The end of the school year and the end of this podcast season is cause to pause and reflect. The ADE ladies review the past year and encourage you to not just slam the books closed, but pause to remember the good and give thanks. We also encourage you to take some time this summer to listen to old episodes as you plan for the upcoming school year. Finally, we have a big announcement to make about the coming season. We close this episode with a fitting devotional to help you gain perspective on the value of the past year and inspire you for what lies ahead.

Episode 241: Seasonal Reflections

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As Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers, we all know the challenge it is to find balance in all the other parts of life besides our school lessons. With so many priorities and responsibilities, it is imperative that we continue to evaluate and seek to find balance in our lives. In this podcast episode Emily, Liz, and Nicole discuss the challenges, mistakes, and tips they have for balancing relationships, home responsibilities, service, and ministry opportunities.

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This season, as we explore finding balance in the Charlotte Mason Method, we are interviewing people who have been able to find balance in their various contexts. This episode is an interview with Helen Swaveley, a seasoned home-educating parent, as she offers her perspective on how the Charlotte Mason's method gives balance to our students in high school and beyond.

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Charlotte Mason's training college was unique, but it was not all study and offers some scope for imagination to today's homeschool families implementing her method. This episode discusses the Scale How evenings that were part of the community life of her college to offer information and inspiration for how such social gatherings could round out a delightful education.

Charlotte Mason distilled her philosophy into some succinctly stated principles, and the homeschool or classroom teacher does well to underpin their efforts by considering the philosophy that drives the teaching. Today's episode addresses principles 9-12, the specifics of what we believe about the mind, how it learns, and what the teacher must not do to impose on the natural development of a child in acquiring knowledge.

Homeschool teachers must consider many aspects of education beyond the books and pencils, especially with the Charlotte Mason method. This "shorts" episode includes three widely dispersed topics: the role of the "State," sensations and feelings, and mottos.

Whether you homeschool, or wherever you teach with Charlotte Mason's method, a working knowledge of her synopsis is essential. This second installment addresses the three instruments of education covered in points 5-8. Questions for your discussion group are included to help facilitate your conversation and application.

Charlotte Mason summed up her underpinning principles of education in a few succinct points. This episode is the first in a series that will take a related group of principles and unfold them one by one. Find a friend or share with your study group to discuss the questions after listening to the content and thinking through the accompanying questions.

Charlotte Mason's method of education creeps into our entire lives as educators--not just school time. This podcast is entering its sixth season and we celebrate this landmark number and beginning of season by reviewing and reflecting on a number of topics. We take a brief look back on our time together so far, changes the COVID circumstance has made on our own lives, share some news, some plans for the future personally and on the podcast,  announce coming opportunities and ideas for our listeners, and wind up with tips for surviving the constant juggling of home, work, and schooling at home.

This immersion lesson demonstrates how to combine children of different ages and levels of learning during a single math lesson with Charlotte Mason's method of teaching. Emily Al-Khatib and her three sons give a dynamic picture of how a sunshiny atmosphere, order and discipline, and living ideas make math a productive and enjoyable lesson together.

Charlotte Mason is to be thanked for introducing young children to the beauty of art in school lessons. This episode of Charlotte Mason in our homes is an interview with Matthew Milliner, art history professor at Wheaton, College, whose children are being taught at home with Miss Mason's method and who is learning to apply her pedagogy in his college classroom.

Charlotte Mason's vision for children spread throughout the world. A special celebration called "The Children's Gathering" occurred a few times, a holy holiday for experiencing learning together, including with parents and teachers. This episode explores highlights of the camaraderie experienced there as they worshiped, studied, played, danced, paraded, displayed and explored the treasures of the surrounding countryside in a lovely kaleidoscopic, nostalgic, and inspirational picture.

Charlotte Mason's method of education impacts our lives on many levels. This episode of short topics includes ideas for collections from our physical world, ideas for getting more out of books beyond the usual narration that expands our intellectual world, and some of the many, many benefits we who use her method have in common with others that we would not have shared before to widen our social world.

This Charlotte Mason podcast episode is a re-aired, re-visit to a common question we receive: bringing children into the Mason method from previous school experiences. What are the approaches that help children of various ages transition, what are realistic expectations, and how do we help them adjust to a different way of doing lessons?

"The success of such a school demands rare qualities in the teacher––high culture, some knowledge of psychology and of the art of education; intense sympathy with the children, much tact, much common sense, much common information, much 'joyousness of nature,' and much governing power..." (Vol. 1, p. 178)

"Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life.––We begin to see what we want. Children make large demands upon us. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. Thou hast set my feet in a large room; should be the glad cry of every intelligent soul. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking––the strain would be too great––but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest. We cannot give the children these interests; we prefer that they should never say they have learned botany or conchology, geology or astronomy. The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?" (Vol. 3, p. 170-171) 

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The feast Charlotte Mason spread for the children included generous portions of history, geography, and modern language, but in the upper forms the news of the day was another important aspect for study. How do we navigate the current events in our turbulent, partisan, and often shocking times? Liz, Emily, and Nicole discuss the purpose of current events in the program, as well as sources of news and applications of world events in the education of our children.

Charlotte Mason did not limit persons and knew the scope of a child's education was limitless in its potential for each individual. This episode of Charlotte Mason in Our Homes interviews Caroline Chermely whose son was born at 25 weeks causing multiple deficiencies and life-long limitations. Two terms of a Charlotte Mason approach has resulted in undeniable growth and possibilities now. Whether you personally must cope with a child having "special needs," or not, this mom shares ideas with immense lessons and ramifications for every child applicable in every home.

Did Charlotte Mason have a rhyme or reason to her broad and varied feast or, was it just a collection of unrelated topics? Far from a mishmash, the more the whole feast is pursued, in all its varied subjects, the more it all fits as a whole. Emily, Liz, and Nicole have an animated conversation exploring just how connected this wide feast really is.

Not only did Charlotte Mason include abundant novel reading in her curriculum feast and reference novels and characters from them continuously throughout her own writing, but she believed they were valuable for everyone--not just students. This week's episode is a book discussion of Middlemarch by George Eliot, a novel she references and an author she admired. Whether you have read this novel or not, join in to hear not just what we thought of it, but how it reveals much about our Charlotte Mason education.

Today's episode is a talk given by Liz at several conferences and events. She discusses the role parents play in the lives of their children--a topic much discussed by Charlotte Mason. We hope you enjoy this talk and are challenged and encouraged by the wisdom Miss Mason has to offer us parents.

Charlotte Mason included the study of great works of art in her regular school curriculum. This episode explores the many options for making picture study and picture talk more robust, richer, and engaging  for your children with examples and ideas straight from the P.N.E.U.--ideas beyond just "look and tell."

Charlotte Mason insisted the teacher not take a "front and center" role, warned against the "talky-talky" teacher, etc. This episode addresses when it is appropriate for the teacher to explain, question, and even present the "oral lesson."

This Charlotte Mason episode is a brief look into some important, but less talked of subjects. Nicole briefly discusses the natural history lists, what kind, why, and how they are kept; Emily shares about the scope of this curriculum--is it broad or deep; and Liz discusses the importance of the preschool years and what we must guard for the younger children.

This episode is an interview with Jessica in southeast Asia as part of our Charlotte Mason in Our Homes series. Living and teaching with this method in another culture presents special challenges, but also provides exceptional benefits and blessings. The setting is different, but this mother's joys and hardships are common to us all.

This Charlotte Mason podcast is an immensely realistic and practical guide for the teacher. Liz, Emily, and Nicole share what Charlotte Mason's principles for lesson preparation and planning are, then discuss how to make it happen. What should we as teachers be spending our time on behind the scenes, before the lessons? What is actually required of us to make lessons successful and what is not? These and other daily tasks for smoothing the school days are unpacked in this conversation.

A perennial question those interested in the Charlotte Mason Method want to find out is how children raised in the method fare as they move on from homeschooling. At the 2024 ADE at HOME {Virtual} Conference Jono Kiser talked with three former CM students about their adjustment and experience. We bring you the audio from this interview as part of our occasional Voices of the Conference series.

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The range of subjects related to a Charlotte Mason education is immense. Nicole, Emily, and Liz each focus on one topic or aspect of her education in this episode:  museums, examination rubrics, and what is meant by a "thinking curriculum." Enjoy three summaries of these widely varied topics.

This episode discusses what Charlotte Mason advised for the early  years, before formal school lessons, in the areas of reading and writing. Emily, Liz, and Nicole share from her writings, the Parents' Review, and their own life experience about when the appropriate time is to begin these skills, how not to push, but how to encourage a young child to prepare them and make the most of their natural interest.

This installment of "Charlotte Mason in Our Home" is an interview with Ryan Morgan, mother of five, wife of a frequently deployed husband, who has educated with Charlotte Mason's method through thick and thin and has not found her method wanting. Ryan's story is inspirational and praiseworthy. Whether you are just beginning, or a veteran, listen and be encouraged that this education is truly life-giving.

Charlotte Mason understood a fundamental skill persons have in learning:  visualization. Emily, Liz, and Nicole focus this week's discussion on how Ms. Mason utilized this ability in children to maximize learning across the curriculum.

Ms. Mason believed everyone could and should learn to sing. She employed the technique of the Sol Fa method to aid in this study. This week's immersion lesson is a demonstration of the process with examples of two lessons in two different forms.

Have you ever wondered how Picture Study may change in the older Forms? Perhaps your Picture Studies have fallen into a rut and you'd like to bring more variety into these lessons. Join Emily and Nicole in today's episode as they demonstrate one possible variation for this distinctly Charlotte Mason lesson. 

This week's immersion lesson is recitation. Nicole does real life lessons with her daughters, two of them in fact. Learn about the breathing lessons used in upper forms and how a child is encouraged to read poetry beautifully by listening as you listen in to their lessons.

This week's immersion lesson demonstrates a Plutarch lesson. Nicole and her two daughters, forms III and IV, share their classroom experience with us, which reveals why Miss Mason considered this to be such an instructive lesson for young people and why they enjoy it so much

This week's immersion lesson demonstrates the use of "map questions," in the geography lesson. We know that maps are important, but in what way were maps utilized in the lesson? What sorts of questions were presented to the student in the regular map questions lesson and what about that puzzling "10-minute map exercise" lesson.

Charlotte Mason acknowledged that teaching reading can feel like
moving at a snail's pace, but that children love making progress. In this demonstration of a reading lesson, Maelle understands how to read, but is still building her fund of recognized words. Emily works with her in a short reading lesson in one example of how we can help our young reader get another step further down the road to independence.

The Charlotte Mason Method is an all-encompassing method of education for all of life, and therefore, there are many ways we can fall out of balance as we apply it in our homes and schools. Today, we are discussing the pitfalls of imbalance we face as relates to our students doing the work of their education. We discuss finding the balance between challenging our students but not pushing them, how the wide curriculum meets them where they are at without pigeonholing them, and how we teachers must practice Masterly Inactivity to allow them to do the work of their own education.

“A Code of Education in the Gospels, expressly laid down by Christ. It is summed up in three commandments … Take heed that ye OFFEND not––DESPISE not––HINDER not––one of these little ones.” (1/12)

“Therefore we do not feel it is lawful in the early days of a child's life to select certain subjects for his education to the exclusion of others; … but we endeavour that he shall have relations of pleasure and intimacy established with as many as possible of the interests proper to him; not learning a slight or incomplete smattering about this or that subject, but plunging into vital knowledge, with a great field before him which in all his life he will not be able to explore.” (3/223)

“Our deadly error is to suppose that we are his showman to the universe; and, not only so, but that there is no community at all between child and universe unless such as we choose to set up.” (3/188)

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Episode 204, which covers Points 9 & 10 of CM's Short Synopsis

Episode 266: The Unity of the Charlotte Mason Method: How a CM Curriculum is a cohesive whole

Episode 286: Finding Balance in Our Teaching

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This episode of A Delectable Education Charlotte Mason Podcast is an interview with Min Hwang to explore her implementation of Charlotte Mason's ideas in the children's ministry of her church. Miss Mason reminds us of Christ's command to "let the little children come to me and hinder them not," and believed in the child's inherent dignity and respect due to them as persons. Min has a special vision of how her method and subjects can make "Sunday school" a fertile growing time for these children to be introduced to and grow in Christ and His word.

This is a monthly question and answer episode discussing how to interest our husbands in Charlotte Mason's method, how to implement narration as an adult, and how and what can be done for children after school hours who attend a non-Charlotte Mason school.

This week's Charlotte Mason podcast is an interview with a college graduate. Liz talks with Emma about her upbringing with Charlotte Mason's method, how that prepared her for her future academic and job pursuits, and how Miss Mason's lifestyle is continuing to nourish Emma's life.

Charlotte Mason included folk dance in the wide and varied feast. Today's interview with Sandra Sosa explores some of the enormous range of possibilities that open up to us when we consider making dancing a part of our education. Her contagious enthusiasm will inspire even the most bashful among us to get moving and add a joyous element to our lives.

"No education, but self-education," said Charlotte Mason. What does this mean in our schoolroom, in our daily lives? Listen to the discussion of what we are really aiming for in the education of our children.

The April Q&A episode discusses the usual variety of questions: Did
Charlotte Mason use textbooks? Is her parenting advice valid? How
can we get more rest? Plus, strategies for lesson planning.

"Education, said Charlotte Mason, is an "atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." Habit formation, the discipline, is fundamental to our function as persons. Miss Mason offers descriptions of habit formation as well as counsel on habit training. Emily, Liz, and Nicole discuss the essentials for building those habits that make for "the good life."

It is not an exaggeration to say that understanding the ideas in this Charlotte Mason podcast is the most important piece of knowledge you can gain as a teacher and parent. Liz, Emily, and Nicole focus on Miss Mason's use of method rather than system in education. It is a way of seeing the child, his education, and discipleship that brings life rather than fixed results.

Charlotte Mason was convinced that children--all children--are born persons and advocated for "a liberal education for all." This interview is with Nicolle Hutchinson who founded and administrates Gillingham Charter School in Pottsville, PA. Once Mrs. Hutchinson, a public school teacher, discovered Charlotte Mason, she knew there was a way to make public education life-giving. In this interview, she shares about her journey to Charlotte Mason's method, her growing dream to bring her principles and practices to publicly educated children, and the formation and continuation of her charter school.

This season, as we explore finding balance in the Charlotte Mason Method, we are interviewing people who have been able to find balance in their various contexts. This episode is an interview with Michelle Riesgraf to learn how she balances her very full life as CM homeschooling mom and wife with all her other duties with her family serving inner-city kids on a working farm. While she shares specific challenges of her farming life, Michelle offers wisdom for us all in parenting, educating (and choosing co-ops), and living as the born persons we all are.

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This month's Charlotte Mason Q&A episode addresses common challenges most families face:  how much should the child's preferences contribute to book selection, how can we most effectively combine various age and ability levels, and that precarious balance of the day-to-day routine--specifically, how do the ADE ladies personally budget and manage their daily schedules.

Charlotte Mason's method works in all kinds of homes and with every kind of child. This podcast interview with Jenny Schreiner demonstrates this perfectly. If you have ever felt overwhelmed, just imagine seven children under 11, special needs children, adopted children, being new to and trying to implement Charlotte Mason. Listen be refreshed and encouraged by Jenny's vulnerable and valuable lessons in her role as mother and teacher.

Charlotte Mason grounded her educational method on definite principles and practices--and the subject of mathematics is no exception. Today's guest, Emily Al-Khatib is a math teacher herself and shares her perspective on the beauty and truth of using Miss Mason's methods in this part of the feast.