Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Sept. 28-October 11, 2010

This edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is quite exciting. Not only do we have a good turnout, as it were, but a variety of topics. So, go grab your cup of coffee or tea and get reading!!

The Arts (Music, Literature, Theater, Art)

Makita shares her thoughts on and experience with taking her children to Twelfth Night :: Oregon Shakespeare Festival which she has posted at Academia Celestia.

"Although our ultimate goal is for our children to read and enjoy Shakespeare's original works, why wait until they can before offering them a taste of these classic works?"

Holli has been trying to fit a "circle time" into her day. She has posted her ideas at Fitting the Extras Into Our Day on her blog, Settled In My Home. It's amazing how we all use the same things but in such a variety of ways!

"While we do not use the artist and composer study outlined by Ambleside Online yet, I think we can easily use this format with the official schedule when we begin Year1."

Habit Formation and Character Training

Ritsumei shares with us her own personal experience with habit formation at Building Some Habits posted at Baby Steps.

"Miss Mason is right: habit  is a powerful lever. I learned this as a piano teacher: the most naturally  talented students, surprisingly enough, seldom were the best pianists. It was  the ones who were the most consistent in their practice, and those tended to be  the ones who did well only when they worked at it."

nak presents The Single Eye posted at Sage Parnassus.In this post, she researches information on The Will as written by Charlotte Mason and shares with us her perspectives.

"Understanding the will is not a simple task.  Its function is to choose and it must be exercised.  One can exercise their will with an evil end in mind.  Likewise, one can choose evil acts to secure a worthy outcome."

Hands-On Activities

Nadene presents some interesting ideas about the use of Finger Puppets in your activities. She's posted her thoughts at Practical Pages.

"I let the children swap puppets and re-enact the play so that they all can have a turn being the main character.  (Sneaky – I get at least 2 full narrations..")

Again, we visit Nadene. In her post, Time-Saving Tips for Doing Lapbooks posted at Practical Pages, she does exactly that..shares some time-saving tips.

"I have found a wonderful way to prepare our lapbooks in advance if you use several lapbooks regularly in your school week."

Back at Melissa's, we find a post entitled a tough time with my baby boy posted at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard. Here, she voices her stresses and strains of raising a unique little boy.

"The mission of parenthood is not for the frail. Seemingly little unhealthy habits of disobedience, disrespect, or whatever weak willed habit you may see in a child only becomes more challenging for the parents and the child them-self as they grow and mature."

The Charlotte Mason Method

lindafay shares a helpful post at Charlotte Mason Help: Year 10 Term 1 Examinations which is posted at Charlotte Mason Help.Here, she shares an exam for those using HEO.

Angie in GA posted some resources on The Charlotte Mason Method at Live, Love, Learn.

"I do like this method so much that I thought I would take a moment to share my favorite Charlotte Mason resources, links, books, blogs, etc."

Keri, at SunnyKeri, gives us all a great reminder about what Self Education is supposed to be. You can find her post at Self Education.

"We can provide our children with IDEAS. That is how the mind grows, understands, and learns.  We cannot expect their mind to grow if we provide them with twaddle, long explanations, and workbooks of questions."

Nature Study

Please join Shirley Ann as she shares Catching Tadpoles, Watching Whales and Other Things posted at Bugs, Beetles and Barefoot Days. This is a very special post about a special time of year.

"It is a much anticipated event and usually around this time, the road which runs along the ocean side is packed with cars who have paused to watch these gentle giants of the deep."

amy in peru gives us some insights into how nature journaling has changed her life. You'll find her post at Nature Journal Inspiration on her blog, Fisher Academy International ~ Teaching Home.

"After several years of nature study, I am different because I have been awakened.  I can see.  And I am absolutely smitten by the beauty I've discovered."

On my blog, Life on My Planet, I've made a post about a Florida Autumn season. You'll find that post at Autumn in Florida: A Subtle Season.

"Our seasons are actually a bit backwards: Oaks drop their leaves and Maples are at their most colorful in the Spring."

 Mary takes us on a nature walk with her children at Nature Journal Blog Hop! posted at School Room Reflections.She has begun a blog hop which I joined last week. I hope to see more joining it!

"We found a native Morning Glory vine climbing up another bush, its delicate purple flowers only there for a few hours before the sun would dry them up, greeted us as we walked by."

General Homeschooling

Annie Kate presents This Week at Home: Frost, Salsa, and the National Parks posted at Tea Time with Annie Kate.

"We visited so many great places and had such wild adventures in the last few weeks, both during our read aloud sessions after lunch as well as our DVD treats in the evenings!"

Susan finds that her family can grow bored with lapbooks and notebooking pages (and I thought we were the only ones!), but she has found another way of documenting and having fun at the same time. Go find out what it is at How to Make an Altered Book Page posted at Stitching Life.

"Students think of the altered composition book page as a poster or presentation of their work. Since they are working on a bit each day it is not over whelming to them."

 In Dad and Home Education posted at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In the Yard, Melissa tells us the many ways her husband is involved with the children's home education. How fortunate her children are to have such a dad!

"The best thing that my husband does for our homeschool is to support me, especially when there are issues with the boys. He is a very good sounding board and he listens and then helps me to find a path."

Jay3fer has been working through her back-to-school curriculum and shares with us the results at Adventures in Mama-Land: Back-to-Homeschool Curriculum Planning posted at Adventures in Mama-Land.

"A year in my kids’ home education!  And what a year it’s going to be!!!"

Pamela started her year later than the "schools" and gave it a jump-start with a field trip! She tells us all about their day at Starting the Funschooling Year at the Academy of Sciences posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.

"We were thrilled that the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco offered a homeschool family day at the start of the month which was the perfect kick off for us."

Shirley Ann and her family went on a most wonderful trip! (I'm rather jealous, in fact.) Find out about their amazing trip at East, West, Home is Best... posted at Bugs, Beetles and Barefoot Days.

"Monday dawned, not a cloud in the sky, the African sun smiling down on us."

Katie Riddle presents Listeners On the Road posted at riddlelove. In this post, she shares with us how she deals with "school on the run".

"Although the drive is a gorgeous one, it still adds up to a lot of minutes my kids are just sitting.  Then I remembered a new habit (more like addiction) we picked up last summer."

Living Math

Cindy read something Jimmie wrote about being a "living math dropout" and posed to herself the question What is a "living math" dropout? which she has posted at love2learn2day

"I started thinking...  What is really meant by "living math?" And what does it mean to teach that way?"

Handicrafts and Life Skills

On my blog, The Holistic Homeschooler, I share with you a day of teaching my girls to bake from scratch. The post is entitled, Baking Whole Wheat Bread.

"It's not something that they'll just be able to "just know" when they're on their own. So this Saturday the girls learned to bake whole wheat bread."

That's about it for this edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival. I hope you've enjoyed reading all of the wonderful shares as much as I did!

Happy Homeschooling!
Michelle