The Charlotte Mason Girl

Language Arts - The Next Step

Last time I wrote about Language Arts, I reminded you that you are already doing the first, and most important step in teaching Language Arts to your children - reading great living books!  What should your next step be?  It really depends on where your children are in their education.  Just as the first step in teaching your child to talk is to talk to your child, reading to her is the first step in teaching her to read.  If your child does not yet know how to read - this should be the next step on the journey in becoming a lover of language and the art of using the language in an excellent way.  There are many excellent reading programs out there, or you could just go to the source to see how Charlotte Mason taught her students to read.  The link above is to the pages of Volume 1 in which Miss Mason lays out the when, why, and how of teaching children to read.  Teaching your child to read is really a whole other series of posts, so that's all I'm going to say here.  

 

At the same time your child is learning to read, he will want to begin to write the letters, and eventually the words he knows.  Again, there are many good writing programs out there, and you can find one that works well for you.  We like the Italic series by Getty & Dubay.  Find one that you like, can afford, and works well for your child.

While your child is learning to read and write, you will continue to read excellent writing to her.  Keep that beautiful, masterful use of the language always before your child, in order to keep the mind lively and growing.  Once your child hits the age of six or so, begin asking for narrations.  I really could do a whole series on narration - and maybe I will someday - but let's talk briefly about it here.  

 

Narration - or the 'Art of Knowing' is another natural instinct many children have, and those who don't can be trained easily enough - if you keep at it consistently.  For those who naturally like to tell stories, this will be a breeze!  Others may need a bit more coaxing and cheering for first efforts.  The most basic description of narration really says it all - it is the telling back of a story (or portion of a story) in the child's own words.  You read a small portion of a new story - ONCE - then ask your child to tell the story back to you in his own words.  Something AMAZING happens when your child does this!  

 

Have you noticed that you learn something MUCH better when you need to teach it to someone else?  You are processing the information in another way altogether from just receiving it.  This is what happens when your child narrates a story.  His brain actually gains a whole new grasp of the material in the story, and he will often remember a story years later, even if he only heard it one time - IF he narrated that story.  

First Steps in Studying Language Arts

I mentioned last week that the place to start in studying language arts is exposing our children to the great artists of the language through excellent living books.  There is so much that our children pick up in reading or being read to about the use of words and expressions.  They won't necessarily know all the parts of speech, but they will be so used to seeing the language used in a good way, that they will recognize when it is not used well in other writing.  (Have you read the newspaper lately?!  Ugh!)

 

When you read Charlotte Mason's description of how to teach a young child language arts, you will see that she wanted her students to know two things before they finished grade school - first, to capitalize proper nouns and the beginning of sentences; second, to end a sentence with punctuation.  Teaching our children the proper punctuation is a breeze!  I learned from Cindy Rushton to say this for our punctuation lesson - "You end a statement with a period.  You end a question with a question mark.  When you say it with passion - use an exclamation point!"  When you repeat this at all the teachable moments that present themselves while your children are learning to read and write - they pick up the punctuation rules without any effort on their part.  The effort is on you to make sure you take advantage of the teachable moments.  Really, it's not a hard effort at all, because you are ready with this small lesson when each opportunity presents itself.  

 

A CM education teaches language arts with a few simple, but vitally important tools.  Reading (phonics), handwriting, copywork, grammar, and composition.  All of these aspects of language arts take effort, but the effort is so natural for your child, that it hardly seems like work at all.  That's probably not true for every single child, and YOU must put in a lot of effort to make it SEEM effortless for your child.  For me, I think I have found that the hardest part of the effort is to stay alert for all the hundreds of teachable moments that come along each week.  I need to pay close attention to the questions my children ask, and pause to give them an answer.  (This is a challenge when I have set myself a goal of reading x number of pages today - I get focussed on reaching that goal, instead of the goal of teaching my children well.)

 

So, I'm sure if you are using a Charlotte Mason method, you are already doing the first step in language arts - exposing your children to the great artists of language!  As your children learn to read and write, they will be taking the step on the journey of learning language arts for themselves.  Once they have handwriting down, they can tackle copywork, and then composition.  Along the way, you will want to make sure they learn the parts of speech and the four types of sentences.

 

Next Monday, I'll share more about how to teach your children well in this area of their education - even if it doesn't come naturally to you right now.  

 

Question - What is your biggest challenge to teaching your children language arts?

What to do with your Pre-schooler?

I was just thinking about the early days in our homeschool journey.  I was so scared!  You see, we have family that started homeschooling just before our first child was born.  My sister in law and her husband learned about homeschooling while their oldest child was still a toddler.  They have been homeschooling all their children from the beginning.  They have done an EXCELLENT job of teaching their children well, and they are seeing the fruit of their many years of hard work.  Well, by the time our first born entered the world, we knew that we would be educating them at home, as well.  

 

For 5 years, I watched my sister in law teaching my niece and nephew, and saw how well they were doing.  In many ways, this was encouraging.  They were giving me an up-close look at how it could be done.  They were doing a lot of ground-breaking when it came to showing the grandparents that it could be done - and well.  Kay is an avid reader, and was always telling me about another good book on homeschooling - or warning me off a bad one.  She was an invaluable resource to me for reading all about how to homeschool your child.  In other ways, I was absolutely intimidated!!!  What if my children weren't as smart, or I failed at teaching them, or they balked at me teaching them?  Or a million other fears that rattled in my head!

 

Then, we had our second child.  Now I was learning to juggle two children, and I was sometimes overwhelmed with day to day stuff of baby and preschool days.  School was looming closer, and I was not sure how I was going to do it.  When our oldest was 4, we went to our first homeschool conference.  I needed to make sure I did this right!  I know that school was actually over a year away, but I wanted to be prepared.  (I spent 2 years planning my wedding - can you tell I'm a planner?!)  Well, I spent the next 18 months reading about, planning, searching for just the right curriculum, supplies, planner, etc....  and finally, the big day arrived - it was time to start 'SCHOOL'!!!

 

Well, when we got started actually schooling, I made a big mistake.  The one thing I didn’t do so well at this point was to include my 3 year old son in all our activities.  I thought that Rebekah was in school, and Jeremiah was a pre-schooler, so I had to keep them separated.  I would work very hard to try to get Jeremiah occupied while I sat down with Rebekah to do school.  It was foolish, I know!  Why didn’t I see that I could just bring him along for the ride?!!  Well, I’ll confess openly here, I had the stereotype in my head that boys just wouldn’t enjoy school early, so I thought it would be wrong to try to ‘push’ school on him too early.  I knew that the typical boy doesn’t do well sitting in a desk for hours a day until he’s matured to age 9 or 10.  So, I relegated Jeremiah to ‘play’ (or, rather, to ‘just stay out of my hair’) long enough to get Rebekah’s lessons in!  What I didn’t see at the time was that I wasn’t doing school the way it was done in the public schools, so I shouldn’t have assumed that what does (or doesn’t) work in a public school setting will (or won’t) work at home!!!

 

Well, now, I know a bit better!  I know that the little ones want to be involved with us, and that they benefit by being with us!  When I let the two year old sit in with us when we are reading out loud, studying a work of art, listening to a classical music piece, or even writing out our letters, we all benefit.  I know just where the little guy is.  I am able to concentrate on the lesson at hand.  The children can concentrate on the lesson at hand.  And, by the time the little ones 'officially' join our homeschool, they know the routine, know how to sit for lessons, and often are ahead of their peers when it comes time to start school, because, in reality, they have been doing school for quite some time.  Isn't that great?!

 

How about you?  What do you do to include your little ones, or to keep them productively occupied while you teach the harder, upper level lessons?  I don't have all the answers, and there may be other, better solutions out there - I would love to know!  

New Tool to Help you Be a Better Homeschooler

I just got a mailing from HSLDA - the Home School Legal Defense Association - and they told me about a great little tool that can really come in handy for those who are still trying to decide what your teaching style is, and what your children's learning styles are.  It's an evaluation tool that takes just a few minutes to fill in, and there is no credit card needed, no long term commitment to use anything they have to offer.  Here is what HSLDA said:

Dear HSLDA Member,

We’re pleased to announce a new and very helpful tool! Through our partnership with Home Ed Expert, we are able to offer you a FREE assessment to determine the best curricula and teaching tools for your family.

Through Home Ed Expert, you will see your own capabilities and teaching style, as well as your child’s abilities and learning style, scientifically evaluated and matched to the best educational resources for your homeschool. All you have to do is sign up and fill out the questionnaires. The site will guide you to your evaluation and the recommended curricula for each of your students.

This is a FREE trial. No strings attached. No credit card required. All you invest is a few minutes to find out what fits you and your child the best.

But, this is a limited-time offer, so act now! Visit Home Ed Expert today and get your free homeschool assessment and curriculum recommendations. And if you decide to buy any of the recommended resources, your purchase is as easy as one click of a button.

There you have it!  A free offer for you, if you want it!  

How to Start Homeschool?

 

When I was in Carbondale a few weeks ago, I was asked a number of questions, and I requested the ladies write down other questions they had.  I thought I would answer those questions here, and also recruit help from you to answer them, too!  There is no one size fits all to a CM education.

 

I thought I’d start at the beginning.  I have had times that I’ve been stopped in the store with my children by a mother who inquires whether we homeschool.  When I answer that yes, we do, the next question is often from her heart – she wants to know how to start homeschool with her own children.  She sees someone up close and personal who is doing it, and she wants to know how she can do it, too.  It’s a scary thought, but often times, mothers know there must be something better for their children than what they are currently doing, they just don’t know how to do it.  When they meet someone who has all (or most) of her marbles, even though she is doing something as monumental as educating her own children, they believe it might just be possible for them to do it, too!

 

Other times, another homeschooling mom is looking for something to make her life a little easier, and she will ask how she can start homeschool with the methods of Charlotte Mason. 

 

I always have to give a little disclaimer here.  I LOVE the CM method of education!  I can’t imagine doing our home schooling any other way!  I am passionate about helping homeschoolers find easier, better ways to educate their children!  The disclaimer is this – I do realize that other people do a fantastic job of educating their own children with some other method.  I know that Miss Mason’s methods aren’t the only methods that successfully educate children.  So, although I can’t imagine educating my children any other way – I know it’s not the only good way to educate children.  I don’t want anyone thinking that I feel that I’m superior in my homeschool because of our method. 

 

OK, back to the question from moms who want to know how to start homeschool in their own homes.  I feel that the best place to start is where your child is!  Do you have a child that loves to be read to?  Then living books is the place to start!  Get a great story book and start reading.  If your child is old enough (Over 6, at least!) start narration with this story.  Read a little and ask her to tell the story back to you in her own words.  You’ll know right away if the story connected with her imagination. 

 

Do you have a child who loves to be outdoors and enjoying the fresh air and open space?  Start with nature study!  Point out an interesting bug, plant, flower, squirrel, bird, snake, frog, caterpillar – whatever! – and encourage your child to stop and really look at it.  Ask your child to narrate your special find – to tell you what they see, in as much detail as they can.  (No pressure this time!)  Your child may even want to imitate what they are seeing – let him!  It’s his way of narrating.  Eventually, you will want to put a pencil and a piece of paper in their hand and ask them to draw the thing they see – or at least a portion of it.  (A whole tree may be too much to ask – start with a leaf from the tree.)

 

Do you have a child who loves to write?  Start with copywork!  If you start small enough, you can even use copywork to encourage your reluctant writer to love writing!  Some Charlotte Mason copywork suggestions are – scripture, poetry, songs, hymns, great quotes from great men and women, passages from great books, etc.  Just have your child copy something in about 10 minutes – and have them do it perfectly.  If they make mistakes, repeat the same lesson tomorrow.  Spend just 10 minutes a day to start – that’s all it takes.

 

Does your child love to create works of art?  OK, so maybe they won’t have a showing in the trendy art studios in New York any time soon, but everyone has to start somewhere!  Show your child great works of art.  If you live near an art museum, take them to see the art live and in person.  (You will need to exercise wisdom here – not all ‘art’ is good, you know!)  You can purchase an art book, or you can look at art online.  It’s not the same as seeing it in person, but it’s still exposure to great art.  Have your child try their hand at imitating what they see.  This will inspire your child to create more and better works of their own.

 

So, go ahead and try one of these things.  This is how to start homeschool in your home with the methods of Charlotte Mason.  You can start today!  (Or tomorrow, if you are reading this while your children are in bed!)

 

Please, share with me your stories of how you started out in your homeschooling.  I think those who haven’t yet taken the plunge would be encouraged to see that others have done it and lived to tell about it!  They want to know how to start homeschool in their homes, and they will benefit from your stories!

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!

Who is "The Charlotte Mason Girl"?

Who is this lady, and why does she call herself "The Charlotte Mason Girl"? - I'm pretty sure you asked yourself this question the first time you heard about me.  Am I right?!  This is a legitimate question.

My name is Sue Pruett, and I've been schooling our children for nearly 10 years, now.  WOW!  I can hardly believe it!  I have almost always used the methods developed by Miss Charlotte Mason.

When we began to look into methods for schooling our children, I began to hear about this woman from the turn of the century whose pioneering work in education changed the way children were taught.  She thought that all children should have an excellent education, regardless of economic condition.  She believed that a great education could be achieved gently. She thought the best way to inspire children to great thoughts and actions was to put their minds in direct contact with other great minds through the excellent, living books written by these great minds.  This inspired me, and as we began to educate our oldest child, I began to - very imperfectly - use the method developed by Miss Mason.  As I began using living books for curriculum, we saw wonderful results!

As our family grew, and the challenge of educating several children, while caring for baby and/or toddler at the same time, we ventured into some other 'easier' methods.  They weren't easier.  They stressed me out.  They stressed the children out.  They just didn't fit us.  We came back to Charlotte Mason's methods, we began using living books for curriculum, and have enjoyed the peaceful fruit of well-educated, happy children - and Mommy, too!

My husband owns an on line bookstore, and last year we ventured out into exhibiting at a couple of home school conventions.  We sell a few different things for home-schoolers, including some great curricula - but they don't all have to do with the CM method (as it is affectionately called!).  When someone would ask me about one of the curriculum sets we have, they would ask me if we used them, and I would answer that "No, we don't.  I've tried some of these personally, but I just realized that I'm just a Charlotte Mason girl, so I went back to that."  It didn't really help our sales of these items, to be sure.  But it was then that I realized that I AM a Charlotte Mason girl - and I'm here to stay!

So that's my story about how I got here.  I invite you to come along with me on this great journey of educating my children in the ways of Charlotte Mason!