The Charlotte Mason Girl

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!

Getting in touch with the Creator through His creation

I have already shared with you my favorite aspect of using CM method in our homeschool – it’s all the great books and how easy it is to teach your children wonderful things from living books!

Well, running a VERY close second in my book is nature study!  We love it!  Nature study is another large part of a CM education.  In fact in the early years of education, if you do a great job using living books, and spend a lot of time outdoors doing nature study, you have a well-balanced beginning to your children’s education.  Add in teaching them to read for themselves, and the beginnings of some understanding of basic math concepts and your children have a fantastic start in their educational journey.

So, how do we do nature study?  It’s so simple!  You go outdoors where there are living things, and you observe! REALLY!  It can be done in a postage stamp of a back yard, at the local park, in the country, in the woods; a few lessons could even be done around a single tree growing up through the sidewalk near your city apartment!  We have had great nature studies.  Some I planned and some just happened because we were available when God wanted to show us something really neat.

This is putting your children in touch with the Creator through His creation.  Just as you put your children’s minds in touch with great minds through living books, you are able to put them in touch, so to speak, with God through His living creation.

We have a postage stamp of a backyard.  It’s got some grass, some weeds, bare dirt patches, and some rock usually works itself up every year from the time that most of the yard was a gravel driveway, and we have a bird feeder that my oldest son made for me for Mother’s Day one year.  However, we have had some great nature studies there!  My children have observed worms working in the dirt, seen the birds come and get some of the worms, they have seen how grass grows, the flowers develop on dandelions into seed that they have fun blowing in the wind (I’m sure our neighbors love that!), but the greatest lesson happened last summer, and I didn’t plan it at all!  My 7 year old took her bug catcher outside and found herself a caterpillar.  She put it in the box with some twigs and grass and a bit of water.  By the time the evening came around, the beginnings of a cocoon was being formed in the little box!  We were so excited!  The next morning, there was just a little cocoon and some twigs and grass in the box.  Where had the caterpillar gone?  I got to explain to Esther about how caterpillars do this before they mature into butterflies.  For about two weeks, Esther checked on her little cocoon several times a day, and she was letting me know how it looked each day – there wasn’t much change, and I thought she might get bored with it before the next event happened, but she didn’t!  After about two weeks, she went out to check on it, and she found something so exciting in her box!  The leftovers of a cocoon, some twigs, dried out grass, and a moth!  We learned which caterpillars will turn into moths!  We took a couple of pictures, and then I told her to let the moth go right away so he could get some food! 

Now, there are some great books, worksheets, videos, etc. on the lifecycle of a moth.  Esther could have learned a lot from those types of things.  However, don’t you think that now she KNOWS what the lifecycle of a moth is like?  She got to live out the two week wait to see the moth.  She saw what the cocoon looked like every day for two weeks, she saw what the moth looked like within just a few hours of emerging from the cocoon, and she saw what the cocoon looked like when the moth was done with it.  Now, I do NOT know enough about caterpillars to be able to tell when one is about to go into the mode of building his cocoon!  I couldn’t have planned that lesson out if I’d spent weeks capturing caterpillars and waiting to see if they would build a cocoon in my little box.  But, the Lord wanted to teach Esther something about His creation, and His timing is perfect!  We still talk about that experience, and Esther is eagerly awaiting the next time to play outside, because maybe, just maybe, she will see something wonderful!

I read a book by Karen Andreola (the same one who wrote the Charlotte Mason Companion), called Pocketful of Pinecones.  It’s written like a mother’s journal by a young mother who is just beginning to educate her young children at home, and it details their nature study adventures.  It’s a wonderfully easy read, and it did help me to relax and not worry about having everything just right before we venture outside for nature study.  If you would like to get your own copy, you can see Pocketful of Pinecones at Ancient Paths Christian Bookstore. 

So, don’t be afraid to venture outdoors with your children and let them get in touch with the Creator through His creation!  You never know what He might have in store for your family.

Next time, I’ll share with you some great ideas for how to record your lessons from nature study!