Charlotte Mason & Home Education

Catherine Levison’s Audio Workshops

1) An Overview of the Charlotte Mason Method

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400479/simplepleasuresp/

Want happy children who are thoroughly educated? Tap into how children naturally learn to increase effectiveness and avoid burnout. Go beyond the three R’s and enrich your lives with the humanities. Includes information on how to use narration to improve children’s comprehension level and replace expensive curriculums with the finest literature, poetry, art and music.

 

2) The Language Arts for (Almost) Free
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400436/simplepleasuresp/

So many language arts, so little money. There’s a boring way to teach children and a more interesting way. Charlotte Mason’s techniques bring an end to the tears and complaints for both parent and child while drastically reducing the cost of language arts teaching. This workshop covers foreign language, poetry, spelling and dictation.

 

3) History and Science
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400452/simplepleasuresp/

Retention is everything! Stop wasting your time and money — replace those boring workbooks with real life. Learn how to combine well-chosen literary books, direct contact and sketching for lasting knowledge. Includes coverage of nature notebooks and a homemade Book of the Centuries.

 

4) Balancing Act: To Structure or Not to Structure
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400460/simplepleasuresp/

Only you know if you need to loosen up or tighten up your home school efforts. Achieve the long sought-after balance between unschooling and planned academics by implementing Charlotte Mason’s “short lessons.” Replace dawdling with good habits so everyone has more free time to enjoy life.

Here’s a quote:

“The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a ‘Green Hour’ every day, a time for interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.”

Nature Study has always been one of my favorite aspects of Charlotte Mason’s educational methods.   I recently put together a small online bookstore containing many of my personal choices for nature study books, materials, toys and other resources.

 Feel free to stop by (and tell your Charlotte Mason homeschooling friends!):

 The Nature Study Bookstore

Copyright Sheila Carroll. Used with permission.  All rights reserved. http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com

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What is a living book? Charlotte Mason said a living book is one that is “well put” and “well told” (Parents and Children, p. 263).
 
In other words, in a living book:

1. The language used powerfully and beautifully expresses the ideas of its author
2. The narrative — whether fiction or non-fiction — holds together in a compelling and memorable way. 

Instead, read Louis Pasteur: Founder of Modern Medicine to learn of Pasteur’s early research into why vats of fermented beer were turning sour (answer: microorganism had contaminated the batch), and later how three of Pasteur’s daughters died from typhoid and then, in 1865, a cholera epidemic hit Marseilles, France. It was then that Pasteur carried out a number of experiments in a hospital in the hope of finding the germ that caused this feared disease and to save the town of Marseilles.
 
Interested? Your children will be, too. That’s a living book.
 
Another way to think of living books:
 
When children grow up hearing the best ideas put forth in the best possible language, they model their thinking and their writing after these. Charlotte Mason felt that a parent or teacher’s chief duty was to provide living ideas as food for the child’s mind.
 
If we give our children “dumbed down” books or books in which the information is in bits and pieces across the page, then the ideas are no longer living but dry-as-dust facts. Living ideas are primarily found  in living books, books that are “well put and well told. “
 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
–Sheila Carroll is founder of Living Books Curriculum, a literature rich, complete curriculum growing from the work of Charlotte Mason. This article previously appeared in Parent’s Journal, the e-newsletter of Living Books Curriculum. Visit Sheila online at: http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com
 

A long-time online aquaintance of mine recently posted a series of posts on her blog about how she was able to put together an entire year’s worth of curriculum from just a couple of trips to the thrift store.

If you think homeschooling’s just too expensive to consider pursuing seriously, take a look at Mama Squirrel’s ideas. 

 ”What I came up with isn’t necessarily a Charlotte Mason curriculum; that needs to be clear …  I think it’s more like an amalgam of Sonlight Curriculum and Ruth Beechick; it’s supposed to be something that could keep you going, even if you were homeschooling for the first time.” –Mama Squirrel

Copyright (c) Deborah Taylor-Hough. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://brightkids.wordpress.com/

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It’s always fun to use things in our children’s everyday lives to spark discussion and easy educational activities.  Since many of us are currently in the midst of winter, this season can be a great topic of “study” for our littlest ones.

Study time with preschoolers at home mainly consists of talking and laughing with them, helping them notice the details of the world around them. No pressure. Just a fun time spent in the company of a loving adult.

To introduce the topic of “Winter,” ask your child what she knows about the seasons. Is she aware of spring, summer, autumn and winter? Does she know what the differences are between the seasons in your local area?

Don’t lecture. Just make conversation and find out what she knows already. Have her look out the window and tell you what she notices about the trees, bushes, flowers and gardens. Are there leaves visible? Buds? Flowers? Greenery? Bare branches? Brown stems?

Find a photo, painting, or picture in a book of an obvious winter scene. Ask your child if she knows what season it is in the picture. What things tell her what time of year it is? If she doesn’t know, point things out to her that will give clues: bare branches, snow on the ground, no flowers, people in warm clothes, etc. Hide the picture from view and have the child describe to you in her own words what she saw in the picture. Encourage as much detail as possible, but remember to keep it low-key and fun. This process of orally telling back what she’s seen, helps cement the image in her memory.

To suplement your discussion, enjoy together a winter-time picture book such as Ezra Jack Keat’s ‘The Snowy Day’ or the Alaskan tale ‘Momma, Do You Love Me?’ by Barbara M. Joosse.  You can browse

these books online at:

• The Snowy Day
•  Momma, Do You Love Me?

Ask your child how people stay warm in the winter (warm clothes, mittens, fireplaces, warm houses, etc.). Let her brainstorm for awhile. Then ask how she thinks animals stay warm in winter (thick fur, migrate to warmer climates, hibernate in caves, etc.).

Sometimes a preschool child might say things like, “Baby squirrels snuggle up in a tree with a soft blanket to stay warm.” Ask her gently if she’s ever seen a real squirrel with a blanket. Does she think that’s how they’ll really stay warm in those cold, winter months? The line between fantasy and reality in preschoolers is sometimes thin … don’t harshly bring your child into reality, just gently coax her into thinking about how things really happen in nature.

But just so you don’t think it all needs to be a serious dose of reality, have some fun and brainstorm about “pretend” ways animals might stay warm. For fun, read one of these wonderfully fun and beautifully illustrated winter-time books by Jan Brett (one of my favorite children’s illustrators):

• The Mitten
• The Hat

You can also visit Jan Brett’s website to print out coloring sheets and other fun projects based on Brett’s lavishly illustrated children’s books:

• http://www.janbrett.com/

For a fun activity, throw a collection of clothing and accessories into a bag or suitcase. Without looking, have your child reach into the bag, pull out a single clothing item and then tell you if the item they grabbed is appropriate to wear in the winter.  Have the child explain to you why each item is — or isn’t — seasonally appropriate. Include a variety of things in the bag such as: a warm hat, a pair of gloves or mittens, an open-toed sandal, a swimsuit, summer shorts, a warm sweater, a snow boot, a woolen scarf, a sleeveless top, etc.

Have your child finish the sentence, “Winter is …” For example: Winter is … “cold”; winter is … “snowmen”; winter is … “mittens”; winter is … “cocoa and marshmallows.” Consider writing down your child’s responses (she’ll feel so official seeing her words written down on paper). If you’re feeling particularly creative, you can even print out little “Winter is …” booklets using clip-art found on your computer that coincides with your child’s winter responses. Or have your child illustrate their own home-made “Winter is … ” book. Or let her cut out winter photos from magazines and newspapers, pasting them onto a large sheet of paper as a “Winter is …” collage.

Have a wonderful time as you explore the glories of winter with your preschooler!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Deborah Taylor-Hough (freelance writer and mother of three) is the editor of the Bright-Kids and Simple Times e-newsletters. She’s also the author of A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity, Frugal Living For Dummies(r) and Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month. Visit Debi online at: http://brightkids.wordpress.com/

Copyright Catherine Levison.  Used with permission.  All rights reserved.  http://charlottemasoneducation.com 

We all want to raise polite and loving children who aren’t causing our lives or home schools to be in a constant state of friction. Both adults and children tend to be creatures of habit and there is no end to the problems (or, better yet, lack of them) that arise from habit.

It’s a good thing that much of our daily activities are habitual, for example, people operate cars through the power of habit. What would it be like to have to think about the turn signal, foot brake, steering wheel and two mirrors every time we made a turn? What does this have to do with raising children and education? Everything. Much of what we do, and how we do it, is controlled by habit.

I observed the power of habit first hand when we moved the dining room clock in our house and replaced it with a picture. Because the clock had hung there for nine years everyone found themselves disoriented by the change. I don t know how many times I stood in front of the picture mystified, trying to figure out the time.

I also came face to face with the power of habit when we moved into a house that had a sink with reversed hot and cold water faucets. I thought I would grow accustomed to the reversal rather quickly — I was wrong. I would have been able to replace one habit with another if there had only been one sink in the house, however, it wasn t the only one and I admit I found myself in constant confusion when I was in front of this particular sink. I had to think instead of relying on habit.

Charlotte Mason was one educator who recognized and wrote about the power of habit and claimed that even virtues such as patience, meekness, courage, generosity and truthfulness are a matter of habit and can be trained as such. I agreed with her to a point but I did not really know this to be a fact until one time when I paid for my groceries with a hundred dollar bill. The clerk made change, then wrapped it up inside the receipt and inadvertently included my hundred dollars. No one saw this, in fact, I almost didn t look at the wad myself. At the last moment I did look in my hand and saw what had happened. My reaction came so fast even I was surprised. One of my habits is honesty and it was out of habit that I returned the money. Later, I thought about habitual morality and realized its significance.

If you find yourself always telling or asking your children the same things over and over again then this teaching on habit will benefit you. If I had the proverbial nickel for every time I told my kids to put the milk away, I’d be rich. Mason noted that when you find yourself always telling children to do the same thing, you have not trained them in the habits you wish they would perform.

The key is to identify one bad habit at a time in your child (or yourself) and then purposefully replace it with a good habit. We often make the mistake of tackling too many bad behaviors at one time. Success comes when we focus on one problem at a time. It s best to approach the child, clearly state what the bad habit is and then explain how it will affect their future.

For example, if your teenage child prefers to sleep in rather than getting up at a decent time explain to him how this can affect his employment, college grades and ability to catch the bus on time. The goal is to get him to see why he would want to make a change. Make that your first and final lecture. With a view that the child has to exert himself toward the new habit, do not interfere when it isn t necessary. Help as inconspicuously as possible.

Habits ordinarily take six to eight weeks to take shape and become permanent. Then they are habitual and will not need additional work. After the bad habit has been replaced by a good habit you can target a new habit.

About the Author:
Catherine Levison is a long term home schooling parent with over a decade of experience. She is the mother of five children and resides in Seattle. A popular speaker to home schooling audiences throughout the USA and Canada, Levison is the author of the popular book, A Charlotte Mason Education: A How-To Manual, the sequel More Charlotte Mason Education and A Literary Education: An Annotated Book List (SourceBooks). Visit Catherine online at: http://charlottemasoneducation.com
 
You can purchase Levison’s books online:
 
A Charlotte Mason Education

• http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400169/simplepleasuresp/

More Charlotte Mason Education

• http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400177/simplepleasuresp/

Copyright Deborah Taylor-Hough. Used with permission.  All rights reserved.  http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

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Since we’re currently in the midst of the December holidays, I chatted at length with Catherine Levison (author of A Charlotte Mason Education and More Charlotte Mason Education) and we put our heads together to come up with ways to apply the concept of avoiding “twaddle” (or what we might call “dumbed down” literature or activities) in our holiday celebrations, family times and Christmas reading materials.

Defining Twaddle in Literature

First, let’s look at the synonyms of twaddle which include:  babble, drivel and silly. Ordinarily twaddle refers to literature written down to children. Books written specifically to children are not avoided. A good example would be any of Beatrix Potter’s works — she wrote to children but not down to them. Or the original A.A. Milne “Winnie-the-Pooh” books are another good example of twaddle-free just-for-fun reading material.

Regarding children’s literature, look for interesting content and well constructed sentences clothed in literary language. The imagination should be warmed and the book should hold the interest of the child.  Life’s too short to spend time with books that bore us.

If our children have only been exposed to junk food, they may resist trying nutritious food.  If they’ve been raised on twaddle, they may need to be weaned slowly off of this mental junk food. Ideally, if they were not exposed to twaddly books in the first place, all involved would be way ahead of the game.

It’s our opinion that dumbed-down literature is easy to spot. When you’re standing in the library and pick up modern-day, elementary-level books, you’re apt to see short sentences with very little effort applied to artistically constructing them to please the mind. Almost anyone can write — but not everyone is gifted in this field. Gifted authors bring images alive with their choice of words. Gifted authors often write classic literature, and classics are an excellent way to spend one’s reading time.

Twaddle is easy to come by; the planet is filled with it. People coped with it in previous centuries, and we must cope with it in ours. If anything, literature has deteriorated even further. The best way to handle this excessive quantity of bad books is to stand firm and only spend our money on the best — even at holiday time.

But what about friends and relatives who unknowingly supply our children with twaddle at gift-giving times?

Try talking to those who are apt to buy gifts for your children and tell them about the direction you’re heading with reading material. Some people pick up on things easier than others, therefore, for some folks a simple explanation of the type of literature you want purchased as gifts is all they’ll need. If you’ve started to collect any particular set of children’s classics currently in bookstores or catalogues, you could provide Grandma with a list of titles you’d like. Be specific, and offer to help her with the ordering or perhaps even drive her to your favorite bookstore.

Twaddle-Free Holidays

How else can we apply the concept of twaddle to the holiday season as a whole?

Well, I firmly believe that twaddle is in the eye of the beholder. That means that some of the following ideas may appeal to you while others may not meet your expectations. Catherine and I put our heads together and came up with the following ideas — some of which were shared with us over the years by other people. As always, take what you like and ignore what you don’t.

During the holidays, I frequently discover a large number of low-cost entertainment options by reading the “What’s Happening” section of our local newspaper.  For example, this week I found a listing for a singing group performing traditional Celtic holiday carols at a local church for just a small donation.  Many churches and community groups put on low-cost (or free) live performances during the holidays.

Rather than taking the family to a newly released holiday movie, consider spending a few extra dollars and attend a ballet or classical concert instead. Many times attending a concert by a local symphony performing familiar Christmas songs is a very child-friendly introduction to symphonic music for children who haven’t previously experienced that type of music.  Also, many churches offer sing-a-longs of Handel’s Messiah that are open to the general public.

As we all know, holiday music is drastically varied. Perhaps some attention to playing classical music around the house — while avoiding animated cartoon characters screeching their holiday favorites — would be more soothing.

Many families, including both Catherine’s and mine, buy one new Christmas book a year and have their collection on display. Catherine’s favorite is called The Christmas Story featuring the paintings of Gennady Spirin.  It’s breathtakingly beautiful and priced accordingly — however Catherine insists it’s worth every penny.  This is one way to include masterpiece artwork into this season of the year.

It’s also time to buy next year’s calendar. If you haven’t thought of it before, hold out until you find one featuring fine art rather than kittens, horses or cars.  Along with being a practical item, the calendars often provide excellent prints to use for art appreciation throughout the year.

While grown children and other relatives visit, provide some old-fashioned fun that can be enjoyed by young and old alike.  Charades, sing-a-longs, board games and caroling are easy, affordable and fun. Catherine’s family collects Christmas jigsaw puzzles — which may appear to be a bit twaddly at first glance — but they truly enjoy spending time together which makes it more than an aimless pursuit.  You could also choose puzzles depicting masterpieces or popular works of art.

Many families are constructing their own advent calendars from wood and incorporating photographs and other touches. If everyone participated in a project of this sort, then they can all look forward to getting it out each December.

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?  Well, if the snow doesn’t come to you then go to the snow. Some folks make an annual trek to the mountains during December in order to be assured of some contact with winter weather.

Obviously, there are countless good ideas that help families enjoy each other. Catherine and I send our absolute best to you this holiday season and may each of you be truly happy.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: –Deborah Taylor-Hough (author and mother of three) is a free-lance writer, editor of Bright-Kids E-zine [ join-bright-kids@hub.thedollarstretcher.com ] and author of the bestselling book Frozen Assets: how to cook for a day and eat for a month and Frugal Living For Dummies(r).  Visit Debi online at: 
http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

 A great idea for the holidays is to set aside a special box or basket containing your family’s special Christmas or other holiday books. The Holiday Book Box only comes out during the Advent season, and is put away again with the decorations after the first of the year.

THE ADVENT BOOK BOX

This list of Favorite Christmas Books was compiled following a discussion between a group of home schooling mothers looking for twaddle-free holiday reading for their families.

A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens

Becky’s Christmas
by Tasha Tudor

(The) Best Christmas Pageant Ever!
by Barbara Robinson

Christmas at Long Pond
by William T. George

(The) Christmas Box
by Richard Paul Evans

(The) Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
by Susan Wojciechowski

(The) Christmas Stories of George MacDonald
by George MacDonald (out of print)

(The) Christmas Tree
by Julie Salamon

(The) Crippled Lamb
by Max Lucado

(The) Donkey’s Dream
by Barbara Helen Berger

(The) First Christmas
by Marcia Williams (out of print)

(The) Glorious Impossible
by Madeleine L’Engle

Martin Luther’s Christmas Book
by Martin Luther

(The) Night Before Christmas
by Clement Moore, illustrated by Jan Brett

A Northern Nativity: Christmas Dreams of a Pairie Boy
by William Kurelek

One Wintry Night
by Ruth Bell Graham

Rembrandt: The Christmas Story

Seven Stories of Christmas Love
by Leo F. Buscaglia

(The) Story of Christmas: Words from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
illustrated by Jane Ray

Tale of Three Trees
by Angela Elwell Hunt

This is the Star
by Joyce Dunbar

OTHER HOLIDAY-RELATED BOOKS

Unplug the Christmas Machine, by Jo Robinson
Don’t wait until Christmas to read this book! The earlier you start thinking about the holidays, the easier it will be to make any necessary changes in your celebrations.

Debt Proof Your Holidays, by Mary Hunt
Whether you’re just looking for further frugal ideas for the upcoming holiday season, or you’re truly dreading another after-holidays debt hang-over, this book will be beneficial.

Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month, by Deborah Taylor-Hough
Less time in the kitchen means more time for activities you really enjoy. This book will show you a step-by-step plan to simplify and revolutionize the way you cook. Save time; save money; save your sanity! Contains a special Ten Day Holiday Meal Plan — perfect for simplifying your holiday meal preparation.

Simplify Your Christmas, by Elaine St James
Simple ideas for taking the complexity out of the holidays.

Hundred Dollar Holiday, by Bill McKibben
“What we need and long for now are the gifts of time, meaningful family connections, periods of silence, a relationship with the divine,” McKibben writes.

~Debi

Here are some possible paintings for Autumn art appreciation and picture study.  Just click on the small photos of the artwork to open a larger version for easier viewing.

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Autumn Leaves, John Millais 1855

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Excerpt] “… Millais decided to embark on a painting that was beautiful in its own right without any attempt to tell a story. His models were four young girls, all under 13 years of age, chosen for their youth and beauty. They were to be shown standing around a pile of gently smoldering autumn leaves which they had just collected from their garden. The painting, which became known as Autumn Leaves, was designed to evoke a mood and a feeling of the transience of life and beauty - all is doomed to eventual decay, even the greatest innocence and beauty is overwhelmed by the passage of time. The painting is considered to be Millais’s masterpiece. He wanted the picture to awaken the deepest religious reflections with its solemn air and restrained coloring. The work was influenced personally by Alfred Lord Tennyson, one of whose works he was illustrating at the time, in particular by his poem The Princess.”

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Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies, Vincent Van Gogh 1890 
[Excerpt] “Contrary to popular myth, [this] is not Van Gogh’s final work. Admittedly, it does make for a neatly wrapped interpretive gift if the painting really were Van Gogh’s final work before his suicide. The painting is, without question, turbulent and certainly conveys a sense of loneliness in the fields - a powerful image of Van Gogh as defeated and solitary artist in his final years. Furthermore, both the popular films Lust for Life and Vincent and Theo rewrite history and depict this painting as Van Gogh’s last - with more of an interest in dramatic effect than historical accuracy.”

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Autumn, Mary Cassatt 1880 

[Excerpt] “Today Mary Cassatt is probably best known for her portrayals of the intimate activities of urban women, including reading, knitting, and taking tea, and the subject of the mother and child, which dominated her work after about 1893. Like Degas, she appears to have repeated particular themes in order to master various techniques. Practical reasons and considerations of social decorum also may have dictated her choice of subjects, who were most often members of her own social circle engaged in familiar activities.”

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The Harvesters, Pieter Bruegel the Elder 

[Excerpt] “Through his remarkable sensitivity to nature’s workings, Bruegel created a watershed in the history of Western art, suppressing the religious and iconographic associations of earlier depictions of the seasons in favor of an unidealized vision of landscape. The Harvesters probably represented the months of August and September in the context of the series. It shows a ripe field of wheat that has been partially cut and stacked, while in the foreground a number of peasants pause to picnic in the relative shade of a pear tree. Work continues around them as a couple gathers wheat into bundles, three men cut stalks with scythes, and several women make their way through the corridor of a wheat field with stacks of grain over their shoulders. The vastness of the panorama across the rest of the composition reveals that Bruegel’s emphasis is not on the labors that mark the time of the year, but on the atmosphere and transformation of the landscape itself.”

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Early Autumn, Montclair, George Inness 1891  

[Excerpt] “In the painting Early Autumn, Montclair, the landscape appears non-specific and the centered foreground trees are spot lit even though the scene appears to be rather fuzzy. Like the Impressionists Inness was a close observer of nature and sought to express the season, weather and light conditions of the locale. But while Inness may have begun his paintings in nature, unlike the Impressionists, he completed his work in his studio relying on his memory and colored by imagination to create his luminous expressions of the spirituality of observed nature.”

Later today I’m going to be adding a small pile of used books to my eBay store.  I’m in the midst of trying to do some serious decluttering around my house.  Wish me luck! 

A number of the books will be about financial and simple living topics that might be of interest to readers of this blog.  Plus, there should be some children’s books, educational materials, and classic literature, as well.

So far, I’ve listed several books in the Core Knowledge Series (What Your Kindergartner [1st, 2nd, 3rd grader] Needs to Know).  I also have an unused (and unopened) copy of Quicken Personal Finance 2007 Home & Business software.  And due to popular demand from several friends, I’m going to list a couple of photographs that I’ve taken and had made into 8″x10″ prints and matted in 11″x14″ mattes.

Feel free to stop by later and see if there’s anything that interests you or your family.

http://stores.ebay.com/Simple-Pleasures-Books-and-Gifts

~Debi

I found the following quote online and thought it was good information for anyone trying to decide where to start with reading about Charlotte Mason’s methods:

“I love Catherine Levison’s books, both A Charlotte Mason Education and More Charlotte Mason Education. I bought her back issues of Charlotte Mason Communique, and I read them diligently and reread them. … I like practical, down to earth, straightforward, cut to the chase, plain, unadorned, just the facts ma’am approaches. I’m a practical, cut to the chase, ‘is that logical’ sort of person. That’s the way Levison writes — lots of practical, useful ideas, little wrapping, and none of it fluffy.”

You can read the entire posting here: http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2007/09/charlotte-mason-books.html

 ~Debi

 GreenStage: Seattle’s Shakespeare in the Park Company

This Shakespeare alert is for people in the Seattle, WA area.

In case you haven’t heard of this company, they’re doing free productions throughout the summer in various Seattle parks.  The two plays they’re doing for 2007 are “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “Richard III.”

Check out their website at  http://www.greenstage.org/  for dates, locations, times,  and other details.