I'm in love. with Charlotte Mason ; )

As I reread For the Children’s Sake (by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay), I came across the passage on p. 69 that just sang out to me.

“can we lead children naturally into excellence in skills, and at the same time stimulate their minds with the sheer pleasure of knowledge?”

and 

“Teach the skills for their own sake.

Introduce the child to a wide curriculum of living books.

Keep teaching time short enough so that his natural hunger for “real” life can be satisfied.”

The part that really got me was “introduce the child to a wide curriculum of living books.”  Not “they must know X amount of knowledge to obtain a good education.”  Not “they must memorize these dates and these historical figures.”  Introduce!  

*sigh*  Just when I think I can’t love Charlotte Mason anymore than I already do, I fall in love all over again.  

I’ve also have been watching The All Day Seminar here and there during the past week.  I love the Charlotte Mason method, and we’ve been using it for several years now.  While I don’t seem to do all the things that she recommends, I get a little closer each year.  Thank you Sonya for showing me how simple it is to implement the Charlotte Mason method.  I think the reason I wasn’t fitting it all in was that I was making it more than it needs to be and then feeling overwhelmed with how much needed to get done!

Thank you Sonya for this resource.