“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” [2 Timothy 3:14-15]

I am beginning this year with a 9 year old, 6 year old, and a 4 year old. The following are my plans for the school year along with a lot of backstory behind the Spirit-led vision for our home.

At the beginning of our “tenure” as a homeschooling family, my primary goal was to make sure that I was checking all the boxes that would be checked if my children were at a public school. Sure, we read a devotional and prayed, worshipped together, those things. But I had created a distinction where outside of our time studying God’s Word, every other decision for our homeschool was driven by the public school system and keeping my children comparable to other children I knew. Now, just a few years later, everything has changed for me. The more I study, research and learn alongside my children, the more I recognize that this calling is far too precious to spend it mimicking what the world is doing. The Lord has given us His Wonderful Spirit to create, to beautify, to bring color and wonder to our homes, to the lives of our children. Do you remember the very first recorded person in Scripture to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? It’s actually all the way in Exodus, chapter 31.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,  and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze,  to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.” [Exodus 31:1-5]

Bezalel was filled with the Spirit of God for the sake of creating- and not just creating anything, but constructing and beautifying the tabernacle of God. How much more, us being the new tabernacles of God, can we create, beautify, and design artistically the atmosphere, disciplines and lives of our homes? You and I are filled with the Supreme Teacher, the Holy Spirit, to give us strategy, wisdom, creativity and direction concerning our children. It is He that has the days of my children’s lives numbered, He that knows their futures and what they will need to succeed. Does this mean I don’t use curriculum? Not at all. It means that my goal when sourcing curriculum and resources is to curate a feast that most accurately represent the vision that Holy Spirit has given me for my homeschool. It’s like planning a meal where every item on the table, whether it be the bread, the meat, the side dishes or the dessert- are of the highest quality. And that quality isn’t determined by anyone else’s standards, but rather by the standards God gave me when I asked Him to give me clear vision for our homeschool. Here are the SEVEN PILLARS that are directing (and redirecting) the choices of my homeschool this year:

1. Jesus and His Kingdom
2. Wilderness and Nature Study
3. Industry [Trades and Skills]
4. Worship through the Arts
5. Language
6. Critical Thinking
7. Wellness

As I share this year’s plans, I will do so by listing them under each pillar. This keeps me accountable as I look back over the years to track how I stuck to (or didn’t stick to) the pillars God gave me. Before we jump in, here is some terminology you may hear me throw around in my writing:

Charlotte Mason: an 1800’s Christian, Spirit-filled British educator and philospher who created the homeschool philosophy that we use. More on that here.

Terms: A school year is 36 weeks, and that 36 weeks is divided into 3, 12-week terms.

Forms Instead of Grades: In the Charlotte Mason philosophy, there are no such thing as grades like in our modern culture. Rather, their years are divided into developmental stages.

Form 1= 1st-3rd grade

Form 2= 4th-6th grade

Form 3=7-9th grade

Form 4=10th-12th grade

1. Jesus and His Kingdom

“You shall teach them [the laws of God] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” [Deuteronomy 6:7]

“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” [Matthew 19:14]

“The mind of the little child is an open field, surely ‘good ground,’ where, morning by morning, the sower goes forth to sow, and the seed is the Word. All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with the humble sense that we are invited in this matter to co-operate with the Holy Spirit; but it should be given dutifully and diligently, with the awful sense that our co-operation would appear to be made a condition of the Divine action; that the Saviour of the world pleads with us to ‘suffer the little children to come unto Me,’ as if we had the power to hinder, as we know that we have.”
― Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children

“This idea of all education springing from and resting upon our relation to Almighty God-we do not merely give a religious education because that would seem to imply the possibility of some other education, a secular education, for example. But we hold that all education is divine, that every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from above, that the Lord the Holy Spirit is the supreme educator of mankind, and that the culmination of all education (which may at the same time be reached by a little child) is that personal knowledge of and intimacy with God in which our being finds its fullest perfection.”
― Charlotte Mason

The very first pillar of our homeschool is our chief pillar, governing all other pillars. Jesus must be Lord of all we do, and His Kingdom must reign supreme over everything we seek to know and grow in. Whatever we learn, our motive must be Jesus. That is the litmus test. The Scriptures tell us to teach the Word of God diligently and meditate on it constantly. Not only do I aim to anchor our days with the Word of God first thing in the morning, but then let it come out in the way we parent, the way we instruct and direct, and the things we learn throughout the day. Jesus also urges us to let the children come directly to Him, and not to hinder them, for the Kingdom of God is made for little children. Therefore, I hold nothing back. I aim to disciple my children as I would want someone to disciple me at my current age, in hopes that by the time my children are adults, their knowledge of the Scriptures “will make them wise for salvation,” as Paul says in 2 Timothy, and in hopes that this won’t be said of them:

“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” [Hebrews 5:12]

Bible

We will start our day reading from my personal ESV Bible at the breakfast table. We read from the Torah, the New Testament, the Psalms and the Proverbs each week using A Gentle Feast Morning Time, Cycle 2. We used A Gentle Feast’s Morning Time curriculum last year and it was *chef’s kiss* perfect for our family, so I knew I wanted to use it again this year. These are the readings for Week 1-3 to give you an example of what A Gentle Feast’s Bible schedule is like.

Church History

On Fridays, we will focus on Church History by reading 1-2 chapters per week from a missionary biography. We will read Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar by Janet and Geoff Benge. Since a good chunk of our American History also ties in with African History, I thought a missionary who focused her efforts in Africa would be a good choice.

Scripture Memory

This year, we will continue using A Gentle Feast Morning Time, Cycle 2 (linked above) for our Scripture Memory work. It provides a large chunk of Scripture (usually 12 or so verses) per term, which I love. My husband will also be working through shorter verses at bedtime using The Biggest Story Verse Cards.

Independent Bible Reading

For my Form 2 (4th grade) student, this will be her first time having her own devotion time upon waking. I want her to get in the habit of reading the Word before her day even begins. I also want her to start having her own time with the Lord consistently. She has been reading her Bible on her own, but without any real guidance and not necessarily every day. Then over the Summer, she and I really started to study together (just she and I) and it’s been so rich. For her birthday, she asked for the Daily Bread Kids journal from Ariel Media. Stephan and I both read the adult version of Daily Bread and listen to the accompanying podcast, Daily Bread for Busy Moms. As Lavender has watched us, she’s been so interested in having her own podcast and reading time. I’m really believing that Jesus will encounter Lavender in greater ways as she studies His Word daily on her own.

As my Form 1B (1st grade) student has been watching her older sister study the Bible more intentionally, she has had the same desire. I welcome this kind of peer pressure! She has been reading this Early Reader Bible aloud to me, and then we color the accompanying picture together. I think we will continue doing this during the school year, during the time slot we have marked off for reading practice.

For my preschooler, he and I read occasionally through these.

2. Wilderness/ Nature Study

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” [Romans 1:20]

“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.” [1 Kings 4:29-34]

“All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” [Psalm 66:4]

“Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.”
― Charlotte Mason

“We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”- Charlotte Mason

Creation is used throughout the entire Bible to point to its Creator. Trees, roots, branches, stars, rivers, torrents, sparrows, eagles, mountains, steams, deserts, gardens, clouds, constellations, rocks, fire, seeds, wildflowers- can you even imagine the Word of God without its nature references? Romans 1 (shared above) even tells us that man is without excuse when it comes to acknowledging that there is in fact a God, as the beauty of Creation makes it impossible to refute. Jesus uses nature references in almost every parable, every sermon. He teaches about seeds, pearls, vines and branches, the fig tree, living water, and more. And what about Job? When God questions Job, He makes reference to all He created, asking questions like, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Who marked its dimensions? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb? Who made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness? Have you given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place? What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?” All of these questions set our faces to behold the Beauty and Vastness of our God, Jesus Christ- how powerful and awesome He truly is. This is why we study nature- to teach us more about our Creator, and to receive all of the benefits that God has freely given us through nature. If everything made is made BY HIM, THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM, then every little ant, beetle or leaf tells a story about Jesus. And doesn’t that make sense, seeing as there are thousands of species of bugs? Why so many? It must be because thousands are needed (and they still aren’t enough) to point to some beautiful facet of our Yahweh. So we will “look at the ant” as it says in Proverbs, to learn something from and about Jesus.

Nature Study

We will be doing Nature Study as a family this year, and following a curriculum I am so giddy about: Sabbath Mood Nature Explorers, Rotation A. This is a beautifully rich Charlotte Mason Nature Study curriculum that includes weekly object lessons (like this one), weekly nature walks with prompts, weekly prompted nature journaling entries, and beautiful weekly nature lore recommendations. We have used the same nature journals for 3 years now; they are the perfect size, number of pages and quality. It also includes weekly entries in our family Calendar of Firsts, where we record the first signs of each season in a family journal of sorts. This is the one we are using. She also has further hands-on activities you can do to enhance your studies if you have time for that, or if your child wants to learn more. Nicole Miller is the author of this curriculum and also one of the podcast hosts of A Delectable Education Podcast. Spending the Summer listening to this podcast starting at Episode One has taught me more about the Charlotte Mason philosophy in just a couple months than I’ve been able to learn in years. She is a well of wisdom and I’m honored to get to review a curriculum created by her. As the year continues, I will share more about our journey using this curriculum.

Science

For our first official year doing formal Science, we are using Sabbath Mood Form 2 Science Guides. Each science guide runs for 12 weeks, so that we can do three of them, studying three different topics. We chose Magnets, Tech & Eng, and Botany. Lavender will be responsible for experiments, lab notes, and readings. We’re doing Science on Thursdays since my husband is off work, and he will primarily be the on assisting with these experiments. This, by far, is the subject Lavender is most thrilled to get started with.

Nature Lore

For my 1st grader, I will be reading three of the Arabella Buckley books, one per term. We will read Insect Life, Wild Life in Woods and Fields, and By Pond and River. Each book consists of 12 short chapters, so they’re perfect for each term.

For my 4th grader, she will be reading Storybook of Science independently this year. It is a very thick book that we will split over the entirety of her Form 2 years (3 years.) That being said, she is responsible for 27 chapters this year, divided up into 9 chapters per term, or 1 chapter per week.

Geography

I’m going to drop Geography here because it is the study of God’s World, physically on the earth and through people and places. For Geography this year, both my Year 4 and my Year 1 will be using two of the Holling C.Holling books- Paddle to the Sea and Seabird- and mapping as we go through each chapter. I got my sweet friend from Humble Heart Press to print me oversized maps that follow along with these books.

For Physical Geography, we will be using Ambling Together’s “Geography Topics” Plan, which pulls from Geography from A-Z, Elementary Geography and Home Geography, plus lots of added videos to help illustrate the topics. I will also be using Nicole Williams from Sabbath Mood Homeschool‘s idea of using brown, blue and green kinetic sand during Physical Geography lessons to mold and form the different geographical concepts, i.e. cove, peninsula, bay, hill, mountain, lake.

3. Industry [Trades/Skills/Handicrafts]

“Another elemental relationship, which every child should be taught and encouraged to set up, is that of power over material. Every child makes sand castles, mud-pies, paper boats, and he or she should go on to work in clay, wood, brass, iron, leather dress-stuffs, food-stuffs, furnishing-stuffs. He should be able to make with his hands and should take delight in making.”- Charlotte Mason, Volume 3, p.80

There are more reasons that I can say here on why trades and skills are one of the pillars of our homeschool. Trades and skills not only bring craft, beauty and efficiency to a home, but also provide so many opportunities for a career, side job or hobby! Whether it’s baking sourdough, building a table, sewing a quilt or binding a book, working with your hands blesses the crafter and the one you’re crafting for. Let’s say my daughter wants to be a missionary, and is raising money for her first trip. She can always rely on her knowledge in various trades to support her- she can start a side business of baking bread, she can do woodworking and DIY projects for friends in her community. She can also use these trades and skills as a ministry, cross stitching for a friend or sewing something beautiful for an elderly person in her neighborhood. If/when she settles down into a home and perhaps a family of her own, she will have these skills to make a beautiful home. In this generation, much of our idle time is spent consuming- whether it be television or social media. My husband and I want to raise creators who knit for a loved one in their spare time, can cook a hot meal for someone who needs comfort, and can build/create for their own home instead of having to purchase everything at retail price. The more trades and in-home skills our children can learn, the better!

As an aside, we also believe that trades and skills will be necessary as we approach the last of the last days. If/when the Church in America ever has to go completely underground, and/or is unable to buy/sell, trades and skills will be necessary to exchange and share within the Body of Christ. If we are unable to buy clothing, who will make them? If we are unable to buy furniture, who will make it? If are unable to buy from restaurants and grocery store, who can cook from scratch using home grown ingredients? This time might not come in my children’s lifetime. But perhaps it comes in their children’s, or their grandchildren’s. Passing these skills from generation to generation starts with us. Even though we weren’t taught them ourselves, we are learning WITH our children, and becoming so much more well-rounded people because of it!

Nine Patch Folk School

Because I haven’t successfully implemented handicrafts in previous years to the extent that I’d like, we are trying something new this year. We are starting a “coop” of sorts with a few friends called Nine Patch Folk School, where we meet weekly and work through different handicrafts, focusing on sewing, crocheting, felt needing and knitting. All of the materials we use will be hand-dyed using a natural dyeing process foraged on our hikes or using food scraps. I’m grateful the Lord has brought a friend into my life who is extremely gifted in all things sewing, quilting, knitting, etc. She is leading the charge and I am happily following. Everything we make will either be donated to our local Crisis Pregnancy Center, sold at our local homeschooling markets, or used within our own homes. We are hoping this evolves into a full-on Maker Space. A dream of mine would be to own land with an old barn that could be fixed up as a Maker Space where Mamas and kiddos could come by anytime and work on their projects.

In addition to the skills we will learn through the coop, we are also focusing on two skills this year at home: paper modeling and cooking.

Paper Modelling

Paper Modelling is sort of like origami in the sense that you’re folding paper in very precise ways to make real things, like envelopes and paper doll furniture. It also becomes the precursor to geometry in a fun, playful way. This will be our first year trying it, and I actually scored the exact book that I wanted at a local homeschool consignment store. We will be working through this reprint of Paper Modelling by Mildred Swannell with a fabulous Introduction written by Brittney McGann.

Cooking

My oldest daughter is extremely passionate about cooking and baking, and for the last few years has been set on owning a bakery someday. I bought her two cookbooks this year: The Forest Feast for Kids and Nourishing Traditions for Children. Along with Fridays being her science experiment day, she will also be permitted to choose a recipe from one of her cookbooks. By Friday, we will have all the ingredients purchased and ready, so that she can make the meal/recipe. Sometimes we will do this with her; sometimes she will do it independently.

4. Worship Through the Arts

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” [Ephesians 5:18]

“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” [Colossians 3:16-17]

“Praise” might be a more suitable name for this pillar. While we realize that the term “worship” can really be anything that gives God glory and is not restricted to music, that is really what we are referring to here. This section includes the Arts, Hymns, Instruments, and Voice lessons. We feel strongly convicted as a family that the arts should display the glory of God. There is no reason that the most incredible painters, sculptors, architects, singers and musician shouldn’t be Christians. I once heard someone say that just as secular “art” or “entertainment” often pulls Christians into listening and watching things that DON’T honor God and leads them into sin, Christian art and entertainment should pull unbelievers to worship and honor God because of the sublime quality, beauty, caliber and creativity of a Holy Spirit-filled believer or group of believers. People filled with the Spirit of the Creator of the Universe should be the most creative people in the world. Amen?

Artist Study, Composer Study, Poet Study, and Recitation

We will be using A Gentle Feast Morning Time, Cycle 2 to cover Artist Study, Composer Study, Poet Study and Recitation. We absolutely loved it last year and wanted to continue. We loop these subjects right after Bible each week.

Singing Lessons

Our children delight in learning new hymns each month. It is such a delight to hear them break out into singing hymns while cleaning their rooms, and lately, when they get scared. Praise truly is our weapon, and hymns are a way they can lift up a song constantly. We use the Hymnal that belonged to my grandfather. We are going through the hymns that I remember singing as a child, and some negro spirituals as well. We alternate days with Hymns and Solfa Lessons. For our Solfa Lessons this year, we are going to be using Children of the Open Air’s Youtube Channel.

Instrument Lessons

We will be using Hoffman Academy’s piano lessons this year. We weren’t able to use it last year because of moving our piano into storage, and we truly missed it. We will probably have to start at the very beginning, but I’m okay with that.

5. Language

Language Arts, or the arts of language, can be divided into four categories: language in through the ear, language in through the eyes, language through the mouth and written language (language by hand.) Language Arts in the Charlotte Mason world looks quite different, and is broken up into: copy work, dictation, reading lessons, oral/written narration, literature and grammar. For my 1st grader, we will be using Emma Serl’s Primary Language Lessons. This simple curriculum has more than enough copy work to last her the entire school year. She will begin narrating after every reading I read to her. She will also continue in her reading lessons by just reading aloud picture books we already own, hopefully working up to her first chapter book. For my 4th grader, things get a little more in-depth. I’ll list below.

Grammar

For Grammar, we will be using Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola once a week. If we don’t get through the entire book, that’s okay with me.

Copywork and Dictation

We will be using Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason this year, which will cover both copywork (handwriting) and dictation(spelling).

Literature

Literature will be an indepedent subject for Lavender. We have a running book list that she can choose from this year, and simply check them off as she reads them. Some of the books on her Literature list include:

• The Courage of Sarah Noble (read this Summer) by Alice Dalgliesh
• The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (read this Summer) by Alice Dalgiesh
• Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
• Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
• The Horse and His Boy (read this summer) by C.S.Lewis
• Prince Caspian (just finished) by C.S. Lewis
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
• The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
• The Last Battle by C.S.Lewis
• The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E.Nesbit
• Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Carry On, Mr.Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
• Om Kas Toe by Kenneth Thomasma
• Tolliver’s Secret by Esther Brady
• Girls Who Looked Under Rocks by Jeannine Atkins

The list keeps going, and I’m aware we most likely won’t get through all of them! It’s more so a list to pull from than a list to be completed within a year.

Narration

She will continue orally narrating every reading to me, but also this year we will be doing a weekly written narration or a notebooking page. With other means of writing throughout the week- nature journal entries, science lab notes, and copywork, I think she will be covered in the writing department. I’ve done an entire blog post on Notebooking and how to incorporate this lovely practice into your homeschool here.

Shakespeare

I will be following the children’s lead this year with Shakespeare. Last year, it was their absolute favorite subject. I have both the E.Nesbit and the Charles and Mary Lamb narratives of the plays. I will most likely choose two narratives that I think they will like and simply read them aloud. After this, we act out the scenes using Shakespeare Puppets. They literally act out the plays in their free time for fun. I don’t think we will start reading the plays line by line until my middle child gets a bit older and we can do it as a family.

Foreign Language

We are completely switching it up this year and starting with French. It’s just the language the kids and I really want to learn. Practical for our area? Not really. But beautiful? Absolutely. I am personally more motivated to teach French, because it’s a language I’ve always wanted to learn.

We will be using an online Charlotte Mason curriculum called French with Madame Lee, which I am ecstatic about! I chose two of her self-paced courses: Pronunciation Basics and French Feast with Madame Lee (Course 1). The kids were so thrilled about these courses that they pressured me into watching the first video in the car one day and begged for more at the end! That’s always a good sign. Learning French will be a part of our Morning Time, and will hopefuly remain under 15 minutes per lesson. I also bought the Getting Started with French workbook because it looks extremely simple to implement and I can do most of it orally. We will see how I’m able to combine these resources.

6. Critical Thinking

This is where we really dig into history and math. Studying the history of people, communities and nations who feared God and those who didn’t, the choices they made and how it impacted the world makes for a lot of great conversation and much critical thinking. Mathematics, while always arriving at the same answer, requires understanding and conceptual knowledge. The following is how we will be digging into each this year.

American History

For American History this year, we will be studying the 18th century up through the Revolutionary War. I created my own history plans this year that I am super thrilled about, and shared them all free of charge in this post.

British History

We will start incorporating some British History into our lessons for my 4th grader this year, as it so clearly and powerfully impacts American History. We will be reading the first twenty chapters of Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall, as well as George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen From Two Sides.

Math

I shared an entire post about this here, but we are switching our math curriculum this year. We will be using Richele Baburina’s Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series. We will be using it for both girls, using Book 1 for the 1st grader and Book 3 for my 4th grader. We will also be incorporating some math games into our weekly lessons and I share all of those details in the full math blog post as well.

7. Wellness

This is not something we have specific curriculum for, but it is absolutely something we feel called to be growing in each year. Teaching our children to steward their bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit now will be the building blocks to doing the same as adults. We will continue our “chef days” where the children rotate getting to help me in the kitchen, allowing each child to learn more a more kitchen skills. Lavender will have her recipe days on Fridays, as mentioned above. We are also hoping to jump back into family runs starting this Fall when the weather cools a bit.

Extra Curricular

We are continuing for our second year with American Heritage Girls. We are also jumping back into dance at a Christian Dance Ministry that’s local to us. Lyon will be doing ballet, tap and jazz, while Lavender will be doing Christian Hip Hop. Halston, our youngest, will just be along for the ride as he’s not quite ready for anything like that yet.

Closing Thoughts

Writing everything down here solidifies it in my mind and reminds me of the “why.” I truly hope that as you read, you get inspired to seek the Holy Spirit for your homeschool’s pillars. As you can see, they really are the framework for everything we choose regarding resources and curriculum. The pillars dictate how we spend our time, what we say “yes” and “no” to. If you’re interested in my workbook, A Spirit Led Guide to Homeschooling, you can find it here. It will help you seek the Holy Spirit’s blueprint for your home so that you never have to question or second-guess. God cares about the details, the education of your children being a huge one!

I understand that if you’ve never seen all the subjects within a Charlotte Mason education, it seems like a lot. But something to note is that most of these are only done once or twice a week, with some subjects only taking place once every other week. Also, each subject takes a maximum of 30 minutes, with most taking 5-10. The whole load of daily work is under three hours, giving us our afternoons to do things like nature study, piano lessons, handicrafts and outdoor play.

If you’d like to look more into the Charlotte Mason philosophy, my first two book recommendations would be For the Children’s Sake and The Charlotte Mason Companion. If you want to go deeper after these, read Charlotte Mason’s Home Education and School Education, and check out the podcast A Delectable Education.

I’m prayerfully entering the new school year in early August, and I’m believing for joy-filled lessons, hundreds of hours of connection, light-bulb moments, depth in our personal relationships with Jesus, and growing in our own unique gifts and talents. I’m honored that I get to do this job, truly. It’s exceeding abundantly more than the dreams I had planned for myself. Cheers, sisters.