I have a challenge for you for 2012. To find out why, read on…

Does this sound like you? 

In January do you have an uneasy feeling that maybe you won’t get all that curriculum done?  Do you then read articles on how to make New Year’s resolutions that stick, promise yourself you will get more organized, and start looking for a daily planner that will do it all?

If that’s you, I have a suggestion.

Recently, I read a blog by Chris Guillebeau, a thirties-something fellow who writes, has a passion to travel to 250 countries (175 so far), and helps people find their passion.

Chris is doing a year-end review for 2011 and he asks himself two questions:

• What worked
• What didn’t

Then, of course, he asks why it worked or didn’t work–so, I guess that’s four questions.

I have been doing my year-end review using Chris’ method and it has really helped to put things into perspective. It is such a simple way to reflect on the last year, compared to most workbooks and charts; and, it really produces results.

Okay, here’ s the challenge.

Ask yourself these two questions–what worked and what didn’t work (in your homeschool)in 2011–then figure out what you want to do different in 2012.

Post your answers here. Please do it for yourself and so other moms can learn from you. Then, we’ll compile all the answers and share them. 

CM Helper now a weekly!

Sign up for our latest newsletter that provides you with an ebook or audio each week to add to your homeschool library, at no cost. We will also occasionally give you an opportunity to support our work in Africa through special offers, such as we did with the CM Helper Sale.

Sign up today and receive your first free download immediately.

Look what you’ll receive!   

•  The Extraordinary Cat and Other Stories (MP3), four stories performed by a professional storyteller (ahem, your truly). 
• Storytelling: A Creative Teaching Strategy, a 20-page guide with story activities for each recorded story and a print version of the stories for reading aloud.

SIGN UP HERE:

http://forms.aweber.com/form/57/1134055557.htm

 Living Books Curriculum are offering a one-of-kind sale at a crazy price.  AND, it is a chance to benefit children in Africa.

For a very short time, LBC is putting $386 worth of literature, guides, and audios online for you.

The whole, big, amazing site is called The Charlotte Mason Helper. (54 books and audios)

If you want to learn more about Charlotte Mason education or add living books and audios to your homeschool library–this is your chance. The price is too sweet to miss.

What’s The Charlotte Mason Helper?

Think of it as an online library of books, guides, and audios, many recommended by Charlotte Mason. The offer is available only till 8 pm EST November 7, 2011.

There are too many resources to list in this email, but here’s a peek…

• Cindy Rushton’s ENTIRE Charlotte Mason Primer Seminar, which includes her book by the same name, seven audios, and many additional resources.
• LBC’s entire Colonial American History series (6 volumes)
• LBC’s entire set of very successful Holiday Helpers.
• Living books for science, nature study, world history, composer study, picture study, storytelling, citizenship, poetry, dictation, and lots, lots more.
• Audios (MP3s) on homeschool planning, classic books, and storytelling.

You can read about it here: www.charlottemasonhelper.com

Why is LBC doing it??

Jim and Sheila Carroll, owners of LBC, are raising funds for discipleship and teacher training in Nigeria. The trip is from November 16-27^th.  At the last minute, an opportunity to double their outreach has come up. However, the precious pastors and teachers coming need to be feed, housed, and given transportation. They need to raise these funds ASAP.

That‘s where you come in.

You can bring Charlotte Mason education into your homeschool and benefit the children of Africa by purchasing The Charlotte Mason Helper, an online library.

100% of your purchase price goes to LBC’s work in Africa.

Don’t miss your chance to…www.charlottemasonhelper.com

Linda Johnson of Charlotte Mason Help is our guest blogger today. I discovered her article on Picture Study and thought it excellent. I know you will, too. She was kind enough to give us permission to reprint here:

“In accordance with the root-idea of our Picture Talks, in these lessons we aim at giving ideas of three classes, concerning – (1) the meaning of the picture; (2) the beauty with which that meaning is expressed; (3) the personality of the artist – where this is clearly felt in his works…I will now pass on to practical details. It is scarcely possible to begin these lessons too early… The teacher will probably find she has a very small role to play, her part being merely to secure attention for some point that the child is inclined to overlook, and to explain in a very few simple words those problems that the child cannot solve for himself. Definite teaching is out of the question; suitable ideas are easily given, and a thoughtful love of Art inspired by simple natural talk over the picture at which the child is looking.” PNEU

Picture Study, sometimes called Artist Study, is a favorite in our homeschool, probably because each of my children has their own ‘Book of Masterpieces’. They are extremely proud of these albums and since they have been such a success in our school, I thought I would mention how we use them.

Every six weeks I introduce a new artist by downloading one of his paintings and displaying it on my computer full size. I read just a little about the artist’s life from Pictures Every Child Should Know by Mary (Delores) Bacon (free and online). This book is rather old so not all artists are included in it. Sometimes, I have to do an artist biography search ahead of time. Recently, we have been using the series, Getting to Know the World’s Great Artists. We only spend a short amount of time learning about the artist’s life. Most of the time we are looking at paintings.

After spending 10 minutes reading about the artist’s life and viewing the print very carefully, the children try to narrate the painting to one another–that is, they describe the picture from memory. Sometimes, one of the children will not look at the painting and the others will narrate to her. She pretends she is blind. This helps the others narrate in more detail. Afterwards, they critique each other. I have taught them to always mention something positive about the narration before they point out something missed. Then I pass out their individual copies of the print in postcard form. I just take a disk of the prints I downloaded from an online museum (generally http://artrenewal.com/ or http://cgfa.acropolisinc.com/to the local photo developers and they print them for about 15 cents each. I make sure the resolution is pretty good and I don’t print anything larger than 4 by 6. I do this only once a year and plan ahead. (You can print this handy chart that explains FAIR USE GUIDELINES for educators concerning copyrighted material and take it along with you just in case an uninformed store clerk gives you trouble)  My children place them in their albums and write down the artist’s name and the painting. The albums are large, nicely bound photo albums that have a space for labeling. Afterwards, I go into my computer’s control panel and make the print become the background so that my childrern can view it all week.

Often, my children will save up allowance and birthday money in order to buy more small prints from the artists studied. I think this is a wonderful way to spend their money and encourage it. We go online together, and find even more paintings that we haven’t studied. Renoir is an excellent example of this. I think some of his most child-friendly, beautiful works are practically unknown. After doing a search online, we bought many of his paintings of sisters and family and he is a favorite among my daughters.

These albums are very special. Our children love to peruse them and show our guests the paintings they have collected in them. A Charlotte Mason education capitalizes on the child’s curiosity, rather than using lectures, workbooks, quizzes and other ‘schoolish’ methods. I heartily recommend it.
———————————
Last, here is a how-to article I created to help you get started using Picture Study: Teaching Children to Love Great Art.

I have received emails that go something like this…

“I wish I could do Living Books, but my husband says it’s not rigorous enough. He wants me to do Classical instead.”

A parent new to Charlotte Mason’s ideas, and reared in a traditional schooling system, often see all “those books” as merely reading for enjoyment and not “real learning.”  They might even say it’s not “rigorous” enough.

This misunderstanding arises from their own experience with workbooks and textbooks, which were the primary tools of learning. As new parents, or at least new to CM, they want the best for their children.

It’s an easy mistake to make….doing school better than school to prove a point. I did it. Many of my readers have done it.

It wasn’t until I read Miss Mason’s book Home Education that I realized “this is it.”

I read of all the things I had longed for but were only dimly aware of: high quality literature, respect for the person, a gentle, graceful atmosphere in which to learn, time spent outdoors learning from nature, a day organized enjoying learning, rather than “getting through” the material. I could go on…

But, about rigor…I believe this idea came from people who do not understand what it means to have a rigorous curriculum.

First a definition of rigorous:  Extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate: as in, “the rigorous testing of students”. Or, strictly applied or adhered to, as in a rigorous system of laws.

Anyone who uses a CM curriculum knows it is exhaustive, thorough, and precise about each subject. There is a way to teach and a way not to teach. If strictly applied the results are marvelous.

A child who uses a CM curriculum for all or most of his elementary years will enter high school writing and reading at the college level, able to think clearly about what is right and good, well-spoken and expressive, have a sense of the “sweep of history,” as Miss Mason termed it, and current in all the standard subjects.

However, I think when people use the word rigorous, what they really mean is “hard” or “challenging.” Applied to learning, then, it would mean an education that challenges the child to learn the full scope of what “should” be learned. Perhaps, even seeing the child struggle to get the material?

Does this mean if learning is pleasurable that it’s not rigorous? Of course not, but what markers can we use to know if a curriculum, any curriculum, is rigorous?

Here are some questions to ask…

What is their view of the child?
Asking this will tell you the sorts of things the curriculum is designed to offer. If they view the child as a bucket to be filled with knowledge then there is little attention to the person.  There is a body of material to be “gotten through.”

What is the goal of education, as they present it?
In other words, is there a specific scope and sequence of learning they use? Does it give an ample (i.e. full, plentiful, rich) range of learning? A workbook or textbook often dumbs down information. A learner needs the context of a well-written narrative to get the full understanding of a subject.

How do they measure success?
Is it by tests? A CM education primarily uses narration, both oral and written, in the elementary years to assess learning In LBC’s curriculum we have both daily narration and end-of-term narrations. This prepares a student for strenuous recall for test taking and essay writing in high school and beyond.

Don’t be afraid to challenge assumptions. Just because somebody says it’s “not rigorous” doesn’t make it so.

I received an email from a homeschooling mom who wrote, “I printed your booklist and bought the books you recommend on Amazon.com, only cheaper.” Is it really better to get the books on Amazon? Or, is it better to purchase all or some of the books from LBC?  

I understand when a family is on a tight budget and one income. It can be tough. Having been a homeschooling mother, I know how it is to pinch pennies and still try to give your children a million dollar education. It is possible, though, to save a few dollars and miss receiving something of far greater value. Here are some reasons why you may want to consider purchasing from us:

Reason #1: Membership in LBC Family Circle

This is a big one worth hundreds of dollars. When you purchase a complete or continuing curriculum package, or one of our teaching guides and at least $200 in books, you automatically become a member of the LBC Family Circle. Here are the privileges of membership in  LBC Family Circle:

• Free email and phone support
  Many companies bill at the rate of $50 per hour or more. LBC does not charge you anything to offer you all the support you need to be a success at a Living Books education.
• Webinars to encourage and inspire you
  LBC Family Circle members are free. We have already done webinars on with such topics as: habit formation, narration, and nature study. (The cost of each webinar is currently $22.)
• Mommy Teatime
  The fourth Tuesday of each month you can call in and talk to other moms using our curriculum. There is no charge other than the long distance cost.
• Special discounts on your future purchases  
  This is a benefit that can amount to over a hundred dollars in savings.

Reason #2: Your purchase provides Christian education to African children

LBC exists to establish and support our schools in Africa. Every penny of the proceeds of your purchase helps us put living books in the hands of children in desparate need of educational materials. Imagine being a missionary while still homeschooling.  To learn more, visit our tax-exempt, nonprofit: Education in a Box.

Reason #3: You get a CD valued at $77 with every Teaching Guide

Every Teaching Guide comes with a CD that is packed with templates, ebooks, articles, picture study, audios and more to help you give your children a living education—valued at $77.

Not convinced yet?

Reason #4: Greater success with CM education

One of the hardest parts of using the Charlotte Mason method is putting it all together. That was how Jim and I got started creating our own curriculum. No one else was doing it. LBC is the only complete Charlotte Mason curriculum that you can purchase and begin using right away. When you purchase the books and “go it on your own” you miss the consistency and organization and the benefit of  our thirty-plus years of educational experience.

Still have questions? Email me at lbcinfo@livingbookscurriculum.com. I would love to help.

How does a homeschooling mom use living books to teach fact-heavy science? Answer—science isn’t fact-heavy; it’s a body of truths systematically arranged. Charlotte Mason called it the study of “the great scheme of the unity of life” (School Education, p. 156).

What is the best way to teach science? A picture-packed, glitzy book filled with facts cannot teach “the great scheme of unity of life” because it is too fragmented. Books that express these truths in a literate way and are followed by hands-on experimentation can.

Charlotte Mason put it this way:

The only sound method of teaching science is to afford a due combination of field or laboratory work, with such literary comments and amplifications as the subject affords. For example, from Ethics of the Dust children derive a certain enthusiasm for crystals as such that their own unaided observation would be slow to afford. As a matter of fact the teaching of science in our schools has lost much of its educative value through a fatal and quite unnecessary divorce between science and the ‘humanities. (Philosophy of Education, p.223)

Ms. Mason was not opposed to textbooks, only to their exclusive use and that they are too often “dry and dumbed down.” 

Charlotte Mason recommended Fairy-Land of Science* by Arabella Buckley (1840 -1929) in several of her books. Buckley was a science editor and writer. Ms. Mason felt her works of a high literary quality and used them often in her schools. In Buckley’s preface to Fairy-Land of Science she wrote:

I have promised to introduce you today to the fairy-land of science –a somewhat bold promise, seeing that most of you probably look upon science as a bundle of dry facts, while fairy- land is all that is beautiful, and full of poetry and imagination.  But I thoroughly believe myself, and hope to prove to you, that science is full of beautiful pictures, of real poetry, and of wonder-working fairies; and what is more, I promise you they shall be true fairies, whom you will love just as much when you are old and grey-headed as when you are young; for you will be able to call them up wherever you wander by land or by sea, through meadow or through wood, through water or through air; and though they themselves will always remain invisible, yet you will see their wonderful poetry at work everywhere around you. 

 Here is a sample from Fairy-Land of Science for you:-)

The Life of the Primrose

Of the thirteen areas of study in a Charlotte Mason curriculum, the one parents tell me they have the most difficulty with is Nature Study and scheduling outdoor time.  

Nature is good for children….

This seems fundamental and hardly necessary to point out. Why if it is good for them, is it so hard to get them and ourselves outside? It’s no surprise that life in the twenty-first century is becoming more and more electronically driven. But, there is more at work preventing outdoor time.  Many parents have little by little eliminated unstructured outdoor time for their children. They opt instead to carpool to team sports, martial arts classes or other pastimes that do not involve direct experience with nature. It gets worse, most of us have become so insulated from the outdoors that nature appears alien and even unsafe.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, says that children spend approximately 15 minutes outdoors each week. Louv points to the rise in attention-deficit disorders and suggests that corresponding decrease in outdoor time may be part of the problem. Children spend an average of 6.5 hours a day with television, computers and video games. Of course, many homeschooling families do not even own a television.  But, what about those video games? Louv says, a child is 6 times more likely to play a video game than ride a bike.

Is time outdoors the same as Nature Study?

Time outdoors and Nature Study are related but not the same. In a Charlotte Mason curriculum a child thrives by spending many hours outdoors exploring, playing, imagining. However, Nature Study is a time for focused looking, directed by the parent.

Living Books Curriculum recommends scheduling a Nature Study once or twice a week for no longer than 30 minutes. This includes the time of observation and an entry into your child’s nature journal. Of course, if there is interest, your child can be encouraged to do more than this.

Through the study of nature the child learns appreciation and understanding of natural processes and, most especially, keen observational skills. To stand quietly and observe an animal or plant and then to draw (as best one can) its likeness or describe its parts to an adult, develops clear thought, communication and assessment. And yet, as valuable as keen skills of observation are, nature is no mere tool for education. There is something more than skill to be gained outdoors. There is inspiration, refreshment, and joyous delight. These are no small things for a child to experience. Such times sow strength for the future into their young hearts.

Other articles to watch for….. 

• Alternatives to the outdoors
• Getting the most out of Handbook of Nature Study
• The art and science of Nature Study
• Suggestions are welcome!

Parents often feel insecure about continuing to homeschool through high school. In fact, many decide to send their child to public or private school because they feel that the schools can do a better job. Is this really necessary? Is the education provided in public schools a better option? Of course, the final decision must be made by the parents and best if handled on their knees in prayer. But, here are some things I have learned from my own experience and from counseling homeschooling moms. It seems that there are two issues that keep recurring:

What about my teen’s social life?

If you are worrying about a social life for your teen, look for interest-oriented associations, clubs and societies. These offer a lot of support for leaders, opportunity for shared experience, and foster a sense of belonging. Make up your own group or share this responsibility with someone else, if necessary. Home education support groups provide rich and fulfilling opportunities to meet your child’s needs–perhaps more than public schools. Either way you will develop intelligent, self-motivated, healthy and able young people. 

What about science and math?

If the growing burden of the higher-level math or science seems beyond you, enlist the help of someone who knows more. There are wonderful resources out there for science (e.g. Apologia.com) and math (e.g. Video Text.com). Alternately, you can hire a tutor, ask friends to help, or enroll your teen in an online course. You can even barter your services with someone else in order to save money. With homeschooling growing at a fast rate (6 million by 2015), there are more and more community and coop classes available to meet the need.  With a bit of effort and research you can find the right teacher for your child.

Beyond your questions

The underlying principle that should guide homeschooling is this: any child has the innate capacity to grow, develop and achieve his or her full potential under the care and guidance of the parent. All that’s needed is the right environment, the right learning materials, and the right perspective on home learning. Be there to provide these and think twice before you turn over this responsibility to a third party. Living Books Curriculum has created a 16-week online course to help parents easily manage the troubling questions about homeschooling high school, especially using a Charlotte Mason educational approach. To learn more: http://www.charlottemasonhighschool.com/

I send this article out each year at this time and get many thank you’s. I think it is because it touches on something important to us all and offers simple, cost-free solutions to the Christmas bustle. Enjoy!

Secret #1: Call off homeschool for the Christmas season

You are probably saying, “What! That will put me behind in our school work.”

Years ago, my homeschooling mentor told me that she suspended regular homeschooling for the weeks leading up to Christmas. Instead she had the learning relate to Christmas-stories, math, crafts, cooking, writing and so on. I tried it. Instead of stress and burnout, it was fun and real learning was taking place. You might want to try it?

Secret #2: Read Christmas stories together every day

Another question which shows up this time of year is ‘How can I slow down the Christmas rush?’ The answer is: By reading high quality Christmas stories together. Sound too simple?

 We started a family tradition of reading a Christmas story each day for the seven days before Christmas. It was a big hit. At the time my daughter was in her early teens and not willing to listen to “baby stories”. I scoured the Internet and library and found a wonderful selection. Just the commitment to sit together 15-20 minutes a day to read these special stories made our pulses slow and the smiles come back.

 I put them into a notebook for future Christmases. In the Christmas Holiday Helper as the freebie provided for you. In it are some of the same stories my family enjoyed. Be blessed and love one another the more this holy season.

Secret #3: Enjoy the Christmas Story in great art

Children need the images of Christ’s birth etched in their hearts. What better way to do it than through the art of the masters. Charlotte Mason expressed this idea very eloquently:

The study of such pictures (are) a valuable part of a child’s education; it is no slight thing to realize how the Nativity and the visit of the Wise Men filled the imagination of the early Masters, and with what exceeding reverence and delight they dwelt upon every detail of the sacred story. This sort of impression is not to be had from any up-to-date treatment, or up-to-date illustrations; and the child who gets it in early days, will have a substratum of reverent feeling upon which should rest his faith. But it is well to let the pictures tell their own tale. The children should study a subject quietly for a few minutes; and then, the picture being removed, say what they have seen in it. It will be found that they miss no little reverent or suggestive detail which the artist has thought well to include.

~From Home Education, pp. 245-253

Studying these wonderful pictures with your children should not be a burden or an art lesson. Simply look at the pictures together and let the children tell you what they see. Do not interpret for them. Let them encounter the pictures on their own and let Holy Spirit speak to them through the images.

There are several excellent sources online for art. One I especially like is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Christmas_Story/intro.html

Another is:

Art and the Bible (good for any subject in Scripture). Type “Nativity” or “Birth of Christ” in the search box and you will find many.

http://www.artbible.info/

Above all pray that the grace of God will abound in your family this holiday season.

With Easter a few days away homeschooling is usually a bit off schedule. When Bridget was small we suspended “regular” school the week before a holiday and did those things that related to the holiday, using living books, poems, and handwork to make the meaning of the day come alive.

One Easter we took a small bit of sheep fleece and teased it out to make a nest. Then we put the nest in a pretty wicker basket and added our colored eggs. Last, we listened to a story of Easter time. Charlotte Mason probably would have approved as she was very strong on observing holy days and taking great care with the spiritual life of children.

Miss Mason wrote that children have a deep spiritual “receptivity” and a need to be offered spiritual truths in a literary way, so as to show “due care”.

“The little ones read every day the events of Holy Week with me. Z. is inexpressibly interesting in his deep, reverent interest, almost excitement.” We are probably quite incapable of measuring the religious receptivity of children. Nevertheless, their fitness to apprehend the deep things of God is a fact with which we are called to ‘deal prudently,’ and to deal reverently. (Home Education, pp. 245-253)

To help make the holiday more meaningful, here is our Easter Holiday Helper– just for you.

http://www.livingbookscurriculum.com/pdf/HH-Easter.pdf