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Posts and articles about identifying and using good living books that are full of ideas to help your children learn effectively.
Today I want to share more of my top picks for living books on the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The titles I’m sharing today are appropriate for fourth through sixth graders. At that age, the students should be transitioning to reading…
If there is one thing Charlotte Mason homeschoolers love to do, it’s talk about our favorite books. I think every Charlotte Mason meeting I’ve ever attended had at least one conversation going on about “What books do you suggest for…
Let’s talk about living books. Now, I can almost hear you saying, “Living books? Again? We talk about them all the time!” And that just proves my point. In a Charlotte Mason home school we spend a lot of time…
I can’t state this better than Charlotte Mason already did— “Children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough” (Parents and Children, p. 279). Living books…
Last week we talked a bit about how living ideas feed the mind. You will hear that phrase “living ideas” often in a Charlotte Mason approach to learning. Sometimes it’s hard to grasp the concept of a living idea as…
If you’ve been around Charlotte Mason homeschoolers for any length of time, you have most likely heard the term “spine” book. While it may seem like such a term would refer to a type of science book, it’s actually more…
Every weekday evening that I am home, I watch an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with my youngest daughter. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!) From the time my girls were little, Mister Rogers has been a staple around our house.…
Last week we started a new series, 5 Steps to Successful Narration. Do you remember the five steps? Don’t worry, we’ll review them often as we talk our way through them over the coming weeks. It’s tempting to think that…
I still recall the time many years ago when we scraped the bottom of our newlywed bank account to buy a gift for a little boy. We got him a sturdy but simple toy car. No flashing lights, no screeching…
(This article by Sonya Shafer was originally published in The Old Schoolhouse magazine, Summer 2011 issue.) Here is the story of two girls. We will call them Jan and Emily. Both are about nine years old. Jan is reading her…
I remember sitting in our Charlotte Mason homeschool discussion group, explaining how a living book should give our children ideas, not just facts. One dear lady turned a puzzled look my way and asked, “What do you mean ‘ideas’?” That…
Mom took a deep breath and began to read aloud: I wonder how many of my readers have ever sat upon an ottoman. If you have, you know that it . . . “What’s an ottoman, Mom?” six-year-old Stacy interrupted.…
As we continue our fun series on CM Myths, I hope these posts are serving to encourage and, hopefully, educate you a little too. This week we will take a look at the idea that Charlotte Mason never used any…
We’ve all been there. We hear about a great book, we do the research, we gather raving reviews from others, and we spend the money. Full of eager anticipation, we dig into the first chapter with our kids gathered around.…
Thanks to everyone who submitted their definitions of “twaddle” on last week’s post! If you haven’t read the definitions yet, we encourage you to do so soon. One of the reasons we wanted to discuss twaddle was to help us…
