❤ Karen is SPOT ON! Our son is THRIVING!!! No busywork, short lessons, keeping the day moving, reading the HUGE variety of books while they are busy playing with toys as they listen and then narrate!!! It is the perfect situation for children to thrive!
Thank you for sharing your experience using this method with your children. So glad to hear that you have found a homeschooling approach that works well for your family and fosters a love of learning.
I laughed out loud when Karen said she sent her son outside to run around. My second son still needs physical release to keep his mind sharp. He is now a doctor.
This is so wonderful! I’m a mom to girls but have many homeschooling friends with boys and in our conversations many of them seem to have a preconception that Charlotte Mason works best with girls. I will share this video with them!
I so appreciate you addressing this! It was so exasperating when teachers tried to “make my boys be their girls” in the classroom. I was raising my boys to be men. They are different. They were meant to be different-and that is not wrong! Frankly, all children, boy or girl, learn more with variety, movement, exploration, and excitement. I taught for twenty-five years in a traditional school. Adding many of these into my classroom made it better for everyone.
Thank you for joining us and sharing your experience and thoughts on this topic! It sounds like your boys (and other children as well) were lucky to have you as an advocate in their corner and to respect them as people, providing them with what they needed.
This is just so accurate. In fact, I take a completely different approach with my boys than I do with my girls. I find that my little girls want more busywork, practicing their sweet little handwriting skills, coloring, crafting etc. My son would rather climb on top of our chicken coop and work on his math and be done with it so he can do exactly what Karen says here and dig, run, and jump.
I’m in undergrad right now and I never read the books because they just want a worksheet done. I wish all academics focused on reading fully to understand rather than to complete an assignment.
Thank you for your work! I have been homeschooling my oldest daughter (7 years old) and doing preschool with my second daughter (5 years old), but I have two boys coming down the line (a 3 year old and a 3 month old)! Thank you for the advice for the boys. I'm so glad that I can help them in these ways that they wouldn't receive in the government system, which sets boys up for failure.
So glad that you found this to be encouraging! Please reach out with any questions you may have as you implement Charlotte Mason's methods into your homeschool.
Watching this as a mom of 7-with 5 boys... we are going back to paces for actual schoolwork as it seems to be a better motivator for them but im also.implementing some.charlotte mason morning time routines
Thank you for joining us and sharing your plans for your school year. Praying for a great year for you all! Please reach out to us with any questions that you may have as you implement Charlotte Mason's methods in your homeschool.
You talked about always requiring their attention. How did you do that? Did you take away their “fidget” activities when they weren’t paying attention?
Hi, Thank you for reaching out with your question! Yes, having something in your hands is fine as long as it doesn't become the focus of your attention and distract from the learning opportunity. This can take some trial and error. Meeting a child where they are is key as well. Start with the amount of time that they are capable of attending right now and then work toward your goal for their age range, keeping in mind that short lessons is one of Charlotte Mason's principles. Here are some helpful links for working on the habit of attention: simplycharlottemason.com/blog/3-ways-to-work-on-the-habit-of-attention/ simplycharlottemason.com/blog/working-on-attention-during-the-summer/ simplycharlottemason.com/blog/attention-core-values-of-charlotte-mason/ simplycharlottemason.com/blog/attention-please-way-of-the-will-part-5/ Setting Your Student up for Success in His Surroundings: simplycharlottemason.com/blog/setting-child-success-surroundings/ If you are working on attention in a subject where you are asking your child to narrate, some of these creative narration ideas can help them focus their attention on the subject in a creative way. simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/
