When my eldest son started his first ‘formal’ year of homeschooling in January, we made some changes to our morning time together. While we already had the habit of reading lovely stories and enjoying music together, I began to ask my son to narrate our ...
Customizing a Curriculum for my Charlotte Mason Homeschool
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 pr ...
How to Help a Homeschool Day Run Smoothly
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 a ...
Mothers are called to both authority and obedience.
Throughout high school and university, I acquired more than enough 'leadership experience’ to fill a resume. After all, teachers, professors, and counselors touted leadership as essential to any future success. But despite this emphasis on leading other ...
A mother’s character is not fixed. It is a work in progress.
I concluded in the last post that as moms, we need to rise to the challenge of continuing our own education. Mother culture, loosely defined, is time we spend seeking out and taking in those ideas, usually through reading living books. But like most liv ...
Mothers were born – and still are – persons.
I have always wanted to be a mom. The stay-at-home variety, like my own mother. Given this fact, you might assume that my first child brought me complete contentment. I imagine that you know better than to make this assumption. Indeed, I became a moth ...
The Truth About How Much Time Our Kids Should Spend Outside
In Home Education, Charlotte Mason famously (or perhaps infamously) says that children should spend four to six hours outside every day - a bit less in winter. Time and time again, I have seen parents respond in one of two ways. Some panic at the thought ...
Four Questions to Ask Yourself when Your Kids Don’t Listen
Raise your hand if you wish your kids would listen better. And by listen, you mean follow instructions and do what you ask. The first time. If your hand is in the air, then mine is waving right next to yours. Sit in our house long enough and you will ...
How to Troubleshoot a Habit when Habit Training isn’t Working
In a previous post, I set out my plans for incorporating habit training into our home. The mission was simple: have my kids get dressed before breakfast, setting us up for a day with more opportunities, less rushing, and generally more fun. I also ...
Using Your Home’s Atmosphere as an Educational Tool
Sometimes you leave someone else’s house and you know that they have something special. They’ve created a home where a visitor is never an inconvenience, where the mess your kids make is never any trouble, where you feel welcome, comfortable, and able to ...