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I enjoy the annual Christmas tree trimming at our house. (Well, aside from climbing up into the attic and hauling down all the boxes.) We put on some Christmas music, light a cinnamon-scented candle, assemble the faithful old artificial tree,…
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…
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?…
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…
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 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…
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’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.…
Last week we began discussing the three words that lay the foundation to the Charlotte Mason way of homeschooling. These three words can help guide your decisions about curriculum choices, schedules, goals, and more. Charlotte Mason said, “Education is an…
1. Forgetting that the child is a person. One of Charlotte Mason’s chief principles is “The child is a person with all the possibilities and powers included in personality” (Vol. 1, p. 4). Each child is unique. Become a student…
“I have a question for you,” says one mother. “The more I read and hear about the Charlotte Mason approach, the more I want to use it with my children. But we’ve been using a different approach for several years.…
I well remember those years when I (Sonya) had only a two-year-old and a four-year-old to keep me company throughout the day, and I wondered, “What should I be doing with them? Should I be teaching them to read? Should…
Someone recently asked if she could come to my (Sonya’s) house and be a fly on the wall for a day or two. While I certainly don’t mind having company, what this mom really wanted was help figuring out how…
A few years ago, when my (Sonya’s) oldest two were in the 8-12 year old range, I got this idea for a fun, living way to review math skills: We pretended that each child was the owner of a store.…
During a recent interview, I (Sonya) was asked, “If someone wanted to homeschool, how would they begin?” I thought, “Good question! How did I begin those many years ago?” A little later, the interviewer asked, “Why did you choose to…
