Posted in Charlotte Mason - general

I have been reading and reading some of these websites as I have been making our plans for next year. The more I read about a CM education, the more I love it! I would consider it a "gentle" education, much like our FIAR experience. I still want to use FIAR, but I've begun implementing some of Ms. Mason's ideas as well. I thought I would share some of the links I have enjoyed here. If I can ever figure out how to "personalize" my blog I'll add a list of homeschooling favorite links to the side.

Anyway, some of the things that jump out at me at the moment are: nature journaling and just being in NATURE as much as possible. Charlotte recommends going outside a little bit everyday, even if the weather isn't great. She recommends having your child try to draw pictures in a nature journal of anything and everything. I have been doing that with my girls this year and they love it! I will have to post some of their drawings later.

I also love that Charlotte is against using textbooks. I hadn't thought about this subject much before becoming a homeschooler but now I just want to applaud loudly to this kind of education. She recommends reading LOTS of GOOD books to your child...and there is a wonderful list that I will post of books to read with your child according to their age level. She calls these "living" books. They aren't "twaddle" which is "dumb" books that have no storyline, meaning or the little character books you see a lot of these days. I, myself, am an avid reader...therefore I love having a literature based education for my children. What better way to teach them to read than to instill a LOVE for books from the very earliest moment possible!

Well, I will quit my rambling and list some of her sites...there are much better explanations out there than I can give.

Here is the list for year "0" which would be considered Kindergarten now.

http://amblesideonline.org/00.shtml

An introduction to CM.

http://amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml

The ABC's of Charlotte Mason.

http://bushnell.net/~peanuts/faq1.html

Penny Gardner's website.

http://www.pennygardner.com/

You should also take a peek at the blog listed in my links section for Elizabeth Foss. What a wonderfully encouraging mother! She has also written a book called Real Learning that I hope to read soon.

Happy reading!