Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

This topic has 17 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 9 months ago by simple home.

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August 12, 2011 at 8:12 pm
joannarammell
Participant
The woes thread and the talk about CM and her ideals got me to thinking about this. We are none perfect. We each are highly committed to our children. As such we are all striving. And I suspect that we are each growing sometimes by leaps and bounds sometimes fits and starts. It would be great if we each could just ta da…have the perfect match to CM and her wonderful educational philosophy. But since we don’t have staff (at least most of us), we have to worry about economics, and babies and such–and have many challenges when implementing…wouldn’t it be cool if moms would share ways that they have found to make their schooling more CM in this less than perfect world–dirty diapers, peeing boys:-), harsh winters, etc. I am asking for how you were able to tweak here or there or add in or take away etc…and create the atmosphere, discipline, and life…without maybe all the t’s being crossed and all the i’s being dotted. I bet if we lined up all our homeschools…we would each look very different. Yet we each claim CM. So which parts called you out? Which pieces were you able to implement in spite of less than ideal circumstances? Even if you don’t have all of the CM ducks in a row, how have you been successful in these areas of growth? Many times, that little compromise that helped so much in your homeschool, could be the inspiration or even permission, for another mother to keep growing instead of being stuck cause she can’t do it perfectly.
SO if you would share it could be a blessing to others!
I included the comments from Rebekah and I from the woes post so you don’t have to click over there. If you already read it, just skip the next part!
jo
While I think that four hours a day is a nice goal – I also think it’s important to remember that CM was just a woman, she’s not God, she wasn’t perfect, if you follow everything she did perfectly you still won’t have perfect children, etc… While I LOVE the CM method, I am sad when I read about the struggles women are having to attain a “perfect” CM education for their children. There’s always areas that we can improve, I don’t think we should ever be content or think that we have it all down pat, it’s good to have goals and to strive and to stretch, but don’t be burdened by “what CM said”. I’m sure you’ll raise lovely children, even if they only go outside 2 hours a day instead of 4.
Rebekah
Amen Rebekah! Hear Hear!
I LOVE CM too…but #1 She didn’t have children, did she? #2 She ran a school…so all the children were school age. #3 She had other teachers too…didn’t she? #4 She probably had a cook to make meals? I’m guessing, she didn’t have to stop everything and run to the kitchen to whip up a meal for the masses. #5 Did she have to do her own shopping? #7 Was she married–with all that entails? #7 When we try to get the ideal perfect CM education, do we realize that we are trying to recreate not what one woman did, but that one woman and ALL her helpers…and #8 she and they did it without a nursing baby at the breast or a toddler who just spilled the forbidden bubbles on the carpet and danced in them or a husband who asked us to rearrage the priorities for the day to accomdate X…etc. –the littles make my days take longer than if they were all older! #8 Also, she obviously lived in an area a tad more conducive to outdoor exploration…when we hit wind chill -25, I am sorry, but my kiddos and I are NOT going to study the rabbit prints in the snow. I won’t normally go out in sub-zero–which is pretty often here! And my friend in Phoenix has the same thing…when it is 120, they stay INSIDE!
We always must be careful in what we are trying to do. Are we trying to mimic all the details and kill ourselves doing it…when I read 4 hours a day I just about sat down and cried. It is not realistic. It is not really doable…for many reasons. And a napsack and a hike out for the day with a 7, 4, 2, and 9mo gluten free dairy free on a budget 1/2 the size of some of the ones I read about here the other day –so no sanck foods, no fillers–is funny. It would take a suitcase or two of stuff to do a little exploration like that. And I am NOT physically up to it most days.
OR are we trying to create the astmosphere? discipline? life? that she espoused? Am I inpired to get out with the children more–yes. Am I challenged to bring nature indoors if I can? yes! Am I willing to problem solve and plan for outdoor explorations…maybe even when daddy is home, absolutely…
she was a great woman with great ideas. but she was just that a woman…in her unique circumstances. as are we. unique. and i can’t kill myself trying to squeeze my life into her sized/shaped life. It is like trying to wear someone elses shoes on a 15 mile hike. setting self up for failure.
again, we must take this insane pressure off. use these ideas and methods to inspire and grow ourselves…not copy –not make into one more law based rule we must follow or we just aren’t doing it right! the cm way. And, let me confess…that I am preaching to myself as well!
Also, I might as well say. I am doing more science than is recommended. And more of probably several things…as relaxed as I can…but I am house bound, snow bound, ridiculous minus temps, etc. for many many months…with some very HIGH energy kids…I am trying to create a wonderful learning enviornment for my very science/art oriented spongy girl who is desperate for new ideas, acitivities, etc…and who without them just gets into more and more trouble as she bounces around this house in the winter…so if my children are FLOURISHING as we study more and do more activities and stimulate them with ideas…that is what I am going to do. I am using all of the CM methods that I can…but I am refusing to make her word–my law. That place is reserved.
Sorry for the vent. I am a very law based person. AND this is an area I am determined to grow in. Please know that I mean no disrespect to CM or SCM …or any of you ladies. I have been very blessed by all…
but I don’t want all this wonderful cornicopia of awesome ideas and methods to become one more spiritually binding rule to live by…
we are individuals and as such are responsible before GOD to husband our individual resources in our individual circumstances…standing before GOD, I am not going to be able to say…well, I did it that way cause CM said so…LOL. I must take ALL thought and sift it…and find the grains of truth in it that apply to my specific life and circumstances. There could be many other grains of truth in it that would apply to others…maybe when children were older, etc. I am not saying throwing out truth. I do believe Truth is Truth…Jesus is the Truth…I am not saying truth is fluid or anything…just that we must take what are so many amazing ideals…and see what fits us.
Gotta run…really had no idea was about to write all that.
jo
August 12, 2011 at 9:30 pm
sheraz
Participant
I always wanted my children to be children – I see so many confused kids growing up too fast without faith or guidelines. I want to help them instill a deep knowledge of the Savior in their hearts. I want them to hopeful, kind, and loving. I want them to serve others. I want them to challenge themselves and BE happy… and I want to help give them the tools to do that.
I knew that I needed to homeschool. I knew that it was imperative to get them home where I could feed them the way they need on so many levels. I have tried this a couple of times and kind of flounder because box curriculums do not let you really adjust to your child. I had this vague sense of what I really wanted and no idea how to make it practical. When I was led to CM after prayer and searching, I realized that she had the ideas and much of the practicalities of what I wanted. (Of course, SCM made that soo much easier).
Things that really spoke to me were the reading and narrating. My APD dd had had such a struggle at PS. I also really like the “extras” that I want my children to love and appreciate – the picture, composer, nature studies. The scripture memorization, the poetry, the rich literature, the short focused lessons, the caring kindness felt beneath it all. The variety of things really pulls me. I like to learn it, do it and go on personally. I have a hard time with and little patience for some of the twaddly things we have to learn to deal with in life.
I really do not want to copy CM in every detail. There have been many changes in our lives and cultures since she wrote her philosphy, and I need to address that in my home. However reading about her methods and using the the guides avaiiable to me have made my goals and dreams a much closer reality. It will take a bit longer to know how it will all turn out, but with hard work, faith and prayer I know that I will have been the best mother I know how to be. And that is the goal for me. =)
Ways I have worked to implement – well, I am working on removing the worst of the twaddle (I admit it finally – I like some twaddle to relax with) books, toys, and movies. I have revamped the house to hold the books that God is blessing me with. I am finding tons of excellent (free) resources to use to enrich our days. I have made routines of my schedules because I am not always as diligent with the alarm clock as I should be. I am learning to plan out our gluten, dairy, and yeast free diet better so we can feel better. I am learning to relax a little about the school schedule and let the girls make their own connections without the guilt. I am learning to let go of the guilt over paperplates and a few dustbunnies that shall remain nameless, and I am learning to love my children in new ways as we grow together. I am letting the guilt go over not wanting to read out loud every book we are reading…audiobooks let me do a lot of things while still enjoying the literature. I am learning that my girls are growing up healthy and strong and are learning from me all the time (sometimes that is a big yikes). I am learning that I need to set limits for myself not just the kids to get it all done everyday.
Ways that I know that this method is working is having my 11dd tell me that she loves doing her spelling using Spelling Wisdom and having her light all up with delight when she recognizes quotes she has done. Watching my dd10 go from reading at a 1st grade level to a 3rd grade level over 8 months of stress- free reading with me (vs remedial reading classes for 2 yrs at PS), watching them learn to love and nurture their little sisters, when they snuggle on the couch and we laugh our way through a book, when they enjoy pointing out things they find outside, when we talk to Grandma and they can’t tell her fast enough about all the things we are doing. =) Does it ever get any better than this??? It just makes me so happy!!
Sorry for for the length. I feel more focused and empowered to go forth and live the good life! LOL
August 12, 2011 at 10:33 pm
joannarammell
Participant
Thank you Sheraz. This was inspiring and motivating to me. I love the stories about your children! And what you are learning!
It is funny. I was going to come back here and write a post apologizing for even posting this thread–felt stupid for doing it and couldn’t figure out how to erase it! and then I saw you had responded.
You’ve blessed me. This is exactly what I was hoping for…I am feeling more focused and empowered as well…and boy I need that right now!
Thank you again.
God Bless.
Y’all have a great weekend!
jo
August 13, 2011 at 2:06 am
Bookworm
Participant
I think it takes a LOT of prayer to find all the ways to apply anything we are working on, be it CM or something else. One thing I do want to add–many things I “thought” were not for us, I later felt impressed to try–and when I tried, I was glad. Some things that initially sounded hard or like a poor fit for us later turned out to be some of our favorite things–things like Plutarch, learning Latin (believe it or not, I didn’t intend to try that for many years) reading books more slowly, following CM methods for composition, concentrating on nature study, etc. were all things I once thought did not fit us. I’m really glad I “tried those things on” because I would have missed a LOT! So I do think keeping an open mind as we read and study can be a very helpful thing, as sometimes something can be impressed on our hearts that we didn’t think we’d use but perhaps it’s time for a try. I do believe that Charlotte’s writings will well repay frequent study and re-reading, for something that might not fit at one time in our lives may very well be just what we need at another time. Things can change in our lives. I am personally having a hard time because some of the things in our life have changed so–we are doing a LOT less nature study these days. Our schedules with the two older ones are SO tight, with schoolwork, outside classes, activities, friends, jobs, interests–it just isn’t working. Being outside all together in the afternoons isn’t working either. I MISS what I once thought I wouldn’t enjoy–miss it more than I can say. I know that there isn’t really an alternative right now, and my three Boy Scouts are getting plenty of time in the outdoors–it just isn’t involving me! And to think I once didn’t even like bugs. I also miss all of us curled up on the couch while I read aloud . . . and all the fun hands-on things we would do . . . I miss our process of discovering the real beauty and peace of Charlotte Mason’s methods and the joy it brought us. I’m delighted beyond my wildest hopes in the young men that we have here, what they’ve learned, and just how large the room is in which their feet are set, and the many things about which they care. I wouldn’t have missed it! Don’t miss any of it—prayerfully decide what you need to focus on, of course, but stay open to what God can bring into your life and the wonderful people, writings and ideas He can use to influence us. I KNOW that Charlotte was inspired by God. I don’t mean by this that I think everything she said was perfect or that everything needs to apply to everyone. She was a woman in very different circumstances from us and in many ways she never knew the world many of us would be in. (I’m DEFINITELY sure if she lived where some of us do she’d have known taking out very little children EVERY afternoon wasn’t going to work–England is a long, long ways from here!) But I know that God used her to communicate truth to us to help us educate our children. It is a privilege that we have that we can use her ideas and wisdom and her experience to help us find our way.
August 13, 2011 at 2:34 am
sheraz
Participant
Wise words, Bookworm. I know that we pick and choose as our seasons and needs change. Another reason to be grateful for the chance to re-read and pray alot. =) You inspire me to want to try Latin…and I do have a copy of Plutarch for the future.
Jo – I haven’t said this before, but I so appreciate the love and humor that you share with us. I have had my days lightened many times by your posts. Thanks for caring and sharing…and giving me permission to quit worrying so hard about math. =)
Sheila
August 13, 2011 at 2:42 am
Kelly Bond
Participant
Jo, Thanks for starting this thread and for your honesty. I know I am vulnerable to envy with all that I see and read about, and sometimes all I think about is what ISN’T working. I have two active boys, 6 and 3. Many of the ideal things I’d love to do just aren’t going to work with these guys, at least not at this point in our lives. But they both LOVE to be read to so I’m totally on board with living books. Nature study is great, too, though we haven’t achieved the sketching/painting outdoors in our nature journals that I dream about. I have a whole year planned out for my son’s first official year, and I’m already preparing myself that it’s likely not going to go off without a hitch. I am one of those people who, when I decide to do something, I dive in. And I find myself, too, thinking I “have” to do everything CM does, or everything that other CM families do. That’s not true, of course, but it’s my personality and I have to fight against it. So, I do understand the gist of what you’re saying. I probably didn’t give you anything inspiring in what I wrote, but I hope you know you’re not alone!
August 13, 2011 at 10:32 am
joannarammell
Participant
blkateri14 not feeling alone (something I struggle with–whether I really am or not) is inspiring all by itself!
Thanks all of you. I hope you all know that I wasn’t trying to write CM or CM methods off…I am not even really picking and choosing and throwing out everything else…I just felt we need permission to keep going when reality does not meet the ideal…cause the circumstances really were different. I will continue to study CM, apply the wisdom, and grow Lord willing, but I didn’t want to fall into that trap (that I was about to)that I “had” to do it all, exactly as CM said, or I wasn’t okay somehow, wasn’t CM enough, wasn’t whatever…and then that leads to the trap of thinking you ladies all have the PERFECT match to a CM education…and what is wrong with me anyways. I figured, I might not be the only one like this…especially after reading about how to fit in 4 hrs outside…I had just asked with incredulity in my voice the same thing of my good friend. She is the one who reminded me that CM was a woman…without babies of her own. She got me back on the ground for which I am grateful…cause if I measure my success by how perfect I can “do” what CM did (without all her help)…I’m gonna spend myself in craziness.
I appreciate the posts. And I appreciated the affirmations. I must admit, posting this was harder for me for some reason. As you’ve noticed, I am an open book, not much artifice in me, or maybe I should say not much of a social covering, sometimes to my detriment. What is funny is that if you met me in real life–this is who and how I really am like all the time. I have said before, and it has been very true. People really like or really DO NOT like me. Though it all hangs out, which is at times painful, I have found the positives of transparency to outweigh the negatives. It is a choice I made many many years ago that came out of pain in my past, but I hope that now, I have at least learned to be a bit more tactful. 🙂
God has used that transparency for good. I love how he does that. Takes the ugly and transforms it into beauty. My redeemer lives!
jo
August 13, 2011 at 11:17 am
Tristan
Participant
I’m really enjoying this thread because it goes with a conversation I have with a friend of mine at least every 6 months. She is at the beginning of her 3rd homeschool year with four children (girls 10, 9, 7, and a 3yo boy). We’ve been homeschooling since my 10yo was preschool age, so about 7 years. I also happen to have 6 children and another coming. She always comes to a point where she asks how I do this homeschooling thing and make it look easy (ha – we’ve been working on transparency to help her with that misguided idea), but she also is one to feel like she “should” be doing everything that every other homeschool family she knows is doing, including mine. We have different methods we follow, which complicates things even more, because she’ll try to implement things without any foundation, then call me when it crashes and burns. This past year she was trying to do school for 8 hours a day to fit it all in!
We always have to go back to two facts:
1. God has different expectations for her family and mine, or hers and everyone else’s. We are not called to teach the exact same things at the same time in the same way. He is a creative God who has many educational paths that are all good, but that are individualized to the child and family. We don’t need to be doing the same things the same way.
2. Even within her chosen teaching method, there will be places she needs to tweak, just like there are for me in my chosen method. The method is not God, it is a tool. Seek God to know how to use the tool, and recognize that he’ll have us use different parts when we are ready or when we need to.
All that to say that, for me, we’re still very much picking and choosing what we do of Charlotte Mason’s methods. Right now we are doing picture study, living books, and narrations. We have no intention to go anywhere near latin or plutarch in the forseable future. We are stepping into the nature study waters more regularly this year. We don’t see eye to eye with Charlotte on spelling, because while it might work with my third child, and possibly my second, it was completely wrong for my first. It was like handing her a spring jacket when she was heading into a blizzard – it didn’t help. And that’s okay!
I love seeing the lights that go on with picture study for my children. We’ve been studying Monet and did Van Gogh before that. Yesterday my 5 year old came running to me with a book she found on our shelves to show me a picture she recognized by “the sunflower man” (Van Gogh). My son’s favorite painting so far has been one of Monet’s train station paintings.
The living books in history especially have brought new worlds of play to my children. You constantly hear them living as people in times we’ve studied, even months after the study. The living books have allowed them to make a relationship with the people and events that is real enough in their mind that they love to relive them.
August 13, 2011 at 12:38 pm
simple home
Member
What I love about reading CM’s writings is how keenly aware she was of the world around her, the families and the homelife of the children in her schools and beyond. No, she didn’t know what the future held of course, but her generation and times were just as turbulently changing as ours is, and the children were affected in much the same way that ours are with life in general. Humanity and our needs have not changed, strife and sin were just as prevalent then as it is now. It seems that God gave her a gift of understanding and wisdom of motherhood and children, even without her giving birth to babies. She had the time to contemplate and write, and bless future generations. This may not have been as possible with her having her own family.
In my opinion, her vision of education wasn’t her own, it was inspired by God. What is inspired by God continues to benefit us no matter our current circumstances. I cannot possibly follow every single thing she suggested, and I don’t think she meant it to be that way. But I can continue to be inspired by her and do the things that God is suggesting to me and my own family. This looks different for every family and season of life.
August 14, 2011 at 2:21 am
Claire
Participant
Jo your honesty is such a breath of fresh air! I love it! Not one of us has it all figured out in some perfect CM way. No matter how the posts may read. I mean really who wants to post that everything has gone wrong today, no one is learning a thing, the rails you thought you had down are now being used as catapults and that your typing on your laptop from your bathroom where you’ve gone to cry and call your husband at work! And face it we don’t want to read those utopian CM posts either were everything has gone absolutely perfectly in every way possible. I’m voting for hearing about a happy, honest medium ground I like to call reality.

August 14, 2011 at 3:49 am
missingtheshire
Member
I don’t know how many of you have been to England, but it is so very different to here that when I first arrived here it made my head spin with the speed of life that seems to be all encompassing here. England has a temperate and yes somewhat rainy climate well suited to being outside, no stifling dangerous heatwaves there that go on for weeks at a time – just the odd hot period. We don’t have the dangerous bugs and snakes etc that you have here either, so we can hike through the forest without worrying about bears, snakes that are venomous or anything like that. It is also a much slower paced way of life, especially in the countryside and the villages – obviously the cities are different. A twenty first century CM education can be attained with some modifications necessary for this country which is so different to the area where she honed her craft. Her methods are well tested, and work – but there by necessity is likely to be parts of her ideas that take some ingenuity to do here depending on where you live. In England, you could leave our village school and be in the countryside immediately, no need for a bus or car, in CM’s area it was the same way – so out of doors time was easy to do. We spent the afternoons out in nature or doing PE outdoors – but we finished school at 3pm so it was not a long afternoon. Perfection is not something we can attain, all we can do is our very best using the methods that suit our families and the places we live. She was a wise teacher and her gentle methods though kind were also firm and challenging – her situation and time in place was not the same as ours – so we canot replicate her methods in totality, what we can do is glean the best she had to offer and try and make it work for us, if that is our wish. Alsways remember though England is vastly different to here, and the challenges quite different to what you have to deal with in this great land. I often tell my husband, with all the bugs, weather and creatures you have here that can do harm, if I had been a pioneer I would have headed straight back home, not tough enough for life here, lol. So I would advise everyone to choose and do the best they can, but do not dismiss CM and her ideas too quickly -there is great depth in knowledge in what she had to say and how she taught children. I don’t use pure CM because we came to homeschooling late – but if I was starting again, I would use her methods through middle school and just make a few modications for high school. She was an amazing woman way ahead of her time.
August 14, 2011 at 9:53 pm
botanicalbecky
Member
I think God made a mistake – I was supposed to be born in England! lol
August 14, 2011 at 10:14 pm
missingtheshire
Member
No He didn’t – you have a beautiful and wonderful country, just have to adapt a bit more here – and you ladies are used to life here, this feeble English woman still struggles with the climate, bugs and speed of life and just the sheer size of everything. You can fit England into New York State I believe, so that is a bit of perspective! I find the vastness of everything a little disconcerting thats all. Linda
August 15, 2011 at 2:54 am
simple home
Member
I’m with Becky, I should have been a British girl. My grandmother is french, maybe I should return to those roots. 😉
Thanks Linda for your insight!
August 15, 2011 at 1:12 pm
botanicalbecky
Member
The pace, the bugs, the heat, yep, those are the things I don’t like so much. Plus I love British humor and watch lots of BBC TV (well, maybe not LOTS – that’s relatively speaking) and I find the royals fascinating. And that’s just a few things… Did I mention I listen to a UK radio station when I’m at work? I’m such a nerd, really.
All kidding aside, I know He doesn’t make mistakes and I’m here for a reason. But I’m really over 90+ degree heat and humidity.