Over the Christmas holiday I found You Need a Budget (h/t Rebecca from A Humble Place). I read the book, started my free trial on the app, and our family’s finances are on the fast track to better organization and stewardship. (FYI, those are referral links – if you click through and make a purchase,…
It’s that time of year. We are well into autumn, and your plans and schedule are making plain that you are either: Totally on track to finish your autumn term well. Waving a complete goodbye to the idea of a ‘strong finish’ and hoping that you can limp across the finish line and somehow find…
When we first start homeschooling, we rarely have the benefit of watching other people educate their children on a daily basis (unless, of course, we were home educated ourselves!). We pour over schedules, book lists, and examples of the homeschool days of other families. This can be helpful, but sometimes all the variety can be…
Not long after I started my first son on homeschool lessons, I shared my process for scheduling a term with Ambleside Online (a free, Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum). Since then, I’ve been through that process several more times and added another student into the mix. I know many moms wonder where to start with a…
Do we sometimes expect too much from our homeschooling curriculum? Obviously it’s important. A crucial part of the Charlotte Mason philosophy is to give our kids a broad and generous education. A curriculum certainly helps me make sure that we get the proportions right. But just because curriculum is a valuable tool, doesn’t mean that…
One part of Charlotte Mason homeschooling that I love is the inclusion of many riches. Artist study, composer study, and especially learning hymns and folk songs. These topics are not likely to ever appear on a standardized test, but in my opinion, they are essential to educating whole people. Despite the importance of beauty and…
I think my oldest son was around two years old when I bought our first ‘school book’. I needed to top up an Amazon order so that I could get free shipping, and they had a copy of Our Island Story in their warehouse deals. It’s been floating around our house for years now, only…
I’ve been doing a morning time routine with my kids for a few years now. After breakfast, we gather and enjoy music, poetry, and books together. Over that time, I’ve noticed one thing: morning time only runs smoothly when all of the books and resources are actually in the basket. Nothing derails morning time faster…
After a long time enjoying gentle and quiet early years, my six year old son has started more formal lessons. In a Charlotte Mason homeschool, providing a broad and generous curriculum is a huge priority. This begs the question: how do you fit it all in? The answer? A lot comes down to scheduling. In…