A Delectable Education Charlotte Mason Podcast

As home educators trying to spread the wide feast of a Charlotte Mason education for multiple children, we feel the need to have our students working independently. But how do we get them there? Join Liz, Nicole, and Emily as they discuss the rewards and challenges with practical advice for how to help our children grow in independence--in school lessons and beyond.

“As we have already urged, there is but one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves. They must read the given pages and tell what they have read, they must perform, that is, what we may call the act of knowing." (6/99)

“One of the features, and one of the disastrous features, of modern society, is that, in our laziness, we depend upon prodders and encourage a vast system of prodding.” (3/39)

"...parents who have always satisfied the intellectual craving of their children must needs forego the delight of watching a literary awakening." (3/123)

“The children must know themselves to be let alone, whether to do their own duty or to seek their own pleasure. The constraining power should be present, but passive, so that the child may not feel himself hemmed in without choice. That free-will of man, which has for ages exercised faithful souls who would prefer to be compelled into all righteousness and obedience, is after all a pattern for parents. The child who is good because he must be so, loses in power of initiative more than he gains in seemly behaviour. Every time a child feels that he chooses to obey of his own accord, his power of initiative is strengthened.” (3/31)

"A parent may be willing to undergo any definite labours for his child's sake; but to be always catering for his behoof, always contriving that circumstances shall play upon him for his good, is the part of a god and not of a man!" (1/10)

"Make children happy and they will be good,' is absolutely true, but does it develop that strenuousness, the first condition of virtue, which comes of the contrary axiom-' Be good and you will be happy'?" (3/57)

"Let her distribute her time as she likes, but count her tale of bricks; let her choose books for her own reading, but know what she chooses; let her choose her own companions, but put before her the principles on which to choose..." (5/245)

The Coddling of the American Mind, Haidt and Lukianoff

Awaken: Living Books Conference

2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference}

Episode 108: Masterly Inactivity

ADE's Patreon Community

Charlotte Mason recommended "afternoon occupations" and instructions about them were included in her programmes. Are there particular occupations, specified times and occurrences, and how much does the parent need to superintend these occupations? These and all questions involving afternoon was the focus of the original episode being re-aired, which includes a preliminary conversation from this year about clarifying particulars and eight years more experience of Nicole, Emily, and Liz.

"Then comes 3:45 when the children have an hour's work before tea—handicrafts, singing, painting, picture study are the type of lessons given at this time. Then comes tea, after which the children read and sew and have some time to amuse themselves." ("The Work and Aims of the P.U.S.")

"That the claims of the schoolroom should not be allowed to encroach on the child's right to long hours daily for exercise and investigation." (Vol. 1, p. 177)

"Thus, the morning, after breakfast (the digestion of which lighter meal is not a severe task), is much the best time for lessons and every sort of mental work; if the whole afternoon cannot be spared for out-of-door recreation, that is the time for mechanical tasks such as needlework, drawing, practising; the children's wits are bright enough in the evening, but the drawback to evening work is, that the brain, once excited, is inclined to carry on its labours beyond bed-time, and dreams, wakefulness, and uneasy sleep attend the poor child who has been at work until the last minute. If the elder children must work in the evening, they should have at least one or two pleasant social hours before they go to bed; but, indeed, we owe it to the children to abolish evening 'preparation.'" (Vol. 1, p. 23)

"Five of the thirteen waking hours should be at the disposal of the children; three, at least, of these, from two o'clock to five, for example, should be spent out of doors in all but very bad weather. This is the opportunity for out-of-door work, collecting wild flowers, describing walks and views, etc. (see Home Education). Brisk work and ample leisure and freedom should be the rule of the Home School. The Children's Day will, on the whole, run this: Lessons, 1 1/2 to 4 hours; meals, 2 hours; occupations, 1 to 3 hours; leisure, 5 to 7 hours, according to age. The work not done in its own time should be left undone. Children should not be embarrassed with arrears, and they should have dues sense of the importance of time, and that there is no other time for work not done in its own time. Should the children flag at any time, a day's holiday, a little country excursion, should refresh them." (From Suggestions which accompanied the PNEU Programmes)

"[Referring to the afternoon occupations]...at any time of day, in any division of time, to suit family arrangements; when possible, out of doors." (From Suggestions which accompanied the PNEU Programmes)

If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent's Review articles that would be helpful for this episode's topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy.

Home Education, Part II: Out of Door Life of Children

The Secret World of Weather, Tristan Gooley

Episode 217: The Work and Aims of the P.U.S.

The Parents' Educational Course Reading List

List of Afternoon Occupations

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, Bethany Glosser, mom of six children, teenagers to preschoolers, shares her experiences both successes and "failures" and has important words to bring us about our ultimate hope for our children.

Quotes

Mothers owe 'a thinking love ' to their Children.-"The mother is qualified," says Pestalozzi, "and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child ; . . . and what is demanded of her is a thinking love. • • • God has given to thy child all the faculties of our nature, but the grand point remains undecided-how shall this heart, this head, these hands, be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A question the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or misery to a life so dear to thee. Maternal love is the first agent in education.'' (1/2) "Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child,-the knowledge of God, of man, and of the universe,-the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making." (6/158)

Books

For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Links

INK Newspaper

Morgan Conner's Reading Lessons

Living Literature Courses with Jono Kiser

Beauty and Truth Math

Climbing Higher Math

ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, as she prepares to graduate her oldest student this spring, Morgan Conner joins us to reflect on her homeschool journey and how she came to trust Charlotte Mason's Method. After jumping from one curriculum to the next, once Morgan discovered Charlotte Mason, she never looked back, but that doesn't mean it has always been easy. You will glean much from Morgan's vulnerability and honesty as she describes overcoming her perfectionistic tendencies and learned to trust the Lord with even the smallest details with her neurodiverse students.

For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen

Q&A about Nature Walks

Podcast Episode on Forecasting

Forecasting Teacher Training Workshop

Morgan's episode on Reading Charlotte Mason's Volumes

Morgan's episode on Planning Physical Geography Lessons

ADE's Patreon Community

For this installment of our ongoing series, CM in Your Community, we are focusing on all the materials available for CM lessons! Mathematics was not a subject Charlotte Mason spoke about a lot, but it was essential, and she thought it beautiful. If you need help in leading your student through upper level math, today's Charlotte Mason in Community interview with Tabitha Wirges and Julie Ryle will prove to be a tremendous encouragement. Listen to two very experienced homeschool moms walk through the mountainous land of algebra and geometry and their contribution toward making this a less daunting task.

For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

A Charlotte Mason Companion, Karen Andreola

A Charlotte Mason Education, Catherine Levison

Climbing Higher Math

Living Literature Courses

Bestowing the Brush Art Lessons

Swedish Drill Teacher Help

Beauty & Truth Math

Sabbath Mood Homeschool Science Guides

Grammar Lessons from Liz Cottrill

Picture Study Portfolios

Poetry Scansion Lessons

Geography Map Questions for Form I, Form 2, Upper Forms

ADE's Teacher Helps for Lessons