Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival {end of summer edition}

Are you all ready for another spin around the carnival?!

We have lots of wonderful variety seeing as this time around the theme is 'Whatever Strikes Your Fancy'. Of course you will understand how perfectly fitting then that the photo decorations will be as whatever strikes my fancy. Probably flowers, because I love taking pictures of flowers. But then again, you never can tell... :) However, the first person to come up with *the one word I was thinking* when I put the pictures together, will win a prize! I have a pile of books that I've been itching to give away...

Fun.





Nancy Kelly presents:
"Degrees of Separation" or "Your Child's Future Sanity" & Avoid the Grooves - Shift That Paradigm (We get a double dose of Nancy this time around! yay!)

Barb presents:
Back to School - Making High School Fit Your Student & Homeschool Science: Things I Would Do Differently (and double Barb too!)





Ritsumei presents Nature: Puppies N Chicks

Shannon in WV presents Narration: You Mean It’s Not Just about a Book?





Michelle presents:
When to Begin Formal Lessons & Sharing Art &  What Is a Charlotte Mason Curriculum? & Are the Arts Important in Education?

(whoa! quadruple whammy!! Michelle'd win the prize for most posts if there'd been one!!)

Nikki Olivier presents A walk in the wetlands. "...falling in love with the outdoors!"





Shirley Ann Vels presents:
Appreciating Art - Appreciating Charlotte Mason's Method! & Fun, Sun, Water and a Bit of History to Boot! (yay! double Shirley!)

Lindafay presents Charlotte Mason Help: How We Organize Memory Work





Lanaya presents A Few Things I'm Learning From Miss Mason

Grace'n'Chaos presents Books & Things and Some Mother Culture





Denise presents The (Mathematical) Trouble with Pizza

Jenny presents Books & Things and Some Mother Culture.





Kathy Livingston presents Choosing Extra-Curricular Activities.

Tricia Hodges presents Lily Pad: A Pastels Tutorial.

Jeanne presents Folksongs in the nursery.





Serena presents Circle Time.

Sarah presents Setting Up Shop.

Chris McGinn presents Mondays with Miss Mason?Starting with ?A?.





At Fisher Academy Int'l, we haven't yet started school officially as we are just now really finishing up last year after our summer travels. We will be diving right into next year however, just as soon as we get to Peru (we school year round).

What are your plans? How many of you have started already? Will you start next week? Or later?

Everyone always asks, "How do you plan and organize a CM education?". So let's have a look...  
The theme of the next issue of the carnival is:  
Organization / Planning on 9/13/11

Suggested Reading:
PR Articles:
Concentration of Purpose in Education
Mental Equilibrium


PS. Do you have a guess for *the one word I was thinking* when I put together the pictures for this post? Leave a comment... and the first one to guess can choose a free book from my giveaway box. :)

Announcement, Announcement! A Carnival Announcement.

Hello there! There's something new in the air! Two fun things are coming soon.  Are you excited?

For one, the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival will be up tomorrow, and it's been such a little while since the last one, I'm really looking forward to it, aren't you? :) We have 'whatever strikes your fancy' as the theme this time around, so if you haven't submitted your CM post yet, do it today before it's too late :)


If you need the CM blog carnival button, go ahead and steal this one ;)

Second, it's almost fall, which means for most of you school's starting up again in full force. For our family it means we have only two weeks left until we go back to Peru! We've had a momentous summer visit, and we're so thankful for all the opportunities we've had to meet with family and friends doing lots of fun stuff. I'm sorry for not blogging it, but when there's a choice to blog life or to live life, well... right. That's where priorities come into play now, do they not? :)


Our family at the Space Needle in Seattle! Yay!



I hope y'all have had a wonderful summer and that your fall will be beautiful too (in spite of the hurricanes). In the next few months as our family adjusts to life back in South America, the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival will continue with a lineup of interesting yet hopefully challenging and practical topics. Please stay tuned for further info. If you have a blog, please consider hosting the carnival this coming year. If you are interested, send an e-mail to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com.


Here are a few pictures I just happen to have handy of myself with a few of my friends earlier this summer @ the Childlight USA Conference... :)

My friend Bonnie

...and Leslie

...and Cindy!

Every moment matters.
Enjoy.

:)

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Science of Relations {vol1}

On what does Fulness of Living depend? What is education after all? An answer lies in the phrase – Education is the Science of Relations... What we are concerned with is the fact that we personally have relations with all that there is in the present, all that there has been in the past, and all that there will be in the future – with all above us and all about us – and that fulness of living, expansion, expression, and serviceableness, for each of us depend upon how far we apprehend these relationships and how many of them we lay hold of.                           vol.3 p.186

When we look at Education: the Science of Relations, I think many of us are either overwhelmed by the thought or else we have no idea what to make of the idea... it's an all encompassing philosophy of not so much education only, but a way of life! Building relations with a number of persons and things based on our interests and affinities is an enriching part of a CM education! Read on. :)

Science of Relations.

Lanaya presents Welcome to Your World

Shirley Ann Vels presents The Joy of Living in Far Lands...

amy in peru presents The Science of Relations.



Everything else Charlotte Mason.

Jay3fer presents Meeting the Masters: Van Gogh, Part 2

Gina presents Home Joys: Connections

Nature Study.

Nikki Olivier presents ....and finally, a Nature Club Walk!

Lynn presents Garden Science

Ann presents Birthday Picnic - Outdoor Hour Challenge #10

Narration.

Laura Grace Weldon presents Save Moments In A Memory Jar

Jimmie presents a 3-part series on Narration Basics: Expectations, From Oral to Written, Dealing with Problems



Thank you all for your submissions and comments!  Keep up the good work!
Submit your blog article to the next edition of the charlotte mason blog carnival HERE.

As we are approaching the end of summer, in celebration, the next CM blog carnival (to be posted, 8/30/2011)
Theme will be: anything goes! ;)
Until next time!

amy in peru.

Scinece of Relations.

My favorite gleanings from my readings on the subject:

“Education is the Science of Relations. The idea that vivifies teaching in the Parents' Union is that Education is the Science of Relations; by which phrase we mean that children come into the world with a natural 'appetency,' to use Coleridge's word, for, and affinity with all the material of knowledge; for interest in the heroic past and in the age of myths; for a desire to know about everything that moves and lives, about strange places and strange peoples; for a wsh to handle material and to make; a desire to run and ride and row and do whatever the law of gravitation permits. Therefore we do not feel it is lawful in the early days of a child's life to select certain subjects for his education to the exclusion of others; to say he shall not learn Latin, for example, or shall not learn Science; but we endeavour that he shall have relations of pleasure and intimacy established with as many as possible of the interests proper to him; not learning a slight or incomplete smattering about this or that subject, but plunging into vital knowledge, with a great field before him which in all his life he will not be able to explore. In this conception we get that 'touch of emotion' which vivifies knowledge, for it is probable that we feel only as we are brought into our proper vital relations.”

v3p224

“Children should have relations with earth and water, should run and leap, ride and swim, should establish the relation of maker to material in as many kinds as may be; should have dear and intimate relations with persons, through present intercourse, through tale or poem, picture or statue; through flint arrow-head or modern motor-car: beast and bird, herb and tree, they must have familiar acquaintance with. Other peoples and their languages must not be strange to them. Above all they should find that most intimate and highest of all Relationships, - the fulfillment of their being.

v3 p210

This is not a bewildering programme, because, in all these and more directions, children have affinities; and a human being does not fill his place in the universe without putting out tendrils of attachment in the directions proper to him. We must get rid of the notion that to learn the 'three R's' or the Latin grammar well a child should learn these and nothing else. It is as true for children as for ourselves that, the wider the range of interests, the more intelligent is the apprehension of each.”

v3p210

On what does Fulness of Living depend? What is education after all? An answer lies in the phrase – Education is the Science of Relations... What we are concerned with is the fact that we personally have relations with all that there is in the present, all that there has been in the past, and all that there will be in the future – with all above us and all about us – and that fulness of living, expansion, expression, and serviceableness, for each of us depend upon how far we apprehend these relationships and how many of them we lay hold of. 

v3 p186

Every child is heir to an enormous patrimony, heir to all the ages, inheritor of all the present. The question is, what are the formalities (educational, not legal) necessary to put him in possession of that which is his? You perceive the point of view is shifted, and is no longer subjective, but objective, as regards the child. 

v3 p187

Enjoy! :)

Twaddle Control

Do you have a problem with junk reading in your home? Do your kids just seem to gravitate toward the fluff, when you'd rather they read the healthy stuff?  How durst we keep the twaddle under control?

First of all, what is twaddle? For those of us familiar with Charlotte Mason, twaddle is a familiar term, and is basically the opposite of a living book. For those who've yet to spend time with her these might be still new or foreign ideas.

twaddle

[Noun] silly, trivial, or pretentious talk or writing

[Verb] [-dling, -dled] to talk or write in a silly or pretentious way [earlier twattle]

~ definition courtesy of Twaddlefree Bookstore

I think of twaddle as junk food in the form of books.

"That children like feeble and tedious...story books, does not at all prove that these are wholesome food; they like lollipops but cannot live upon them."

Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education, p. 117

image courtesy of MissCGlass

I cannot think of a better tactic, whether you have small children or avid readers than to maintain control from the start by screening what comes into your home. After all, you buy the groceries don't you? But what if a book shows up from a well-meaning friend or family member? When they're small, this can be pretty simple. In general, mine have hardly noticed when they've gotten a twaddly book as a gift and it "accidentally" is hidden immediately under or inside the couch (unless of course they've somehow grown an unruly fetish for Thomas the Train and it happens to be a book about him...  I'm afraid you may be in it for the long haul). Before they have an opportunity to ask for it, I offer some beautiful alternative, hopefully they never even miss it! :) If yours do insist, or you have grandparents who will ask, what I've done is, tell them we'll read it once now and then we'll trade it in for another book (my selection). Yay for used book stores and garage sales!!  :)

For older children, discuss the reasons you put limits on what they read. This will usually include moral as well as quality issues. Talk to them about what makes a good book... Make sure to have a wide variety of options for them, and then let them choose which books they want to read first. We use the AmblesideOnline book lists which include the yearly curriculum reads as well as a list of "Free Reading" (also required by the end of the year, but they decide priority and pace based on preference). You might formulate your own "approved book reading list" for your older child from the lower AO years booklists that your child may have missed as well as from a book like All Through the Ages or Honey for a Child's Heart. Then let them choose which books sound most interesting to them.   

image courtesy of ilco

At the library, our rule for choosing books was: the books you may look at at the library are not necessarily those that we bring home with us. When my kids were smaller, I allowed them to peruse the children's section freely and gather a stack of books, which I always reserved the right to screen. I would make sure there was nothing offensive, then from what they chose, I would separate one or two that were eligible to take home. I would tell them that they could read the other books while we were in the library, but that those books would stay there. I usually had prepared a list of books that I'd check out to make sure the basket was FULL of a good variety to bring home with us. Depending on the ages of my children, my choices would usually include some picture books with beautiful illustrations to please the senses, several read alouds with beautiful use of language and an easy reader or two with interesting ideas.

If you find yourself with a house already full of junk book addicts, it may be a bit more difficult. I would recommend working on this in stages. Usually I've had limited space for books, so I buy a bunch of good books at garage sales or thrift stores and subtly weed out the undesirables to make room for the new acquisitions. If there are some twaddly favorites, I'd just wait. Let them stay on the shelf for awhile. They're not hurting anyone there. Chances are if we consistently present them with a banquet of a wide variety of enticing foods, they'll generally be satisfied with the material that tends to taste better, nourish more and last longer. If they eat a little junk food now and then, it's not really going to hurt, but it's best to subtly steer them by making suggestions toward the material that will tend to nourish their hearts and minds.

Oh and finally, set a good example. Read good books. Choose quality material for yourself based on classic literature or personal recommendation. Discuss the books you read with your children when possible and talk about what you liked about them and why they're good or why they weren't. And obviously, read good books to your children... but I guess that pretty much goes without saying ;) 


Useful Links for choosing good books:

AmblesideOnline offers booklists for every year. I LOVE the selections! Do you Amble? If not, why not try it? AmblesideOnline is a great way to homeschool, and it's all right there online!! Read a definition of what makes a living book here.

All Through the Ages is an AMAZING resource! It's basically a book of great books to read at all different levels based on the time period. Each section includes a timeline, suggestions of resources for all ages, and then suggestions for the different reading levels, grades 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12. The genres include selections of books based on specific events, culture, biography, literature from teh time period, and historical fiction. I love this book!

I personally haven't had great success yet with Simply Charlotte Mason's bookfinder, but I know others have, so give it a try, maybe you'll have better luck than I.

What do you do to control twaddle? Is it important to you?

CM Blog Carnival - Handicrafts {vol.1}

Welcome to the Handicrafts edition of 

the Charlotte Mason blog carnival!

"The report and the Natural Science and Handicrafts taught by our ex-students during the past five years is most cheering and encouraging. Not one handicraft seems to have fallen through. There has not been time yet for our Leather-embossing, Repousse and Woodcarving to work their way, but Book-binding, Cardboard-Sloyd and Basket-making seem to have succeeded very well. With regard to sloyd work, the fact that it encourages children to invent and carry out models of their own speaks greatly in its favor. It is the inventive faculty in children we all wish to encourage and cultivate. The same may be said of Basket-making. Children soon begin to invent their own patterns, and if along with pretty designs we get careful and accurate work the educational value of these employments soon shows itself."  

Parent's Review article, Our Work

AmblesideOnline presents Handicrafts

Serena@CastingPearls presents Adventures in Soap Making.

Barb presents Handicrafts- Appropriate and Essential for High School?, saying, "This was a really fun post to put together for the carnival. I hope that it inspires other families to make handicrafts an essential part of their homeschooling plans. Our family has definitely seen the benefits."

Nadene presents How Handicrafts and Life Skills Become Great Assets, saying, "Handicraft and life skills provide so much more than a craft or project!"

Amanda presents Why Include Handicrafts in Your Homeschool?

Angela England presents 5 Educational Activities in Your Backyard | Blissfully Domestic





Sarah presents Don't Break The Charm!

Mountaineer Country presents Living the Charlotte Mason Lifestyle.

Lanaya presents Handicraft.

Catherine presents Handicrafts.

Penney Douglas presents Kids and Crowns.





Rachael presents Handicrafts - Sewing.

amy in peru presents Handi-crafty Kids.

Naomi presents Handcraft Fair

SimpyCharlotteMason has an series of posts on Homeschool Handicrafts

Here are some Parent's Review articles I found useful:
On Some Aspects of Slojd
The Value of Art Training and Manual Work

Along with the handicrafts CM mentioned in her books and mentioned above is sloyd and admittedly, I have no idea what it is, except that it has to do with paper and wood. I haven't had time to actually read the articles I googled that I'm about to share with you, so you can research it at your own pace :)

Free books on sloyd... whatever sloyd is ;) heheh.
Sloyd
Elementary Sloyd and Whittling
Paper Sloyd: a handbook for primary grades

Enjoy!

Please, as always, if you've posted on Handicrafts and would like to share your post, please feel free to link up in the comments!  :)

*Please Note: The next CM blog carnival will be in 4 weeks (7/26) - the Science of Relations.
 

**This concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the charlotte mason blog carnival using our carnival submission form.

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Nature Study (vol1)

Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival!  Nature Study. Volume One.

Nature study at the Grand Canyon. Studying the panorama, observing, sketching, etc.

Nature study as a subject is one which should be approached with great reverence, for in dealing with birds, animals, flower and all other forms of natural life, we are perhaps, nearer to the Creator than in any other branch of science; for the natural world is the expression of God's personality in a form that is within the reach of all of us to comprehend in some measure. And is not the natural world one of the greatest proofs that there is a God?
The secret of having reverence in all branches of Nature Study lies in reverence for Life in any shape or form. In speaking of this reverence for Life, Miss Mason says, "Reverence for Life as a wonderful and awful gift which a ruthless child may destroy but never can restore, is a lesson of first importance to the child."   

PR Article, "The Charm of Nature Study"

The reading selections for this edition are as follows:

• CM series: Vol.1, pg43 - 93
• PR article: How to Best Study Nature

Mountain Chickadee, LaPine, OR

Barb presents Nature Study and Summer Travels - Four Steps to Prepare

Cindy West presents June's Creation Club | Our Journey Westward

Kris Correira presents Surprising Wealth of Living Nature Books

Penney Douglas presents How to Raise a Monarch from a Caterpillar

Grey Squirrel, LaPine, OR., with the biggest, fluffiest tail. ever.

Sarah presents Discovering Spring

Lanaya presents Ladie Green Eyes

Serena@CastingPearls presents Charlotte Mason and Nature Study

amy in peru presents Using Field Guides in Nature Study



Karyn Tripp presents Read Along- The Burgess Animal Book for Children, Chapter 1

Tricia Hodges presents Backyard Bunnies

Ann presents Spring Bird Study - Outdoor Hour Challenge Spring Series #3
and Harvest Moon by Hand: Outdoor Hour Challenge Spring Series #2 Weather Observations

Grace'n'Chaos presents Ready For The Originals saying, "This is an attempt at beginning to truly understand Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education and our continued journey down that path."

Angie in GA presents I am, I ought, I can, I will; therefore I am Free!

Thank you all for your contributions!  You make the carnival what it is!  You're the greatest!
Please make sure to comment on posts, you never know what encouragement might mean to someone!  

Our next run at the carnival will be on June 28th.

Handicrafts.

@ http://holistichomeschooler.blogspot.com

Suggested Reading:

CM Series. Volume 1, pg 316

PR Article...The Value of Art Training and Manual Work.

This concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
the charlotte mason blog carnival using our carnival submission form.
(Please submit your post before 5pm Monday, June 27th)

Using Field Guides in Nature Study

Have you ever felt overwhelmed in the face of such a giant book like Handbook of Nature Study or other field guides not knowing where exactly to begin? They have SO much interesting information! How might we go about making them useful tools in education? Well, these books can be very helpful, but not for whom you might at first think. Have you considered that as teachers we may find scheduling readings for ourselves from the Handbook of Nature Study or other field guides extremely helpful? Did you ever think using them with the children could actually be a problem? To a certain degree we must take care not to use these kinds of books heavily with our children except perhaps for identification after a rich time outside of careful observation and the child's completion of an entry in the his/her nature notebook. Here's why:

It is possible to find all the information in books we could ever want on nature study. There are books which contain every observable, and unobservable fact for that matter, the realization of which certainly might rob us and our children of the initial wonder and resulting keen observation of aspects of nature we've never seen before. Identification books ought to be used by the teacher mommy for reference preferably before the nature study/walk and by the student only afterward, according to CM.

" All men are interested in Science - At former meeting of the British Association, the President lamented that the progress of science was greatly hindered by the fact that we no longer have field naturalists - close observers of Nature as she is. A literary journal made a lamentable remark thereupon. It is all written in books, said this journal, so we have no longer any need to go to Nature herself. Now the knowledge of Nature which we get out of books is not real knowledge; **the use of books is, to help the young student to verify facts he has already seen for himself. Let us, before all things, be Nature-lovers; intimate acquaintance with every natural object within his reach is the first, and possibly, the best part of a child's education.** "  Vol.2, p62

Personally, I aspire to become a nature field guide of sorts for my children, full of information, and yet able to wisely dole out precious gems in a provocative manner, or then refrain from doing so at just the right moment. :) I wish I'd grown up studying nature, or at least in close proximity to someone who had. But I didn't. I get to study now. I get out as often or more than my own children and am every bit as curious as they might be. I can't get enough of the field guides... I've got to have answers! Looking over the field guides helps 'ignorant' me to have some information in store for my wonder-full children when they have need of it. Of course on the same note, most of the time just staying out of their way is paramount!

Our Peru.

Yay!  It was SO much fun meeting many of you this last weekend at ChildlightUSA!  So much fun. Only this, I felt so much pressure from such a number of you who asked for pictures of what it is like in the jungle where we live!!

Well, that and after two months, I'm missing Peru.
If you click the picture link below you will be able to SEE a little bit of our Peru too.






Enjoy!

CM Blog Carnival on Narration is up!

Oh dear. I've really up and done it now... I'm super late in announcing this Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival! You didn't get a mid-week reminder note either?! That would be totally my fault too. Will you so graciously forgive? My totally viable excuse is that we haven't had an internet connection since we left Houston two Mondays ago... and yes, there were McDonald's and Starbucks along the highways and byways, but we've had nothing but straight driving 56 of the last 120 hours!  Please accept my sincere apologies.  I cannot assure you that it will never happen again, but I can assure you that I hope it will never happen again! ;)

Thankfully, the blog carnival is up and running despite my failures... !

Announcing the most recent edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival:

:: Narration, vol. 1 @ Planting Little Seeds ::

...at the Grand Canyon!!

The topic for the next CM carnival is (everyone's favorite!):

Nature Study

The reading selections are as follows:

• CM series: Vol.1, pg43 - 93
• PR article: How to Best Study Nature

Yay! I can't wait for this edition!!!  I hope you will consider posting this time around even if you normally don't!  Get outside and do some nature study or consider submitting an older post on Nature Study?! Please make sure to submit your posts for the upcoming carnival by no later than 6/13 at 5pm (otherwise it will be auto-postponed until the next carnival by blogcarnival.com)

PS.
I'm sitting in McDonald's using free Wi-Fi, celebrating the eve of the final day of travels... woohoo!

a mother can narrate too.

Even though I haven't blogged in forever, I am still in fact dutifully educating myself for the betterment of my children's education. One of the myriad ways I do this is by reading the suggested (optional, mind you) readings for the twice monthly Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.  Yes, I actually do read them ;) and yes, I do it because I like to :)

Because we are attempting to ever so timidly begin schooling again after an insane long time, we are in need of some helpful reminders on why we do what we do. How convenient then, that the upcoming blog carnival is on Narration, one of the key ingredients to a Charlotte Mason education. As my boys are coming to the age where they are going to be taking more control of their own education, I decided that they too would benefit from a better understanding of why narration is so helpful necessary.  So, together we read the PR article,"We Narrate and Then We Know". It was interesting as they critiqued my husband's and my varying methods with narration and pointed out where we had made mistakes along the way. They also had questions, and I shared some pointers on different tools they might use to improve their narrations.

All said, it was an encouraging discussion.

Since then I've been thinking (unlikely isn't it?), about how much information I absorb without experiencing a fantastic rate of retention. I wasn't trained this way unfortunately. But, the principles hold true for children as well as adults. I've got to get better about regularly retelling what I'm learning in order to help my brain remember it. Not only that, but Narration helps us to learn to order our thoughts. Do you ever feel like a muddle brain when you're trying to tell someone something you've read somewhere at some point and can't quite remember the details?  If you know me, you know that I have this problem... a lot. Narration can help. With regular narrations, we will improve the way our minds order information and then store it, so that we have it available to share with others!  yay!

So, how can a mother narrate what she's learning?

Write it:

• write a narration in your journal, 
• in a commonplace book, 
• in a letter or an e-mail to a friend, 
• or better yet blog it.

Tell it:

• to a friend over coffee, 
• over the phone, 
• or to your spouse (this will help with drastic summarizing skills as well!)

**This post is up today over at Educating Mother.

Wanna share in the discussion? Pop on over there to answer the question: 

What ways are most practical for you to narrate what you're learning?

Roadtrip!

We have been 'on the road' for 4 weeks now!  Seriously!  All seven us in a seven passenger van traveling halfway across the States and then practically from top to bottom and then back... Sound interesting?!  Let me tell you... it is.  ;)  If you happen to be interested in what our family is up to, I've posted some summary pictures of our time in the States so far over at my other blog:

http://apilgrimsproject.blogspot.com/search/label/USA

Have a peek HERE:

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Living Books, vol.1

Welcome to the April 19, 2011 edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival in which we discuss Living Books... the definition, the value, the delightful use of, the virtues, the... yes, I could go on. and on.  If you've arrived at this carnival and you'd like to read further about what Charlotte wrote about using books, particularly of the living variety breathed into by quickening ideas as opposed to books full of dry bones of fact that become a weariness to the flesh, I've listed a few really great places that I've enjoyed reading lately:

Schoolbooks and How They Make for Education (suggested reading for this carnival)
Chapter 15 School-Books and How They Make for Education
Chapter 16 How to Use School-Books
Chapter 21 Suggestions Toward a Curriculum (For Children under Twelve)
Part II.––School-Books, Books that supply the Sustenance of Ideas


So without further ado, please welcome our participants this time around. You'd think because of the sheer volume of on-topic posts this time around that we're all a bunch of book lovers or something, d'ya think?! Enjoy!

Living Books: 

Nadene presents Loving Living Books, saying, "A post devoted to my youngest child about loving Living Books."

Barb presents "For the Knowledge That is Better Than Silver or Gold" - Our Homeschool Bible Education Plans, saying, "This was a lot of fun to put together....great memories of the best living book there is."

Amber presents In Praise of Living Books.

Eve presents Reading With Boys.

Traci Brooks presents Parents Step to the Side and Let Living Books Become Your Child’s Guide.

Nancy Kelly presents I Have Found a Door.

Penney Douglas presents Great Ideas: Enjoying Life with Living Books.

Cindy West presents Charlotte Mason Series #2 - Living Books.

Elton Brooks presents Living Books-Education For a Lifetime!.

Silvia presents Got Living Books?.

Aylin presents The Vorpal Blade.

Rebekah Johnson presents What are living books?.

Denise presents Hooray for (Math) History « Let's Play Math! she shares how approaching math with living books, getting to know the mathematicians brings new life to math study!

Rachael presents A Living Bookshelf.

Mama Squirrel presents Children shouldn't read dead things. (Living Books).

Fisher Academy presents Books.




Other Interesting Topics:

First a couple of submissions meant for the last carnival edition, Education is a Life...

Mama Squirrel presents There are no guarantees...but it's still worth our time. saying, "Thoughts on this week's passage from Volume 6."

Penney Douglas presents Education is a Life.


Next a little bit of Nature Study Inspiration:

Rosemary presents Nature Study in our (tiny) back yard.


Shirley Ann Vels presents Sunshine on my Shoulders.

Ritsumei presents Baby Cardinal Food posted at Baby Steps.

And last but not least, an art lesson:

Tricia Hodges presents Three Little Chicks: A Pastels Tutorial posted at Hodgepodge, saying, "A quick little pastel tutorial on chicks for you and your peeps :)"

: : 

Wow!  Thank you all once again for your participation!  It has been a joy to spend time with you!  :)
We would love to have you come again next time. Please consider submitting a post in one of the upcoming carnivals (dates and topics can be found here).  Submit your blog post using our carnival submission form.

The next carnival's theme & suggested (optional) reading are:  

Art Appreciation / Picture Study

• Volume 6, pgs 213-218
• Parent's Review article, "On Exhibitions", part one & part two

The deadline for post submissions for this carnival is: 5pm on May 2nd, 2011

*photo credits: old books by logu & library of light by hhsara

Books.

Books.

Books are like doors. Books are friends. Books convey great ideas.

Books. One can never have too many good books.

: :

The importance of reading the 'right' books...
In my summation, a book must have as a minimum the following qualities to be a 'living book': The child must needs dig for his own information in books, it should not come to him predigested. “What a child digs for is his own possession.” And the sought for information ought to come from an author who cares deeply about his subject and can convey his ideas with apt skill. Then the book must be one that rouses the child's natural interest or grows his sense of the world and his own place in it, or in some way inspires a reverence for all things good.

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Books convey ideas. Reading a book is having a conversation, one great mind to another.

“...the choice of books, which implies the play of various able minds directly on the mind of the child, is a great part of that education which consists in the establishment of relations." 

CM Series, vol 3 p66

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Books are friends. Not only do books fill time and fill a special place, but they actually introduce us to friends from other places, epochs, languages that we would never otherwise have had opportunity to meet.  

"Perhaps the main part of a child's education should be concerned with the great human relationships, relationships of love and service, of authority and obedience, of reverence and pity and neighbourly kindness; relationships to kin and friend and neighbour, to 'cause' and country and kind, to the past and the present. History, literature, archeology, art, languages, whether ancient or modern, travel and tales of travel; all of these are in one way or other the record or the expression of persons; and we who are persons are interested in all persons, for we are all one flesh, we are all of one spirit, and whatever any of us does or suffers is interesting to the rest. If we will approach them with living thought, living books, if we will only awaken in them the sense of personal relation, there are thousands of boys and girls today capable of becoming apostles, saviours, great orientalists who will draw the East and the West together, great archeologists who will make the past alive for us and make us aware in our souls of men who lived thousands of years ago." 

 CM Series, Vol.p81 (read pgs81-83)

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Written in response to suggested reading for the CM blog carnival, Living Books vol.1: P.N.E.U. article, Schoolbooks and How They Make for Education

*photo credit: groble

CM Blog Carnival - Education is a Life

Um... so yeah, I'm almost two weeks late in posting this here... hahahahahah!  and of course I'm just NOW realizing it looks as if there's been no carnival since March 23... a mere month ago!!  oh. my.  seriously, no offense Richele, my lovely! However, to those of you who are on the reminder list for the CM carnival you've already been there done that and are now working on your Living Books post, yes?  Regardless of lateness, today, I'd like to announce the latest edition!  Education is a Life, vol.1 at Richele's Barefoot Voyage


So, have a good read today or as time avails this weekend, and then be working on your post for the next carnival, Living Books!  (deadline is Monday 4/18)  The suggested reading is a lively Parents' Review article Schoolbooks and How They Make for Education by Charlotte Mason, Volume 11, 1900, pgs. 448-464 or your favorite volume of The Original Homeschooling Series.

I'm sure you would quickly tire if I were to list my extensive list of excuses in regard to a serious lack of blog entries lately... you know, totally boring stuff like, traveling from place to interesting place, the seven of us sardined into a minivan for hours every day, cushioned by every thing we need for these two months, meeting lovely new people (except of course you'd thrill to hear about me getting to meet in person someone all of you know and love, which I will absolutely have to blog about when I get a free second), yeah, all that and unpacking, repacking every 24 hours or so and then of course the watching and narrating our family ministry video for the umpteenth time... etc., etc.

I know. It's a dreadfully routine and ordinary life I live.  [smirk]


One day I will actually blog about homeschooling again. 

I hope.

:)

CM Blog Carnival - Education is a Discipline

Friends!
Many of you surely already know that the latest Charlotte Mason blog carnival {Education is a Discipline, vol.1} is up over at Simply Charlotte Mason!  If not, head on over there by clicking here (for some strange reason the blog carnival site seems to be malfunctioning, not displaying the links and widgets properly. Hopefully, they'll get that fixed soon).

I'm so excited, as I'm sure many of you are, to read through all the posts. A special thanks to Sonya for doing us a great favor by hosting this time around! The topic of 'Education is a Discipline' is SO near and dear to my heart!! However, being away at the beach for a week of restful seclusion, I went and got myself so relaxed that I even forgot what day it was!! I realized I hadn't even posted for this edition!  Well, it will be late in coming, but I do plan to post :) 

Do enjoy the carnival and please make sure to add to the conversation by leaving comments on the various posts if you have the time. :) 

The next carnival's theme & suggested (optional) reading are:  

Education is a Life

•  Volume 3, School Education, pgs 152–156
•  Volume 6, A Philosophy of Education, pgs 104–111.

The deadline for post submissions for this carnival is: 5pm on April 4th, 2011
For more info about the carnival and upcoming topics see the CM blog carnival info page.

romeo and juliet

This term with Ambleside Online, we'll be reading Romeo and Juliet in planes, in cars, or wherever we are (add an '+s' if you will, for the sake of the perfect rhyme).

Get your copy online for free here or here.

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Education is an Atmosphere, vol.1

Welcome to the March 8, 2011 edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog carnival!

In this edition, we'll be thinking about and taking a good look at the air we breathe in our homes.

(I know, I know, you can't actually see air. It's just that, well, you'll see...)

Here, this quote says it a lot better than I can:

“'Education is an atmosphere'” what the mind breathes. The air that we breathe is the medium that surrounds us; the atmosphere our spirits breathe is the medium that surrounds them; in short, it is our environment.”

A.T. Schofield, Esq., M.D. (Chairman, Executive Parents' National Educational Union)

So in that way, an educational atmosphere is a lot like air isn't it? It surrounds us, it's mostly intangible and yet it effects our children both inside and out. 

We've had perhaps a record number of submissions this time, so let's go ahead and get right to them.  Do you have your cuppa something ready?  If you're anything like me, it may actually take a couple days to get all the way through, but you know, I rather like it that way, don't you?  :)

(Just a wee note: because of the sheer volume of submissions, I've opted to simply list them more or less in the order they came in, I didn't even have a chance this time to read all the posts ahead, so I'll be enjoying them all right alongside the rest of ye!  Don't forget to leave comments on the various posts, if you have a second!!)

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Nancy presents Plants of Renown (on the reading) and Consider posted at Sage Parnassus
saying, "I think this fits, as Mason's students were preoccupied with the furniture, and that isn't necessarily what makes for good atmosphere!

Nadene presents A Beautiful Home Atmosphere, "Reflecting on what makes a Beautiful Home Atmosphere ..."

Jennifer presents A Little February Check-up and Freshening in the Learning Spaces posted at Wildflowers and Marbles.

Richele presents Under the Golden Apple Tree: Sometimes....

Barb presents It's An Atmosphere - Charlotte Mason Ideas in Our Homeschool

Lanaya presents On Staying at Home.

MamaChi presents Life is not a series of tasks to be accomplished, "A reminder about enjoying life and not letting "doing" become more important than "be-ing""

Shirley Ann presents Education is an Atmosphere - Revisited

Melissa presents Every look of disappointment and tone of disapproval

Blossom presents Learning in any Atmosphere

Sonya presents Do Not Sit Up Late: Three Practical Do Not’s, Part 1

-- I don't know about the rest of you, but how tired I am seriously affects my atmosphere!!  :S --

Kay presents Father and Son | Pelham House saying, "This post illustrates the atmosphere in which our son is educated. A few CM phrases that apply: "It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the child's level" "no artificial element" "The bracing atmosphere of truth and sincerity" "the glow of intellectual life and moral health on the faces" (pumptitude, as I put it :) An atmosphere of respect and that we value him as a whole person."

Michelle presents Our Educational Atmosphere.

Laura presents An Education within Our Atmosphere.

Jodi-Marie presents My Art Full Life: Philosophy of Education Ch. 6 Pt. 1 Education is an Atmosphere saying, "This is my own "narration" of Vol. 6 that I have been working on this year."

Rachael presents Working on an Atmosphere.

Tricia presents Automobiles and Airplanes: An Atmosphere of Learning saying, "Learning provided for us more than I've ever put together on my own as a teacher!"

Laura presents Christian Education is an Atmosphere.

Gina presents Lets Work on the Atmosphere (Education is an Atmosphere).

Erin presents Education is An Atmosphere.

Amber presents What's In Our Atmosphere?.

Dawn presents Creating Home Atmosphere....

Yours Truly :) presents Education is an Atmosphere {part one} and {part two}.



Miscellaneous interesting topics:

Naomi presents Early Blooms and Flower Clocks posted at Living Charlotte Mason in California, saying, "It's really more nature study, but what better atmosphere than the one God created for us!!"

Shirley Ann presents Walking Back Through Time... saying, "After our last living history fieldtrip, we were blessed to be able to visit some more living sites that we have read about in our Island Story! One was quite enlightening!"

Barb presents Nature Loving in February-It's For the Birds saying, "Off topic but I hope readers will enjoy my finds from the Nature Study Review. :)

Blossom presents AO and My Favorite Books (so far) saying, "This is a post on a few of our favorite books that we use with Charlotte Mason education (AO)."

Jamie presents How Effective Are Living Books?

Jennifer in MamaLand presents Ambleside Composer Fun: Free Chopin Printable Mini-Book.

Robin Phillips presents Home School and Pets: How to Use Your Animals in Your Curriculum, Part 1.

Melissa presents Bible Plus Three saying, "When moms allow themselves a respite for refreshment by exploring their own interests and passions...finding a bit of time for herself, she is positively contributing to the atmosphere of her home!".

Amanda presents Harmony Fine Arts Review.

I'm pretty sure the following is a spam post?  But it's actually pretty interesting.  :)

Kevin presents The History of Libraries Through the Ages.

This concludes this edition of the Charlotte Mason blog carnival!  A huge thanks to everyone who submitted a post, and to all of you who read and leave comments... it's the community that's makes it so fun!

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-- click here to see the list of upcoming topics --

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The next carnival will be on March 22nd at Simply Charlotte Mason

(Submit your blog article here using our carnival submission form.)

Our topic is: Education is a Discipline 

Suggested Reading (optional): 

•  Vol.2 pgs 60-68 and 173-177 
•  PR article: Discipline 

**Photo credit: 'today it feels official' and 'rainbow felt mobile'annalea hart

PS. If you submitted a post and it's missing or you were a smidge late (after 5pm Monday) please link to it in the comments... the blog carnival program seems to be malfunctioning and I'm not positive I've got them all. My sincere apologies!

Education is an Atmosphere {part two}

“...we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions.”

CM. Vol. 1, pg. 6

Just as earth's atmosphere is made up of a number of gases (mainly two), many elements go into the composition of an educational atmosphere. Many of which are present whether we like it or not. :) An educational atmosphere is composed of both persons and things. Persons include – a personal God (dynamic relationship exemplified by caregivers through regular prayer, natural mention in conversation, decision making, etc), parental example and influence (character, manners, habits), sibling relation and influence, other relationships – arbitrary (neighbors, the checker at the grocery store, playmates at the park, etc) or predetermined (nursing home facilities, extended family members, etc).

photo by: tsparks

We and the circle of people our children regularly come into contact with each compose a portion of our atmosphere so to speak. The various attitudes and habits combining to make up that mixture of air that we and our children breathe.

“We have already considered a group of half physical habits––order, regularity, neatness––which the child imbibes, so to speak, in a way. But this is not all: habits of gentleness, courtesy, kindness, candour, respect for other people, or––habits quite other than these, are inspired by the child as the very atmosphere of his home, the air he lives in and must grow by.”

CM Vol.1 pg.137

People have an incredible influence on the educational atmosphere, especially parents, in how they set the tone for learning, in particular when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but also in regard to expectations and standards of education. Is education a pleasant occupation? Is it satisfactory to put forth a minimum effort? What kind of knowledge is desirable? How do we go about acquiring that knowledge? Is there only one way to do things? How we answer these questions may be an indicator of what kind of atmosphere is present in our homes.

“How shall these indefinite ideas which manifest themselves in appetency be imparted? They are not to be given of set purpose, nor taken at set times. They are held in that thought-environment which surrounds the child as an atmosphere, which he breathes as his breath of life; and this atmosphere in which the child inspires his unconscious ideas of right living emanates from his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every word of kindness and act of help, passes into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things, may never think of them, but all his life long they excite that 'vague appetency towards something' out of which most of his actions spring. Oh, wonderful and dreadful presence of the little child in the midst!”

CM vol. 2 pg. 37

photo by: me :)

Many things influence the educational atmosphere, among which are healthy air and food, things of beauty: art, décor, music, nature, etc.; items of interest: maps, pets to play with and observe (aquarium), etc.; tools for observation: microscope, magnifying glass, binoculars, etc.; tools to create with and for expression: musical instruments, quality art supplies, woodcraft tools, sewing things, etc.

“..suppose that all this is included in our notion of 'Education is an atmosphere,' may we not sit at our ease and believe that all is well, and that the whole of education has been accomplished? No; because though we cannot live without air, neither can we live upon air, and children brought up upon 'environment' soon begin to show signs of inanition; they have little or no healthy curiosity, power of attention, or of effort; what is worse, they lose spontaneity and initiative; they expect life to drop into them like drops into a rain-tub, without effort or intention on their part.” 

CM vol.3 pg.150

Atmosphere is vital.

However, atmosphere is not an end in education. It is a part of a three-fold philosophy of education and is simply one of the by-ways to impart a living education. “Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life.”

As a part of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival community, I'll be musing over the other two parts of Charlotte Mason's three-fold philosophy in the coming weeks. Feel free to join us!

[read the first part of this post here]

Education is an Atmosphere {part one}

Atmosphere, it's where we live; it's what we breathe. Without atmosphere we would be in utter darkness and cold or blasting light and extreme heat, seeing and feeling nothing or else feeling everything all too intensely, alone, and without air to breathe.

Atmosphere is vital.




photo by: NASA

Our earth's atmosphere has been optimally designed and prepared for life here on earth. God set our sphere spinning in just the right spot, with a specific slant and speed, and precisely the right mixture of gases for us to breathe. And I'm sure that back in the beginning He couldn't have been happier with His work of art.

Not only was He concerned on the grand scale however, as no detail was spared when it came to making the place suitable for us. He made it both vast and beautiful, so incredibly vast in fact, that it'd be impossible to see all the beauty in a lifetime; and all this beauty extends into the most intricate of details. Just how long did it take Him to plan it all? Eons, if He'd needed it, I'm sure. But He simply said the word... and there it all was.

Alas, if only we were able to create with a word the optimal educational 'environment' for our children! Well, now, it is possible we make it harder than it has to be... :) And yet, atmosphere has such an important influence, we ought to give some serious thought to what help we can apply in this area.




photo by: codepoet

First, why the word, 'atmosphere' instead of 'environment'? “We think of fresh air, pure, bracing, tonic,––of the definite act of breathing which must be fully accomplished; and we are incited to do more and mean more in the matter of our children's surroundings if we regard the whole as an atmosphere, than if we accept the more literal 'environment.'” CM, vol.3, pg.149

Education is an Atmosphere. But, what does that mean?

“By the saying, Education is an atmosphere, it is not meant that a child should be isolated in what maybe called a 'child environment,' especially adapted and prepared; but that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to a 'child's' level.” 

CM. Vol. 1, pg. 6

“'Education is an atmosphere'” what the mind breathes. The air that we breathe is the medium that surrounds us; the atmosphere our spirits breathe is the medium that surrounds them; in short, it is our environment.” 

A.T. Schofield, Esq., M.D. (Chairman, Executive Parents' National Educational Union)

How can we create an atmosphere of learning without producing a 'child environment'?
In the next post I'll outline the two main components we can concentrate on improving in our homes.

“...we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions.”
CM. Vol. 1, pg. 6

[click here to read the next post]