A Delectable Feast (one bite at a time): Starting out with a Charlotte Mason education

I've been sharing with you some thoughts on a Charlotte Mason philosophy of education. Today, I want take a step back and give you just a little practical advice. It's sort of messy giving practical advice. What works in my home might not work in yours. We all have different personalities/lives/obligations, etc. I often why away from getting too specific because I don't want anyone to get the impression I think my way is "the right way." I don't.

But for someone just starting out with a Charlotte Mason education, it can be incredibly helpful to have someone walk you through where to begin. So here's where I've began. I currently have younger children in my home so that's where most of the advice will focus. But if you have older ones, don't walk away too quickly. I've heard a lot of advice given to those starting out with older ones and guess what? It's not that different. My specific resources might not apply to you, but the ideas will. 

Charlotte Mason was very concerned that we spread a feast of ideas before our children to feed their minds. When people first see this long list of subjects, they often become very overwhelmed. How does one do art, picture study, drawing, nature study, citizenship, copywork, dictation, foreign language (students in PNEU schools learned 4 languages besides English), geography, grammar, mathematics, science, folk songs, composer study, Shakespeare, Poetry, Bible, and history all in the same year - and be done by lunch??? (Note: Your life might require you to re-order your day so that "school" happens in the afternoon, there's nothing wrong with that)

Take a deep breath. It’s so much better than it sounds. And I promise it can be done.

But first you have to let go of your notions of what a school day looks like. You have to let go of worksheets and unit studies. This stuff is way better.

If your children are younger than 6 years old and you're anxious to do some school stuff with them, the very best thing you can do is to focus on the riches. Those would be art, picture study, nature study, folk songs, composer study, poetry, Bible, and some exposure to a foreign language. How do you do that you ask? I would advise that you just pick one at a time and add it to your week somewhere. I recommend you start with Bible. Once you have a routine of reading the Bible (or Bible stories) every day, then pick another one.

But don’t forget to keep it simple. If you do everything on the following list (or even if you just do part), your toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners will truly be receiving a beautiful education:

• Make a habit of regularly listening to classical music. Don’t stress over what you listen to. If you are unfamiliar with classical music yourself, I found this book to be a really helpful resource. Don't make it complicated. Just listen to it in the car... or during a meal... or while playing...
• Find a CD of children’s folk songs you like and turn it on. Dance to it in the living room. (Elizabeth Mitchell is our favorite. I loved this album when I was a kid. Also: Raffi, Heather Forest, Frances England, Ella Jenkins, etc.)
• For art, I strongly advise just providing some supplies and letting them play. Don’t get sucked into thinking you need to create Pinterest-worthy creations. Let them explore. (But by all means, if you like making Pinterest-worthy creations, I’m not trying to stop you.)
• For picture study, get a book of great works of art (such as this one) and look at it together. I did this with my 3 and 4 year old once a week. We talked about what shapes or colors we saw. We pointed to things in the picture. We chose our favorite picture in each spread. It was very enjoyable.
• Nature study is simple. Go outside. Take nature hikes. Talk about what you see. Don’t know anything about nature? Don’t worry about it. The point is actually just to be in nature. That’s a good starting point. I’d also encourage you as the mom to begin keeping a nature journal (not that I’ve succeeded at this regularly). Get yourself a drawing journal and some colored pencils. Go outside. Pick something to draw and start drawing it. Don’t worry if you can’t draw (I can’t). You might even surprise yourself with how enjoyable it is. Pretty soon (it took mine like 10 seconds), your children will be asking for their own journals so they can join you. Don’t make it any more formal than that (and if they’re not interested, don’t worry about it at all). Keep building the habit and it will serve you well later.
• Find some poetry books you love and find a time of day where you can fit a few poems in. (I can recommend: When We Were Very Young and Now We are Six by A.A. Milne, Mother Goose, A Child's Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa, and Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young)
• Choose a foreign language to learn and look for some authentic children’s folksongs in that language. Stay away from most CDs which promise to help you learn colors and numbers. Go for the real stuff. I can recommend this one for Spanish: book, CD and this one for German.
• Read high quality picture books with beautiful writing and beautiful illustrations. Honey for a Child’s Heart is a great resource as is this list from Ambleside Online.

What about arithmetic and learning how to read? Well, those are just skills which help you get your education. They're important, sure. If your child wants to learn how to read, by all means feel free to start teaching them (I did). And if they want to do arithmetic, go for it. Here's a great arithmetic resource for young children. For reading, we use Bob books and just pull them out as they're interested.   

What if your children are 6 or older? I'm not there yet with my own children, but my experiences in general tell me that the recommendation doesn’t change all that much. The content might change slightly, but I still recommend you start adding one thing at a time. Don’t be tempted to think of these things as enrichment or extras. Make the things on this list the heart and soul of your day and you won’t regret it. Especially if you're struggling with the atmosphere in your home, I would even go so far as to say it's probably worth it to set aside some other school subjects for a period of time while you work on the things on this list. 

Figure out whatever works to help you do these things. I myself have created schedules with pages marked out of what I wanted us to read when. I’ve mapped out particular things to focus on in our nature study. I assigned certain music to listen to on certain days. I did those things to hold myself accountable to spend time with my children. Do what works for you. Just be sure you hold onto the wonder and sense of discovery. Make sure you hold on to the cultivation of beautiful relationships with your children. You won’t regret it.

For my part, I’m quite thankful that I began incorporating these things in our day when I had young children. For one thing, it really helped me keep my own sanity. It was also so helpful to already have all of these habits as I began doing more formal lessons with my daughter this year. We’re officially schooling this year, but not all that much has changed in our day. She has formal requirements for arithmetic and copywork. And she has to narrate her school readings. Otherwise, we were already doing everything else. That was a blessing.

But if all you do is read Bible stories and take them outside once in a while, you’ll be fine. Honestly, I had 3 children 3 and under in a hundred year record cold winter in Wisconsin. Getting outside didn’t happen all that much during that season. This past summer, they were literally outside more than inside during daylight hours. You'll be fine.