Venturing into Mason's Alveary

(Part 1 of 2)

Earlier in the year I wrote about the miraculous provision that allowed me to keep my youngest son schooling at home during what has been one of the most difficult years of my life. This is Part 1 of a two part series. In Part 1 I will share more about the decision to join Mason's Alveary, and explain why I - an educator and home educator with over 15 years experience with Charlotte Mason's educational model - would turn to a paid CM curriculum. In Part 2 I will describe some of our experiences over the first 2 terms of working with the Alveary.

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For over 15 years I have studied and practiced a Charlotte Mason education with my children. Mason's philosophy of education - her philosophy of life - resonated deeply with me from the first time I encountered her work, and I knew that it was what the Lord wanted for our family. I made use of all the print and online resources I could get my hands on, not to mention the live interactions that I was able to enjoy. For 10 years I drove 1 1/2 hours each way every six weeks to attend a Mason study group, for several of those years sharing in the leadership of that group whose membership numbered, at times, close to 70 people!

In 2010 we moved to Uruguay where we served as church planting missionaries, and I continued schooling the kids while participating in full time ministry. By the time we returned to Canada in 2014, I was burned out, and my health was suffering. Our eldest was now done school and looking to her post-secondary career, and I still had two children at home. For 2 years I struggled along, trying to meet their educational needs as my health declined.

Jump to spring of 2016. Because of my health it looked like the educational model I loved was not going to be possible in my home any longer. We were considering all options for our second child, who was to start high school in the fall: online classes, prepackaged curriculum, enrollment in a brick and mortar school. And we were looking at what options we might pursue to keep our youngest, starting Grade 6, home at least until high school.

In June of 2016 I attended my 5th Charlotte Mason Institute conference, and my heart was breaking. Here I was surrounded by a community of people from across the continent who were pursuing a Mason education, plenary speakers and workshop facilitators were inspiring those in attendance to press on, to continue learning, growing, and implementing Mason's work in their school classrooms and home schools, and I was feeling like I just couldn't do it any more.

During one plenary session, Dr. Jennifer Spencer shared about a new project that the CMI was working on: Mason's Alveary, a curriculum and teacher training program complete with year plans, lesson plans, scheduling helps, webinars, video tutorials, and more. My heart began to rise. Could this be the solution that would enable us to keep BOTH our boys home? With all that support, could I make it through another year without completely caving in? I listened intently as the details unfolded.

Then the bad news: The pilot project that was being rolled out would only go through 8th grade. It wouldn't be the high school solution I was looking for after all. But, I wondered, if I was only going to have my youngest with us for a few more years, would it enable me to give him the Mason education I desired for him despite my own weaknesses?

We decided to try it, and enrolled to participate in the pilot project with one student in Form 2a, Grade 6. Mason's Alveary has been the backbone of our school year for 2016-2017.

In Part 2 you can read about our experience with the Alveary over the first two terms. Join me?

(This post has been included in a Blog Carnival about Mason's Alveary. You can find other people's stories about their experience with the Alveary by following the links.)

Digitization of the Charlotte Mason Archives

There has been extensive work done in recent years to digitize the collection of documents related to Charlotte Mason that are currently held at the Armitt in Cumbria, UK.  Dr. Deani Van Pelt and Redeemer University in Ontario have been part of that process, and here you will see a video produced by Deani which explains the significance of the collection and the importance of having a permanent digital record.

If you have read works about CM, some of names of CM scholars may be familiar to you, and in this video you will see some of the faces that belong to those names:

Dr. Jack Beckman

Dr. John Thorley

Dr. Carroll Smith

Dr. Deani Van Pelt

There are, of course, others in the video, and others who are instrumental in bringing Charlotte Mason's work to the forefront of modern education.  We are privileged to have people who are committed to the value of this work, who are making the original documents accessible to all of us, and who are giving so much of their time and energy with little or no compensation.  

Enjoy the video!

This post has been published concurrently on the Whole Hearted Home Educators blog.

Without a Net

This year I'm trying something very new. Well, sort of new and sort of old, but very different. Well, not as different as it might be, but . . .

I've been using Charlotte Mason's principles and methods of education in our home school since before My Girl began officially schooling, and this fall she's entering grade 9. This year, because our lives won't already be interesting enough (ahem), I was inspired to go textbook-less with our Science curriculum and go entirely with living books.

Several years ago I was convinced of the idea of Nature Study being the natural precursor to science in the early years of school, and have done only Nature Study and living science with the boys. But when My Girl entered grade 8 I felt a sudden panic to make sure that she was getting all the foundational science in and turned to a well-known science program. And we didn't like it. It was memorization and dry reading (even when the author was being conversational). And it took at least 45 minutes every single day to complete it! I wasn't sure that I wanted to continue in that framework for the next four years.

One of my friends had participated with her daughter in a pilot project for a CM-style living books science course and loved it. And then in June I went to the ChildLight USA Charlotte Mason Conference in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and heard a wonderful-fantastic presentation about stepping away from the safety net of a textbook based curriculum and using living books and keeping notebooks. There was a lot more to it that the workshop presenter spoke about, and it inspired me to step onto the high-wire of a truly Charlotte Mason science course.

I've spent much time these past weeks selecting and ordering my books (not just for science, and for much more than just the next year, but that's for another post), and now that I'm through that, I'm ready to take that first scary step off the platform and begin travelling along that wire: pre-reading selected books, scheduling readings, planning out the note-booking process. I am so eager to have this work, and I can't wait to begin!

I am incredibly thankful to Jennifer G. for her presentation at CLUSA's CM conference, and hope to be able to share here at PeaceLedge some of the experiences of walking the high-wire of science without a net.

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Okay, the photos don't have anything at all to do with the post, but I couldn't stand having yet another post without pictures! These three are from our recent trip to Vernon, BC, where we spent a full 24 hours with my sister and her family. Much too short a visit, and much too long since the last one. But, again, that's for another post.

Our First Charlotte Mason Co-op Day

(this is a long post - you might like to make yourself a cup of tea before settling in)

For months we've been making plans for this: a Charlotte-Mason style co-op class involving 15 children ages 14 years down to 7 months. Yesterday it happened.

All five participating families are working through Ancient Greece in History, so the first part of our first session was dedicated to making salt-dough maps of that region. This was painstaking work, maybe not a best first-country choice for this experience; picture Greece: its filigreed shoreline, its multitudinous islands, its deep inlets and irregular terrain. Complex and intimidating, but we did it.

We still have to paint the background water, but for now this is what we have accomplished.

The older children stuck with the project much longer than the younger, in fact, Brown-Eyed Boy didn't even attempt to work on the map - he went straight to the room where our friends house their Playmobil toys and we didn't see him for the rest of the morning!

While the older children and the moms completed the maps, the others went to explore the expansive, inviting back yard. This is one of the most interesting yards I've been in - there is a trickling fountain, a rustic see-saw, a little outbuilding which looks like it could double as a small cabin, an inviting deck as well as several seating areas around the grass and ground-cover. Huge trees canopy the yard, offering a venue for climbing, swinging, and hiding.

As some cleaned up the work stations on the deck, others began to set out the pot-luck lunch, a mouth-watering assortment of foods: oatmeal banana muffins, tomato salad, fresh whole-grain bread, cold chicken, fresh strawberries and blueberries, croissants, yogurt, and apple cider, just to name a few of the items shared.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, we gathered the children together, donned our sturdy shoes and backpacks, and struck out for the woods.

The plan was to hike down (literally) to the creek and follow it along until we reached a small glade where we would sit, eat our snacks, and paint the bulrushes there for our nature journals.

Along the way the children were intrigued with the fallen branches and trees, long tree limbs partially blocking the path; the place in the creek bed with iron deposits which were leaching into the water, staining the water in that little area orange; a culvert to explore, rocks to throw: all these things made for slower progress on the route we'd chosen.

And then there was a treasure! On the opposite side of the creek there was a significant natural clay deposit. Within minutes the children had removed their shoes and socks and were wading in the creek, hands filled with the wonderful clay.

The texture had them completely engaged as they squeezed it, dipped it in the water, kneaded it.

It didn't take long to realize that this was an opportunity we needed to embrace. Here we were, in a beautiful setting, with a source of natural clay at our disposal, and one of the moms with us was an artist and a potter!

We abandoned the bulrushes idea and, with no hesitation whatsoever, our dear friend waded into the stream and started teaching the children how to work the clay so it would be the most effective.

They tried a couple of different group projects (a giant caterpillar on a log was one of them) but the variation in the consistency of the clay made it not work too well. Several smaller sculptures were completed: a snake eating a rat, a 'snow'man, and this, done by the art teacher herself:

After the sculpting was complete there was some debate about whether it would be possible to carry out some clay with us. One option was to sacrifice a couple of boys' shirts and use them as bags, but, once we remembered how far we had to walk back, how steep the incline was, and how many little ones were with us, we contented ourselves with two small zip-lock bags as samples.

All too soon it was time to wash off the clay from arms, legs, and faces. Children splashed gently in the stream, hair skimming the surface of the water.

We made it through nearly an hour at the creek with 15 children and no major slips into the water...

...until Little Man reached his runners on the other side of the creek, turned to cross back to the near side, slipped on the clay, and splashed chest deep into to creek, runners still in hand!

After the initial shock was over came laughter and grins, and Little Man made his way to shore!

He was not the only one to walk barefoot for half the return hike, but he was the only one who dripped the whole way!

All in all, a wonderful day, and a great start to our new CM co-op! And definitely worth the 90 minute drive.

A New Link

Sadly, it looks like LindaFay is no longer going to be blogging at Higher Up and Further In. (I'm not sure if this is a temporary stop or a forever one; you'll have to ask her that.)

She has, however, set up a website to help those getting started with a CM education. She calls it Charlotte Mason Help. You might like to check it out. It has links to articles she's written for Higher Up and Further In that relate to Charlotte Mason, as well as a history schedule for 12 years, yearly booklists, and weekly schedules for each year. She also has a link on her website to Leslie Noelani Laurio's modern English version of Charlotte Mason's volumes.

CBC Radio Programs on Play and Early Childhood

Sandy Rusby Bell sent me the following note this morning, and I'm now feeling a little badly for not having pointed out the first part to all of you much earlier. I listened to the CBC Ideas podcast of The Hurried Infant several weeks ago and was finding myself nodding in agreement through much of it. This is so applicable to those of us who believe that Charlotte Mason was on the right track regarding early childhood development, and it is thrilling to me to hear these idea being brought to the public ear. If you want to listen to the podcast instead of using the link Sandy has given (below), you will find it on iTunes. If you need help locating it there, let me know.

Our National Public Broadcaster CBC seems to have become very interested in the importance of play in the lives of children. Last week they aired an amazing two part documentary called "The Hurried Infant". Fascinating work on the brain, confirms so much of what CM said.

Today, at 12:00 on the Science show they will be discussing the importance of play. I haven't heard it yet so don't know what it will be like but I thought you might like to listen...

Here Sandy gave the link to the CBC program Quirks and Quarks. The link doesn't actually pull up the broadcast, but I believe that this, too, would be available through iTunes podcasts. Sorry we didn't know about this early enough to get the info out to you before the show actually aired so you could listen to it as it was broadcast, but, I suppose, we can be thankful for the technology that allows us to listen to previously aired programs so easily.)

In Which Sandy Rusby Bell Gives Us Oodles of Links for Greek Myths, Fairy Tales, and Poetry

What a wonderful meeting last night. As always, the atmosphere in Karen's home was warm and welcoming. And the cake!! We have some amazing bakers in our midst.

Thank you Liz for leading the discussion about the Will. It was not an easy chapter but you explained it so well.

I promised to send out some recommended resources that relate to our practical discussion last night. Here they are.

(Note from Jennifer: All items in colour are hyperlinks that will take you to a new website. If you want to open it in a different tab and keep this blog open, right click on the link and select "Open link in new tab.")

To look more deeply at the “Instructors of Conscience” that we spoke about see Charlotte Masons 4th Volume “Ourselves”, specifically Chapters 12-15. If you don't own a copy you can find it free online here. There is also a wonderful paraphrase of the volume in Modern English here.


Greek Myths

I'm only going to mention my favourites. You can of course find more in our library. If you'd like to see what we have in our library, remember, you can scroll down the right hand side of this blog and find a link to a “Keep and Share” document with a listing of our library books.

I've included a link so you can have a look at each book.

Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff – This is my very favourite retelling of the Iliad. We have this in the WHHE library.

The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff- This continues the story describing, well, the wanderings of Odysseus!

Jim Weiss storytelling CDs: The Greek Myths and He and She Adventures in Mythology and Heroes in Mythology (which I forgot to mention last night).

The Heroes by Charles Kingsley. You can also read The Heroes free online .

Tanglewood Tales and The Wonderbook by Nathaniel Hawthorne -As I mentioned, I particularly like these books for after the student already has some familiarity with the myths. Hawthorne plays with the stories and makes some funny changes that kids love to be able to catch. Tanglewood Tales can be read free here. You can see the book and reviews here.

I don't think A Wonderbook for Girls and Boys is in the public domain yet, weird! But you can see it here.

Greek Myths by Olivia Coolidge. Woo Hoo! Last time I looked this book was out of print. It's expensive but at least it's available again.

Mythology by Edith Hamilton. This is a standard University text and is suitable for high school students. It has virtually all the “important” myths and very helpful explanations. “The Introduction to Classical Mythology” section is worth the price of the book (especially if you find it a library discard sale for a quarter as I did!).


Fairy Tales

In case you weren't convinced last night, or even if you were, please read the beautiful, beautiful blog post by Lori Lawing called “The Shout of a King”

Jim Weiss Storytelling CDs:
Best Loved Stories in Song and Dance
Fairytale Favorites in Song and Dance
Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes
Famously Funny!
Tell me a Story!
If you've never listened to Jim Weiss's stories, watch out, they're addictive!

I mentioned that I wrote a blog post about the moral imperative of developing imagination in our children. It is called, to my children's horror, “Naked and Blue at My Back Door”. You can read it here. (And I'd love it if you'd leave comments, hint, hint.)

Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book is the one with “Beauty and The Beast”. It can be read free here. Make sure you scroll down, when you first click on the page it looks like you can only purchase it. The Red Fairy Book is also available free here. We have some from this series in our library. I found this Wikipedia article about Lang's books very helpful:


Poetry

Remember there are two components to this: poetry reading and poetry memorization.

For Poetry Reading

I showed the “Poetry for Young People” series. You can see the the Robert Frost book here: You'll also see links to others in the series. We have several of these in our library.

We have a great selection of Poetry books in our library.

The Grammar of Poetry is wonderful for late elementary or early high school.

The Roar on the Other Side is also for late elementary or high school. It's probably best after The Grammar of Poetry.

For Poetry Memorization

I wrote a blog post on Composition for ChildLight USA. In it I discuss the importance of poetry memorization for writing skills. I refer to the article “One Myth, Two Truths” by Andrew Pudewa. Important stuff.

I recommend Pudewa's program “Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization”. It is pricey and not necessary. It has been tremendously helpful for me though. We actually do poetry memorization now. We have this in our library.

Unfortunately we ran out of time last night and we weren't able to discuss how Charlotte Mason actually did poetry memorization. It is quite different than you might expect. This article, “Memorization “Learnt without Labour” by Tina Fillmer explains it nicely. Jennifer has written well about her family's experience on her blog. Click on the 'memorization' topic on the left.

Whew, I hope I haven't missed anything!

May I just say that I came home so excited and energized last night. I am inspired by all of you incredible women. I look forward to hearing all of your insightful contributions every month. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. Every one of you is a gift.

I look forward to hearing about the High School breakout session last night. Please send us a note.

Warmly,
Sandy Rusby Bell

A New Method of Narration

Narration is a key component of a Charlotte Mason education. It is the process by which the student learns the content of whatever she reads, hears, or observes. Sometimes people mistake it as a method of evaluation: a chance for the teacher to see whether the student learned the material. But it is not intended to be that. Charlotte taught that by narrating the student makes the material her own, and that a lesson not narrated is a lesson wasted.

So we narrate. A lot. And sometimes the children get tired of it, wanting to do things differently. In a CM school, all children had to be prepared to narrate after any section of reading, but only one was selected to do so. In our CM home school, there is often only one student, and she gets tired of always being the one chosen to narrate. To mix things up a bit I will sometimes narrate, but mostly it is My Girl doing the narrations. There are the times when Little Man is part of the lesson, and he will have a turn to narrate, as well. On those occasions, I have often received less than thrilled glances from My Girl when I once again call on her to narrate, having her bear the bulk of the narration responsibility.

We've been reading the Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book 5, as part of our Creation studies all year. Little Man is usually a part of the reading, and I was typically reading the passage and selecting a student to narrate each passage. Occasionally My Girl would read the passage, and I would sometimes take a turn narrating. It was going all right. But not great.

Last week we tried something different.

The three of us sat on the couch in the living room, I showed them a regular die from one of our board games, and I explained the process:

An even number rolled before a reading meant that My Girl would read. Odd would mean I would read.

An even number rolled before a narration meant that My Girl would narrate. Odd would mean that Little Man or I would narrate, alternating turns.

Suddenly the whole process became exciting! Both children were attending with more care to the passage being read, and the narrations I received from both of them were better than I'd ever had with this book! And, I was no longer the 'bad guy', picking who would narrate, favouring one over the other. Nope, it was all in the hands of the die. In fact, one day the die was definitely biased and picking My Girl constantly to read AND narrate, so, when I rolled a 4, I thought I'd try to give her a break and rolled again. I rolled another 4. I rolled again. I rolled a 6. At that point we were all laughing and My Girl said, "I guess I really have to do this one, too," and off she went, narrating beautifully!

It was a simple change. It'll probably work for a while and then we'll have to try something else again. But for now I am content. And thankful. And pleased with the Ones I Love. They really are terrific students!

Flesh and Blood - an article by Art Middlekauff

There is a new post entitled "Flesh and Blood" on the ChildLight USA blog. Art Middlekauff looks at what Charlotte Mason believed about the natural and supernatural process of sanctification. This is something that is foundational to her philosophy of who children are, yet it is often misunderstood because many of us interpret her perspective from her writings about education and not from her writings on the human soul.

My little introduction here is for no other purpose than to encourage you to read Art's post. It is, as is characteristic of Art, thoughtful, respectful, and insightful.

Knowing Deeply - The Act of Knowing

Sometimes I wonder if I'm 'in my head' too much. And other times (like recently) I avoid thinking deeply because I know that the time commitment and emotional energy required of it is more than I have available. But those times of avoidance are times when, in addition to not thinking deeply, I'm not living deeply. Things are happening around me, I'm reading good books, listening to interesting lectures, sermons, etc., but I'm an observer, and they aren't sinking into the depths of me. As a result, those interesting conversations, etc., don't stay with me: I can't remember much of them within a day or two, and they aren't changing me the way I thought they might when I was first listening or observing.

Why does that happen? Why can't I recall those things that really did seem significant when I heard them? What does it take to make something 'my own'?

Charlotte Mason would likely say that the very fact that I didn't make it my own was the reason that I couldn't recall it, the reason it didn't change me. It was like a lovely dish placed before me at a buffet, but not partaken of: I only looked at it while someone else enjoyed it.

Here's what Charlotte Mason has to say about how we acquire knowledge:

Knowledge is that which we know; and the learner knows only by a definite act of knowing which he performs for himself... (Vol 6 p. 255)

The mind refuses to know anything except what reaches it in more or less literary form...Persons can 'get up' the driest of pulverised text-books and enough mathematics for some public examination; but these attainments do not appear to touch the region of the mind. (Vol. 6 p. 256)

I've seen this phenomenon; perhaps you have, too:

One day, as we walked into an examination room while undergrads at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Education, one of my fellow students was cautiously maintaining a safe buffer area around himself. His arms were stiffly bent before him, his head posed immobile upon his neck. "Don't bump me," he said now and again. His fear? All that he had crammed into his head the night before would be dislodged and forever lost. He hadn't made the knowledge his own. It was still someone else's knowledge, precariously balanced on his mind until the exam was done, after which it would no longer be there.

How do we make it our own? How is information received transformed into knowledge that impacts?

Charlotte Mason says that for anyone, child or adult, brilliant or slow, rich or poor, there is but one main act of knowing: Narration. Telling back what has been read or heard or seen.

Now this art of telling back if Education and is very enriching. We all practise it, we go over in our minds the points of a conversation, a lecture, a sermon, an article, and we are so made that only those ideas and arguments which we go over are we able to retain. Desultory reading or hearing is entertaining and refreshing, but is only educative here and there as our attention is strongly arrested. Further, we not only retain but realise, understand, what we thus go over. Each incident stands out, every phrase acquires new force, each link in the argument if riveted, in fact we have performed THE ACT OF KNOWING, and that which we have read, or heard, becomes a part of ourselves, it is assimilated after the due rejection of waste matter...We realise that there is an act of knowing to be performed; that no one can know without this act, that it must be self-performed, that it is as agreeable and natural to the average child or man as singing is to the song thrush, that "to know" is indeed a natural function. (Vol 6 p. 292)

I love these words! I love to think about how natural this is to humans, to have the words and ideas we come upon sink into our lives through narration, through journaling, through analysis and conversation.

So I'm going to just spend some time thinking on all this, seeing how I can get out of the shallow place I've been for a while and move back into the depths of knowledge. God has so much for me - I don't want to waste another minute!

The Science of Relations

These are the quotes I promised:

We consider that education is the science of relations, or more fully, that education considers what relations are proper to a human being, and in what ways these several relations can best be established; that a human being comes into the world with capacity for many relations; and that we, for our part, have two chief concerns - first, to put him in the way of forming these relations by presenting the right idea at the right time, and by forming the right habit upon the right idea; and, secondly, by not getting in the way and so preventing the establishment of the very relations we seek to form. (p. 64-65)

And this:

Half the teaching one hears and sees is more of less obtrusive. The oral lesson and the lecture, with their accompanying notes, give very little scope for the establishment of relations with great minds and various minds. (p. 65)

And this:

What we are concerned with is the fact that we personally have relations with all that there is in the present, all that there has been in the past, and all that there will be in the future - with all above us and all about us - and that fullness of living, expansion, expression, and serviceableness, for each of us, depend upon how far we apprehend these relationships and how many of them we lay hold of. (p. 185-186)

Not to forget this:

The idea that vivifies teaching in the Parents' Union is that Education is the Science of Relations; by which phrase we mean that children come into the world with a natural 'appetency,' to use Coleridge's word, for, and affinity with, all the material of knowledge; for interest in the heroic past and in the age of myths; for a desire to know about everything that moves and lives, about strange places and strange peoples; for a wish to handle material and to make; a desire to run and ride and row and do whatever the law of gravitation permits. Therefore we do not feel it is lawful in the early days of a child's life to select certain subjects for his education to the exclusion of others; to say he shall not learn Latin, for example, or shall not learn Science; but we endeavour that he shall have relations of pleasure and intimacy established with as many as possible of the interests proper to him; not learning a slight or incomplete smattering about this or that subject, but plunging into vital knowledge, with a great field before him which in all his life he will not be able to explore. In this conception we get that 'touch of emotion' which vivifies knowledge, for it is probable that we feel only as we are brought into our proper vital relations. (p. 222-223)

Charlotte Mason has much to say about the Science of Relations, and how education is achieved through the student developing those relations for him or herself, rather than having the teacher interpret things for the student.

Some day I'll write more of my own thoughts about this, but for now, enjoy Charlotte's words.

All quotations in this post are from School Education by Charlotte M. Mason, volume 3 in her 6 volume series on education, which you can read online.

It's My Party

Last night I attended a meeting of the Whole Hearted Home Educators, a group of women from throughout SW Ontario who meet every six weeks to discuss the principles of education written by Charlotte Mason and ways to implement those principles on our own home schools.

The first portion of the evening was spent talking about Education as the Science of Relations, how it's not really 'how much children know' that matters as 'how many things they care about' because the things they care about are the things they will continue to learn about through life. (I haven't put that nearly as beautifully as Charlotte Mason does, nor as nicely as it was described by several women last night, but I'll see if I can get a terrific quote about the Science of Relations for a future post).

During that discussion, my friend Christine, host of The Real Life Home blog, painted a word picture which I've been mulling over ever since. She described home school (or education in general, as CM saw it) as a party which she is hosting and has invited guests to attend. Her guests include her children/students and the subject areas/books/authors/historical figures which make up the 'content' of the school. It is the role of the hostess at any party to make sure that the guests meet each other, and to ensure that those guests who have like interests are directed toward each other in particular.

I liked the image that brought to my mind's eye - my specially chosen temporary guests (living books of biography, history, literature, poetry, and historical fiction, even math and copywork) each with a wealth of insight to share, stories to tell, friendship to offer to my other guests, those who I have chosen for life; guests circulating through my home, available and ready to offer companionship and confidences; myself making introductions between them, drawing out details from one which will engage the other so that I can move on and make other guests feel at home.

A good hostess doesn't dominate the conversation, interpret one guest's comments for another, interrupt with her own thoughts on topics which her guests are more qualified to speak. She steps aside and lets the guests determine the direction of their relationship on their own. In the same way, a good teacher doesn't get in the way between the living books and the students, but allows the students to interact with the books at their own level of need and interpretation, trusting the Holy Spirit, the Giver of all knowledge and wisdom, to provide the right combination at the right time.

The party isn't about me. It's about my guests, about broad introductions leading to lasting relationships. That is, to me, a lovely parallel picture of a liberal education, the kind of education we are trying to achieve in our home.

Notes for a Talk on Nature Study at WHHE Meeting

Tonight two sweet friends and I led the application portion of our Charlotte Mason study group meeting. We were asked to speak about Nature Study and to teach the dry-brush technique that we had learned at the ChildLight USA conference in June. What follow are portions of my notes from my part of that talk.

Nature Study

As the we were preparing this section of the meeting, we were struck by how much Karen Andreola’s chapters [33-35 in A Charlotte Mason Companion] reminded us of a session on Nature Study that S. and I attended at the ChildLight USA conference in June, led by Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins, mother and daughter nature study teachers at a CM school in the south. So as I talk about these chapters, I’d like to weave in things from the Dobbinses, leading up to S's instruction in a dry-brush watercolour exercise that we experienced at the conference.

First of all, why do we do Nature Study? Karen says that in a Charlotte Mason education, there are two main reasons.

The first is that it establishes a relationship between a person and creation. On page 255, Karen quotes Charlotte Mason:

"We are all meant to be naturalists, each to his own degree, and it is
inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and
to care for none of these things."

Volume 1: Home Education, Page 61

And the second reason is because it points us to the Creator. Karen quotes Audubon, also on page 255, to illustrate this:

"When I had hardly learned to walk, and to articulate those first words always so endearing to parents, the productions of nature that hay spread all around were constantly pointed out to me. . . My father generally accompanied my steps, procured bird and flowers for me, and pointed out the elegant movements of the former, the beauty and softness of their plumage, the manifestations of their pleasure, or their sense of danger, and the always perfect forms and splendid attire of the latter. He would speak of the departure and return of the birds with the season, describe their haunts, and, more wonderful than all, their change of livery, thus exciting me to study them, and to raise my mind toward their Creator."

John James Audubon quoted in A Charlotte Mason Companion by
Karen Andreola, page 255

Always looking at the creation and the Creator, nature study is not inteneded to be intense scientific investigation but to build a relationship between the student and the one (or One) being observed.

The next question becomes HOW? How do we do nature study?

Sometimes it comes about informally, as you’re going for a walk to friends and one of the children sees a bird, or an insect, or a leaf skeleton along the sidewalk. Take a moment or two, observe it, and when you get home, try to describe it and locate it in a field guide or draw it in a nature journal.

Karen’s book has lots of suggestions for small nature study projects that you can do with your children whether you are in town or country. Chapters 34 and 35 are full of ideas. A key element in each one, though, is the Nature Journal. It is here that observations are recorded – dated entries that include drawings, poetry or prose, personal reflections about the item being journalled. This is simply a book, any kind will do, really, as Karen tells us in chapter 33: blank or lined, hard bound or soft cover; Karen even says that small children might prefer to work on loose paper and mount only the entries they choose to keep into their notebooks.

We have kept nature notebooks sporadically since my oldest was about 5, and you can look at my family’s samples as well as S and L’s after the meeting (note for blog - you can see some of our samples by looking at the Nature Study topic here at PeaceLedge. L's are posted at "the world as we see it". I'll see if S will offer photos or a links for hers). These things do become treasures to the children over time. They see how their observation skills are expanding, and how their ability to accurately represent what they observe is growing, too.

You’ve heard me use the word observation many times already. Well, Karen points out in her first paragraph on page 253, the importance of observation when it comes to nature. Observation is how we come to know the natural world, how we come to care about it. Without observation there is no chance of a relationship.

I found this passage written by Charlotte Mason:

"In Science, or rather, nature study, we attach great importance to recognition, believing that the power to recognise and name a plant or stone or constellation involves classification and includes a good deal of knowledge. To know a plant by its gesture and habitat, its time and its way of flowering and fruiting; a bird by its flight and song and its times of coming and going; to know when, year after year, you may come upon the redstart and the pied fly-catcher, means a good deal of interested observation, and of, at any rate, the material for science.... They notice for themselves, and the teacher gives a name or other information as it is asked for, and it is surprising what a range of knowledge a child of nine or ten acquires."

Volume 3: School Education, page 236

Do you see the emphasis on observation, of accumulation of visual details which get sorted, collated, arranged, and categorized by the children on their own? This is the ‘common knowledge’ that precedes science teaching – and continues alongside it. This was something emphasized by Deborah and HollyAnne. They would take their students to the location they had selected for observation, and each student would choose a specimen. Then the students would return to their seats (or, if the whole class period was being held out of doors, they’d find a spot to sit) and they would silently investigate their specimen for a full minute. They would carefully turn their flower, looking at it from every angle, seeing what they could discover about it, handling it gently so as to preserve its beauty.

After that minute of observation, they would tell a partner what they had seen. During this time, the student listening was required to remain silent and attentive – his turn to share would come. It was amazing when we did this in the workshop, the number of details that our partners came up with that we hadn’t – and vice versa. There is a world of beauty and detail in each specimen, just waiting to be discovered!

I want to quickly add that Nature walks and nature journaling are not Science instruction time.
Charlotte writes in volume 3:

"The teachers are careful not to make these nature walks an opportunity for scientific instruction, as we wish the children’s attention to be given to observation with very little direction. In this way they lay up that store of ‘common information’ which Huxley considered should precede science teaching; and, what is much more important, they learn to know and delight in natural objects as in the familiar faces of friends. The nature-walk should not be made the occasion to import a sort of Tit-Bits miscellany of scientific information. The study of science should be pursued in an ordered sequence, which is not possible or desirable in a walk."

Volume 3: School Education, page 237

Nature study is a gentle time, a calm time of observing creation, and having our eyes raised to the Creator.

We want to give you an opportunity to try the dry-brush technique that we learned from the Dobbinses in June. I had been very intimidated about entries in our nature journals – I’m not an artist, our pictures were poor representations of the specimens we were choosing, and painting? Well, painting sounded like a lot of effort, so we stuck to pencil, pencil crayons, even going as far as watercolour pencils and crayons, but sometimes not even adding the water afterward! I wanted to try it, and having done it in the workshop I realized how very accessible it is. We considered demonstrating it only or having an opportunity to try it after the meeting if people chose to, but felt that the greatest benefit would be in trying it yourselves, seeing how easily it can be done.

A couple of things to keep in mind are that ideally the students should be silent during the dry-brush time. This is a time for quiet work – observing, reproducing. Sometimes the Deborah and HollyAnne play soft music, other times there is complete silence. When the painting is done out of doors, the sounds of the environment naturally provide the backdrop.
The children’s work is not to be criticized or corrected, although using a step-by-step method to label the drawings, and so on, will encourage careful work and accuracy.

Always remember that the goal of this exercise is observation and a greater reverence for the Creator, not perfect representation of the specimen. If we wanted that, we’d take a photograph, and even that wouldn’t be perfect. No, the point is that the children spend time looking, learning to love what they see and the One Who made it.

For more on the Nature Study topic at the WHHE meeting, including S's notes about dry-brush technique, visit the post on the WHHE blog. Those items will be posted in a couple of days.

Deani's Research Trip to Ambleside

This summer Deani and a handful of other CM researchers spent time at the Armitt in Ambleside. It's true! Deani was there!

You are all invited to read about the time she spent there and to view the stunning pictures of the Ambleside environs on the ChildLight USA blog. This is a direct link to her post and from that post you can read previous posts on the ChildLight blog. There's a treasure of knowledge and encouragement there!

Welcome home, Deani! Pack me in your suitcase next time - although I probably weigh more than a printer/scanner/computer/recording device all put together. Hmmm. But, then again, I'd help you carry your bags once we arrived!

A Dangerous Adventure by Art in Kenosha

If you haven't done so yet, please read Art's article on the ChildLight USA weblog. It is a beautiful description of the unity of life, the lack of separation between life and education, of the transforming power of a living education. It is powerful.

This blog will be quiet for a while. I'm off to Colorado for 2 1/2 weeks and am so far the only one with access. See you again in mid-August. Jennifer

There is no separation between life and education

Before I tuck my self into bed for my last sleep at home, I want to direct your attention to Art's article on the ChildLight USA site. His is a beautiful piece of writing, inspiring me to see the unity in life, the way that, while we try to compartmentalize, life spills from one container to another, and a living education causes our lives to overflow with the beauty that God has written into each stroke. Okay, I'm mixing metaphors terribly, but you can read the real beauty yourself if you hop over to ChildLight USA.

Good night!

We Talk Much and Watch Little

"...but how interesting and amusing it would all be were it not for the tendencies which, in these days, we talk much about and watch little against. We bring up our children in the easiest, happy-go-lucky way, and all the time talk solemnly in big words about the momentous importance of every influence brought to bear upon them." -- Charlotte Mason. "Inconstant Kitty." Volume 5: Formation of
Character. Page 28.

Could this not have been written today and not 100 years ago? Could it not have been written about me?

I am so stricken by the words "talk much about and watch little against." This is me. At my worst, true, but also at my most typical. I love philosophy, theory, ideals, and deep conversation about ideas...But the tasks called forth by those ideas, following through on those ideals, those are a challenge to me. They are hard work, those tasks. But how can I compare the worth and the cost of the task when they are weighed in terms of the formation of character of the Ones I Love? I want to see the end result of good parenting, of development of strong habits, of thoughtful education. But the day to day effort is wanting. And the harvest of my slothful sowing and tending is beginning to come in.

Is it ever too late to cultivate those habits and attitudes in our children which we want to see blossom in adulthood? Those measures of self-control, the heeding of the Spirit?

Lord, grant that I would not grow weary. Forgive my inattentiveness, the lip-service I've paid to the ideals. Transform me, step by step, habit by habit. Wash me in Grace. Strengthen me for the long walk with The Ones I Love.

Feasting on Ideas: Reflections on the 2008 ChildLight USA Conference - by Sandy Moore

Have you ever gone to some fantastic buffet restaurant and stood perplexed in front of all the amazing and diverse dishes, feeling somewhat intimidated with all the choices? I must admit that at first glance of the ChildLight USA conference schedule I felt somewhat overwhelmed at the depth and richness of the topics and workshops available to partake in. Truly this was a feast spread before us, but the food all looked so good and so tempting how was one ever to choose between the various forms of nourishment available? I felt a little like a kid in a candy shop! Here I was in a CM educators' paradise and I was paralyzed to know where to begin!

My first choice of breakout session, “Education is a Discipline” (all about habit formation) launched me into a fantastic few days of inspiration, learning, fellowship and reflection. It was not long before I realized that no choice was a bad one...each discussion, each plenary session, and even the informal meal time chats were opportunities to be inspired and make connections, to be affirmed in my vocation as a home educator and my calling as a mom. Of course I did not understand every definition, idea, or concept presented and at times I had to laugh at myself wishing I had my dictionary in tow to look up some heady term like epistemology or pedagogy. But for the most part I was in my element, a land of plenty, flowing with milk and honey.

One particular session I have been reflecting upon since returning home was the session entitled “On Parallel Tracks: Mason and Vygotsky” by Tammy Glaser. I almost skipped this session as it fell on the last morning and I was feeling rather sleepy (having indulged in more than one late night chat session). I was also feeling rather cranky about having to wrap my brain around the many unfamiliar terms I had glanced at in the session summary of our handbook. Words like "scaffolding”, “parallel tracks”, “zones of proximal development”, and “Vygotsky" (who the heck was he anyway?) seemed to dampen my enthusiasm for attending this lecture, but at the last moment I sauntered into the hall figuring I had come this far and even if I picked up a couple of good points it would be better than having to pack my suitcase (which is what I would have done otherwise).

It turned out to be the pivotal lecture of the whole conference for me and I almost missed it! You know it reminds me of the times when I ask my dear husband to get some condiment or other from the fridge and he stands there with the door open looking puzzled: “I just can’t find it,” or, “It’s not here,” the familiar refrain followed by my typical, “What then is this?” as I lift the desired item from right in front of his nose.

For some reason I hadn’t seen it before but this lecture, and the points outlined within it, had the effect of turning on the lights for me. From Behaviourism to Relationships… that’s it! That is what all of my efforts at creating an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life are all about. And now Tammy Glaser was able to show me real, practical ways to actually put this into action. Scaffolded learning went from being a vague undefined mysterious concept to a solid framework of real-time tools that I can use "today" to help my young learners engage in the educational process in an emotionally healthy way. Terms like Dialog, Shared Understanding, Joint Problem solving, the Zone, and Self Regulation suddenly took on new meaning for me. These are not just abstract ideas but the keys to unlocking a healthy educational life that does not depend on the behaviouristic techniques of drill, reward, and punishment. Now this was something I really needed to hear and really needed to absorb. Oh, yes, these ideas are not new to my thinking but the implementation strategy has always been rather vague for me: How do we actually move from Behaviourism to Relationships? How do we know we are really doing this? Which techniques are best? I needed someone to lay them out side by side like Tammy did and point the way. This is the essence of our efforts as CM educators: building an educational process that is vibrant and living without external pressures and artificial expectations.

I feel equipped now and much more confident...sort of like my kitchen cabinets have all been cleaned and organized and I am ready to try out some new recipes. Indeed the educational life is like a feast and these ideas have been nourishment to my soul. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to taste and I will continue to digest this food for many weeks to come. As always a good meal is better shared and I can't wait to hear how others have been nourished as well.

( Editorial note: We look forward to a series of reflections on the ChildLight USA CM Conference in Boiling Springs, NC. Thank you, Sandy Moore, for pulling together the first post. We invite all you you to come back again later to see the other posts as they are added.)

Nature Study at ChildLight USA

This is the first in a series of planned posts about the ChildLight USA Charlotte Mason Conference. I was away from home for six days last week attending the 4th Annual conference in Boiling Springs, NC, and it was a fantastic time. It could take months, maybe even years, to be able to process all that I heard and was encouraged with, the conference was so full! The Lord certainly used it as a time to bless me in my home education as well as in my friendships and vision for a greater movement in home education.

Although there was so much to experience, it is obvious to me that my first post on the conference should be about Nature Study. That is what my thoughts have turned to over and over the past months, and it seems that God filled a need for me in this regard at ChildLight USA.

Two lovely women from Georgia, Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins, teach the grade one and two Nature Study classes at a Perimeter School, a Charlotte Mason school in Duluth, and they shared their practices and techniques for NS with home and school educators. Following are some of the things that resonated in my heart as they spoke and demonstrated:

• Nature Study is a way to honour and glorify God - observing the details, patterns, colours, and beauty that He has put into creation, sometimes in a very hidden way, honours Him.
• Nature Study is not about doing a perfect watercolour reproduction.
• Observation takes practice, and is more easily learned in a quiet environment.
• Careful work in labelling a Nature Journal is not only a way to reinforce language skills such as penmanship, it is also a way to reflect the beauty and order of creation.
• Watercolour entries in Nature Journals don't involve a lot of mess or effort on the part of the teacher, but they yield a beautiful result, even with inexperienced watercolourers whose work is beautiful in its combination of simplicity in execution and insight.

This breakout session was a highlight for me. I have, for a long time, wanted to be able to use watercolours effectively in my own nature journal and to be able to give instruction to my children as well. The Dobbinses gave me what I longed for: clear, concise instruction and an opportunity to actually DO IT in a setting where there was support. Here is my first ever watercolour entry in my nature journal. It is a Pansy Viola Wittrockiana, and I loved every minute of observation and execution of this work!



I was so excited about the watercolour technique and the success that I'd had, that on my first day back home after the conference, I took the children for a little nature walk to our front garden and asked them each to choose a pansy to study. Once back inside, we used the Dobbinses' procedure of silent observation of the specimen for one minutes followed by a time of sharing about the specimens by each child. Then we got out the paints. I gave some basic instructions for technique and then we began. It was a tremendous experience, and here are their results:

My Girl's pansy done in watercolour. She is quite insecure about her abilities in art, and this was a huge success for her. We were both impressed with her results and she's eager to try again!

Little Man's pansy done in watercolour. This fellow actually did two paintings. The first time he thought that the illustration wasn't colourful enough, so he began adding extra colours. I admired his painting and then explained that when we do a Nature Study picture, we want to show what God has put there for us to see. The colours he added to his first painting were beautiful, but it didn't show the pansy as God had made it. His first reaction was "my pansy is bad." But after a moment of talking together, he realized that he'd done a lovely painting, and now he could try and make one that looked like what he saw. He eagerly picked up his brush and returned to work, completing the second painting above. I think it is lovely!

Brown-Eyed Boy's watercolour pansy. This fellow loved loading his brush and blending colours. I'm glad he enjoyed the experience even with the rest of us continually asking him to stop mixing the colours on the paint tablets themselves!

I'm looking forward to sharing more about the conference: Shakespeare, plenary sessions on "Moving from Reward to Relationship", Charlotte Mason in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and just some reflections from the week.

Come Visit the Whole Hearted Home Educators - Canada blog

It's been a busy week. You can read my post on the Whole Hearted Home Educators meeting and discussion of Charlotte Mason's Volume 2, Parents and Children over here at the WHHE blog that's just been started. Hope you'll visit often.