I get to tell newer homeschooling moms about CM on Tuesday evening, and I live in an area where CM is seriously underrepresented, so I am totally excited! But I just found out (another speaker just cancelled) and I have a splitting headache and can’t think straight, lol.
It will all be good, I’m sure. But I thought I’d share my excitement with you guys, and also ask if anyone had any overdvue handouts (like 1 page) they’ve seen so I don’t have to create something in the morning. Also, if you had to quickly characterize CM, what would you say? What aspects most strongly drew you to CM, or keep you here?
I’m also considering an extremely simple display or a few books. Gotta keep it small though. What would you bring?
I’ve got my own thoughts on all this. But I want to be sure to give CM a good representation do I’m really interested in hearing from others. Thanks!
(Please excuse any typos. I’m typing on a tiny screen and even my eyeballs hurt from this stupid headache. Please know that I do how to construct a sentence despite what my typos may indicate, and I will be properly mortified in the morning when I reread this. lol]
I would start with children are born persons and talk about how CM respects children as people and believes they have to do their own learning; we can’t force it and the burden is not on us to makethe perfect lesson plan. Rather we put children in touch with other minds through living books, art, etc. the focus is on ideas, not facts. It is easy to get bogged down in things like copywork but I like to emphasize the theory behind it all.
Her nutshell philosophy is a nice starting point…”Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” Or, her motto, “I am, I can, I ought, I will.”
I agree with Nebby and would include short lessons being a key factor in getting started. Many homeschooling parents are overwhelmed if they are considering recreating school at home. It’s daunting. So, the short lessons will appeal to them.
The idea of a feast of living books, things, and ideas will also be appealing. Keeps the cost down making it a timely way to learn in this economy.
If time permits, the idea of mother culture could be included. So many moms are held hostage by FB and the internet that they aren’t reading/learning for themselves. CM home education offers the opportunity to redeem the time and finally have a true education for themselves!
Things I’d bring to display if possible:
living books (one on each subject if possible…for younger and older readers)
nature study journals with specimens (leaves, flowers, twigs, preserved insects, a rock)
a few pics for picture study
a poetry book
some classical music to play softly in the background
maybe a Book of Centuries/timeline sample and/or Commonplace Book
All great! Thank you! Love focusing on the principles instead of just some of the things we do. And habits, yes! That so often is ignored.
Does anyone happen to have a one page summary they could direct me to? I still might have time to make one up, but I’d it’s already done on a site somewhere that that would be great.
Tailormade, I’m sold!! ;-P Chocolate is the only thing missing. Did CM ever mention chocolate? Like once every Thursday; I believe I read that somewhere, right?
Mysterious Lady in Pink, Hope it all went great for you!!
Cheap chocolate is twaddle. We want rich, flavourful morsels made by the best chocolatiers in the world. Small morsels are enough to satisfy. I think CM covered chocolate!
The organizers of the evening HAD CHOCOATE on every table!! Serendipitous! lol
Well the evening did not go how anyone had expected — it was supposed to this thing called “speed mentoring” (obviously real mentoring is anything but speedy, but obviously it’s a take off on speed dating). They had 10 “mentors” and quite a lot of newer hs-ers signed up. But only TWO of them showed up! lol The idea was that one of the organizers would give a brief overview of each mentor, then each person would have like 5 minutes with each mentor (shifting to a new table with the “bell” chimed), then there would be time at the end for additional visiting, questions, etc. I thought it was an intriguing idea.
But since the dynamics changed, we ended up all sitting around several tables pushed together and all chatted. It was still a very enjoyable evening, and several people picked up some of the things I brought and asked questions afterwards….
Now I’m thinking maybe I should post to some area hs groups that I am going to be at a part on a certain day at a certain time to talk about anyone currently doing or interested in learning more about CM. We shall see….