Huh?

To my way of thinking it has lots of hands-on, active learning.

Obviously it’s not obvious. To remedy that I would like to take you on a romp through what active learning means in a CM educatation

In Home Education (p.316) Miss Mason warned against activities that do not directly support the learning. You know the kind…ditzy projects, coloring pages that get tossed, worksheets, cross-word puzzles.

Miss Mason said that if the teacher is the one doing most of the preparation for an activity, the child loses out. He misses the opportunity to learn and is asked only to complete. When my daughter was small (before CM came along) I really enjoyed preparing activities. Now, as I look back, the lasting learning and pleasure was mine, not hers.

Unit studies vs. a Charlotte Mason education

One big difference between a unit study and CM is that a unit study takes a theme and draws into it activities from various disciplines. Airplanes, for example, would include drawing one (art), building a model (science), reading a book about it (literature), learning about pilots (social studies)—you get the idea. In LBC, hands-on activities are brought into the learning  as an integral part of the curriculum. Flight, for example, is part of Grade Three science because the children are reading about the Wright Brothers in American History. They make several paper airplanes and observe for themselves what Wilbur and Orville saw about air currents. In other words, learning is in the context of the greater whole; not a stand-alone.

Hands-on science– one squishy, gooey lesson after another

Our science, especially in the early grades, illustrates every new concept with a “hands-on” activity.In kindergarten the children use Mudpies to Magnets: A preschool science curriculum–one squishy, gooey lesson after another. Grade One uses Usborne’s Science Activities book which takes the learner through science concepts such as gravity. In Grade Two the children do a complete study of seeds and raise a bean seed to dissect and study and other related learning. Well, you get the idea…

Nature Study—frogs, spiders, ants, and other denizens of the backyard

Nature study is one of the delights of a CM education. Keeping a nature journal, creating a bug house, a snail-arium (really), staying up one night to watch the night sky at just a few of the delicious active learning our parents enjoy. Read more about getting outdoors in this post.

Saving time for the beautiful—art studies

Any form of creative art is active learning. Encouraging your child to discover ways to express what he loves is a blessing to him. Once I saw a little boy showing his love of trees in a torn-paper art project that uses construction paper and paste. I asked him to add a title to his art. He took a marker in his chubby hand and wrote: Woods Is a Beauty. Then he looked at me with a radiant smile. I have treasured that memory because he helped me see tree in a way I’d missed. That’s what art can do. LBC has several art instruction books for the teaching mother (It’s the Process, Not the Product, Little Hands Art, and several others).

 Romping and roping ARE learning.

Every day parents have the option to spend time in the out-of-doors. We direct the family to finish school by lunchtime. That leaves opportunity there for enjoying snuggling on the sofa with good books, singing, storytelling or cooking together. Afternoons are spent outdoors or doing handiwork. That means the children are engaged in skill-directed activities but in a gentle way. Most children–boys included–like the academics and supporting activities in the morning and the freedom to run in the afternoon.

Charlotte Mason said learning was education in “books and things.” The books, of course, were living. The things were what today we

 ”… the human hand is a wonderful and exquisite instrument to be used in a hundred movements exacting delicacy, direction and force; every such movement is a cause of joy as it leads to the pleasure of execution and the triumph of success. We begin to understand this and make some efforts to train the young in the deft handling of tools and the practice of handicrafts. Some day, perhaps, we shall see apprenticeship to trades revived, and good and beautiful work enforced.”

~ Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 328.

The Handicrafts best fitted for children under nine seem to me to be chair-caning, carton-work, basket-work, Smyrna rugs, Japanese curtains, carving in cork, samplers on coarse canvas showing a variety of stitches, easy needlework, knitting (big needles and wool), etc. The points to be borne in mind in children’s handicrafts are: (a) that they should not be employed in making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like; (b) that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do; (c) that slipshod work should not be allowed; (d) and that, therefore, the children’s work should be kept well within their compass.

~Home Education, p. 315.

I encourage you to include handicrafts in your homeschool, if you do not already.

Four things to remember when doing handcrafts with your children:

• “The children (ought) not be engaged in making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats and the like.” In other words, let the handicraft be meaningful and useful, not a throw-it-away-when-you’re-done project.
• Teach slowly and carefully what to do.
• Do not allow slipshod work but aim for the habit of perfect execution.
• Structure the work so that it is well within the ability of the child so she may experience the pleasure of perfect execution.

“..handicrafts should be pressed into service for the training of the eye and hand…” Home Education, preface.

Suggestions for Handicrafts (Google any of these below to find free and inexpensive directions)

Young children

Sewing cards : Materials–Card stock, single hole punch, large blunt needle, yarn. Instructions:  Draw simple picture on card. Punch holes to sew. Simple knitting and crochet projects. Boys should be encouraged to do this as well. (www.lionbrand.com or www.spottedcanary.com). Clay modeling, especially good for hand-eye coordination.

Older children

Here are just a few…. Leatherwork, Stained glass, Weaving, Sewing, Woodworking, Wood burning, Cooking, Scrapbooking, Quilling, Quilting, Knotting, Survival skills, Macramé, Knife making, Model building, and Boat building.

Here is a delightful handicraft: Felted Pencil Case

Tell us what handicrafts you do in your homeschool?

Karen called me in tears, “I can’t get school done in a day. We start at nine and are still working at three or four in the afternoon, with only a break for lunch. I make the kids stay until their worksheets are done. They hate school and I am worn out. What can I do?”

This mother is doing her utmost to give her children a quality education. Still, she doesn’t see joy in learning or even learning. I asked her why she chose to use workbooks and textbooks for her homeschool curriculum. “It’s what I used in public school. Isn’t that what you do when you homeschool—bring school home?”  

“No,” I said, “Your home is a garden of learning and your children are tender plants. You must give them what they need to grow.” 

“How do I do that?” she asked.

“Well, there are four ‘firsts’ that when you have mastered these you will be well on your way to joyful learning,” I said. Here is what I shared with Karen…

See Your Child as a Person

See you child as coming into the world complete and full of endless possibilities. Your duty as parent is to respect the personality of the child and call forth the inborn possibilities. This view is central to the teachings of Charlotte Mason.

Children become adults through the process of taking up knowledge that is proper to them through the effort of self-will. What they lack is not maturity but guidance, nurture, and opportunity. Your role as their teacher is to provide those things. How is this done? Miss Mason in her twenty principles made it clear: We are limited to three educational instruments—the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas.

Use Whole Books

Second….you must use whole books, not adaptation or summaries.

“Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children.” (Home Education, p. 186)

Most textbooks have short descriptions of a topic, which is then broken down into subtopics. Literature textbooks are usually adaptations or excerpts of classics. Miss Mason termed these, “dumbed-down” texts. The publishers were attempting to create a book that could be used by students of every level of ability. The only way to produce a text for all is to lower the level of material to the lowest common denominator. This is commonplace today.  

Miss Mason recommended using only high-quality literature which she called “living books”. Living books are books by a single author who has a passion for his subject and has written compellingly and expressively. A living book should be not only enjoyable to read, but challenging and memorable for the listener or reader.

Use Narration

There is a great difference between learning and memory. A common misconception is that learning is the same as memory. They are closely linked—but they are not the same thing. A person can recall facts of a topic, but that doesn’t mean he have learned it.

Memorizing facts is a relatively low-level of learning and there is little real thinking going on. Yet this is the primary activity in a workbook/ textbook education.  In a Charlotte Mason education children are always working towards higher levels of thought, yet at the same time are making regular use of memory of facts.

How can a homeschooling parent teach their child to see the greater meaning and ideas in what they read? The most effective means is narration, not question and answer.

Narration is retelling in one’s own words what has been read (either aloud or silently). It is a natural way to demonstrate and organize learning.

 “Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting…it is there in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the process of disciplinary education.” (Home Education, p. 231)

Form Good Habits 

The fourth “first” is to put at your disposal one of the most powerful tools of education—the formation of good habits. If the child is given dumb-down textbooks and worksheets, he quickly learns to either dawdle or get done too quickly. Neither is desirable and neither taps into those all important higher levels of thought.

With “the child as person” view, we understand that the child will need guidance and nurture to know how to consistently take up knowledge. This is habit formation. To learn more on habit formation see Charlotte Mason’s A Philosophy of Education (p. 90-144).

Miss Mason teaches us that the power of habit is greater than the power of our own natures. This principle, if rightly understood, is the most important of her ideas. A workbook/textbook education does not teach habits per se, because is assumes that habit formation is not the work of education. Charlotte Mason education sees habit formation as the key to a full, rich life.

What Karen did…

Karen knew in her heart there was more to homeschooling than bringing school home. And there is. She began to apply the four “firsts”and little by little she saw her children’s’ smiles return. Now they eagerly ask for their school books to be read to them. They finish school by noon and spend the afternoon outdoors or doing creative handwork.

Your view of the child as a person, using whole books, narration and habit formation are four reasons why Charlotte Mason’s methods give your child a far better education than using workbooks or textbooks.

Living Books Curriculum can help you plan these four “firsts” and much more in our K-8 Christian curriculum.

Goldenrod Gall

A good subject for nature study is an insect that makes its own microhabitat–the goldenrod gall wasp. A microhabitat is a small part of the environment especially suited to the development of an organism or group of organisms. It can be a small home to the organism, such as a snail carries about, or it can be an ecosystem such as a swamp.

Galls are large, round swellings in plants produced by enzymes deposited by an insect. You can find graceful goldenrod plants wherever there are unmown grassland areas or forest edges. Godlenrod are among the most aggressive of our native plants and are quick to colonize disturbed or neglected areas. And just about anywhere you find graceful goldenrod plants you will find galls. Stan Tekiela provides this delightful description from his blog Nature Smart .

“Each spring a mother insect, usually a specific type of fly or wasp will lay an egg on the stem or injects an egg into the stem of a fresh goldenrod plant. The mother also deposits a growth inhibitor chemical at the same time which causes the plant to rapidly produce thousands of extra cells that surrounds the newly laid insect egg–forming the gall. When the insect egg hatches a tiny white worm-like grub called a larva emerges.

I like to tell children that each gall is like a gingerbread house. The gall keeps the occupant safe and warm like a house but also provides a plentiful food source like gingerbread for the growing larva. The larvae will remain within its “house” all summer and throughout the following winter. In spring the larva will metamorphosis (change) into an adult fly or wasp. The newly changed winged insect will chew a small round hole in the side of the gall to exit and fly off to mate and start the process over again.” (Reprinted with permission)

If you’re up for an adventure and want to really bring home the reality of what these insects face, arrange a field trip to collect galls in the middle of winter! You can find other types of galls on stems of other wildflower, also oak trees, willows, roses and blackberries. Note: If you want to open a gall, use double-edged hand-pruners. These cut into galls safely without cutting the animal inside, or your fingers.

Use your Nature Journals to draw or paint the gall and its environment, then record where the gall was found and the time of year. You can add the first few lines of Helen Hunt Jackson’s poem, September:

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

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

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

“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.

Every mother knows what dawdling is. Dawdling is taking more time than necessary to complete a task. A parent can make the mistake of thinking the child is lazy, resistant, or even disobedient. Usually, none of these are true. It often means the parent needs to go back to first principles–habit formation.

To fuss at a child for dawdling reinforces the habit of not finishing one’s work. Not what is wanted at all!

Charlotte Mason called dawdling mooning (Home Education, p. 147) and wrote of the importance of securing a child’s full attention and establishing the habit of attention.

If your child is taking more time than necessary, try these:

1. Use 20-minute lessons. If a 20-minute lesson is too long, shorten it. Set a timer for your child, so he has a clear sense of how long the lesson is to be. It will keep you on track too.
2. Use material that is developmentally appropriate. A child cannot narrate what he does not know or understand.To test the appropriateness, require a short narration to discover whether you need to adapt the material or find other material for the work you want to accomplish.
3. Alternate disciplinary subjects with inspirationalsubjects. Charlotte Mason recommended a disciplinary subject be followed by an inspirational one. Dr. Jack Beckman, Professor of Education at Covenant College in South Carolina and a Charlotte Mason scholar reminds us that, “Inspirational subjects touch heart and mind and are reflective of things such as art, music, literature, history, etc.  Disciplinary subjects are those in which teacher-student interactions are necessary as students are unable to apprehend their concepts, content, and/or skills alone – mathematics, languages, handwriting, certain aspects of science, etc.”
4. Each new lesson should recall the last. When starting a new lesson ask your child to recall the lesson that came the day before. Recollection of the previous lesson gives a context for the new knowledge, which improves attention.
5. To break the habit of dawdling: Arrange something delightful and irresistable activity (not TV or video!) to follow the lesson. No need to promise a reward if the work is finished. The child learns that when the work is done something pleasant follows. He then has a better attitude towards the work.

Want to learn more about the habit of attention, visit Ambleside Online for an online version of  habit formation in Home Education, p.96-134.

“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 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.