Before we ever even started homeschooling, I researched all of the different homeschooling methods and philosophies out there. And there are many. Again and again, the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling drew me in.
Charlotte Mason’s philosophy resonated with me for several reasons: it’s nature-rich, its foundation is built upon living books full of living ideas (as opposed to dry textbooks), and it focuses on educating the whole child. There are more reasons, but those were the three that I kept coming back to.
Her methods and philosophy were basically everything I ever dreamed that education could be when I was a public school teacher. Except now, I knew I would have the freedom to live it out with my own children.
And so we began our homeschooling journey. I checked out Charlotte Mason’s Home Education book from the library and slowly worked my way through the chapters. I gleaned many ideas and got really excited about how it could all look, but I had absolutely NO IDEA how to go about implementing any of it in real life.
So I did the next best thing, which was to purchase our different curricula that was “Charlotte Mason inspired” or that “fit well with Charlotte Mason’s methods.” I made sure that each lesson was short, and that our days included loads of outdoor time and nature studies. We did artist studies and composer studies, and read really good, living books.
But I knew I wasn’t fully implementing her methods. I just didn’t feel like I had the time and space to set everything aside and wrap my mind around what all that entailed. I mean, where should I even begin???
My Own Rich Feast of Ideas (aka Mother Culture)
It started with Ambleside Online. Their rich curriculum choices, schedule ideas, posts, etc. got me started. I referred to their booklists often to get ideas about what I should be reading in these first years.
Then I finally set aside time to begin working my way through A Delectable Education’s podcasts. Before long, I had purchased their curriculum templates and scheduling cards. Those were HUGE game changers and I highly recommend them in implementing your own CM education!
I also joined a community of fellow Charlotte Mason mamas who were committed to implementing her programs as closely to the original as possible.
Finally, I diligently worked to read through CM’s very own volumes. I’m actually still slowly working my way through them in their entirety, but I’ve been referencing them A LOT! (You can access them free here.)
Basically, I binged Charlotte Mason, and the results have been incredible!
It has been a ton of hard work, late nights, and trial and error over the last several months. But we’ve worked together as a family to transform our school into a true Charlotte Mason homeschool. And we’re thriving! Mr. Six’s narrations have become so fantastic, we’re loving the additional subjects, and I’m getting to watch my kiddos connect the dots across disciplines and content areas.
And the wildest part?? We actually ADDED SEVERAL SUBJECTS, and because of the way we totally overhauled our scheduling, our days feels way less hectic and far more peaceful. Like, I might have actually found the much-coveted schóle in our homeschool days!
It is 100% NOT PERFECT. Please know that. But I’ve really taken inspiration from the G.K. Chesterton quote that says,
“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”
So even though we haven’t achieved perfection in our homeschool (will we ever?), we have been incredibly encouraged!
Our Full Feast of Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Subjects
I mentioned that we have added subjects, and we sure have! You can see what we were doing at the very start of our school year here. By the beginning of September, however, we had begun to spread the full feast.
So here’s what a full week of Charlotte Mason homeschooling includes now:
- Bible*
- Theology
- Literature Tales: fables and fairy tales
- Natural History: general nature study, a specific ecosystem, and a special study
- Geography: physical geography, map work, and world cultures
- Early American History: 1000-1600 A.D.
- Poetry*
- Hymns and Folksongs*
- Spanish*
- Handicrafts*
- Composer Studies
- Artist Studies
- Handwriting*
- Math*
- Reading*
- Recitation*
- Brushdrawing
- Nature Journaling
(*Denotes subjects that we do daily.)
Many of the subjects we include each week are not daily subjects. For example, we only do Natural History three times per week and Composer Studies one time per week. So it isn’t that we are cramming everything in every single day. That would, indeed, be too much!
However, over the course of the week, we are exposed to so many rich, living ideas that it truly is a “delectable” education!
In fact, Mr. Six recently said to me,
“I wish Vermeer was still alive so I could tell him how awesome his paintings are.”
Proud. Mama. Moment!
I will soon be sharing more in-depth posts about the books we’re using and what our daily/weekly school days look like!
Until then, happy homeschooling!
