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Old 01-11-2009, 07:13 PM   #5
Firebird Rising
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Encircling Mountains
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: High above a great and beautiful canyon in a Golden State city...
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Default Re: Charlotte Mason?

Here's what I saw when I watched my friends use Charlotte Mason methods.

Friend #1:
3 kids, age 4 (down syndrome girl), age 6 (boy), age 8 (girl)

Friend #2:
2 kids, age 3 (down syndrome boy), age 5 (girl)

Friend #1 was ULTRA organized, had charts made out with books to check off when read, following the Ambleside online program to a T for her older two. She collected books from the library and also scoured used book sales as well as online sales. Her kids were also outside about 4-6 hours of the day. They lived on a small acreage with chickens and a garden. The kids helped plant, weed and harvest the garden, then taking the food to the kitchen, washing it and eating it often in the same day. They collected eggs and sold them. Their property had a clothesline on it and the kids helped with laundry, hanging it outside and learning household stuff in that way. But their chores lasted less than 1-2 hours a day and the rest of the time was pure play and exploring. They had small animals inside, like a hermit crab, fish, etc and they had a keen interest in teaching other kids and adults about their animals. More than once, they would bring one of the small animals to our playgroup and give a little presentation on the animal, unprompted and unsolicited by their mother.

Friend #2 was a very relaxed Charlotte Mason believer that also was a huge supporter of the idea of unschooling. Her daughter spent most of her time outside, on walks with mother and brother, collecting leaves to paste in books, recording dates on the huge time line that stretched around their dining room, and listening to her mother read the books listed on ambleside online.

Both sets of kids are the type that I am striving to raise. They were all innately responsible and loving and gentle with the youngers. They were interested in the adult conversation but just as good at spending time in elaborate play with many imagined props and ideas. There were times that us ladies were treated to "tea" (Friend #2 was British) complete with invisible rose-painted teacups, earl grey tea with a bit of cream, orange-cranberry scones and service by a maitre' d (played happily by the boy).

I had an excellent introduction to Charlotte Mason in this way. As I watched/listened further, this is what I personally take from a Charlotte Mason education.

Kids are STRETCHED beyond their current level of understanding. To read abridged books, simplified text, things that come down to the child's level do not STRETCH the child higher. Instead of meeting children where they are at, it challenges them to reach and understand the level higher than that. If you believe that your child doesn't "get" things, try giving them the benefit of the doubt and read them Dr. Doolittle, original version. We read that to Cameron at 15 months and he still remembers the characters, even if he doesn't remember the text. After reading and pushing his literature comprehension, we find him at a much higher verbal level than most kids his age. I don't know how much of this is personality because he's our first, but we look forward to seeing how this repeats with Elijah.

Charlotte Mason also relies on recitation, poetry/scripture memorization and copy work to improve language skills. I support these things to a degree, without being pushy or obnoxious about it. We are incorporating memorization in our daily without making it "school" for Cameron, just simple things.

I like that Charlotte Mason gives a non-traditional Christian educational view of how to facilitate children learning.

I like the webpages: http://www.amblesideonline.org/New.shtml and http://www.amblesideonline.org/FAQ.shtml although I do think that in the FAQs I think that the author slightly talks down unschooling and that it doesn't mesh with Charlotte Mason. I really believe the two are so incredibly similar if you give them each a bit of flexibility. Innately, a child that is outside a lot, will reach in the ways that Charlotte Mason describes while still being somewhat delight driven. A Charlotte Mason framework can give a structure to an unschooling child's life without overwhelming them with workbooks and published textbooks, putting them in a grade.

I probably have more to say but for now, this is where I will stop.

Oh, I also want to introduce you to this list as we have it printed on our fridge and are working on each of the points:
Quote:
"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six"

A reprint of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's. from Summer 93 Parents Review pub by Karen Andreola

1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
5. to copy in print-hand from a book
6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
7. to describe the boundries of their own home
8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.
Jen D.

__________________

Привет! Меня зовут Джен!
Hi! My name is Jen!



May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks - Gandalf

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