Charlotte Mason

I've been looking into Charlotte Mason's theory on Education the past few weeks. So far, it looks great. Funny that just when I think I am alone in my thinking, I find out it is already a "movement" among others. When my sons were born, my husband and I raised them as we saw most fit and most comfortable for us. We did things very strange...like pick them up when they cried, every time, sleep with them so that they weren't scared at night, never let them cry themselves to sleep, etc. It turns out that is called Attachment Parenting! Crazy!

I didn't want to send my boys off to school when they turned five, so I started finding a way to get around it. It turns out it is called homeschooling and is very popular in our area. As for how, it looked easy enough to continue teaching my children the way we did when they were babies, talk to them, answer their questions, read to them above their level, show them the world around them, follow them, and answer their questions. It turns out there is a theory for that too! Some of the things I've found in Charlotte Mason's ideas are things that were not fitting into our "schooling" the way I was doing them. They were things from my school life that I was trying to make fit into our new ways and it was not working.

So here I am with a ton of books and website, taking notes, and making models. I've already begun working on the boys' narration a little at a time. We have always read to the boys, a lot. Now I ask them more questions about it and they have tons of answers. I also have started a nature journal of my own. This is going with the same reasoning as how we got the boys interested in books. We love to read and they always want to do what we do.

The boys both wanted to take a break from their "school" during the summer, like their half sister does from public school. So I have plenty of time to keep reading, researching, and making plans. I think this will be a great fit for us. I had first thought that I would buy a set up lesson plan and books from someone. Now I'm realizing that with a little extra effort, I can do this myself. Sounds like fun!