What does a Charlotte Mason education truly look like in execution? Here's a peek into our home, whereby I do strive to recreate the beauty and thoughtfulness and rigor of a home education saturated in living books, habits, narration, ordered mathematics, and reverence for God and beauty at every turn.
Rather than posting a chart of our days {yes, we use charts and lists ... we are tightly organized *so that* our days are short but brimming with learning} I thought you might like to look into each of our four "academic" days. On our fifth day, we catch up, read, sew, practice home making, study the Bible, take long walks, visit the library, cook a special meal that brings our geography to life, clean house ... live.
*family gathering with gratitude, one principle thing, poetry, and singing hymns or folk songs
*main lessons of reading, writing, math, and independent Ambleside reading
*family gathering with read alouds, scripture and poetry memory, Latin or habit training
*lunch
*masterly inactivity {free reading, games, puzzles, handicrafts}
*tea time & Bible study
*outdoors & chores
*bedtime read alouds
Day one is our history day. This may be our favorite day because of Our Island Story by HE Marshall ... what is it about this book that truly sets it high above other children's literature? If you are grappling with what Charlotte Mason meant by a living book, read this and you will fully understand.
I read aloud from Our Island Story, which is our "one principle thing" on day one, or we listen to an audio version, and we all take turns narrating, even me. Awesome mental aerobics for this old mama and reminds me of the compassion I must always keep close with my children since narration is no easy feat and my children have all been narrating from the time they begin school.
We also read poetry from AA Milne and William Blake and we sing every morning. The hymn we are singing this month is one of our favorites ... the story behind it is so nostalgic and meaningful. So, the first 30 minutes of our day is full of gratitude, poetry, singing, and on this day, history reading ... kings, queens, castles, battles, chivalry ... lovely times.
We try to always get outside after this, even for only 20 minutes, to briskly walk and get some fresh air. If the weather is too cold we use Yoga Pretzels from Barefoot Books. A must with two little boys!
After main lessons with each child individually, we come together again for literature, recitation, and language or habits.
Our family read aloud is currently The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. We are reading these gems in the order in which Lewis wrote them, not in the order in which they were set by the publisher. On the days we don't read from Narnia we read from My Book House by Olive Beaupre Miller. Have you seen these? Oh my goodness, a dream investment that I'll write more on another time. Back to Narnia ... as if the genius of Lewis were not enough, we have enriched our study of Narnia with Ditchfield's A Family Guide to Narnia. Truly, a cozy and Christian perspective on these books. A must read alongside Lewis. And, the companion is just plain good fun to dig deeper into the "magical world" of Aslan and the White Witch and the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve ... we all eagerly await our Narnia time each day.
Today we will work on our memory of Psalm 23. They spent the first six weeks of the term memorizing and studying Psalm 1. We simply read and reread and discuss the Psalm and it's not surprising how quickly we all memorize the lines.
Onto Latin before lunch as well ... we use Getting Started with Latin and *we* love love love it. I studied four years of Latin in college so I am very comfortable with speaking and reading Latin, which I don't think is a necessity at all for using GSWL. Linney's approach is precisely how Charlotte Mason would have taught language ... orally first and with short, intentional lessons. We spend 10-15 minutes twice per week on Latin. Over the summer my girls listened to Carry On, Mr Bowditch by Latham and became completely enthralled with how Nat Bowdich was self educated and propelled himself forward as a scholar through reading and copywork ... ehem, rings true for my little Charlotte Mason-ers. I gathered up some decomposition books and Winnie the Pooh in Latin and placed them within their reach, and voila, I find the girls copying Winnie Ille Pu in their free time. It's not something we check-off weekly, but it is a discipline that opens their minds to so many learned possibilities.
*History literature: at present, Arthur of Albion and a basket of gorgeous picture books
*Serl's Intermediate Language Lessons: today is a picture study and storytelling of said picture
*Scripture copywork
*Life of Fred Elementary: finishing Edgewood
*Times Tales: multiplication facts practice
*History literature: Arthur of Albion, in addition to an exquisite picture book on St Francis of Assisi
*Scripture copywork
*Life of Fred Elementary: finishing Dogs
*xtramath.org: math facts for 5 minutes daily