Thinking Charlotte Mason

I started reading Charlotte Mason's series. It's going to take me a while. Unlike a novel, it contains way too many thoughts that I have to stop to mull over for a bit, and some things I need to reread a couple of times to either understand it or let it sink in.

I admit, I'm finding it overwhelming. To educate a child at home the way I desire (whether Mason or Montessori) requires a great deal of time and commitment. Charlotte Mason is firm on education being disciplined. I realized that it starts with me. While, yes, I can incorporate education into my daily life and thus continue with housekeeping while still educating my children, I find that next to impossible right now. There are just so many continual projects and things that need to be done in a day.

I am reminded in Charlotte Mason that my children ARE my career, my number one. I counter this by saying, "Yes, but it isn't very good for them to be raised in a dirty, cluttered house!" Balance, I suppose. Perhaps abandoning the internet for a while.

*As a side note, I do personally feel that internet, TV, electronics are NOT good for early education, though they can be assistants later. I have noticed that if I allow my children to watch TV while I prepare breakfast, they will not engage in imaginative play the rest of the day unless prodded and they tend to be more violent and short tempered with each other. They watch educational PBS shows, not stupid cartoons.*

A reform is needed. This is why I started "homeschooling" my son this year, to see where the kinks are, where improvements are needed. How much home education should be formal? How much should be informal? How much should be conducted in the "classroom?" How much should be "field study?" When should I stop when my son is getting frustrated? Why should I instill discipline to complete the task at hand?

Thank goodness it's coming up on winter when my chores are fewer and I can really study on this.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I've had the Charlotte Mason book series for a while, and I have to keep putting it down and coming back to it. Yes, it is filled with thoughts to ponder and fit into your personal frame of reference. I don't always agree with her, but mostly I do. My son is 2 1/2, and part of his education right now is helping mommy, imitating daddy, and learning to control impulses/emotions. I feel that daily life, self-control, and exploration of his world is the best for him right now. Every moment is a teaching moment. I also find that the more I read/study about a variety of things, the more I am filled with things to offer during those teaching moments. Of course, the most important part of all that is God. Stacey
9:44 PM
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