The Charlotte Mason Girl

2009 - OVER!

Can you believe that we are preparing to welcome a new year - AGAIN!?  I remember being told when I was 18 that the years go by faster and faster, but I didn't really get it.  Well, NOW I do!

This has been a year of hard work, change, trials, triumphs, and wonder for my family.  I am so glad to have gotten to live it!  My children are growing so fast, and I am working hard to treasure these days in my heart.

Rebekah has already gone through 1/2 of her first year of high school.  Benjamin is going to be more and more involved in our schooling, and so I will soon have five students!  

This is a good time to review goals that we set last summer, see where we are, and make adjustments, if necessary.  This fall has seen so much change for us, that I didn't make it nearly as far as I'd hoped on many of my goals - school or otherwise.  However, I'm praying for guidance as I look forward, and I can't wait to see what the new year will bring for us!

I pray that you will have many good memories to focus on from 2009, and that you will make many new memories in 2010!  

I am looking forward to sharing more encouragement and swapping ideas with you about how we can continue to educate our children in the ways of Charlotte Mason.  Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you next week, as we hit the ground running toward the prize! 

Merry Christmas!

Well, I thought I'd better stop now and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  We are in the throws of the baking, cleaning, preparing for the Christmas celebrations to come this week.  I pray that you all are able to relax and enjoy time with your loved ones.  

Forget about your school responsibilities for a few days and just enjoy your children!  (I type right after having to break up a fight!)

Also, I thought I'd share an encouraging post with you I saw on Heavenly Homemaker.  It's titled "Will All of the Real Mom Please Stand up?"  You can read the post here.  She has had a great response to this post, and even did a follow up with a new post today.  

Have a great Christmas, and enjoy yourself!

A Charlotte Mason Homeschool Day

The next question I would like to address comes from a friend in Carbondale.  She asks,  "How do you work everything in before everyone is worn out?  After lunch we are so tired!"  

Wow!  I know what you are talking about! Motherhood, and teaching on top of it - is exhausting!  While I haven't gotten to the point that I sail through every day with tons of energy, I do have some words of wisdom to offer.

First, you must make sure you are doing all you can to make or keep yourself healthy.  Get as much rest as you can - I know, it's not always possible to get 8 hours when you have children, but do your best!  Eat as healthy as you can - eat more veggies!  (I don't like to admit it, but our moms were right.)  Get some kind of exercise in.  I do a 15 minute workout, myself.  I'm striving to get it in 5 days a week.  I figure I can do anything for 15 minutes!  Even go for a walk with the children.  Anything to get the blood flowing.

Now, I don't think it's possible to fly through every day full of energy when you are doing so much.  You are running a school, a family, a household, you are the cook, cleaner, trainer-of-character, laundry maid, and more (at least until your children can help with these tasks).  Once your children are old enough, you can start training them, but that now means you are the project foreman!  While you are always going to have energy-draining tasks throughout your day, the key is to figure out how to recover.

Next, don't race at trying to get all your things done before lunch.  Pace yourself.  Yes, Miss Mason's idea of morning-only school is appealing, but it doesn't always work when you have little ones and a home to tend to.  We have had seasons when I primarily taught school in the afternoon, while babies and toddlers were napping.  We now are back to morning school, but the little ones are not as little, anymore, and they often come along for the ride when I am teaching.

Lastly, put rest times in your day.  I still have quiet time in the afternoon for everyone.  We all take a little time to read, play on the computer, watch a video, or even sleep (my personal favorite on many days!).  I keep this time relatively short for all but the littlest one.  We spend 30 minutes, maybe one hour in this quiet time.  Otherwise, chaos rules!  

So, stay healthy, get rest, pace yourself, and allow for times of recovery for you and your children.  You will all benefit from it! 

How about Grammar?

Our next question comes from a sweet lady I met in Carbondale a few weeks ago.  She asks "Do you ever use any formal grammar?  If so, when?" 

We do not use formal grammar in the early years.  As our children do copywork and read excellent books, they begin to pick up on things like correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization.  It is amazing to me how much the children have retained just from the simple exercise of copywork!  You can read my post about that here.

Now, when the children get a little older, around 9 or so, I do use Simply Grammar.  I have found that this just re-inforces what they picked up on during previous copywork lessons, and helps them see why they use certain words in certain ways, and give names to what they have been using.  The lessons are very gentle, very short, and straightforward.  You feel like you are cheating!  When I used this program with my oldest child, I kept thinking, this is silly, she's not really learning anything.  It didn't feel like there was any meat to the lesson.  In fact, in lesson one, they learn that there are two parts to a sentence - that of which you speak, and what you say about it.  I didn't think my daughter would remember anything from the lesson, as it was just too simple!  However, we stuck with it.  I was pleasantly surprised when, several weeks later, she had remembered the two parts of a sentence!  I thought, wow, how'd she do that?!  I'd say the proof is in the pudding!

I recommend this resource whole-heartedly.  It's only a few dollars, and will serve you and your children well.  It's also wonderful because it's a open up and teach book.  You don't need anything else but a pencil and paper to teach your student their grammar lessons!  This is a very easy part of our day.   

Please share with me what you choose to do for grammar.  One of the things I love about a Charlotte Mason education is that it is not a one-size-fits all, and many people have come up with very creative ideas.  I love to learn about them!