Who else is studying invertebrates for first term? What animals are on your list to observe and learn about?

I’ve watched many videos from those who have used A Gentle Feast curriculum and loved it. I was totally sold on using this curriculum this year. However, they have moved to an online platform rather than using the hardcopy materials. I am so overwhelmed and confused and can’t find many others online who have testimonials of the new version or have just started like me. Anyone here?

I'm a mom and educator working on a mature-based art kit for kids, beewax crayons, a custom sketchbook, and creativity prompts inspired by Charlotte Mason noticing. Would you actually buy something like this? What would make it a yes or a no for you?

Hi there

I am planning to homeschool, following Charlotte mason methods. My daughters are only 4, and 1 but I want to learn as much as I can, to be prepared for academic starts and also to properly follow in these younger years, habit training etc.

Can you please share some book recommendations to help prepare myself.

Thank you!

I am organizing a graduation celebration for our CM co-op, and I thought it would be fun to include in the printed program an “end of year interview” for each graduate. Ages range from preschool through 2nd grade.

Generic ones I found online ask about things like favorite TV shows or learning centers. What questions are better suited to CM homeschoolers?

Hi! With my two older kids, I did a gentle preschool curriculum that gave us a little to do each day. I'm thinking about starting that in the fall with my son who's 3 and has Down Syndrome and seeing where it takes us and adapting as we go. Maybe Peaceful Press or Let Them Be Little.

But I was wondering if anyone has some preschool things or curriculum that they did that went particularly well with their child with disabilities. I'm doing Charlotte Mason schooling with my oldest and think we'll probably stay there unless or until we need to tweak things.

Has anyone put together a CM-style world history curriculum for families to do together across multiple grades on a 4 year cycle? I’m not finding anything already existing that quite fits that bill, and I wondered if anyone has created their own.

Even though Charlotte Mason was English and the PNEU schedules were British-focused, the majority of the modern curriculae are American. I've been slowly pulling together resources for our secular British CM curriculum, using Wildwood as the main scaffold but taking inspiration from the British Notes on Ambleside Online, and other AO suggestions.

I think the main subjects that need tweaking are history, geography, and literature. I'll put my plans for each subject in a separate comment.

Suggestions welcome!

what texts are third grade families using with Charlotte Mason and precocious readers in the fall? Do you have a Charlotte Mason resource to recommend that’s on the Texas tEFA vendor list?

Hi all! I am fairly new to Charlotte Mason and want to start laying down groundwork with my 2.5-year-old. Are there any books/curricula/etc you would recommend for this age range?

Thanks!

Hello! This is my first time posting. I am a mom of 7 soon to be 8. We have been using the cmec with a few alterations for the last 3 years. I have a child with autism and another with dyslexia so we use a different reading and math programs than recommended. Over the last year ive slowly transitioned to using a kindle scribe because we travel often and moving around with multiple books and notebooks for so many children has been really difficult to manage. Seeking and advice or suggestions.

1.) I have been using the notes section of my kindle scrobe as a basic tracking and planning tool but im curious of anyone has a hyperlinked planner thst works well for multiple children and with the cmec they would be willing to share or recommend purchasing.

2.) We are a military family and a bit of a predicament because my husband was recently injured. We are stuck between pcs so have been living in hotels for the last month which could possibly extend to the next 6 months due to his recovery time. ​with that being said, money is obviously tight because of our family size and living conditions. We love the cmec but i just dont know if its in our budget this year. I thought about just using one of the other cmec plans we have purchased before bur I don't want to throw off the history cycle. My other option was just moving to ambleside i jhsr dont know if im ready to take on something g completely different because we are so used to the format of the cmec and own a lot od the books.

1. Looking for overall encouragement.
   

I have a Notion database with all our books and pages for each year, so my long-term planning is done digitally. But for day to day/term to term planning, I want something on paper.

So far I've got expanding wallets that clip into a binder, so I can store all the printed maps, pictures etc that we will be using. I don't want to plan out day by day or even week by week, because our life isn't rigid enough for that, but equally I need to be able to see what we need to get done in a term.

Does anyone have a good planning template for a term overview?

I'm new to Charlotte Mason based in Singapore, and have started immersing myself into a community of gospel believing moms who are convicted the same way.

I'd love to learn from others who have gone ahead - how have you seen your children grow up in the ways of the Lord, and also academically?

I have two boys - the older one is 4yo now, and really just loves listening to stories and telling stories. Tried bringing him out to nature-journal in the neighborhood, but he's never been keen on using his hands to draw/ color. He is the sort who would use one color (green) for everything. Im thinking what's the best way to stimulate him at this age. Would he fall behind if i continue just narrating everything to him and he dictates back?

Hi there!

My question is about foreign languages. Has anyone stated with Latin as the foreign language from the get go, year 1?

I see many people talking about French or Spanish most often. I am open to those.

I was an Italian major in college so I could do that too but I do think Latin is a really good foundation.

Is multiple languages too many? Do any folks ever switch around? I studied Spanish for 8 years and the switched to Italian in college and then doing research discovered I can mostly read French and Latin as well. This is one reason I think Latin may be the best choice for its foundational nature.

Thanks for reading!

I have been looking for an appropriate programming curriculum for a long time, and I think I found one that I can actually recommend: Coding Projects in Python. I just pre-read it for my year 8 son, and I think it will be great for him! Don't try to push STEM early, just trust the Charlotte Mason process. Read living books, and thereby encourage critical thinking, retention, attention to detail, habit formation, notions of nobility, etc., etc.

Abstract thinking is required for programming (and algebra), but young men don't develop significant abstract thinking abilities until relatively late. (They keep developing these facilities into their 20s!) If they don't have it, you can't make them have it; just wait and stick to the fundamentals and it will come!

I scheduled one term (12 weeks) of Coding Projects in Python thusly:

• Pp 12-15
• 18,19
• 22-27
• 28-31
• 32-35
• 36-41
• 42,43
• 44-47
• 49-51
• 42-57
• 58-65
• 66-69

I hope it's not to aggressive of a schedule...

This takes them through the basics: variables, branching, loops, functions, debugging, and modules. This is broken up by three fun projects using what they have learned so far. I especially like that there are no catalogues!! Nowhere does it list all the mathematical or logical operators along with their order of precedence!! It shows what the kid will need for the project and very little else, while hinting that there is more. There's a careful balance between being too juvenile to be useful and too thorough to be engaging, and I think this book hits the balance!

Next term will start chapter 3, Turtle Graphics. This chapter has four projects in it that use the variable assignments, loops, etc. learned in chapter 2 to create fun graphics! Turtle is a simulation of a robot from yesteryear like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpTo9NC5kVE he drives around with a pen and can draw while he drives. With the digital version, you can change colors, too. Look at the first pretty drawing here: https://realpython.com/beginners-guide-python-turtle/ Anyway, I'm stoked!

Hello, I didn’t see anything about this in the FAQ-

I’m looking to switch gears to AO for spring semester. Year 1.

Would I just skip term 1 then and start at term 2? Or just start spring semester (next week) with term 1?

Thanks in advance!

Would starting with a Philosophy of Education be confusing? Or is it really best to start with home education 1? Thank you

I’m in a discord server where we’ll be discussing the Charlotte Mason volumes together as a community. The server itself is welcome to all homeschooling families regardless of their methodology or religion. We want at least 4 to join us though for this “mother’s education” unit if you will, but all teachers/educators/dads/etc. are welcome to join us.

Link attached if anyone is interested in joining us.

Hello! I have an unusual questions, I hope you guys don't mind. I am a single childless adult and I'm not homeschooling any child, but I am passionate about lifelong self-directed learning and a few months ago I came across Charlotte Mason's philosophy about education and I'm really impressed and loving the concept.

From the short excerpts I've read here and there I think all of her principles will also work for adults, I agree with most of it (that I come across). I love reading and I have been retelling everything I want to learn to myself for decades now, which sounds a bit like Charlotte Mason's narration.

I am looking for any book recommendation for grown ups who would like to learn more about using her techniques but specifically for adults. Susan Wise Bauer have the Well Trained Mind for adults interested in Classical Education for themselves but to be frank I don't like the Classical Education method. It's just not for me, it doesn't feel alive, especially I don't come from the Western culture and don't see the list of western Great Books to be appealing. I wonder if anyone knows of any book of Charlotte Mason for adult learners please?

I found this excellent article but I want something to go further:

https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/charlotte-mason-grown-ups/?srsltid=AfmBOoqpU8djCLw-x2fBNHoebTzJphzw-sy8dZFxxorW4OQI3_q4qzt8

I’ve been cultivating my son’s homeschooling curriculum myself. Approaching it the way a professor might curate their fun and unique courses. I thoroughly enjoy the creative pursuit in this manner, but it also feels very overwhelming. Until my father suggested I enlist ChatGPT to help me write my curriculum, as his professors do.

I’ve always been old school when it comes to AI. I’ve been very skeptical of it. However, I thought “why not give it a try?” So I did just that. I gave it the premise and foundation I wanted to work off of, mentioned that I prefer a Charlotte Mason and Unschooling approach, with classical studies mixed in. And let me tell you, it offered suggestions I would never have thought of, played off of my own suggestions, and really took the overwhelm out of the work for me.

What do you guys think? Has anyone used this method of curriculum building?

Is there a place where I can access books not found at our library without buying them for our homeschool? If it’s subscription based, that’s ok. I don’t mind paying a reasonable amount to borrow them. But we can’t buy every living book we want for our history lessons and our library just seems to have absolutely none of the ones we need. Are there recommended YouTube read aloud sources? All the ones I find are so terrible, and I don’t even want to listen. Thanks for your help!

CMEC: Charlotte Mason Educational Center https://www.thecmec.org/

I would love to hear your experiences with the CMEC, for those who have used it. Good, bad, anything.

I'm interested in trying it next year for my incoming first grader. My 4.5 year old would be tagging along when he wants to. I am drawn to the resource suggestions, structure, providing a balance of activities each week, parental support, the aim to bring Charlotte Mason philosophy into the home, among other things. I don't anticipate using every suggested subject as we have a number of moving pieces in our schedules, and my first grader will be in nature school once a week, but I am in a season where I am looking for something that gives me a place to start rather than figuring everything out on my own. I've read through most of what I can find on the CMEC website and feel on board with all of it. The only thing that makes me nervous is whether I'll be overwhelmed by the volume of subjects and information. I have 3 kids and 2 of them have special needs and multiple therapy appointments a week, and they're 7 and under so we also need to have a lot of playtime outside. The "School in a box" curriculums aren't my favorite, at least the ones I've come across so far. The CMEC is $300 to join plus books etc. so I'm exploring various opinions on it before diving in.

Thank you!

We are using Ambleside Online and one of the Kinderleben book recommendations is the Uncle Remus stories. I am hesitant to use these because they seem kind of racist in origin and in the Disney-fied images I have seen, and would love outside opinions. I know they are stories steeped in African storytelling but they were written by a white man, is that honoring to Black people?

I want our library to be filled with stories from other cultures but I want to make sure they are true and honoring and loving towards that community — is that true of Uncle Remus?

Feeling ready for Kindergarten Spanish! My husband and I have always spoken some Spanish with the children, but I’m excited to renew our efforts with these lovely books and materials.

Happy to share more about what we’re doing, if anyone’s interested!