Now that I’ve had some time to digest, I’d like to share my thoughts from the amazing Charlotte Mason Conference. First of all, I am sooo glad that I went. If anyone reading this has the chance to go to a conference like this – Do it! You won’t be sorry!! The purpose of the conference was to “explicate, equip, and nourish.” Mission Accomplished!

Immersion class with Nancy Kelly

I attended a pre-conference immersion class. This was a morning of experiencing the Charlotte Mason method as a student, followed by an afternoon of discussion, with Nancy Kelly as the teacher/homeschooling mother. She wrote a blog post about the class HERE (with a picture!).Nancy Kelly has a CM conference in Minnesota that was sold out when I tried to sign up this year, but I hope that I can go next year!!! Nancy Kelly was such a great teacher.

This class was the main reason I went to the conference and it was soooo worth it! I learned so much. The biggest thing I learned is that Charlotte Mason is FUN! I am so excited to do this for myself! Our morning looked like this:

• Bible (20 minutes) – “Any new thoughts of God?”
• Geography (20 minutes) – “conversation with a map”
• Poetry (10 minutes)
• Literature
• Picture Talk (20 minutes) – Best Value Copy a great source for prints
• Break (15 minutes)
• Folksong (10 minutes)
• Shakespeare (30 minutes) – resource SmartPass from audible.com and Arch Angel Productions from the library, and Bruce Coville picture books
• Copywork (15 minutes) – “some slow and beautiful work”
• Architecture (30 minutes)
• Hymn study (10 minutes) – 2 hymns per term, one year daily book of hymns a good source of quick bios and background

Nancy Kelly also shared a big picture schedule from her home:

• Group Time (average 45 minutes – can be a lot less, but not much more) covering most of the topics above all together
• Individual Study (average 2 hours) – olders do lit, science, and math independently, while mom sits with the littles
• Table Activities (average 30 minutes) – separate but together: copywork, dictation, Book of Centuries
• Masterly Inactivity (as much as possible) – typically in the afternoon – piano sonata, build a fort, reenact a battle at Bull Run

Mothers as Persons with Cheri Struble

So, one distinctive of the CM philosophy of education is that we see children as persons. This class talked about seeing mothers as persons. As such, we need to take time to feed our souls. Just like our children need ideas, we need to eat too! The most important thing I learned was that when moms feel overwhelmed we focus inward (me, me, me) or we try to escape, like by shopping (retail therapy), watching TV (zoning out), etc., but none of these things feed our soul. Alternatively, God’s gifts to us: art, music, nature, etc. do feed our soul, by pointing us outward and upward. One quote that stood out to me was in the context of Mom being in trouble (depression, etc.), “only rarely can she be helped from the outside.” I know for me personally, it has been a real struggle to accept our new reality with a special needs child. There have been a lot of days that I just wanted everything to end (Maranatha, Lord come quickly!). And I think the things that we talked about in the class are really good for all mothers to practice as a way of staying emotionally healthy.

So, based on what I learned from this class, I have started reading some great books I have gathered in preparation for homeschooling. I have started reading Miracle at Philadelphia and I ordered a book by Wendel Barry. I have also started my own Nature Journal (I’ve posted a few entries on the blog) and it really does feed my soul. I am no artist, but I do enjoy the practice of looking so carefully. I see things now everyday that I never noticed before I started really looking as part of my Nature Journal. I’ve also started my own Picture Study Notebook with prints of each picture I’ve made my personal friend.

Another thing I am implementing in my own life from this class is a Charlotte Mason reading group. We haven’t started yet, but I met a few other moms at the conference who live in Maryland and Virgina. We are going to start with a Nature Walk at Roosevelt Island in a few weeks and we will start the book club after that, reading through Charlotte’s six volumes on education.

I actually missed the first half of this class because I was putting Everett down for his nap. In fact, I almost didn’t go at all because I felt bad about going in late. Somehow, I just decided to go, and I’m oh so glad that I did. It’s silly, but it never occurred to me that I needed Charlotte Mason for myself. I really feel like the things I learned in this class are helping me to be a person who plants herself in a wide room, who cares deeply about many things.

 

This is my first attempt at dry brush watercolor at the Dry Brush demo at the conference. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to buy my very own Nature Journal!

 

I have lots to share from a few other talks at the conference, but I think I’ll wait a bit. If I forget and you are interested – let me know and I’ll type up my remaining notes. I promise!