Simply Charlotte Mason

I would urge anyone reading this to visit Simply Charlotte Mason.
That site is just amazing! I discovered it a few years ago, and have been enamored with it ever since. I actually got to participate in a book club with Sonya (the owner of the site). She is such a wealth of knowledge about how to put the Charlotte Mason into practice. There are schedules, book lists, a book finder, narration ideas, etc. on the site. I have also been to one of her workshops. It was on habits, one of the foundational ideas of the Charlotte Mason method and it was phenomenal! I am not an expert, by any means, on the CM method. I absolutely LOVE the simplicity of it all. It isn't simple as it is not a strenuous educational method. It is, even more so than a lot of methodologies or curriculums. I have implemented a lot of CM methods into our homeschool this year. We are going to do nature study AT LEAST once a week. You think that would be easy to implement and it is, if you don't THINK too much about it. There is God-given curiosity in our children to know and spend time in God's creation. They absolutely love it, they THRIVE on it. But you HAVE to take the time. We are also going to do a gentle language arts/phonics program. Sandi Queen, at Queen Homeschool, has a phenomenal program called Language Lessons series. We are also going to do a lot of exercises orally, I am not going to require a lot of written work and we are going to keep lessons short. We are aiming for success in lessons done, not dawdling on 10 problems for 45min-1hr. We are using a spelling program this year but that is because I haven't gotten around to selling anything. I have quite a few Bob Jones curricula. I may sell these but not sure yet. We have done this for a long time but I cannot stress the importance of reading living books. A living book is a book generally written by one person whose passion is the subject written about. There are great book lists out there. Five in a Row is a great curriculum, if you can call it that...it shows you how to learn about a book. We may do it for our 4.5 yr old next year. Check out their book list and Ambleside Online. If you want to know pretty much anything about Charlotte Mason, look at that site. Oh and the best books on the CM method I have found are her own writings which can be found for free online, just go to Ambleside's website, Pocketful of Pinecones and The Charlotte Mason Companion, both by Karen Andreola. Those are just my personal favorites. We are really looking forward to starting on Monday!