As you read Charlotte Mason's writing, very quickly something begins to dawn on you. Her words are a challenge to our safe, comfortable status quo as parents. Sometimes parents don't appreciate a challenge. It can be uncomfortable. We're tired, we're busy, we don't want to think about how our decisions today are affecting our child's … Continue reading Disrupting the Status Quo: Charlotte Mason’s Challenge for Parents
What I Read in 2017
As you can tell, it's a little bit late to be posting my end of the year booklist for LAST year. But, that is the kind of year it's been, so I'm just going with it. Better late than never, right? I posted it over on our family blog (my original blog), so I'll send … Continue reading What I Read in 2017
My God Made Me This Ocean
Today I remembered that I had written this post several months ago. So I went to find it... We went to the beach a few weeks ago. I'd forgotten how terrifying waves are to a small child. The awe of something so powerful makes a toddler shake from head to toe. We were again at … Continue reading My God Made Me This Ocean
The Atmosphere a Child Breathes
A week or two ago, after a particularly atrocious day with children and school, and life, I stayed awake much of the night pondering the idea of atmosphere in the home. As I've written before, the responsibility of the mother for this atmosphere can occasionally feel like a real drag. Sometimes it makes me want … Continue reading The Atmosphere a Child Breathes
Yelling Shakespeare
Several years ago while reading When Children Love to Learn, I remember coming across the words of Marion Berry. It was like a gust of fresh wind blowing into our homeschool when I came across her particular slant on Charlotte's method. I felt I could trust Marion's words, because they described in real life what … Continue reading Yelling Shakespeare
Spreading the Feast
One of my favorite things about the Charlotte Mason method is the way Charlotte valued all children; rich, poor, strong, weak, bright and dull. She believed in what she called "spreading the feast" for all children: reading the same rich books, studying the same art, enjoying Shakespeare, history, studying nature and science - all the … Continue reading Spreading the Feast
The First Week of School
School started last week. As usual, it was a bumpy start. I wasn't intending to write about it due to the horrifying nature of the entire week. But when I spent a few minutes writing notes about it (to make myself feel better about worse weeks in the future? To comfort myself that it couldn't … Continue reading The First Week of School
