Lynn's Essay Collection

Hi Lori,

> So, my question is this . . . can you give some ideas, tips, hints, that would > get me started on the right track to developing a program for my kids? How > far ahead do you plan . . . one year . . . 5 . . . .? Are there books out > there that I should use to plan what my kids should be studying next year . . > . or the next 5 years? Do you have long range goals for what you want your > kids to learn during the course of their learning in your home?

I think what you are asking for is my yellow notebook, which you are NOT getting. It doesn't leave this house! But, I'll describe it. Get some tea- this is going to be long!

We started homeschooling in 1985 using canned curriculum, a workbook set which I won't name but it's the one the church school I was teaching in (part time) was using. For us it was awful - because it didn't take long to learn my child was dyslexic. But we were stuck with it - didn't know there was any other way. Every day we sat in the kitchen and worked through the pages, usually with me reading aloud and my child doing the work orally. When we finished the day's allotment, we heaved them happily on the shelf and curled up on the couch with real books. And, we went on Nature Walks, and we did field trips, and art, and science, and a lot of other stuff for fun! Around 1988 I read a review of "For the Children's Sake" in Mary Pride's "Big Book". I borrowed it through ILL, loved it, and felt so glad to know I wasn't alone. From then on I described myself as a CM person if asked. But, we were still doing those workbooks as our core, and a daily phonics time because she did have to learn how to read... Which she did. By 5th grade I was able to phase out of most of those workbooks and into other material that I liked much better.

In 1990 several things happened. Hubby was very sick, we moved, and I had to go to work. In fact, I worked two jobs for a while, putting in 60 and 70 hour weeks. Hubby decided to homeschool our son for K (actually, they went fishing), but daughter went to public school. She did just fine educationally, though there were other problems. In 1991 we brought her home again. But, we did it late in the Summer, and I didn't have any money to buy her curriculum! All that I had, I had used to buy Art supplies and Science kits and models (and so on). I scraped up enough to buy a used copy of Saxon Algebra 1/2, and started figuring out how to cover the other areas.

Which brings us to my yellow notebook. By now I knew about Scope and Sequences, and even owned a couple. I owned the teacher's manuals for that workbook program, and they have S&S and booklists by grade! I had a huge pile of catalogs. I borrowed the books that help you find books - Diane Lopez, Ruth Beechick, and others. They are listed on my Booklist pages.

I got a new spiral notebook - it happens to be yellow, though it is no longer new. The beginnings of this took me a solid week of research, though the details have constantly been adjusted since.

On the first page I wrote "Grade 7 Booklist", and IN PENCIL I wrote the names of every book I could find from every reference I had that said Grade 7. Then I erased all the ones we had already read (a considerable number). I removed ones I thought were unsuitable. I marked the ones we owned or could get from the library, and the ones I would have to search for or buy.

On the second page I listed the subjects/topics that the S&S listed as suitable, and decided which ones we could cover. I repeated this pair of pages for every year through 12, then began again at Grade 4 for my son. (Notice k-3 as not there). Since I had already planned what he would cover that year it wasn't as difficult a job.

Now I went back and started moving books around until the booklists matched the topics for each year. (Is anyone remembering that I have a booklist posted? This is where it began.) I decided to require the child to read 20 books for each year, though the lists contain many more. For each year's required list I chose examples from each category - Biographies, Fiction, humor, plays. From the extra books, I chose read-alouds or the child can choose 'Free" or "Delight-Directed" reading. (This after a bad experience with an unsupervised choice of "The Sweet Valley Twins".)

I was helped in this by our city library's annual book sale - I had just finished the lists, and took my notebook as a shopping list. I was able to find ALL of the books I really wanted but didn't have, for a dollar a bag.

I read every single one of the books I handed my child. I required a math lesson every day, and a written book report or a discussion with me about it every other week. We had a weekly Science Club meeting in our home, and various other activities. We were active in two homeschool groups, plus art and music lessons and gymnastics and City Rec. League Sports- we were VERY active.

So, now I had it all planned, grades 4-12 in one notebook, booklists and all! I planned it so that the year my oldest would be doing Government and Economics, my son would be doing US History. And so on. All very nice, and easy to make adjustments if I found something better or a new book. The extra pages in the back were where I listed books to look up, and so on.

Except the next year hubby threw a monkey wrench in. I got sick, and so on. Hubby got worried about 'equivalency' and "structure" and insisted on a particular brand of curriculum. We bought it (that company Rep never forgot me, either - the nutty lady who bought two years in a row for CASH). I managed to slant my order a little, choosing materials that largely followed my plan in my notebook, but it was still a very boring two years. The materials did not suit my children. We still managed to do much of the work in a CM way, but it was less fun than it could have been. I did substitute CM for some materials that were not working at all.

After two years of this, we were flat broke. I had surgery and was recovering. Hubby put daughter back in public school, but son refused to go. He was burned-out on textbooks. Hubby relented - and we went to a full-time CM lifestyle. We were stuck with the public-school schedule (daughter came home for lunch), but beyond that we were free and we loved it. I used the notebook the way I wanted to - we read real books for hours every day! We did Science and Art and field trips and...

And, this is the way I wanted to finish - but for us it isn't the end of the tale. As you know, this Fall I have been sick again, and we have had many troubles. Daughter graduated from public school last Spring, and has moved to Grandma's. Hubby enrolled our son in public school for the very first time. I have boxed up the curriculum that we have finished with and sent much of it to my sister and my cousin, who homeschool. The yellow notebook, and the materials and the books planned for the next three years, are still on my shelves. I won't part with them because my son may return to homeschool next year. We will continue with the PLAN that I wrote out, 5 years ago. The details may change, but the plan remains. I use a yearly plan, a monthly calendar, a weekly general schedule, and a daily checklist/journal. I don't worry about the clock (except for lunch), but I kept lessons short. If we missed math today because we were doing something great, I didn't worry about it, but I made sure we did it tomorrow.

Lynn H

Hi Alba,

You do keep busy thinking of these, don't you? Good girl - keep it up!

You should assign copywork selections - how else would you be sure he covered a wide range of styles, and that the selections were good examples of the concepts? You can do this in many ways, including the delightful cookie jar ideas recently discussed here. As much as possible they should be chosen from his reading. He should be allowed to choose the selections he puts in his own journal - CM suggests a weekly time for this, such as the last activity on Fridays. Many children are also making their own copy of a book of Scripture, such as Proverbs or Romans. (My son chose Mark). This can be part of their morning Bible study time.

For example, in Composition you might have him copy a sonnet from his Shakespeare reading in Literature. Then you show him the pattern that the sonnet follows, what makes it a sonnet. Then he attempts one of his own. You don't worry about whether it is good - only whether he has followed the pattern. When he has the pattern learned, and writes 20 more, that is called Creative Writing. He is using the concept he learned from the example.

No, you do not need to pre-read all the reading you assign your high school student, though it is a good idea to know what is in there. As some others have mentioned, you need to be prepared for some discussion! Some good books need to be kept as read-alouds simply because they have unsuitable sections that you will want to edit out. This is thoroughly CM. At least scan everything you assign - don't just follow a booklist blindly - even mine! A few minutes of looking ahead at tomorrow's section of read-aloud can help you decide where and how to skip a passage smoothly, or change some vocabulary.

Now, the written narration vary in style. In the beginning you will allow him to write in any way he pleases, and you should expect they will be very similar to his oral narration style (though shorter). He does write on whatever he is reading, in every area. For example, in History he might be reading Virgil, and would write to you about one of the battles. However, at this point you begin to select HOW he writes. For example, you might assign him to write everything this week in the style of a newspaper reporter, if you had studied reporting in composition. Next week they might be Encyclopedia articles, or as though he were one of the participants describing the event to his grandchild. For composition he might take a passage (even one of his own narrations) and re-write it into a different style. When he learns essay format you would show him how to take three selections from the reading passage as examples to answer the question, instead of telling you everything he knows about the topic. He is learning discernment, choosing what is needed.

He is also learning to watch his time! Remember that CM lessons are short? Well, one of the most useful things I ever learned in high school was to judge my time and write within it. I had an English teacher who had us write an essay every Friday. It was always on something we had read that week, but we didn't know what until class time. She assigned the format and the question, and we had 40 minutes to write! She was very particular - we had to exactly fill two pages, with borders, leave 2 lines at the bottom, and so on. I had her classes two hours a day, five days a week, for two years! Do not allow your son to dawdle - set him a reasonable time length, and stick to it. If he doesn't finish, he loses free time when he might have been doing something else. For example, he might be reading History on Monday and Wednesday, have copywork or dictation on Thursday, and spend the same period on Friday writing his narration about what he has read. I would vary which days he writes in each subject so that he is not spending all day every Friday writing. Also, CM had high school children drawing detailed maps and illustrating scenes from their reading, and this also is considered narration.

Lynn H

Special Needs Children and CM

I am making a Special Needs Page for this Topic - You will find some comments and resources at this site: Special Needs.

Charlotte Mason is a philosophy that includes many areas. It is expressed in the atmosphere of our homes, in the discipline or training of our children, and in the way we choose to live our lives. All of these are (relatively) easier when things are going well. However, Life is not like that. Things rarely go well in all areas at once. While we cannot address all possible areas in one study, let us attempt one. It is time to take up the question of the child who is not normal, the child with problems - learning disabilities, handicaps.

In August of 98 I was able to attend a home education conference where the Andreolas were featured speakers. I attended three sessions with them as well as having time to examine their materials and talk with them. The last session was a Question and Answer session, and I had a question. "What about children who are not normal?". The phrasing is taken from the fact that both Andreolas spent the sessions I was in talking about how wonderful CM is for normal children. I asked the question because I thought it is important. I have met many people homeschooling children with problems. I used to think that homeschoolers have about as many problems as public school families - I have changed my mind. I believe we have more, many more, because people are not willing to allow children to fail. Thus, children in difficulty in the public schools come home to school. I was primarily thinking of ADHD and dyslexia and similar problems, but I have met people homeschooling Downs and other serious disabilities. We need to address the question of adapting materials to suit special needs. CM stressed suitability of the materials and approach for each child. Most children will do well enough with ordinary materials, but a child with special needs requires careful tailoring of all areas of their life for optimal results.

The first area is in the atmosphere of the home. More than most children, a child with special needs will require a low-stress environment. This may mean restricting outside activiites, or even the number of visitors. Some children are sensitive to the types of lights in the home, or to the flickering of a television or computer screen. Children with severe allergies will need special attention paid to the types of pets, carpeting, and curtains. ADHD children will require an area with few distractions for their schooling - not for them the bright posters of a classroom!

The second area is in the education, the discipline. This is the area most people think of first. It is also the area which must be most carefully designed for each child's individual needs. Most children with special needs will require a greater share of individual attention and one-on-one tutoring. Of course, exactly what is needed will vary according to the individual need. A child with medical problems will need to have their program fitted around their medical care and adjusted for their strength. Charlotte Mason's emphasis on short lessons and individualized programs is exactly the way to encourage these.

And third is the rest of their life. All children properly taught will find their education will enrich the rest of their life. A child needs not be a genious to appreciate lovely surroundings. A rocket scientist can enjoy playing the cello. A blind child can enjoy taste and touch and scent. I have read of a blind adult, expert in seashells- hand him one, and he can identify it perfectly.

Tell us some ways you have adapted your atmosphere, discipline, and life to the needs of your special child. Since this is an open list, it will not be a good idea to discuss this by email. Instead, protect your child's privacy - send your posts directly to me and I will forward them to the list with your names removed.

Lynn H

Here is the question again:

2.) The part -time CM family. If "Education is a Life", then it should not be restricted to homeschoolers. How can a non-homeschooling family, or a family with children in a mixture of educational settings, apply CM principles in their home?

Let me begin with an idea - In the beginning Charlotte Mason's Philosophy was not an educational system for homeschoolers. Think about it - in her time and place, children were taught at home until they were sent to school. That time might have been about age 9 on average, but it was the expected idea that children would sooner or later go to school. Often those schools were boarding schools. Charlotte Mason taught parents to be better parents, to establish their homes on principles that would enhance their family lives. She taught Governesses, who were teachers in private homes. She taught teachers, who taught in the public and private schools, including the system of PNEU schools that developed.

Charlotte Mason used short mnemonics to express many of her ideas. One is that Education is an Atmosphere. Atmosphere applies to both home and school. In her book "A Charlotte Mason Companion", Karen Andreola has an essay (chapter 6) titled "The Atmosphere of Home", which she has expanded from an article in the original Parent's Review by M.F. Jerrold. She quotes Charlotte Mason,
"Ideas are held in that thought environment which surrounds the child as an atmosphere, in which he breathes in unconscious ideas of right living emanating from his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every word of kindness and act of help, passes into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things, may never think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency [relationship] towards something out of which most of his actions spring." Karen Andreola goes on to list several characteristics that should be found in a home - ideas, a homemaker, the protecting wings of a religious atmosphere, open communication including sympathy, physical closeness, and courtesy towards others.

In Volume 6 on page 97, Charlotte Mason also says,
"The bracing atmosphere of truth and sincerity should be perceived in every school; and here again the common pursuit of knowledge by teacher and class comes to our aid and creates a current of fresh air perceptible even to the chance visitor, who sees the glow of intellectual life and moral health on the faces of teachers and children alike."

The six essays composing Volume 1, Home Education, stress the arrangement of the home life so that the child learns from their environment, unconsciously, breathing in an enjoyment of beauty and a consideration of others as they learn to read, speak, and the habits that will guide their lives. A few days ago we had a discussion on whether the proper term is "Mother Culture", or "Teacher Culture". The Idea is certainly Charlotte Mason's own, and both terms seem accurate. An adult cannot teach a child what they do not know themselves; yet, they can learn it with the child, together in enjoyment.

The education, the Discipline, that homeschoolers are using with great success, was developed for the PNEU schools. Homeschool was always a part of this movement, but it was a part reproducing at home what was being done in the schools. The sample schedules from the original Parent's Review, reproduced in Catherine Levison's book, "A Charlotte Mason Education", are for classroom schedules, not homes. A home education combines the best of both, the discipline of the habits and structure; and the freedom of restraints in a home setting.

Education is a life. What does that mean? It means that your whole life, lifestyle, is open to experiences. I am a CM mama not because I follow her philosophy, but because this is MY philosophy, my life - I only needed the words to express it. I have paintings on my walls because I like them, I play music, I cook and try to have a pleasant home. Last Wednesday I went for a walk through a pine woods with my daughter because we felt like it. It was a beautiful Fall day - bright sky, golden leaves, the wind blowing in the pines, the little dog trailing through the trees. Several times she asked me what a particular tree or plant was, just because she wanted to know, and I was pleased to be able to tell her and point out the characteristics of each. My daughter is grown, she was mostly homeschooled but not primarily with the CM ideas. Living books, walks, music have always been part of our lives - and these are the things she lives now. I see that the CM principles I followed, not knowing they were CM, have always been the real parts of our lives.

Which is good - because our lives have changed, but our lifestyle has not. My daughter is grown and no longer lives at home. Due to my illness and some other problems, there has been another big change here. Some of you will remember our discussion last summer about submission. Submission is not fun. Submission hurts. It is deliberately allowing another's Will to control. It is not when you agree, but when you disagree, that submission becomes an act of your Will in the way we have called "The Way of the Will". I have submitted. My husband took our son to the public school across the street and enrolled him. We are no longer a homeschooling family. Once I got over the shock, I realized that I am not going to change my lifestyle. I still feel like a CM mama - I guess I always will. If God allows it, we will bring my son home again next year. Even so, he will only be here a few more years. My life will continue to change - but my lifestyle does not need to.

Which brings me to the longer answer to Trisha's question that I promised. My son has never been in a school before. We used ACE for two years, and BJU for two years; otherwise he has been completely CM'd. In fact, we used CM with the curriculum - you can use this method with any materials, though some work better than others. My son has some problems, so the school gave him extensive testing. The conclusions, which I have in writing and which were told to my husband, is that I was teaching my son exactly right - teaching to his strengths, while still working on his weaknesses. He tested at grade level or above in every area except his disability. The teachers were impressed with his storytelling and narration! He was the only one in his 9th grade Science class who knew how to assemble and use a microscope and a telescope. or who understood sterile technique. His IEP specifies oral tests It also specifies that as needed, texts and reading selections are to be read aloud. How CM can you get? He can read, and his comprehension is very high, but he has vision problems. I continue to read his literature and most of his textbook assignments aloud at home. The school says they are getting a copy of his Geography text on tapes because they have another student in that class who needs it, so the two will listen to those assignments together. Not only is the school using similar materials to what I was using at home, they ARE using some of what I was using at home! The school bought the same spelling program (Davidson), and I loaned my Writing Strands to the Special Ed teacher to use until the books she's ordered arrive.

How has he adjusted? He enjoys being with the other children. Our public school is small, classes range from 6 students to perhaps 15 per class, so the classes are friendly, less structured, and probably noisier than many schools, and the teachers have more time for individuals. He is on the basketball team (he is very athletic). He does not like the schedule- he is used to having his time to himself when his lessons were finished. We had a problem one day when he decided that as long as he was passing his tests and completing his homework he didn't have to be in class. You can imagine that didn't go over well! He is still having trouble being punctual - he hates the discipline laps the basketball coach makes them run when they are late!

I talked to Cindy about whether I should resign from the group. She does not want me to. She reminds me that, in For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay says that a CM life is for all children and all situations. I am learning this - I am in a new situation, but I am still a Charlotte Mason mama.

Lynn H

> If there's a down side to this CM philosophy (Did I just WRITE > that!!!!????!!), it's that we use living books instead of textbooks - and > that means we have to select the right living books!

Hi Donna Jean,

Right. The books need to be carefully chosen for subject, bias, age suitability, literary language, living Ideas and all that.

Now let me try to encourage you a little here. You see, I think at this point in time you may be over-protecting your dd. She should be ready for meat instead of milk - and meat sometimes has gristle. I would not do it all at once, but I would begin to introduce emotionally difficult material. A good start might be Hannah Hurnard's beautiful "Hind's Feet" books, which my dd loved at this age. It gave her strength for future needs.

My own dd is also a tender heart. It's one of the things I cherish about her. At age 10 or so I thought hard - and then I read her the Diary of Anne Frank, The Hiding Place, and some others. Yes, we cried. We eventually watched the Holocaust documentary, too - which is very graphic, and even Schindler's List which is even more so. OK, she was about 16 for the last one. We discussed racism, and intolerance, and Evolution and why Hitler thought he was purifying the race and why the good Christians didn't all object.

We learned it is all right to cry. We learned to question our own motives. We learned to admire people like Corrie Ten Boom and the Danes who participated in the rescues. We learned that even good people can fail to do right. She learned that there are dark spots in the history of the world that none of us understand. She learned to understand her own family better - because we are of very mixed heritage, a true American melting pot family. I look like my Amerind ancestors, my sister looks Irish, my brother like our father and all his ancestors back to the Vikings. All of our lines have praiseworthy events in the history, and all have dark areas.

Charlotte Mason said :
Volume 3 p 162-163 "WE MAY NOT CHOOSE OR REJECT SUBJECTS - You will see at a glance, with this Captain Idea of establishing relationships as a guide, the unwisdom of choosing or rejecting this or that subject, as being more or less useful or necessary in view of the child's future."

Volume 6, p187: "Children, like ourselves, must see life whole if they are to profit. At the same time they must be protected from grossness and rudeness by means of the literary medium through which they are taught."

and continuing on p187-188: "We labor under a difficulty in choosing books which has exercised all great thinkers from Plato to Erasmus, from Erasmus to the anxious Heads of schools today. I mean the coarseness and grossness which crop up in scores of books desirable otherwise for their sound learning and judgment. Milton assures us with strong asseveration that to the pure all things are pure; but we are uneasy."
snipping good stuff for brevity...
"So far as we can get them we use expurgated versions; in other cases the book is read aloud by the teacher with necessary omissions."

Catherine Levison, on page 71, suggests: "In Charlotte Mason's book *Ourselves* (Vol. 4, Book 2, pgs 33-40) there is an interesting section using several examples from literature on moral behavior. Using Steerforth from David Copperfield among others she demonstrates how incorrect choices made, when faced with temptation, result in misery. This is another example of using books instead of censoring fictional material so they can learn from other's mistakes. Charlotte's students read *Ourselves* when they were older, and they were taught to keep watch over their thoughts and to keep their minds pure and decent."

(Reminder - Vol 4, book 1 is for children under 16, Book 2 is for children over 16.)

And finally, though I have lost the reference at the moment, there was our discussion on the lives of artists and composers. Many of them lived less than exemplary lives. Charlotte said that young children did not need to know the details of the life of the artist but that older children (teens) DO need to examine the lives and philosophies.

Your daughter is growing up. She is 13. You cannot shelter her from the dark side of humanity forever - but you can and should walk through it holding her hand. It is time to stop being the channel through which everything is filtered, and become the mentor and friend who is exploring the world with her - warts and all. She needs to be aware that for some people that is reality. Those tough, emotional chapters are exactly the ones which need to be discussed and read together.

I own a copy of "I Am Regina", and my daughter read it at about age 16. It has dark areas - very dark indeed. We talked a lot about the differences between the faiths of the Indians and the Faith of the settlers. Do you remember when the Indians came into the Ingall's house wearing skunk skins and scalp belts? Have you begun Anthropology - studying the Indian's religion?

Because I read at what appears to many to be an incredible rate, I have been able to pre-read everything I have chosen for my children. There are books I have rejected completely, books I have found edited versions of, books I have read aloud and edited rather than miss (Treasure Island comes to mind). However, I am not able to read fast enough to read every book in the world! I have depended heavily on the lists and advice of others as to what to choose. I also have worked ahead - I don't decide on Friday that we will begin something on Monday. I save book descriptions, adding them to my lists, and when the topic comes along I already know what we will read. I have usually already read it.

Beautiful Feet is not the only catalog that chooses emotionally difficult reading for tender ages. Sonlight has some in their list that I would not choose at all! Yet, they explain why - they want children to see all views. (I would still remove that novel about children lost in Australia!) They also have many selections that are from a non-Christian point of view, again wanting the children to see the ideas that different peoples operate from. They want the children to CHOOSE to be Christians. I think, difficult as this is, that it really is a very CM idea.

Lynn H

Her dd is 11 and has had a late start in >reading. She seems to have trouble with phonetics, but is doing okay with >sight words. What would you advise her to do, as her dd has said she hated >reading. Should she back off, and just continue reading aloud, or give >shorter reading assignments. She does not want to discourage her.

Hi Debbie,

I would do several things, so bear with me here. It is possible the child is simply a late reader. Some children are, and there is nothing wrong. If so, she ought to be taking off soon.

It would be a good idea to get her eyes checked - but I do not want her taken the cheap way. I suggest that someone locate a specialized Opthamologist - the kind that does vision therapy and learning disability testing. I had to drive 75 miles to find one but it was worth it. They are expensive, and vision therapy is expensive, but it really does work. Check with your insurance -some kinds do cover this because it is not a regular checkup. It is therapy for a medical problem.

I suggest this because the particular problems you describe sound suggestive of Dyslexia. She might also check around for a Reading Clinic - large Universities often have one. They don't check for other eye or vision problems, but they can teach some alternative coping techniques.

I mention this because I am the dyslexic mother of two dyslexics; my son has other vision problems, and my dd has other learning diabilities. We have traveled this road!

Third - how to teach this child while she improves her reading. Yes, mama needs to continue to read aloud. The child's reading needs to be aloud (so mama can listen for skipping, endings, and other decoding problems)and should not be more than half an hour at a time. Mama needs to continue to include phonics lessons focused on trouble spots - my dd needed a full year of drilling on suffixes, which she does not hear. Mama should include more sight-word vocabulary building, perhaps as part of the spelling lessons. I really recommend the "English From the Roots Up" program for this age. The child needs to continue to write, but make the selections shorter. She may not be ready for composition and grammar for another year or two.

Also, Mama needs to select some alternative learning materials wherever possible. I'm talking kits, models, science projects, crafts, videos, cassette tapes, Wrap-Ups (which come in more subjects than Math), computer programs, field trips, history re-enactments, drama and art. Participate as much as possible - enter contests, join the little theater group.

Lynn H

(footnote - this particular child turned out to need glasses)

Question #2 - The Part Time CM Family

Here is the question again:

2.) The part -time CM family. If "Education is a Life", then it should not be restricted to homeschoolers. How can a non-homeschooling family, or a family with children in a mixture of educational settings, apply CM principles in their home?

Let me begin with an idea - In the beginning Charlotte Mason's Philosophy was not an educational system for homeschoolers. Think about it - in her time and place, children were taught at home until they were sent to school. That time might have been about age 9 on average, but it was the expected idea that children would sooner or later go to school. Often those schools were boarding schools. Charlotte Mason taught parents to be better parents, to establish their homes on principles that would enhance their family lives. She taught Governesses, who were teachers in private homes. She taught teachers, who taught in the public and private schools, including the system of PNEU schools that developed.

Charlotte Mason used short mnemonics to express many of her ideas. One is that Education is an Atmosphere. Atmosphere applies to both home and school. In her book "A Charlotte Mason Companion", Karen Andreola has an essay (chapter 6) titled "The Atmosphere of Home", which she has expanded from an article in the original Parent's Review by M.F. Jerrold. She quotes Charlotte Mason,
"Ideas are held in that thought environment which surrounds the child as an atmosphere, in which he breathes in unconscious ideas of right living emanating from his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every word of kindness and act of help, passes into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things, may never think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency [relationship] towards something out of which most of his actions spring." Karen Andreola goes on to list several characteristics that should be found in a home - ideas, a homemaker, the protecting wings of a religious atmosphere, open communication including sympathy, physical closeness, and courtesy towards others.

In Volume 6 on page 97, Charlotte Mason also says,
"The bracing atmosphere of truth and sincerity should be perceived in every school; and here again the common pursuit of knowledge by teacher and class comes to our aid and creates a current of fresh air perceptible even to the chance visitor, who sees the glow of intellectual life and moral health on the faces of teachers and children alike."

The six essays composing Volume 1, Home Education, stress the arrangement of the home life so that the child learns from their environment, unconsciously, breathing in an enjoyment of beauty and a consideration of others as they learn to read, speak, and the habits that will guide their lives. A few days ago we had a discussion on whether the proper term is "Mother Culture", or "Teacher Culture". The Idea is certainly Charlotte Mason's own, and both terms seem accurate. An adult cannot teach a child what they do not know themselves; yet, they can learn it with the child, together in enjoyment.

The education, the Discipline, that homeschoolers are using with great success, was developed for the PNEU schools. Homeschool was always a part of this movement, but it was a part reproducing at home what was being done in the schools. The sample schedules from the original Parent's Review, reproduced in Catherine Levison's book, "A Charlotte Mason Education", are for classroom schedules, not homes. A home education combines the best of both, the discipline of the habits and structure; and the freedom of restraints in a home setting.

Education is a life. What does that mean? It means that your whole life, lifestyle, is open to experiences. I am a CM mama not because I follow her philosophy, but because this is MY philosophy, my life - I only needed the words to express it. I have paintings on my walls because I like them, I play music, I cook and try to have a pleasant home. Last Wednesday I went for a walk through a pine woods with my daughter because we felt like it. It was a beautiful Fall day - bright sky, golden leaves, the wind blowing in the pines, the little dog trailing through the trees. Several times she asked me what a particular tree or plant was, just because she wanted to know, and I was pleased to be able to tell her and point out the characteristics of each. My daughter is grown, she was mostly homeschooled but not primarily with the CM ideas. Living books, walks, music have always been part of our lives - and these are the things she lives now. I see that the CM principles I followed, not knowing they were CM, have always been the real parts of our lives.

Which is good - because our lives have changed, but our lifestyle has not. My daughter is grown and no longer lives at home. Due to my illness and some other problems, there has been another big change here. Some of you will remember our discussion last summer about submission. Submission is not fun. Submission hurts. It is deliberately allowing another's Will to control. It is not when you agree, but when you disagree, that submission becomes an act of your Will in the way we have called "The Way of the Will". I have submitted. My husband took our son to the public school across the street and enrolled him. We are no longer a homeschooling family. Once I got over the shock, I realized that I am not going to change my lifestyle. I still feel like a CM mama - I guess I always will. If God allows it, we will bring my son home again next year. Even so, he will only be here a few more years. My life will continue to change - but my lifestyle does not need to.

Which brings me to the longer answer to Trisha's question that I promised. My son has never been in a school before. We used ACE for two years, and BJU for two years; otherwise he has been completely CM'd. In fact, we used CM with the curriculum - you can use this method with any materials, though some work better than others. My son has some problems, so the school gave him extensive testing. The conclusions, which I have in writing and which were told to my husband, is that I was teaching my son exactly right - teaching to his strengths, while still working on his weaknesses. He tested at grade level or above in every area except his disability. The teachers were impressed with his storytelling and narration! He was the only one in his 9th grade Science class who knew how to assemble and use a microscope and a telescope. or who understood sterile technique. His IEP specifies oral tests It also specifies that as needed, texts and reading selections are to be read aloud. How CM can you get? He can read, and his comprehension is very high, but he has vision problems. I continue to read his literature and most of his textbook assignments aloud at home. The school says they are getting a copy of his Geography text on tapes because they have another student in that class who needs it, so the two will listen to those assignments together. Not only is the school using similar materials to what I was using at home, they ARE using some of what I was using at home! The school bought the same spelling program (Davidson), and I loaned my Writing Strands to the Special Ed teacher to use until the books she's ordered arrive.

How has he adjusted? He enjoys being with the other children. Our public school is small, classes range from 6 students to perhaps 15 per class, so the classes are friendly, less structured, and probably noisier than many schools, and the teachers have more time for individuals. He is on the basketball team (he is very athletic). He does not like the schedule- he is used to having his time to himself when his lessons were finished. We had a problem one day when he decided that as long as he was passing his tests and completing his homework he didn't have to be in class. You can imagine that didn't go over well! He is still having trouble being punctual - he hates the discipline laps the basketball coach makes them run when they are late!

I talked to Cindy about whether I should resign from the group. She does not want me to. She reminds me that, in For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay says that a CM life is for all children and all situations. I am learning this - I am in a new situation, but I am still a Charlotte Mason mama.

Lynn H

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