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.

ChildLight Charlotte Mason Conference 2009

June 10-13, 2009

ChildLight USA will be hosting the annual

Charlotte Mason Conference

at Gardner Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

This is an internationally attended conference with speakers from England, the United States, and Canada who are veritable experts on Charlotte Mason. All have spent a good part of their lives studying Charlotte Mason's writings, and each brings his or her own personal expertise to bear on the practical and philosophical aspects of a Charlotte Mason education, and, whether that experience be in educational psychology, school administration, curriculum planning and design, home education, or so much more, these speakers know how to bring life to a CM education.

One exciting thing about this conference is that it brings together home educators, school educators and administrators, and researchers on equal footing. Workshops are led by individuals of any background who are particularly specialized in the field on which they present. The mix of people attending and presenting is a wonderful cross section, bringing together all who are interested in a CM education without bias in any direction, be it home or school.

Another thing to note about the conference is the low price. This is a 4 day international conference being offered for $79 per person or family (early registration with a group of 3 or more). That is a great price for a conference of this calibre! Accommodation is reasonable ($25 or less per person per night) and a meal plan at the university dining hall is available, as well.

If you are interested in attending and want to have more information here are the links:

Conference General Information

Tentative Schedule

Registration Form

There are several people from our group already planning to attend. If you would like to associate your registration with ours in order to take advantage of the group rate, please email me (talsma at cyg dot net), and I'll make sure you are in the loop. If you'd like to have some specific feedback about previous conferences, you can email me about that, too, and I'll hook you up with someone who has attended and you can get more info that way.

Early registration is until April 30, but to make that deadline we'd need to have all the information in earlier than that.

Please take a look at the ChildLight website to find links to audio files of some of the workshops from previous years, too.