pWe talked last time about how learning is a continuous process. It’s something that should happen your whole life. And if you use six Charlotte Mason methods, you can educate yourself on many, many things without depending on a teacher or a class. You can and should self-educate. But sadly, for some adults self-education holds little appeal. Perhaps you find yourself in that group and you’re not sure why. For some reason, when you hear about intentionally learning something new as a grown-up, you have no desire to do so. Where did the motivation go? What happened? My guess is…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/3-ways-sabotage-lifelong-learners/3 Ways to Sabotage Lifelong Learners/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pWhat’s your dream? Chances are if you have a dream, you will need to learn some things to get you there. Brittney has a dream to give her children a rich and enjoyable home education that will launch them into adult life well prepared. She wants to learn more about Charlotte Mason homeschooling. Geoff would love to grow his cooking hobby into a catering business. He needs to learn more cooking techniques and the ins and outs of catering for different size crowds in a variety of occasions. Kelly desires to make her home more comfortable and better organized. She…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/charlotte-mason-grown-ups/Charlotte Mason for Grown-Ups/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pAs I type these words, I am having a problem. It’s not that I’m struggling with the content; I have a good handle on what we’re going to discuss in this post. It’s not an issue with the skills required; I know quite well how to type and how to work my computer. No, the problem is that I’m being distracted. For more than a year now we have had daily visits from a cardinal, who loves to fly up to each window across the back of the house and tap it with his beak. (I like to think that…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/setting-child-success-surroundings/Setting Your Child Up for Success in His Surroundings/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pI enjoy watching The Great British Baking Show. The challenges, the creativity, and the camaraderie all combine to make it a pleasant diversion. But I have to be careful, because sometimes I get carried away with the success of some of the bakers. I look at their beautiful creations and, without batting an eye, start searching the Internet for the recipe they used. Never mind that I have no idea what a ganache is or how to make one—let alone spell it! They throw those terms around and talk about the finer points of different kinds of sponge cake and…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/working-students-skills/Working with Your Student’s Skills/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pNo matter what curriculum you use, it is never going to fit every child perfectly. That’s when you have a choice to make: you can either choose to teach the curriculum or to teach the child. I often compare that decision to cooking. Let’s say you find a recipe for chili that 734 people love and have given good reviews. As you read over that recipe, you notice that it calls for quite a bit of hot sauce. But your family doesn’t like food too spicy. So you have a choice to make: you can either cook the recipe as…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/teach-child-not-just-curriculum/How to Teach the Child, Not Just the Curriculum/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pI was chatting with a young mom today about habit training, and she asked a great question. We had talked about how important it is to have living examples for our children to see and spend time with as they form good habits. She had also made the connection that parents are, of necessity, one of the first examples our children have. So she asked, “What are the top three habits that you think a homeschool mom should cultivate in her own life?” I paused. Now, if she had asked for the top three habits we should cultivate in our…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/top-three-habits-homeschool-mom/Top Three Habits for a Homeschool Mom/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pWe are excited to announce that this year’s personal calendar journal is written by Karen Andreola. Many of you know Karen as the beloved author of A Charlotte Mason Companion. Her gentle and practical wisdom has lighted the way for thousands to enter into Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and enjoyable methods. Karen has written twelve encouraging articles that are tucked into the calendar, one for each month. She has also hand-picked more than 50 favorite Charlotte Mason quotes to keep you inspired and learning every week of the year. Her theme, “Hope for Tomorrow,” shines brightly on the pages of this…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/new-2018-19-calendar-karen-andreola-hope-tomorrow/New 2018–19 Calendar by Karen Andreola: Hope for Tomorrow/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pWhen we lived near Chicago, my husband John rode his bike for long treks in all kinds of weather. He liked to take the roads that led out of our suburb and into relatively undeveloped country, because they were less traveled. The upside of those roads was less traffic. The downside was that they had a narrow shoulder. He could count on only about 12 inches of blacktop between the outside paint line and the edge of the road where the asphalt dropped off to a ditch. Now, most of the time that narrow shoulder wasn’t an issue. But every…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/move-toward-focus/You Move Toward What You Focus On/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

pMost of the time I like to focus on the positive and think about what I should do. But sometimes it can be just as helpful to turn that around and consider what not to do. Flipping things over sometimes helps bring to light a concept that we haven’t noticed before. So just for a different perspective, let’s look at ten mistakes that a Charlotte Mason homeschool teacher should avoid. Hopefully, they will serve as a gentle mid-year check for us all. 1. Forgetting that the child is a person. One of Charlotte Mason’s chief principles is “The child is…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/10-mistakes-charlotte-mason-homeschoolers-avoid/10 Mistakes Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers Should Avoid/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p

p(The Naturalist’s Notebook: An Observation Guide and 5-Year Calendar-Journal for Tracking Changes in the Natural World Around You by Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich, Storey Publishing, 2017.) I’ve discovered something about nature study. It’s not a static activity. By that I mean, it’s not just one-dimensional: go outside, observe, record in your nature notebook. The end. The more I do nature study, and the more I watch and talk with my go-to-nature-friend, Karen Smith, about nature study, the more I become convinced that there are many levels to it. I was pondering this today, and if I were to…/p

pa rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.com/blog/book-review-naturalists-notebook/Book Review: The Naturalist’s Notebook/a originally appeared on a rel=nofollow href=https://simplycharlottemason.comSimply Charlotte Mason/a./p