What was my problem? I had never done any Charlotte Mason activities before. It made no sense to me. Narration? Dictation? Nature Studies? Drawing lots of pictures? Copywork was about the only think I understood... and that was not true understanding. I got using Living Books, but nothing seemed to be clicking. It felt like all we did were crafts.
I've slowly been studying the methods and principles of Charlotte Mason. Wow, that was an amazing lady! Her ideas were revolutionary then and still are today. In her day the rules and regimentation was killing any desire to learn. In our day, we still have rules and regimentation, but our love of learning is killed by a lack of inspiration.
When I looked into Charlotte Mason last year she seemed very old-fashioned. How ironic is it that I've been led to some Old-Fashioned learning methods recently. Charlotte Mason was a visionary. Her methods teach a whole child, and in so much more than academics. However, I can see that following the academics would definitely lead to a top notch education.
Slowly I plan to, one by one, incorporate some of Charlotte Mason's methods into our schooling. Will it mix with ACE? Well, probably not in the long run. Some of it will be just fine. Other parts won't work. I like her ideas of character studies, focusing on one trait for several weeks, versus being bombarded with six different verses and traits all at once for three weeks. The other way seems that it will be more deeply ingrained in my children.
It's intimidating. Reading through the Charlotte Mason methods over the last several days, I confess that it is deeper than most parents want to delve. It's about a lifestyle, not just a curriculum. It's about a way of learning that those like me, a public school graduate, never touched. It's easy to stay with the more traditional methods that are familiar. Spelling lists versus copywork and dictation, Review questions versus Narration, Living Books versus text books... these are concepts that homeschoolers have made their own.
The homeschool community is amazing. I can find so much information on Charlotte Mason. For years Homeschooling families have utilized her methods with huge success. The family atmosphere and the habits that are formed have just as much importance in learning as the academic side of it all.
"Education is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, A Life." - Charlotte Mason
I'm excited about all that I get to learn and study now. I've always somewhat held the fear of my children not being able to compete with the public schooled children. This hasn't bothered me so much with my high schooler, but it has plagued me with my fifth grader for two years. Using ACE helped to ward off that fear. Using another method is intimidating. Guess I should stop being such a chicken and just make my own path! That's liberating to say, but the actions make me tremble with the fear that I'll fail my children somehow.
Am I that indoctrinated by the humanistic, public-schooling I received? Maybe this adventure isn't as much about my the education my children receive as it is about my growth as a Christian, a mother, and as a person that needs to refine my thoughts and experiences from my past.
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