Favorite Posts from 2013

As we near the end of the year, it’s fun and interesting to look at summaries in different areas of life.

We run financial reports to summarize how we spent our money during the year and are sometimes astonished to discover in which categories we spent the largest amounts.

We run summaries on social media sites and review the most prominent events from 2013.

It’s always fascinating to me to review the SCM blog posts from the past year and see what topics and categories bubble to the top, which themes were uppermost on my heart and readers’ minds during those twelve months. Interestingly, the favorite posts from 2013 are best summarized by four of my key goals for CMers:

• Encouragement in habit-training,
• Practical tips for teaching the CM way,
• Being content with CM methods,
• Teaching the child, not just the curriculum.

Chances are, those same topics are still lingering in minds today as 2014 waits just around the corner. So we’ve included links to the posts in case you missed one when it came out or just want to be encouraged again. Enjoy this look back at favorite posts from 2013!

Encouragement in Habit-Training

This short series on Good Habits reminds you of the two key components necessary to form good habits in your children and in yourself.

From Habits to Character is a challenge to keep your priorities right: “We may feel like time spent on habit-training is not as important as time spent on academics. But really, cultivating good habits is the more valuable time investment.”

Practical Tips for Teaching the CM Way

Need some encouragement as you contemplate the new year in your home school? Take a look at 3 Tips for a Successful Homeschool Year.

Find out what you can do to help your student improve his narrations with the series 5 Steps to Successful Narration.

Working with a language-delayed student? Gather some ideas from Narration with Auditory and Speech Issues.

Reading aloud well is an art form—one that you can help your children cultivate and one that you can keep cultivating, yourself. Check out these wonderfully practical tips to help you with Reading for the Pleasure of Others.

Nature Study: Watch and Learn is a reminder that nature study is a prime opportunity to practice slowing down. “Live in the moment. Breathe. Notice what’s around you. Watch patiently and quietly.”

Being Content with CM Methods

As you read through the eight key quotes from Charlotte in Learning to Be Content, keep in mind the definition of “content”: a quiet confidence that this is enough; an inner satisfaction that this is all that is needed.

Charlotte Mason’s methods are simple. They’re not complicated. In fact, they are so simple that it’s easy to begin questioning or second-guessing. Be careful not to disregard the simple just because it’s, well, simple. Simple can be effective.

Teaching the Child, Not Just the Curriculum

The Heart of Education assures us that “in a Charlotte Mason education, the emphasis is not on the level achieved, the accolades won, the grades earned, or the number of pages in the book just read. A Charlotte Mason education is all about growth, taking the next step. That type of education is available to every child.”

Education is not about fitting every child into the same cookie-cutter mold and expecting the same results in the same time frame. With Charlotte Mason, each child is held responsible for and then recognized for doing what he is equal to. He is given A Chance to Be a Person.

Winter is a season, whether in nature or in our children’s education. Time to rest, contemplate, and assimilate is an important part of the growth cycle. Read more about it in A Winter Season.