It’s amazing how much our daily lives are shaped by our habits: getting up, getting ourselves ready, what clothes we put on, getting our children ready, taking care of pets, where we sit at the table, how we talk to our spouses, how closely we listen to our children. (more…)
A big part of homeschooling—and especially Charlotte Mason homeschooling—is cultivating our children’s characters through good habits. “The habits of the child produce the character of the man.” As you make plans for the upcoming school year, along with the academics, be sure to consider which habits you want to work on. We may feel like […]
We’ve been talking about instilling good habits. Charlotte Mason likened that process to laying down railroad tracks upon which our children’s lives can run smoothly, without a lot of unnecessary bumping and jolting. Many people have told us that these habit-training concepts along with the practical tips found in the award-winning book, Laying Down the […]
Last week we discussed how important repetition is in forming a new habit. Just as hours of practicing a pirouette makes it easier to perform one, so lots of practice at a new skill—like getting out of bed at a certain time in the morning—makes it easier to do it. Practice makes permanent. Repetition makes […]
A couple of evenings ago, my daughter and I enjoyed watching two ballet dancers, a husband and wife, perform to one of my favorite Beethoven pieces. Their movements were absolutely beautiful! We knew they were stretching and stressing their muscles to the fullest, and yet they made everything look so graceful and even easy. Afterward, […]
Along about this time of year we homeschoolers usually have a pretty good feel for what is working and what needs to be changed. Whether it is what time we get up in the morning, who does which subject when, or how we have the household chores assigned, we get to the point where we […]
Last week we started a new series in which we will be going through each school subject and discussing how to teach it in a Charlotte Mason way. We’ve already looked at giving our children a generous curriculum through a wide variety of subjects, not just the three R’s. Today we’ll look at three foundational […]
My friend Ruth is 61. She is an exuberant veteran homeschooler who has graduated three and spends her days encouraging other homeschool students and parents. She also recently lost 120 pounds. When I asked Ruth to tell me her story, she related how she had grown tired of feeling miserable in her overweight body. She […]
In front of our house is a little perennial garden. I often tell people how much I love perennials because “you just plant them and forget them.” But that’s not quite true. Every morning as we return from walking the dog, we glance over that perennial garden and look for weeds. Usually there are only […]
My heart is full. My mind is revving. My face is smiling. You see, I just finished reading the posts listed below. What a treat! They are a wonderful mixture of personal encouragement, humble challenges, and practical ideas. First are the posts on this issue’s theme: Education is a Discipline. But since we are Charlotte […]
We’ve spent much of this series on high school talking about academics. And it’s easy to focus on the books, the grades, and the transcript, especially in the high school years. But our goal is not just to graduate our children. Our goal is to equip them to be godly young men and women who […]
It’s our pleasure to announce a new free e-book on habits, Smooth and Easy Days with Charlotte Mason. A new year lies before us. Perhaps you have some new goals and commitments with the turning of the calendar page. No doubt many of those goals, if not all, will depend on forming some new habit […]
A few weeks ago I was in the mountains of Colorado and noticed an unusual lamppost. This lamppost was made from a tree. But that wasn’t the unusual part. The unusual part was the complete curly-que that the tree trunk made right beneath the lamp. It looked like one of those silly straws that have […]
We hope you’ve enjoyed the habit-training articles from the past few weeks. They are just a sampling of the thirteen articles and more than fifty Charlotte Mason quotes included in our new 2009 calendar journal, A Year of Smooth and Easy Days. (more…)
“Trust me, you’re not going to like it.” My little girl’s big brown eyes peered solemnly across the table. “But I want to try it.” “If you try it, you will have to sit there until you drink it all. Do you understand?” Her eyes lit up. “Yes.” “All right, you may try it, but […]
“I nag them and I nag them, but it does no good.” Most of us can testify to the truth of that statement. But I never understood why nagging doesn’t work until I started to study Charlotte’s habit-training principles. Now it makes sense. Let’s say that you’re trying to teach your child to hang up […]
I recently got a new printer for my computer, and as I was unpacking it I came upon a huge stack of user documents. My heart sank. The amount of information was a bit overwhelming. It was all helpful, to be sure; but the sheer volume of it all looked intimidating, and I didn’t know […]
Have you ever driven to the grocery store and, after you pulled into a parking place and shut off the car, you realized that you didn’t remember the drive there? It was almost as if you drove on auto-pilot. Whenever that happens to me, my next thought is, “Oh, I hope I didn’t run any […]
I can still picture the textured wall, the shiny smooth top of the spinet piano, and the white kitchen timer with its seemingly unmoving dial. I was supposed to be practicing my piano lesson, but I probably spent half of the allotted time listening to that timer’s ceaseless ticking. I knew I was supposed to […]
Last month we did a little deep cleaning around our house. Well, okay, not a little — a lot. At least it seemed like a lot. Cleaning can be hard work! By the time we had the furniture moved, the closet emptied, the light fixtures disassembled, and the curtain rods dismantled, I was tired. And […]
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