I will love what I do, and I will pray daily for God's grace to help me love those things which I need to love and do not. He will answer my prayer abundantly, in his own way and in his own time. I know this; I have lived this; but that is another story. Loving what I do matters greatly because my children are born persons--brilliant, caring, needing, broken persons with the amazing ability to detect my hypocrisy long before I even know I'm being a hypocrite. Likewise, they also know when I am being a faithful guide, philosopher, and friend. We are ignorant fools if we think this love does not matter. At the beginning of the third and final day of the LER, we heard from a panel of teens educated for most of their schooling with Charlotte Mason's educational philosophies and methods. What a privilege it was to hear them speak. They spoke about things their parents had done well and about things they had not done well. Some spoke about being a part of the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness (The Hive) learning community, and it was in this context I realized how much loving what I do matters--because it matters to our children. One teen shared of learning from other teachers in the community-- "The moms teaching what they really love and what they are good at." This is what mattered to him. And it is what matters to my children and the children in my community. Three years ago, the plate I brought to the feast was pretty empty. I had no love for anything beautiful; I was not good at anything that would even begin to remotely constitute a Charlotte Mason education. But by God's grace, I am not where I was, and as I look to the future, I'm not where I will be. |
By Dawn Rhymer This blog is the third and final part in a series written to journal a few of the things I hope to do as a result of attending the 2017 Living Education Retreat. Here are links to Part I and Part II. I will love what I do--for the children.
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By Dawn Rhymer When: Friday, August 11th, 10 AM - 4 PM
Where: Fox Run Regional Park at the North Oak Meadows Field (see the Park Map on the website) Bring: Drinks and lunch for your family, snacks, folding chairs, blankets, sunscreen, outdoor games Feel free to come and go as you need. We hope to see you there! By Dawn Rhymer This blog is Part II in a series written to journal a few of the things I hope to do as a result of attending the 2017 Living Education Retreat. Part I can be found here. 5. I will learn one new nature-thing a _______.
By Dawn Rhymer Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time Charlotte Mason, School Education (V3) p. 170 These words of Charlotte Mason were before me the whole weekend. I was at the Living Education Retreat (LER), and the quote was printed on a banner placed behind the podium in the main meeting room. Each time we gathered as a group, I was reminded through the soft and gentle echo of the banner, "Live, live, live."
As I drove home, after sweet goodbyes to many friends, I found myself asking the same words the crowd posed to John the Baptist as he began to prepare the way for Christ: "What then shall we do?" I wanted to return, not merely with thoughts and ideas which would be quickly crowded out by the hustle and bustle of a busy home, but rather with a clear grasp of those things which I would do. How would my life, and potentially the life of my family, be changed by the small investment of a weekend? I am going to reflect on each session I attended and choose one thing which I do not want to forget, one thing I can do so that life can be all living. By Karen Canon I am knee-deep in planning for our next school year.
It is a good place to be, for me. I enjoy this part of the process very much. But whether you enjoy it or not so much, whether you are a veteran CM practitioner, or just starting out, it is always refreshing to gather a few new ideas to inspire and encourage. I keep a folder of articles and/or books on hand just for that purpose. As I was reading Marion Berry’s I Buy a School, a few thoughts struck me from her stories of the PNEU school she ran. Miss Berry attended Charlotte Mason’s Teacher’s Training college in Ambleside in the years just following Mason’s death. After college, she did a short stint as a governess before teaching in cottage schools. She then took over Miss Kitching’s Rickmansworth PNEU school and remained there for thirty years. 'It is January 1927 and I’m on the long seven hour train journey to Windermere in a coach reserved for the College…' (p. 21) Her book is difficult to find so I thought I would share a few gleanings that were needful reminders and aids to me and might be of interest to you as you plan out your school year. By Dawn Rhymer (This blog was originally published in January 2013.) "A slight rewording of John 15:13 may be helpful for us Christian moms: “Greater love hath no mom than this, that a mom lay down her life for her family.” Laying down our lives doesn’t sound fun, but Jesus said that whoever loses his life for God’s sake finds it—and the life we find in Him is abundant! What perspective, hope and blessing!" -- Kari Lewis
I have recently started to receive the magazine Home School Enrichment. I'm actually not sure why. I have a suspicion that I may have signed up for it when I attended a home school conference this summer (I guess that makes sense, but I have no memory of it). As I look at the mailing label, I see that it is a sample subscription. Maybe someone out there signed me up for a sample subscription. If you did, thank you. By Dawn Rhymer But a child cannot dream parts of speech, and any grown-up twaddle attempting to personify such abstractions offends a small person who with all his love of play and nonsense has a serious mind. Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education, V6, p. 210 "Does figuring out grammar really need to be this hard?" As a mom new to Charlotte Mason, I first had to grapple with the idea of not starting grammar until fourth grade. The program I had previously been using with my children had them beginning formal grammar in first grade. At the point of making this transition in our lives, Charlotte Mason's educational philosophies and methods were like the warm glow on the horizon letting one know the sun was coming. They looked appealing, but in reality I knew nothing about them. She thought quite highly of children and believed their minds were very capable. But really, who was she and why did she need to be so contrary about EVERYTHING? With a clear conscience I could find a "Charlotte Mason" grammar program for my fourth and sixth graders, but I also couldn't seem to let go of it for my second grader.
By Karen Canon In early springtime, the atmospheric light acquires a brightness, a vibrancy. The sunlight dazzles the eyes, and it reaches everywhere. Within a few weeks, though, the trees begin putting on their summer dress and the landscape achieves a variety of tones, from bright spring sunlight to the deep undertones of cast shadows on lawns. I enjoy noting each year in my Book of Firsts—a calendar of happenings in the natural world—the first of these tree shadows. Of course, a tree has a shadow all year long, but deciduous trees exhibit variety in the shadows they create. The shadow of their crown foliage is very different from the skeletal forms created by winter branches. With the return of the foliage shadows, there are dark as well as light spaces; places where the eyes can rest as they scan the landscape. It is a sight I enjoy welcoming each spring. This year, in the Midwest, this spring event is coinciding with the opening days of May. What is happening in your neck of the woods? Here we come a-piping,
In Springtime and in May; Green fruit a-ripening, And Winter fled away. The Queen she sits upon the strand, Fair as a lily, white as wand; Seven billows on the sea, Horses riding fast and free. And bells beyond the sand. Anonymous By Karen Canon When I sit down to begin mapping out our school year, I categorize our work under three headings: Family Studies, Independent Studies, and Guided Studies. Family Studies are those we can all do together across the whole age spectrum and is known by other names such as Morning Time, Circle Time, Morning Basket and more. Independent Studies are subjects that a child reads or does independently and Guided Studies are those that a child does with me seated by their side guiding their work.
Family Studies is my personal favorite. It is where we are making those family memories, whether it’s a read-aloud, a folksong, or Scripture study. The subjects vary from term to term, and I generally aim for a middle school or Form III level of difficulty to tackle in Family Studies. Younger students rise to the challenge when the reading is accomplished out loud, and older ones benefit because it is in the nature of living ‘books and things’ to be deep wells, rarely failing to furnish new ideas. Though perhaps some subjects lend themselves to Family Studies more readily than others, I’ve found those that simply won’t work to be a very short list. Here is one subject that has not left our lineup since we started doing it as a group several years ago—Copywork. For those unfamiliar with the term, copywork is the practice of copying by hand from a model and is the practice Charlotte Mason advocated for beginning penmanship. She refers to it as ‘transcription’ in Home Education (p. 238): By Dawn Rhymer Words like “authentic” and “purist” have recently been zipping around the Charlotte Mason community as if in use of a pepper-box[i]. It is a hot topic which has both caused me to stand a little taller, sure of my place, and simultaneously stoop lower, reminded of my complete ignorance. Many blogs have been published in the weeks I have been working on this post. I have read a few, but not all. As I slowly puzzle through the ideas presented, I find a repeating question echoing in my mind, one I cannot have others answer for me, but one I find I must deal with alone. Am I an authentic Charlotte Mason Educator? The shower turned on, and I heard the dull footsteps leave the room and descend the stairs. I refused to open my eyes; it was dark out, but morning was soon to invade. My daughter, who had kicked and screamed her way through the night, finally lay still beside me, her heavy breathing and warm body peaceful for a moment. The empty shower with the running water could not be blocked from my mind.
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