Restoration Place

Transition Complete ~ Sonlight 2 & 5 to Ambleside 3 & 6

A couple weeks ago I posted about pondering making some changes to our home education "base" though I'd already been thinking about it for a month or more. I expected we would make those changes next August/September, but God surprised me by making very clear those changes were to take place sooner--much sooner. As in, when we started up our routine again following the vacation break.

We're there right now, in the midst of those changes, and they feel right. Amy Lu of A Mile In My Shoes put it like this in her comment on the changes I was considering: "When making this decision ourselves, I came to the conclusion that Sonlight fit us like a mitten and Ambleside fit us like a glove." (Thanks again, Amy Lu, for sharing this with me!)

Yes, that's exactly how I feel! There's much to love about Sonlight, but for various reasons, Ambleside fits us better for this season in the children's lives. Perhaps one day I'll go into detail about those reasons.

But why transition now? I wonder that, and you may well wonder the reason for such a shift mid-stream. I can only say that God knows us, He's guiding us, and though I don't always understand why or how He does things {chuckle!}, I'm going with His flow. He knows my children in ways I don't and knows who He's creating them to be.

Though I am always open to making changes in our home education, and following the various trails our interests take us, the one thing that has remained constant is my commitment to a Charlotte Mason education.

Maggie is enjoying her Ambleside Year 6 readings, and I'm doing Ambleside Year 3 with Jacob, Katie and Ben (yes, he sits and listens to everything! ~smile~).

A few of our Ambleside friends...

Picture Narrations ~ Little Pilgrim's Progress

The children narrate from several read alouds each day, and sometimes they like to draw instead of tell or write (or dictate to me, for the younger ones). I really enjoy seeing what they choose to portray in their drawings, and was especially pleased to see Ben get in on the act in response to our Little Pilgrim's Progress reading this morning.

Ben (just turned 4) can't write, but he sure can tell (and often has to be reminded to wait his turn to share!) and he's drawing more and more. What looks like a page of colored pencil scratchings takes shape as he tells me how to label each part. It's a little blurry, but you can click on the photo to open up a new window and get a clearer view:

Here are some close-ups:

 

 

Katie's narrative drawing:

The details come to life with labeling:

Sometimes I feel too pressed for time to want to linger over the children's drawings, but it's a richness in their day that I must make time for, and it won't happen if I don't discipline myself to provide those moments.

Less hurrying, more lingering...

 

Afternoon for Nature Journaling

Several years ago, when my children were much younger and I was only homeschooling my oldest (who was 6 or 7), I remembered feeling somewhat dismayed to read on a popular Charlotte Mason email list that families were having difficulty finding time to keep up with their nature journals.

~Big, sheepish grin~ Well, here I am in the very same situation. I am having a lot of trouble finding regular time to spend in nature with my children, and to journal, however simply, about our experiences. I now understand a little better the sort of daily demands that keep a family from scheduling a weekly nature outing.

On Monday (my birthday, so it was Mom's choice, whee!) we packed a picnic, grabbed an old quilt, our nature journal supplies, and headed north to Rocks State Park for some exploration and sketching.

Though it was 72 degrees F and the water was cold enough to numb my feet, the children readily immersed themselves:

Signs of fall on this first day of fall were everywhere, but there were still shells to pocket and creek "seaweed" to scuff in:

 

 

 

Next, lunch and sketching. The children had found nature treasures to record in their journals, and got busy drawing as soon as they finished eating because they wanted to get to the most important thing--the playground. ~smile~

 

 

 

 

 

When we got home, look what we found crawling across our driveway:

 

A Woolly Bear caterpillar...on the first day of fall!

Making Felt Balls

We enjoyed making felt from unprocessed wool...yet another quality project included in our Ancient Far East History Kit. The focus is Mongolia, where nomadic people cloak the frames of their yurts (Mongolians call this structure a ger, not a yurt) with huge "sheets" of felt. The felt is both insulating and waterproof.

Here are the balls of wool:

The project directions explain that all real felt is made from wool, and that heat, moisture, and friction turn the wool into felt. We assembled small bowls of hot water with a couple drops of liquid dishsoap in each and began packing, squeezing, squishing, and pressing small amounts of wool in the water:

We found bits and pieces of natural things that had gotten snagged in the sheep's wool. Katie found part of a prickly burr in hers:

After a few minutes the wool began to change texture. It became much firmer and denser:

And with some persistence and weaving sections of felt together, we formed ball shapes that really were bouncy:

After making the felt balls and trying to imagine just how much wool and hard work would be required to create sections of felt large enough to help cover a typical Mongolian ger, the children had many questions about Mongolia, its people, nomadic culture and traditions, camels, and of course, sheep's wool.

I just want to mention that little of this two-hour activity had much of anything to do with our Sonlight Core 1 or Core 4 history/literature focus. We do focus on the ancient far east for a short time in Core 1, but the history kit projects don't exactly correlate with that focus.

I don't value or need precise correlation or connection to our main curriculum or "learning objectives" in order to feel that our time is spent in a worthy way. My home education perspective is mostly informed by a Charlotte Mason philosophy, so I want to provide my children with a generous and liberal education, and I'm most comfortable with not making all my ducks (or theirs!) line up in our days of learning.

Enough said. I should probably write a separate post about these ideas, in which case I'll have to end my fast from writing about Charlotte Mason. I may do just that.

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Spring is Coming Edition is up at Harmony Art Mom. Lots of good reading and new Charlotte Mason oriented blogs to discover!

While you're at The Heart of Harmony, check out Barb's Sketch Tuesday assignments and the art programs she offers through Harmony Fine Arts (view both both by scrolling down her right-hand sidebar and clicking on the appropriate button). We're going to try one of her Sketch Tuesday assignments soon.

Edited to add: The link for "Harmony Art Mom'" above should actually be "The Heart of Harmony."

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival ~ 11th Edition: Mother Culture

The current Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival has been posted and the theme, Mother Culture, is just what many of us need as February seems to stretch on and on.

The host, Simply Charlotte Mason, is a great resource for Charlotte Mason homeschooling, especially for those new to Charlotte Mason ideas. I've visited there frequently and currently use their Spelling Wisdom, a dictation-based spelling program.

And now to the carnival for a little Mother Culture . . .

On Why I Don't Feel Like Writing About Charlotte Mason

When I first began this blog I was certain I would be writing a great deal about Charlotte Mason and how we implement her philosophy in our homeschooling days. It's what we have been living for several years and it seemed natural to write about it. But I find that I really don't feel like writing about Charlotte Mason. At least not for the time being. I still visit Charlotte Mason homeschooling blogs and enjoy reading others' writing about Charlotte Mason. It's especially interesting to read about the ways in which other families use her ideas and how it has enriched their family and homeschooling lives. It sounds wonderful and inviting and in many ways similar to the life we ourselves are living.

I think I'm a little weary of sharing Charlotte Mason with others in ways which require much time and energy on my part. Writing is one of those ways. And so is facilitating a group for learning about Charlotte Mason. I've been sharing ideas and helping others to absorb her philosophy for a while now. I facilitated and hosted (except for a few times after having a new baby) a monthly Charlotte Mason study group for a small group of homeschooling moms for about three years. It was a great joy for me to be able to learn along with the other moms and share our homeschooling lives with one another.

And then our family experienced the kinds of transitions which require letting go of commitments--even very good ones. I had already been feeling like it was time for a change, so it wasn't a tremendous loss when I stepped out of the Charlotte Mason study group altogether. After a time we moved to our present location--in the same state but several hours away from where we lived before--and I was eager to connect with other Charlotte Mason homeschoolers in our new area. And I have. But the connections are casual and require little from me. Sure, I've had conversations about Charlotte Mason and attended several Charlotte Mason study groups, but I find these to be refreshing, not wearying.

I also don't have any need or desire to "convert" homeschool moms to Charlotte Mason style homeschooling. I never did. I've always maintained that each family can embrace the home education approach or style that works best for them. If others ask me about how I use Charlotte Mason in our homeschooling, or want assistance in thinking through her ideas, I'm glad to share. But I don't need or expect others to "do" Charlotte Mason homeschooling.

I think perhaps I've reached the saturation point with Charlotte Mason in my own mind. Yes--that's what it is. Saturation. I've been reading about and researching her philosophy since my oldest (now 10) was two. I immersed myself in it, like I would anything else about which I'm passionate. My six-volume set of Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series is fairly marked and worn. I've read all the books about Charlotte Mason homeschooling, facilitated a study group, been on all the email lists, and done whatever else I could to expand my understanding of Charlotte Mason. And now that I've thoroughly absorbed, reflected, and implemented her philosophy in ways that suit my own family and homeschooling style, I'm saturated. Soaked.

So though I'll continue to enjoy my casual local Charlotte Mason connections, I probably won't be writing about or "doing" Charlotte Mason here in any in-depth way. I'm eager to explore, reflect upon, and write about other things. Maybe nature, books we like, things we do, but not Charlotte Mason. At least for the time being. I need some time to evaporate.

Storymaker

My oldest child, M., announced to me recently that she was going to start writing stories--real stories--and that she already had several she was developing in her mind. She also shared that she had been telling the stories to her younger siblings as they played outside. One day she and two of her younger siblings sat on the backyard swings for an hour while M. entertained them with her engaging tale. When it was time for everyone to come into the house, they pleaded with her to continue the story. "Nope," she said. "I'll tell you some more the next time we're swinging."

M. and her siblings have been telling each other stories for years, they have dramatized the books we have read in their own unique ways, and have created their own imaginary worlds using toys or various objects, and M. has dictated her stories to me or written one-page tales, but this announcement about writing real stories was different somehow. And it required real supplies.

On Saturday we went to a local educational store where M. pointed out the blank, hardcover books with a sewn binding. "See?" she said. "These are for real stories. These are just what I need for my writing." I knew what she meant. When I was her age, I had wanted those blank books, too, and filled several with my thoughts and sketches. M. was very serious as she gathered up three of the blank books and we walked to the cashier.

Buying blank books so that M. can fill them with her own ideas, thoughts, and imaginations is the outgrowth of putting her mind in touch with great minds. Put simply, her intense desire to storytell is because she has experienced great storytelling. This is how the child's mind is nourished. Charlotte Mason writes, "Mind appeals to mind and thought begets thought and that is how we become educated. For this reason we owe it to every child to put him in communication with great minds that he may get at great thoughts; with the minds, that is, of those who have left us great works; and the only vital method of education appears to be that children should read worthy books, many worthy books" (A Philosophy of Education p. 12). It is my joyous duty to bring those great minds and worthy books to my child. She can't very well find them herself yet. And if she isn't able to read those books herself, then I read them to her. And what a joy that is!

Worthy books are dense with what Mason describes as life-sustaining ideas. They are not to be shared as an intermittent treat, "...not luxury, a tid-bit, to be given to children now and then, but their very bread of life, which they must have in abundant portions and at regular periods" (A Philosophy of Education p. 111). Worthy storymakers have fed my young storymaker and filled her with much to re-arrange and re-invent for herself.

M.'s vibrant storytelling to an eager audience and her desire to put them on paper--to record, shape, and re-tell them to herself and her perceived audience--will grow and change as she enjoys new relationships with great minds and their worthy books. We'll all be there, listening to her on the swings, or sitting next to her, sipping a big mug of vanilla tea while she thrills us with the next adventure.

On Embracing Homeschooling Change

And why not? So much else about our lives is new...new move, new job, new city, new house, new people with whom to connect, new family dynamics as a result of all the newness, new grocery store, new neighbors, new regional culture (though not so different), and now...new homeschooling focus.

A friend once sent me a magnet when I had recently relocated to a new place (about 10 years ago, a move farther back in my history) and was experiencing a great deal of culture shock. The magnet said simply but in bold red letters, "EMBRACE CHANGE." It was packed in a "care package" box full of other fun goodies, so this thing gripped me. I called her to ask why she sent me that magnet. I didn't like the new things that had happened in my life recently, and I didn't like that magnet. It was an affront to me. It ignored all my desperate emotions about the stretching and stripping I had just gone through.

I asked her why she had included that bold thing in the box. She said bluntly, "Because that's all there is." Change, that is. She didn't make that statement in a hopeless, resigned way, but with love that encourages an embracing of the new. And encouragement to trust.

I still have that magnet. It's holding up one of my children's paintings on the magnet board in the kitchen. It still makes me a little uncomfortable, and that's why I keep it. And again, I embrace change. God spoke to my heart one year ago and said kindly, "Don't try to figure out what I am going to do next, for I am your God of surprises." His preparation for me to EMBRACE CHANGE.

Early this summer not long after our move, surrounded by boxes and exuberant children, when thoughts were far from homeschooling plans, a stirring began in me to make a change in our homeschooling. Having homeschooled following the Ambleside curriculum for several years, I was now very impressed to look into Sonlight for my son for early world history. Ambleside doesn't provide an early-years ancient history focus (it's scheduled for Year 6, for reasons that make sense to me). Though I was completely prepared to begin Ambleside Year One with him, that was not what I was supposed to do. So the plan was made and the order placed for Sonlight Core 1.

Then came the stirring to make a change with my oldest daughter. I was prepared to begin a tweaked combination of Ambleside Year 4/Year 5 but there was a stop sign in my heart and it became clear that we were to follow Sonlight Core 4 instead.

Having been a Charlotte Mason"er" since my oldest was too little to homeschool, the change isn't so tremendous. It's just that I was very attached to Ambleside and those lovely Advisory ladies, and to my safe and inflexible plans for our homeschooling future.

So the change isn't so big after all. I've embraced it. We are still reading deeply engaging living books, the children still beg me to keep reading long after my throat has given out, Charlotte Mason still speaks into our days, and we are enjoying this new homeschooling season.