John. We would love to see you there!
We’re in the home stretch! We’ve talked about planning the Big Picture, Your Year, Your Term, and Your Week. (If you’ve miss any of the first four steps, you can read them on our blog.) Planning your day is the final step of the simple 5-step process. [Continue reading Your Day …]
“How many days per week should I do science?” “What about history?” “Do you think I need to do math five days a week?”
This step in the 5-step planning process will show you how to answer those questions. If you have already completed steps 1–3 (the Big Picture, Your Year, and Your Term), planning your week will be pretty simple. Here’s how. [Continue reading Your Week …]
One of the most common problems moms have when planning is trying to jump directly from their Year Plan to their Daily Schedule. I’ve found it a lot easier to take smaller steps rather than that one big jump. [Continue reading Your Term …]
We had a wonderful time Saturday at our All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar! Here are a couple of comments from those who attended:
“Today’s seminar was both informative and empowering! The ‘how-to’ was invaluable, the materials were excellent, and the practice — letting *us* narrate — was eye opening! Thank you all for your hard work in preparing for today; Sonya, thank you so much for leading our diverse group so openly and responsively. I came in a ‘believer’ in CM methods but left knowing I could be a confident ‘doer’ — THANK YOU!”
“I just wanted to openly say THANKS to Sonya for an eye-opening, mind-filling workshop! If you have not already seen her in ‘action’ - get to it next time around, I know I will be there!”
It’s always a treat to get to spend the day with other CMers! And we’re eager to meet more of you as we travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, the end of this month. We will be presenting our all-day seminar at Living Faith Baptist Church on Saturday, April 26, and we would love to see you there!
Here’s where you can find more details and register online for our next All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar in North Carolina.
Hurry! Registration deadline is April 21.
PS: We’ll continue our planning series next time, so watch for Planning Your Term.
Last week we talked about determining which subjects you plan to teach in each grade. Did you outline them? That information will make the next step much easier: planning your year. [Continue reading Your Year …]
Before you get into the nitty gritty of scheduling particular books, you need to take a step back and look at the big picture. What is it that you want to accomplish by homeschooling? What is your goal for your student?
That may seem like an unrelated philosophical question, but your answer to it will affect your plans. [Continue reading The Big Picture …]
Ah, spring! The time of year when thoughts of planning fill the minds of homeschool moms. What worked well? What isn’t working? What do I want to keep? What do I want to change?
For some moms, the planning process brings a comfortable “now-we’re-accomplishing-something” feeling. For other moms, thoughts of planning bring a sense of floundering and uncertainty.
I must admit that I’m in the first group, the “now we’re getting something done” group. Organizing and planning come naturally to me. And over the years that we have homeschooled, I have refined the process I use to plan and schedule. Now I’d like to share it with you. [Continue reading New Planning Series …]
I received this note today from a fellow CMer in California:
California is in a fight to save homeschooling. Basic parental rights of how to raise our kids are at stake. If California succeeds in making homeschooling illegal, other states may follow suit. If you wouldn’t mind signing the petition to let the Supreme Court of California know how important homeschooling is, we would greatly appreciate it. Also, please pray. Thank you so much.
According to HSLDA, a California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher. SCM encourages everyone to support the efforts to protect homeschooling in California. We appreciate the work of HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) and their efforts to get this court’s ruling against homeschooling “depublished.” You can help by signing this petition.
I have fondly dubbed 2008 as “The Year of A/V.” Yes, due to numerous requests from our readers, SCM is jumping into audio and video this year. [Continue reading Our Foray into Audio and Video …]
We’re pleased to be the host for this 11th edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival! This edition is dedicated to Mother Culture and to all those mothers who need a good mental “airing” during these last weeks of winter.
We’re excited to be hosting the next Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival on February 19! (A blog carnival is an event where bloggers all write posts about a topic, which are collected and linked to on the hosting blog.) Since this is a time of year when all of us could use some encouragement, we’ve decided to center this carnival around the theme of Mother Culture.
Have you visited the SCM Community Forum lately? We’re having some great discussions! Here are a few highlights . . . [Continue reading Recent Discussions on the SCM Forum …]
“Daniel, I expect you to play nicely with your brother. Yes, Katie, I can change the baby’s diaper now; you go ahead and practice piano. Sarah, I’ll be right there to help you with your math. Hang on just a minute.”
Sound familiar? As we all can testify, parenting and homeschooling are inextricably interwoven. [Continue reading Intentional Parents …]
We hope you have enjoyed the past few weeks as we focused on Masterly Inactivity. The articles we shared with you are taken from our new 2008 personal calendar journal, A Year of Masterly Inactivity with Charlotte Mason.
Several more articles are included in the calendar, along with more than fifty Charlotte Mason quotes on parenting. [Continue reading A Year of Masterly Inactivity …]
“What do you try to control instead of allowing God to control?” the small-group leader posed the question. He gave an example, then someone else mentioned an area that hit home. “I try to control everything for my children,” she said. “My natural instinct is to protect them, but I tend to micromanage. For instance, I tell my teenage daughter to text me when she arrives somewhere, text me when she’s leaving, text me when she arrives at the next place. You get the idea.” [Continue reading Faith …]
You’ve seen them — parents who are hoodwinked by their children time and time again. Suzy is a little terror to the other children, pulling hair and pushing the little ones. But when her mom enters the scene just as a small boy is pushing back, Suzy dramatically falls to the ground and cries. Her uninformed mother runs to rescue her poor victim-daughter and declares the boy to be a bully! [Continue reading Don’t Be Hoodwinked …]
Here is an invitation for all of you who live in the Atlanta area.
Join us for a wonderful evening of encouragement and refreshing on Thursday, January 10. Sonya will be sharing her workshop, “Reaching Your Child’s Heart,” at Calvary Chapel Gwinnett in Buford. We will sharpen our focus for the new year, enjoy great fellowship and snacks, and spend time in prayer for our families.
We will also have a book table available where you can purchase SCM printed books at a discounted rate (plus no shipping fees!) while they last.
Cost for the workshop is just $6. But space is limited, so register today.
For more details or to register online, visit our Speaking Schedule page.
When our first two children were still preschoolers, my husband took them to the park without me. I had some work to finish up, so they went ahead and walked the two blocks before me. About twenty minutes later I was done and hurried to join them. As I rounded the corner, I could see our youngest (at the time) climbing the leg of the swing set. She had almost reached the top bar about ten feet off the ground. [Continue reading A Good Deal of Letting Alone …]
Are you having a happy Christmas, or is that not the word you would choose to describe your attitude this year? It seems that these days it’s getting easier to focus on the problems and stress factors of the Christmas season than to choose to cultivate a truly happy spirit. [Continue reading Happy Christmas …]
Have you ever heard of the game Mother, May I? No, I don’t mean the innocent little game of “baby steps” and “kangaroo hops.” I mean the “game” of pestering and whining, “Mother, may I stay up late tonight? Pleeeeeeze, please, please? All my friends are doing it and . . . .” Perhaps you played this game yourself with your mother. [Continue reading Good Humor …]
A fenced-in backyard can be a wonderful thing when you have small children. Ask any mother who has spent a hot summer day chasing after her adventurous terrier and perpetually active toddler. Fences are good. [Continue reading The Fence of Authority …]
I remember two parties I attended when I was growing up. One was a sleepover at which I saw the parent only once: at breakfast. The rest of the time we girls were left to do anything and everything we pleased. And believe me, we did. [Continue reading Insight and Self-Restraint …]
We love our children. And we have great hopes for them. As Charlotte Mason so aptly put it, “People feel that they can bring up their children to be something more than themselves, that they ought to do so, and that they must” (Vol. 3, p. 26).
That’s why we homeschool. We want to give our children something more.
But because of that desire, we can easily fall into a trap. [Continue reading You Need Both: Masterly Inactivity …]
We, here at SCM, are thankful to God for
- you, our fellow CMers who encourage us as we walk this journey alongside you;
- our children and yours, whose faces confirm that learning can be enjoyable;
- snow up north in Illinois and rain here in drought-ridden Georgia;
- His provision and faithfulness to our families and yours.
Thanks to everyone who helped make the 2007 SCM Photo Contest so much fun! We received nearly 300 photos so it was a tough job to pick the winners! But here they are: [Continue reading SCM Photo Contest Winners …]
Okay, everyone, this is it. The deadline for turning in your photos is this Thursday, November 8. You can find all the specifics on our SCM Photo Contest page. [Continue reading Final Call for Photo Contest …]
We’re excited to announce the latest resource on Simply Charlotte Mason: our new SCM Community Forum! Many of you have asked for a place to discuss CM topics in general and SCM-specific topics as well. It’s our pleasure to provide this forum for you all to use. [Continue reading New SCM Community Forum …]
We are so much enjoying the photos that have been sent in for the SCM Photo Contest. What fun to peek into your families and “meet” your precious children! We can hardly wait to share them with the rest of the SCM community. [Continue reading Photo Contest Reminder & New Series …]
Fall and winter seem to be good seasons for handicrafts. There’s just something appealing about being in a warm, comfortable room and working with your hands while the wind blows outside. [Continue reading Handicraft Questions (and answers) …]
My family just returned from a few days at the beach. We got some great photos of our children holding seashells, ducking under a flock of seagulls, building sand castles, and walking along the beach. [Continue reading Announcing the SCM Photo Contest …]
Our children love to make their own movies and explore the various aspects of filmmaking. They have found that the bonus features on movie DVDs offer many insights about how films are made that they can try to emulate. Those little extras can add a lot!
As we wrap up this series, we wanted to make sure you know about the Bonus Features page we’ve put together for nature study.
On this special page, you’ll find lots of little extras! [Continue reading Nature Study Bonus Features …]
We’ve had a great time doing this nature study series, and we’re excited to announce our new nature study handbook: Hours in the Out-of-Doors: A Charlotte Mason Nature Study Handbook!
Hours in the Out-of-Doors compiles and organizes Charlotte Mason’s comments on nature study. [Continue reading New Nature Study Book …]
We’re excited about the new Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival that has just been started! A blog carnival is like a carnival in that it presents many things in one place. Usually the organizers announce a topic and a host blog, then everyone submits articles they have written on that topic. The host writes a post on her blog gathering it all together and linking to each article. They usually rotate topics and the host blog each time.
Today is the first carnival and the theme is nature study: “The Great Outdoors.” What great timing! So pop on over to Jacci’s blog, An Educational Life, and enjoy all the great encouragement and practical ideas for nature study from fellow CMers.
We’re approaching the end of our series on nature study. We hope you’ve enjoyed the posts and learned a lot from them. As we start wrapping things up this week, we want to share some of Charlotte’s counsel to parents. Here are ten do’s and don’ts that will help you guide your child in nature study. [Continue reading Do’s and Don’ts of Nature Study …]
During the past few weeks we have been sharing that there is more to nature study than just spending time outside. We’ve looked at Charlotte Mason’s ideas about
- why to do nature study,
- when to do nature study,
- what nature study looks like, and
- how to keep a nature notebook.
And most recently we’ve been discussing how Charlotte supplemented nature study with living science books and object lessons in their natural settings. Today let’s look at one more way to supplement nature study: nature projects. [Continue reading 5 Great Nature Projects …]
When I hear the phrase “object lesson,” I think of several little presentations that I watched when I was a child. In those presentations the speaker would perform some kind of attention-grabbing trick with an object and then use that trick as an illustration to teach a moral lesson.
Let’s make it perfectly clear right away: that is not the kind of object lesson that Charlotte Mason advocated! [Continue reading Natural Object Lessons …]
As wonderful as Charlotte Mason-style nature study is, it does have its limits. Charlotte was aware of those limits, and she did not use natural study exclusively. As we researched her comments about nature study, we discovered that she supplemented that foundation with three things: living science books, object lessons, and nature projects. [Continue reading Nature Study, Plus . . . …]
“Where do I find a nature notebook?”
“What does it look like?”
“How do we go about creating a nature notebook? Is there a template somewhere?”
Questions like these cross my desk regularly. So let’s reveal the secret of the mysterious nature notebook. [Continue reading The Secret of the Nature Notebook …]
“OK, I’m convinced that nature study is a great thing! We’re ready to go outside and do nature study! . . . Uh, . . . what do we do when we get out there?” Here are some of Charlotte’s key descriptions of how to do nature study. [Continue reading Nature Study in a Nutshell …]
Just a quick note to let you know that we launched a new feature on the CM Organizer today: now you can select the Time Zone you prefer! [Continue reading Time Zones Are Here! (CM Organizer) …]
If you bring up the subject of “when to do nature study,” different moms have different ideas in mind. “Yes, how old should my child be to start nature study, and how long should we spend outside?” one mom asks. While another mom says, “This will be helpful; I’ve always wondered which seasons of the year Charlotte did nature study.” [Continue reading When to Do Nature Study …]
Nature study is one of those aspects of the Charlotte Mason method that is often mentioned but rarely studied in-depth. Just what, exactly, did Charlotte mean by “nature study”? We’ve been combing her writings and compiling her comments, and a beautiful picture is unfolding! Over the next few weeks we will share that beautiful, encompassing picture with you. [Continue reading 8 Reasons To Do Nature Study …]
It’s been great to hear how the CM Organizer is saving time for so many moms! One mom reported saving two hours every week since she switched from a popular software planner. Wow! That’s an eight-hour day that she has gained back each month! [Continue reading New CM Organizer Features & Link to Us Graphics …]
Two highlights have added excitement to our July here at Simply Charlotte Mason!
First, we just published a new book — that is also an old friend. [Continue reading New SCM Book, Upcoming Workshops …]
1. Use the CM Bookfinder.
Our very own CM Bookfinder contains more than 1,500 living books that we recommend for those using the Charlotte Mason method.
We’ve had a lot of new sign-ups to the e-mail list lately. Welcome to all of you!
Our regular readers know that we try to keep a good balance between teaching posts and site announcements. Today, we’re excited to let you know about a new book we have available. [Continue reading New Ancient Egypt Study Available! …]
We’ve had a great response to our series on Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life — Charlotte Mason’s three-pronged approach to educating our children! It’s been refreshing to go back to the basics over the past few weeks.
Now here is that little surprise we promised you: [Continue reading Our Little E-Book Surprise …]
Charlotte Mason described her approach to education in three words; she said, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” We’ve already looked at the first two words. Today let’s talk about Education is a Life. [Continue reading Education Is a Life …]
To most of us, the idea of self-discipline comes with a mental picture of a ball and chain. We think of discipline as a taskmaster, forcing us to do what we don’t really want to do. Today let’s change that mental image. Today let’s consider how discipline brings freedom! [Continue reading Discipline Brings Freedom …]
We’ve been discussing the three words Charlotte Mason used to describe her approach to education: Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life. The past three posts explored how the ideas that rule your life as a parent affect the atmosphere of your home. If you would like to, you can review that aspect of Education Is . . .
Today let’s talk a little about how Education is a Discipline. [Continue reading Education Is a Discipline …]
My husband John thinks in word pictures, and several years ago he described a word picture that has stuck in my mind ever since. He explained that some people are like thermostats and some are like thermometers. [Continue reading