I have always been passionate about
Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy.
She VALUED children, unlike most others of her era. It was a time when the mentality was *children are to be seen but not heard*. Charlotte believed in children and thought they had immense capabilities and great worth.
Copywork is part of the Charlotte Mason philosophy. A child keeps a notebook and copies a letter, word, quote, poem, or a line or passage from rich literature each day. Copywork is done instead of vocabulary drills, grammar exercises, random penmanship or spelling lists. Charlotte Mason felt that doing daily copywork exposed all of that to the children in a more pleasing and meaningful way.
Keeping a journal of favorite quotes, sayings, poems or lines from great books or movies, or anything else can be enjoyable to children as well as adults! My children have journals and I have journals.
I LOVE my journals!
It's fun for children to have many different materials to write with (colored pens, gel pens, colored pencils, thin markers, calligraphy pens, etc). They can even make their very own journal using many different papers and page protectors in a binder.
Stay tuned for my weekly posts titled
* WORDS* which will include sentences, quotes, poems, etc that you may want to use as copywork in your journals, or perhaps you just may want to read or talk about them.
You can do whatever works for YOU, whatever you enJOY.
Our first experiences in homeschooling was with a Charlotte Mason philosophy. I started a yahoo group CMinMA to share support with other like-minded families.
It wasn't too long that CM evolved into Unschooling for us.
Every family has to find the *right fit* for them and the leap to Unschooling made us happier, and life became more peaceful and joyful. That is not to say one cannot have peace and joy with CM , it's what works for each family. We are all unique.
The questions to ask are "Are we happy?" "Is my child happy?" Because if learning becomes drudgery, that is not happiness. Learning CAN be joyful ALL the time. Please know if there isn't happiness in your lives,with living and learning, you *can* make a change.
That being said, I am still passionate about CM to this day.
Her love of children, her love of nature , art , fine literature and living books is what I love the most. She believed in short lessons, and narration instead of short answer tests. "If you can tell if back you know it", she believed.
She believed in exposing the child to quality literature and poetry with its rich vocabulary from an early age. Read the original fairy tales and unabridged books not watered down books, "twaddle" she called them. Adapted books and Disney books come to mind.
Charlotte valued the earth and being OUTDOORS with children every day in all kinds of weather.
She thought children were such capable beings and they will take from it what they will
I believe that to this day. Children WILL take what they can from every experience they have and make connections over time
There are parts of the CM philosophy interwoven in our lives forever and we are so very grateful.
4 comments:
When we were a homeschooling family, I used to periodically re-read A Charlotte Mason Companion, just for inspiration. How nice it is to read your posts about homeschooling, though that is not our road at this time in our family experience. You may have noticed how I love quotes and poetry too, from reading my blog. I think I will really enjoy your "Word" posts!
Charlotte Mason had an amazing impact on our early homeschooling years. Much of what we gleened from her already existed in us and remains with us today such as a love of nature, developing and honing a keen sense of observation, and celebrating the sheer delight in a child by believing in them. Her words have been an inspiration to me all of our 10 year homeschooling journey.
Look forward to your WORDS posts!
Hi Aisling ~
That book is my most favorite. It's beat up and dog-eared.
In fact, I just loaned it to my oldest daughter as she starts her journey without school with her own small children.
She plans to unschool but that book is a absolute treasure and inspiration for anyone no matter what.
I hope you will like my WORD posts. I do love your blog... a definite kindred spirit :)
Hi Deb~
Yes, I think CM brought out much of what we already felt inside, that children do have value and that our connection with the natural world is of utmost importance. She helped us to further embrace it in more concrete ways.
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