18 months ago I gave birth to twins. Those delightful blessings overflowed my arms and heart and set our world on a bit of a tilt. This summer I felt a bit like I was awaking from a long sleep. I found myself looking to bring some order to the chaos around me; needing to teach obedience to two toddling boys and refreshing the habit with my three older children. Alongside many other mothers, I found myself overwhelmed with the idea, trying and failing, feeling as though I was missing something. Then, quite by accident, while reading through the Charlotte Mason’s Principle Study put together by Brandy Vencel, I had a lightbulb moment. Obedience is only one side of the coin. On the other side is authority. Without authority there is no obedience.
By Misty Sena Obedience. Charlotte Mason once made mention of a very successful mother who stated that by the time her children were one year old she had taught them obedience. The subject comes up often for mothers of preschoolers. What does it mean to obey? And how do we teach this to our own children?
18 months ago I gave birth to twins. Those delightful blessings overflowed my arms and heart and set our world on a bit of a tilt. This summer I felt a bit like I was awaking from a long sleep. I found myself looking to bring some order to the chaos around me; needing to teach obedience to two toddling boys and refreshing the habit with my three older children. Alongside many other mothers, I found myself overwhelmed with the idea, trying and failing, feeling as though I was missing something. Then, quite by accident, while reading through the Charlotte Mason’s Principle Study put together by Brandy Vencel, I had a lightbulb moment. Obedience is only one side of the coin. On the other side is authority. Without authority there is no obedience.
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By Jennifer Taylor “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes The long Labor Day weekend provided a much needed opportunity for a quick family getaway to our neighboring state New Mexico. My two eldest children were especially interested in exploring the old southwest and experiencing first hand what they have read in Holling C. Holling’s The Tree In The Trail. As teacher and mother, I was giddy at the chance to broaden the geographical feast for our family. In Home Education Miss Mason states, “But the value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures” (Mason, 1925a, p. 272). Here was an opportunity to feed our minds up close and personal…
By Sarah Lancaster Being a part of the Q&A panel at the end of last year's retreat was a lot of fun, but this one kind of left me floundering: "Regarding scheduling: when do you get done laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, etc.? Do you guard your mornings from these tasks?" It's a fairly simple question that seems to call for a simple response, right?
"We do this..." That's not so hard. But the more I thought about it, the less I was inclined to give a straight answer. You see, what works for me might be a disaster for you. By saying "We do this..." I risked laying a burden on someone who hears, "This is the right way to do it, so you have to do it my way." We all get 24 hours each day, but how we spend them is going to look unique for each family even if we follow the same principles, like the ones that drive a Charlotte Mason education. How does someone go about creating a schedule for their day? Eventually, this simple question turned into a series on my blog, A Generous Education. In Part I - Finding the Given Times, I wrote about attending the Living Education Retreat and being inspired to make huge changes to how I organized my day. In Part II - On Your Mark; Get Set..., I discussed some of the things I did to lay the groundwork for successful change: how did I figure out what I needed from a schedule, what I was currently spending my time on, and what needed to change? This post is Part III, where we finally get to sit down and do the fun part―putting pen to paper (or color to spreadsheet box, whichever you prefer) and figuring out what we want our days to look like. By Dawn Rhymer Do you enjoy talking about all things Charlotte Mason? I have come to view the discussion of Charlotte Mason as a beautiful narration, an exquisite symphony in which we all play a part, from the conductor to the first chair violin to the young kid with the broken oboe playing the awkward note when there should be silence. Are you missing?
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