What drew me to a Charlotte Mason education?

I guess we'd better start at the beginning - how did I get here?  I am an incurable planner.  So, when our oldest child was only 4 years old, we went to our first homeschool convention.  My sister-in-law and her husband were homeschooling their children, and we knew we would homeschool our children by the time our first one was born.  We attended our first conference in the St. Louis area with Kay and Greg.  I was so glad to have them with us!  It would have overwhelmed me, otherwise. 

This was the first time I heard anyone talk about Charlotte Mason.  I went to a seminar by the people who publish the Five in a Row Curriculum, and Steve Lambert mentioned that they wanted their curriculum to be gentle, like that of the Charlotte Mason style.  Well, I used the Five in a Row Curriculum for the first few years of our homeschool.  At the same time, I began to learn more and more about Charlotte Mason's methods, and began to apply them as I learned them. 

The more I learned about Miss Mason's method and applied it, the more I loved it!  I would read a book with my children, and then we would spend time listening and narrating in homeschooling.  I would listen as my children would narrate - or tell back - the story we had just read in their own words.  They remembered the stories very well, even for weeks afterward, if someone would bring up something that was in a story they had read, they could tell back the story with amazing details!  This WAS a very gentle way of learning for my children and for me.  That was our homeschooling for the first couple of years. 

Our state's mandatory attendance starts at age 6, and we began schooling when our oldest was 5, so I took those first months in homeschooling, and saw them as practice and getting into the groove of homeschooling. 

These were my first tentative steps in using the methods developed by Charlotte Mason, and the more I applied the things I learned of the method, the better I felt about how school was going.  The more comfortable I got with answering questions about my homeschooling adventure.  And the more fruit my children demonstrated in their lives, the more compliments we got about how well behaved and well-educated they were - even at age 8!

Comments

[Hillary]

I am also a hs mama to 5 blessings. Mine are 8 and younger. We too started with FIAR and have grown into a CM style. I am on the CMforMomsofMany Yahoo group with you. I thought the similarities were pretty neat. I am enjoying your blog so far. I'll be checking in for more :)

Blessings!

[Sue]

Hillary,

Thanks so much for checking in with us! I hope you enjoy the conversation, and join in whenever you like. Feel free to ask lots of questions - that way I know that I'm speaking to what you all want to know!
-Sue