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Favorite Early Modern Books for the Whole Family
Great living books for the whole family to enjoy on the Early Modern time period.
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Blog
Your Questions Answered: Audiobooks in a Charlotte Mason Home School
My friend and coworker, Laura Pitney is with me today for another episode of Your Questions Answered. Today’s question is What is the place of audiobooks in a Charlotte Mason home school? Laura: That is a great question for sure.…
Using Subject Cards to Plan Your Homeschool Schedule
Planning for your home school can sometimes seem overwhelming. But let me encourage you that the more you do it, the easier it gets. And today I want to share with you a quick and simple trick I use when…
5 Things to Remember When Planning Your Charlotte Mason Homeschool
It’s that time of year again — the season when many of us get the itch to plan our next school year. Whether you’re just starting out or have been doing this for decades, here are five friendly reminders—just five…
Your Questions Answered: Narration with Multiple Children
Today my friend and coworker, Laura Pitney, is with me to discuss a question that we received about narration: “With more than one child in the phase of doing oral narration, how do I have them each do a narration…
5 Steps to Planning Your Charlotte Mason Homeschool
DIY—Do It Yourself. For some of you, those initials generate great excitement! Images of potential projects arise in your imagination and you can hardly wait to dive into a new one. Others of you get tired just looking at those…
Using the 6-Year History Cycle
In this post I want to show you a little technique that I use to help me think through, adjust, and fine tune our history cycle to fit different family situations. We’re going to answer this question: Why do you…
Working On Best Effort During the Summer
We talked last time about how the summer months can be a great time to give focused effort in habit-training, even if you’re taking that time off from schoolwork. Especially if you’re taking that time off from schoolwork! When you…
Working On Attention During the Summer
When I was a girl, I took piano lessons. I would practice diligently during the school year, but my teacher always gave her students the summer off. So I got used to not practicing during the summer months. Later, in…
Your Questions Answered: Homeschooling with Preschoolers in the Mix
One of the biggest challenges a homeschool mom faces is trying to get schoolwork done with preschoolers in the mix. My friends Jenn Faas and Laura Pitney are here to help me discuss this today. Sonya: Between all of us,…
Two New Music Studies Now Available
Charlotte Mason believed that music is a necessary part of education. And not just haphazard music; she encouraged us to “Let the young people hear good music as often as possible, and that under instruction” (Formation of Character, p. 235).…
Top 10 (or 20) Picture Books for Preschoolers
Today I’m sharing some of my absolute favorite picture books for 3 to 5 year olds. These are picture books that you will want to read to your child again and again. These are books that, if your preschooler grabs…
How to Choose a Good Picture Book
Do a quick search on Amazon for picture books, and you are suddenly faced with more than 60,000 titles. Think of it: 60,000 picture books to choose from. That’s a lot of books! In fact, if you could stack all…
New Preschool Resource: Our Preschool Life
I talk to mamas all over the country who are feeling pressure with their preschoolers. They’re being pressured to push academics, to focus on reading and writing and math facts with their three-, four-, and five-year-olds. Perhaps you’re the mother…
Your Questions Answered: Preschool Activities
The biggest job that a preschool child has is to explore his surroundings and make sense of the world around him. As he uses his five senses, he’s forming crucial connections in his brain. And those connections will help him…
Your Top Priorities for Preschool
Young children spend the first five or six years of their lives busily making sense out of life around them. Their brains are on overdrive: observing, categorizing, comparing, discriminating, problem solving, experimenting, testing, assimilating. For example, let’s say you hand…
Favorite Middle Ages and Renaissance Books for the Whole Family
We’ve been sharing our favorite books for studying the Middle Ages and Renaissance, telling a little about each title and breaking it down by age range. So far we’ve covered grades 1–3, grades 4–6, grades 7–9, and grades 10–12. What’s…
Let Us Not Grow Weary
I just spent a weekend at a conference with some wonderful homeschooling mamas: some who are new to homeschooling and some who are veterans. As I was chatting with one mama who is just in the midst of her first…
What Charlotte Mason Exams Week Looks Like
Here's how to make exam week a time to celebrate your student's growth.
What Exam Week Sounds Like in a Charlotte Mason Home School
What do you mean "Charlotte Mason didn't do tests?" She did whole weeks of exams!
Favorite Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation Books for Grades 10–12
I’ve been sharing some of my top picks for Middle Ages and Renaissance books for different age groups. Today I want to talk about my favorite books for grades 10 through 12. Now, remember, these are not the typical high…
The Heart of Education
As the mother of a special needs child, I appreciate those who are able to look past the differences and see the similarities. Yes, some children have special needs, but all children have many needs that are the same no…
Your Questions Answered: Children Who Won’t Sit Still
My friend and co-worker, Laura Pitney, is joining me again today. We want to discuss another great question that you have asked: “What about little boys and girls who can’t or won’t sit still? What do you do then?” We…
5 Life Habits Built Into a Charlotte Mason Education
We all want to instill good habits in our children, from the time they are toddlers through the time they move out to start their own households. We often think of habit training as something we do on the side.…
Favorite Middle Ages and Renaissance Books for Grades 7–9
There are so many great books set in the Middle Ages and Renaissance! I’ve been sharing some of my favorites for the different age groups, and today I want to share my top picks for grades 7 through 9. These…
How Much Did a Charlotte Mason Education Cost?
I’ve been working on an interesting project the last few weeks. It all started when I was looking at some old pamphlets and programmes in the Charlotte Mason digital archives (which is a fabulous resource, by the way). The programmes…
Your Questions Answered: A Smooth Morning of Lessons
My friend and co-worker Laura Pitney joins me again as we answer another of your questions. This time, we’re talking about how to have a smooth morning of lessons. Here’s the question that we want to discuss today: I would…
Signposts for Reading Lessons in the Charlotte Mason Method
When you drive a long distance, it’s reassuring to have signs along the route that tell you when to turn or that your exit is coming up. Well, the same holds true when you’re teaching your child to read. There…
Favorite Middle Ages & Renaissance Books for Grades 4–6
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…
40 Ideas for Independent Work (Not Busywork!)
Homeschooling comes with its own set of blessings and challenges. One of the challenges is figuring out what one child can do while you’re busy helping a different child. A home school is very much like a one-room schoolhouse. You’re…
Your Questions Answered: Organizing Your Home School
My friend and co-worker, Laura Pitney, has joined us today, and we’re going to share some ideas on organizing your Charlotte Mason homeschool. Laura has a real heart to encourage and help other homeschool mamas, plus she’s very organized! So…
The Importance of Working with Your Hands
I used to think of handicrafts as a nice, wholesome pastime. But now I have a whole new appreciation!
How to Finish Lessons by Lunch
I recently did an article called Productive Afternoons, and in it I mentioned that in Charlotte Mason’s schools formal lessons were done by lunch. Well, we received many questions about how lessons could be done by lunch, so I want…
The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series, Book 2 Is Here!
Today we are excited to announce that The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic, Book 2, is now available!You are sure to enjoy these simple, lively lessons that will help your student gain a firm footing in addition, subtraction, and multiplication up…
7 Favorite Middle Ages & Renaissance Books for Grades 1–3
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…
Q & A: Inside the Scripture Memory System
Many years ago my family discovered a wonderful little system to help us with Scripture memory. With this simple tool, we consistently learn new verses, plus we review every verse we’ve ever learned every month. And it takes only five minutes a day. Thousands of families are now using the Scripture Memory System in their…
Behind the Scenes with A Delectable Education
Recently I made a trip to the rolling hills of Virginia to meet up with some friends of mine. You might know them as the ladies from A Delectable Education, a popular Charlotte Mason method podcast: Nicole Williams and Liz…
5 Ways NOT to Use a Living Book
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…
An Interview with Karen Andreola
About twenty-five years ago, when I started homeschooling, I didn’t have the Internet. (I’ll pause here for a minute to let that sink in.) . . . I heard about Charlotte Mason at a state homeschool conference and immediately went…
The Gift of Reading Aloud
Reading aloud to your children is a gift that you can give them all year round.
How to Read Aloud So Children Love to Listen
Have you ever watched a play or a movie in which the actors weren’t that great? They just didn’t do a very good job of delivering their lines or communicating what was happening inside and outside their characters. The actors…
5 Ways to Find Living Books
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…
The Daily Effort of Education
Today was one of “those” days. It took a Herculean effort just to make sure we accomplished all that needed to be done: meals, vitamins, exercises, beginning reading, copywork, math, groceries, Bible, literature, Scripture memory. Not to mention conference calls,…
God and Habit-Training
In Charlotte Mason circles, we talk a lot about habits: how God made our brains to form habits automatically through repetition; what kinds of motivation work best; how long it takes to form a good habit; how to replace a…
5 Tips for a Smooth Morning
We talk a lot about your school schedule and how to make it work for you and your students. But what about that block of time before school starts? That part of your morning can have a big impact on…
Announcing the Charlotte Mason Together Retreat
For many years now I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect location at which to hold a gathering of all of us, my Charlotte Mason friends (and I count you as one of those friends) and I. Because I…
Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Joan wanted a garden. In her mind this garden would provide colorful, fresh, healthful vegetables for her family. She could picture the lovely yellow peppers, delicious sweet onions, and bright red tomatoes. In fact, she could almost taste the fresh…
Using Language Well, Book 3, Is Here!
Using Language Well, Book 3, focuses the spotlight on analyzing sentences. We recommend it for grades 7 and 8, and it is available now! Learning how to analyze sentences is an important skill for your student to have in order…
10 Smartphone Hacks for Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers
A smartphone is a tool. It isn’t good or bad in and of itself. It’s just a tool; it’s up to you how you use it. I encourage you to make sure that you use technology in a way that…
New Narration Notecards Are Here!
Narration is such a powerful tool when done correctly. The foundational way is simply to retell what you read or heard in your own words. If you’re just getting started with narration, you may need to start with reading only…