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. Ender's Game, Card Ourselves, Charlotte Mason Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare The Hiding Place, ten Boom The Elements of Style, Strunk & White Beauty & Truth Math ADE at HOME 2025 {Virtual} Conference Living Book Press -- Our Season Sponsor ADE'S Teacher Helps ADE's Patreon Community

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) Living Book Press -- Our Season Sponsor: Secrets of the Universe Awaken: A Living Books Conference -- April 4-5, 2025 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 ADE at HOME 2025 {Virtual} Conference Episode 108: Masterly Inactivity ADE's Teacher Training Videos ADE's Patreon Community

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. For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay www.livingbookpress.com Use code "delectable" at check out to receive 10% off your order Hope Farm School ADE's Consulting Services ADE's Teacher Helps ADE's Patreon Community

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 teaching. From how we ourselves learn about the method, to combining multiple students; helping our students become more independent or making modifications for individual students. Miss Mason has timeless wisdom to offer us, and she knows we are equipped as mothers to be the primary agent of education for our children. "The mother is qualified," says Pestalozzi, "and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child..." (1/2) "N.B. 1. — In home schoolrooms where there are children in A as well as in B, both forms may work together, doing the work of A or B as they are able." (P.U.S. Programmes) "...so soon as the child can read at all, he should read for himself, and to himself..." (1/227) "You may bring your horse to the water, but you can't make him drink ; and you may present ideas of the fittest to the mind of the child ; but you do not know in the least which he will take, and which he will reject." (2/127) "The teacher's part is, in the first place, to see what is to be done, to look over the work of the day in advance and see what mental discipline, as well as what vital knowledge, this and that lesson afford; and then to set such questions and such tasks as shall give full scope to his pupils' mental activity." (3/180-181) "Meantime , we sometimes err, I think, in taking a part for the whole, and a part of a part for the whole of that part." (3/148-149) Living Book Press' Charlotte Mason Volumes ADE's Teacher Training Videos Living Book Press -- Our Season Sponsor Episode 82 -- CM's thought on Holidays Read-Aloud Revival Episode with Dr. Pakaluk Episode 4: -- Three Tools of Education ADE's Patreon Community

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 Susanne Norris, a full-time homeschool mom and missionary. She has wise words to share with all of us, even if we're not in full-time ministry! www.livingbookpress.com Use code "delectable" at check out to receive 10% off your order ADE's Teacher Training Videos ADE's Patreon Community

One of the distinctives of the Charlotte Mason Method is that it is relational education. The Method also applies to all of life, and so we start with the foundational relationship in our students' lives: their relationship with their parents. In this episode of the podcast, we look at the two extremes, and learn from Charlotte Mason how to strike a balance that leads to life--for both parent and child. School Education, Volume 3 of the Home Education Series by Charlotte M. Mason, chapters 1-3 "...it is far easier to govern from a height, as it were, than from the intimacy of close personal contact. But you cannot be quite frank and easy with beings who are obviously of a higher and of another order than yourself." (3/4) "Parents and teachers, because their subjects are so docile and so feeble, are tempted more than others to the arbitrary temper..." (3/11) "Autocracy is defined as independent or self-derived power...Autocracy has ever a drastic penal code, whether in the kingdom, the school, or the family. It has, too, many commandments. 'Thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not' ... The tendency to assume self-derived power is common to us all, even the meekest of us, and calls for special watchfulness; the more so, because it shows itself fully as often in remitting duties and in granting indulgences as in inflicting punishments." (3/15-16) "Locke promulgated the doctrine of the infallible reason. That doctrine accepted, individual reason becomes the ultimate authority, and every man is free to do that which is right in his own eyes...the principle of the infallible reason is directly antagonistic to the idea of authority." (3/5-6) "[B]ut wise parents steer a middle course. They are careful to form habits upon which the routine of life runs easily, and, when the exceptional event requires a new regulation, they may make casual mention of their reasons for having so and so done ; or, if this is not convenient and the case is a trying one, they give the children the reason for all obedience-"for this is right." In a word, authority avoids, so far as may be, giving cause of offence." (3/22) "[A]uthority is vested in the office and not in the person; that the moment it is treated as a personal attribute it is forfeited. We know that a person in authority is a person authorised ; and that he who is authorised is under authority." (3/12) "Authority is neither harsh nor indulgent. She is gentle and easy to be entreated in all matters immaterial, just because she is immovable in matters of real importance; for these, there is always a fixed principle. It does not, for example, rest with parents and teachers to dally with questions affecting either the health or the duty of their children. They have no authority to allow children in indulgences... Authority is alert; she knows all that is going on and is aware of tendencies...It sometimes happens that children, and not their parents, have right on their side: a claim may be made or an injunction resisted, and the children are in opposition to parent or teacher. It is well for the latter to get the habit of swiftly and imperceptibly reviewing the situation; possibly, the children may be in the right, and the parent may gather up his wits in time to yield the point graciously and send the little rebels away in a glow of love and loyalty." (3/17) "Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love, because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice: children recognise it as love, because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart." (3/24) "The constraining power should be present, but passive, so that the child may not feel himself hemmed in without choice. That free-will of man, which has for ages exercised faithful souls who would prefer to be compelled into all righteousness and obedience, is after all a pattern for parents. The child who is good because he must be so, loses in power of initiative more than he gains in seemly behaviour. Every time a child feels that he chooses to obey of his own accord, his power of initiative is strengthened." (3/31) "We shall give children space to develop on the lines of their own characters in all right ways, and shall know how to intervene effectually to prevent those errors which, also, are proper to their individual characters." (3/35) "'Wise passiveness.' It indicates the power to act, the desire to act, and the insight and self-restraint which forbid action. But there is, from our point of view at any rate, a further idea conveyed in 'masterly inactivity.' The mastery is not over ourselves only; there is also a sense of authority, which our children should be as much aware of when it is inactive as when they are doing our bidding." (3/28) "Further, though the emancipation of the children is gradual, they acquiring day by day more of the art and science of self-government, yet there comes a day when the parents, right to rule is over; there is nothing left for them but to abdicate gracefully, and leave their grown-up sons and daughters free agents, even though these still live at home; and although, in the eyes of their parents, they are not fit to be trusted with the ordering of themselves: if they fail in such self-ordering, whether as regards time, occupations, money, friends, most likely their parents are to blame for not having introduced them by degrees to the full liberty which is their right as men and women. Anyway, it is too late now to keep them in training; fit or unfit, they must hold the rudder for themselves." (2/17) Living Book Press' Charlotte Mason Volumes Living Book Press -- Our Season Sponsor Episode 115: Authority and Docility, Part 1 Episode 116: Authority and Docility, Part 2 Episode 201: Short Synopsis Points 1-4 Episode 191: The Home Story ADE's Patreon Community

As we discuss ways to bring balance to our lives using the Charlotte Mason Method, our first focus is on our Priorities. We can fall off on either side of the horse: Making school all-important, or pushing it to the back burner. Miss Mason has excellent advice for how to avoid either extreme, and the ADE ladies share their own experiences with imbalance. "...this is a delightful thing to remember, every time we do a thing helps to form the habit of doing it; and to do a thing a hundred times without missing a chance, makes the rest easy." (4/I/209) "[H]e learns that one time is NOT 'as good as another;' that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time..." (1/142) Living Book Press' Charlotte Mason Volumes CM Simple Languages Living Book Press -- Our Season Sponsor Episode 264: The Time-table ADE's Patreon Community

A Delectable Education is back for its Tenth year! We have grown a lot over these past 9 years, and so has the Charlotte Mason Community. We are honored to be here sharing with you all still. In this episode we are sharing some big announcements like our 5th Annual Parents' Educational Course Reading List, our 5th Annual Online Conference (coming February 2025) and new Teacher Helps and Training Videos to help your school year go smoothly. We're glad you're here with us. Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell -- 2025 ADE Book Club selection. Living Book Press has produced a special edition just for our book club. Every Moment Holy, Volume 3 Living Book Press: Our first ever season-long sponsor! Charlotte Mason Digital Collection 2024-25 Parents' Educational Course: A suggested reading list curated for the modern CM educator Teacher Helps: Products we've created to help you plan, forecast, and implement lessons Physical Geography Teacher Helps History Tools Planner Folk Dance Resource A Short Grammar of the English Tongue, Year 2 Short Talks Collection Teacher Training Videos Good and Dangerous Books, Jono Kiser CM Through High School, Nicole Williams Instructing the Conscience, Jessica Becker Form 1 Natural History Demo Lesson Form 2 Geography Demo Lesson Form 2 Dictation Demo Lesson ADE at HOME 2025: Our fifth annual {Virtual} Conference, check back for more details in November. Registration begins November 29, 2024. February 7-8, 2025 through May 7, 2025. ADE's Patreon Community

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 provide a great number of helpful episodes and resources as you plan for the upcoming school year. The episode closes with a fitting devotional to help you gain perspective on the value of the past year and inspire you for what lies ahead. “Every mother, especially, should keep a diary in which to note the successive phases of her child’s physical, mental, and moral growth, with particular attention to the moral.” (2/105-106) Episode 241: Seasonal Reflections Seasonal Reflection Questions Episode 280: The Simplicity of the Charlotte Mason Method Episodes by Topic ADE at HOME {Virtual} Conference (First weekend in February each year, access for 3 months following) Teacher Training Videos ADE's Patreon Community Parents' Educational Course Episode 232: Forecasting Lessons -- How to plan Forecasting Teacher Training Video Form Overviews: Form IB Overview   Form IA Overview   Form IIB Overview   Form IIA Overview   Form III Overview   Forms IV-VI Overview Subjects By Form Episode 162: Creating Your Own CM Curriculum Curriculum Templates Episode 278: Trusting the Method Through Your Curriculum Schedule Cards Episode 264: The Time-Table Episode 33: Scheduling a CM Education Awaken: Living Books Conference July 26-27, 2024

There seems to be a common misconception that Charlotte Mason's Method is complicated and difficult to understand. While it does take time to grow in our understanding, what we find instead, at its heart, is a simple, cohesive applied philosophy that we CAN understand. Join us on the podcast today as we distill some of the barriers we place for ourselves that make it seem more difficult than it is to follow her method, and enumerate some of the key distinctives of this living method of education. "The reader will say with truth,-" I knew all this before and have always acted more or less on these principles; " and I can only point to the unusual results we obtain through adhering not ' more or less,' but strictly to the principles and practices I have indicated." (6/19) "With this thought of a child to begin with, we shall perceive that whatever is stale and flat and dull to us must needs be stale and flat and dull to him, and also that there is no subject which has not a fresh and living way of approach." (2/278) "Whether the way I have sketched out is the right and the only way remains to be tested still more widely than in the thousands of cases in which it has been successful; but assuredly education is slack and uncertain for the lack of sound principles exactly applied." (6/19-20) Beauty & Truth Math Episode 263: What Does it Mean to Trust the Method? Episode 182: Visualization Episode 266: The Unity of the Charlotte Mason Method Episode 278: Trusting the Method Through Our Curriculum Episode 272: CM on Children Liking Their Books ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode Sandy Johnson, mom of three, joins us to reflect on her homeschool journey and how she came to trust Charlotte Mason's Method. As she has graduated her oldest daughter who is now in college, Sandy reflects on her own education, and how different the education she is giving her children is. With humility and strength, Sandy shares her family's personal struggles and points us to the Hope we all need. Charlotte Mason's Home Education Series (Audiobook) Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens David Copperfield, Charles Dickens Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard Awaken Living Books Conference Episode 276: ADE Book Discussion: Vanity Fair ADE's Patreon Community

As we near the end of this season-long discussion on "Trusting the Method" we turn our attention to the curriculum itself. How can we choose curriculum that Trusts Charlotte Mason's Method? How can we evaluate whether a resource or curriculum follows the method in part or whole? How do we decide if we even *want* to trust the method with our curriculum? "N.B.1 In home schoolrooms where there are children in A as well as in B, both forms may work together, doing the work of A or B as they are able, but more work must be expected from I A." (All P.U.S. Programmes) Arabella Buckley's Eyes and No-Eyes Series Here and Here Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetics Beauty & Truth Math Episode 263: What Does it Mean to Trust the Method? Charlotte Mason's Curriculum Programmes Episode 70: CM Purists Visual Latin ADE's Teacher Helps Episode 6: Living Books Episode 7: Recognizing Living Books Episode 8: Narration 2.0 Episode 3: The Role of the Teacher Episode 5: The Power of Connection ADE's Episodes by Topic Charlotte Mason's Short Synopsis: Points 1-4   Points 5-8   Points 9-12   Points 13-15   Points 16-19   Point 20 ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, as she prepares to graduate her oldest student this spring, Morgan Conner joins us to reflect on her homeschool journey and how she came to trust Charlotte Mason's Method. After jumping from one curriculum to the next, once Morgan discovered Charlotte Mason, she never looked back, but that doesn't mean it has always been easy. You will glean much from Morgan's vulnerability and honesty as she describes overcoming her perfectionistic tendencies and learned to trust the Lord with even the smallest details with her neurodiverse students. For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen Q&A about Nature Walks Podcast Episode on Forecasting Forecasting Teacher Training Workshop Morgan's episode on Reading Charlotte Mason's Volumes Morgan's episode on Planning Physical Geography Lessons ADE's Patreon Community

Charlotte Mason firmly believed that novels are our greatest teachers, hence why she included them as a major serving in the feast that nourishes our children's education. This episode was recorded live at the ADE At Home conference, February 2, 2024, with Nicole, Emily, and Liz leading a discussion with attendees who had read the book and come to contribute what they had been taught by William Makepeace Thackeray's classic novel Vanity Fair. If you have read the book, you will revel in the myriad messages this book conveyed to us all, and if you have not, you will be inspired to read it.   Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray Talkbox.mom

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, Jami Hurt, mom of two homeschool graduates tells us about her experience with Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, and the joys she is witnessing with her boys who have now launched their own lives in young adulthood. For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard ADE's Patreon Community

As home educators trying to spread the wide feast of a Charlotte Mason education for multiple children, we feel the need to have our students working independently. But how do we get them there? Join Liz, Nicole, and Emily as they discuss the rewards and challenges with practical advice for how to help our children grow in independence--in school lessons and beyond.   “As we have already urged, there is but one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves. They must read the given pages and tell what they have read, they must perform, that is, what we may call the act of knowing." (6/99) “One of the features, and one of the disastrous features, of modern society, is that, in our laziness, we depend upon prodders and encourage a vast system of prodding.” (3/39) "...parents who have always satisfied the intellectual craving of their children must needs forego the delight of watching a literary awakening." (3/123) “The children must know themselves to be let alone, whether to do their own duty or to seek their own pleasure. The constraining power should be present, but passive, so that the child may not feel himself hemmed in without choice. That free-will of man, which has for ages exercised faithful souls who would prefer to be compelled into all righteousness and obedience, is after all a pattern for parents. The child who is good because he must be so, loses in power of initiative more than he gains in seemly behaviour. Every time a child feels that he chooses to obey of his own accord, his power of initiative is strengthened.” (3/31) "A parent may be willing to undergo any definite labours for his child's sake; but to be always catering for his behoof, always contriving that circumstances shall play upon him for his good, is the part of a god and not of a man!" (1/10) "Make children happy and they will be good,' is absolutely true, but does it develop that strenuousness, the first condition of virtue, which comes of the contrary axiom-' Be good and you will be happy'?" (3/57) "Let her distribute her time as she likes, but count her tale of bricks; let her choose books for her own reading, but know what she chooses; let her choose her own companions, but put before her the principles on which to choose..." (5/245) The Coddling of the American Mind, Haidt and Lukianoff Awaken: Living Books Conference 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} Episode 108: Masterly Inactivity ADE's Patreon Community

At the 2022 ADE at HOME {Virtual} Conference Melissa Petermann of Charlotte Mason PE presented a talk entitled "Mindset, Margin, and Tactics: Homeschooling Through Trials & Chronic Illness." We've invited her onto the podcast this week to discuss some of the practical ways she has found to continue on even on hard days. "ln the things of science, in the things of art, in the things of practical everyday life, his God doth instruct him and doth teach him, her God doth instruct her and doth teach her. Let this be the mother's key to the whole of the education of each boy and each girl; not of her children; the divine Spirit does not work with nouns of multitude, but with each single child. Because He is infinite, the whole world is not too great a school for this indefatigable Teacher, and because He is infinite, He is able to give the whole of his infinite attention for the whole time to each one of his multitudinous pupils. We do not sufficiently rejoice in the wealth that the infinite nature of our God brings to each of us." (2/273) "Let the mother go out to play! If she would only have courage to let everything go when life becomes too tense, and just take a day, or half a day , out in the fields, or with a favourite book, or in a picture gallery looking long and well at just two or three pictures, or in bed, without the children, life would go on far more happily for both children and parents. The mother would be able to hold herself in 'wise passiveness,' and would not fret her children by continual interference, even of hand or eye-she would let them be." (3/33-34) 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} Melissa's Swedish Drill Resource Melissa's Mindset, Margin, and Tactics: Homeschooling Through Trials & Chronic Illness Workshop from the 2022 Conference Sabbath Mood Homeschool Science Guides Liz's Grammar Resource ADE's Patreon Community

How do you determine which books are the "right" books for your children? Charlotte Mason said they must LIKE their books, right? Or did she? We explore the nuances of children's taste and how much a role that should play in our choices of their lesson books in this episode.   “The children must enjoy their books." (3/178) "What manner of book will find its way with upheaving effect into the mind of an intelligent boy or girl? We need not ask what the firl or boy likes. She very often likes the twaddle of goody-goody storybooks, he likes condiments, highly-spiced tales of adventure. We are all capable of liking mental food of a poor quality..." (3/168) "[T]he happiness of the child is the condition of his progress; that his lessons should be joyous, and that occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated." (1/178, emphasis added) "Our conception of a child rules our relations towards him. Pour s'amuser is the rule of child-life proper for the 'oyster' theory, and most of our children's books and many of our theories of child-education are based upon this rule. 'Oh! he's so happy,' we say, and are content, believing that if he is happy he will be good; and it is so to a great extent; but in the older days the theory was, if you are good you will be happy; and this is a principle which strikes the keynote of endeavour, and holds good, not only through the childish 'stage of evolution,' but for the whole of life, here and hereafter. The child who has learned to 'endeavour himself' (as the Prayer Book has it) has learned to live." (2/254) "Your opinions about books and other things will very likely be wrong, and you will yourself correct them by and by when you have read more, thought more, know more. Indeed, no wise person, however old, is sure of his opinions." (4/I/183-84) "A child has not begun his education until he has acquired the habit of reading to himself, with interest and pleasure, books fully on a level with his intelligence. I am speaking now of his lesson-books, which are all too apt to be written in a style of insufferable twaddle, probably because they are written by persons who have never chanced to meet a child. All who know children know that they do not talk twaddle and do not like it, and prefer that which appeals to their understanding. Their lesson-books should offer matter for their reading, whether aloud or to themselves; therefore they should be written with literary power. As for the matter of these books, let us remember that children can take in ideas and principles, whether the latter be moral or mechanical, as quickly and clearly as we do ourselves (perhaps more so); but detailed processes, lists and summaries, blunt the edge of a child's delicate mind." (1/229) "A corollary of the principle that education is the science of relations, is, that no education seems to be worth the name which has not made children at home in the world of books, and so related them, mind to mind, with thinkers who have dealt with knowledge. We reject epitomes, compilations, and their like, and put into children's hands books which, long or short, are living. Thus it becomes a large part of the teacher's work to help children to deal with their books; so that the oral lesson and lecture are but small matters in education, and are used chiefly to summarise or to expand or illustrate." (3/226) "We are apt to believe that children cannot be interested in the Bible unless its pages be watered down––turned into the slipshod English we prefer to offer them." (1/247-48) "We are determined that the children shall love books, therefore we do not interpose ourselves between the book and the child. We read him his Tanglewood Tales, and when he is a little older his Plutarch, not trying to break up or water down, but leaving the child's mind to deal with the matter as it can." (2/231-32) "The teacher's part in this regard is to see and feel for himself, and then to rouse his pupils by an appreciative look or word; but to beware how he deadens the impression by a flood of talk. Intellectual sympathy is very stimulating; but we have all been in the case of the little girl who said, 'Mother, I think I could understand if you did not explain quite so much.'" (3/178) "The real use of naturalists' books at this stage is to give the child delightful glimpses into the world of wonders he lives in, to reveal the sorts of things to be seen by curious eyes, and fill him with desire to make discoveries for himself." (1/64) "This sort of weak literature for the children, both in any story and lesson books, is the result of a reactionary process. Not so long ago the current impression was that the children had little understanding, but prodigious memory for facts; dates, numbers, rules, catechisms of knowledge, much information in small parcels, was supposed to be the fitting material for a child's education. We have changed all that, and put into the children's hands lesson-books with pretty pictures and easy talk, almost as good as story-books; but we do not see that, after all, we are but giving the same little pills of knowledge in the form of a weak and copious diluent. Teachers, and even parents, who are careful enough about their children's diet, are so reckless as to the sort of mental aliment offered to them, that I am exceedingly anxious to secure consideration for this question, of the lessons and literature proper for the little people." (1/176) "In their power of giving impulse and stirring emotion is another use of books, the right books; but that is just the question––which are the right books?––a point upon which I should not wish to play Sir Oracle. The 'hundred best books for the schoolroom' may be put down on a list, but not by me. I venture to propose one or two principles in the matter of school-books, and shall leave the far more difficult part, the application of those principles, to the reader." (3/177) "Children cannot answer questions set on the wrong book; and the difficulty of selection is increased by the fact that what they like in books is no more a guide than what they like in food." (6/248) Mystery and Manners, Flannery O'Connor Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray Moby Dick, Herman Melville Arabella Buckley's Eyes and No Eyes series Talkbox.mom 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} Episode 269: Jono Kiser on Good and Dangerous Books Episode 6: Living Books Episode 7: Recognizing Living Books Episode 119: Q&A on the Arabella Buckley Books ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, Melanie Verlage, Canadian mom of four girls tells us about her transition from public school to Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, and the surprising joys she's witnessed over the last six years.   The Body, Bill Bryson Episode 269: Voices from the Conference with Jono Kiser ADE's Personal Curriculum Consultations ADE's Patreon Community

Can you make a child care about their education? Or about anything, let alone the many things that Charlotte Mason commended? We tackle these questions in this episode of the podcast, exploring the reasons for a seeming indifference in our students as well as how we can come alongside them and help them grow in their love for knowledge.     “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 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 ? I know you may bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. What I complain of is that we do not bring our horse to the water. We give him miserable little text-books, mere compendiums of facts, which he is to learn off and say and produce at an examination; or we give him various knowledge in the form of warm diluents, prepared by his teacher with perhaps some grains of living thought to the gallon. And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children." (3/171-172) "I know you may bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. What I complain of is that we do not bring our horse to the water. We give him miserable little text-books, mere compendiums of facts, which he is to learn off and say and produce at an examination; or we give him various knowledge in the form of warm diluents, prepared by his teacher with perhaps some grains of living thought to the gallon. And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children. The fact is, we undervalue children." (3/172) “In conclusion, the parent must educate himself up to the level of the child, or if he cannot do this, he must never discourage. Children with their natural irresponsibleness and ignorance of what is in them, will take up various subjects with more or less vigor, only to drop them perhaps, before finally lighting upon the one thing of absorbing interest. Be patient with these vagaries and the litter they make if they are wholesome and healthy; above all do not scoff at this inconsequence, and if their particular hobbies are not according to your especial taste remember that— “There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.” (PR 22 p. 792)         Spark, John Ratey Habits of the Household, Justin Whitmel Earley A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the 19th Century, Witold Rybczynski       Talkbox.mom 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} Parents' Educational Course Episode 113: Service, An Interview with Vanessa Kijewski Episode 249: Voices from the Conference: Cathy McKay on Teenagers ADE's Patreon Community

At the 2023 ADE at HOME {Virtual} Conference Jono Kiser of Living Literature presented a talk entitled "Good and Dangerous Books." We've invited him onto the podcast this week to discuss why Charlotte Mason encouraged students to read literature with objectionable content, and what makes these worthy books. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Bleak House, Charles Dickens Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens Number the Stars, Lois Lowry Junkyard Wonders, Patricia Polacco The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} Areopagitica, John Milton ADE's Patreon Community

In this episode we return to the topic of Recitation, a distinctive feature of Charlotte Mason's Method. We are focusing on practical ways to help your student develop their skills in Recitation, both the "Mechanical" and the "Sentimental" Branches. “It will now be seen that I spoke nothing but the truth when I said that reading was an art which had its fixed laws. We have found laws for the emission of the voice, for respiration, for pronunciation, for articulation, and for punctuation ; that is to say, laws for all the material side, the technical part of the art of reading. Let us now pass on to its intellectual aspects.” (Ernest Legouvé. A Short Treatise on Reading Aloud. PR 17, p 436) Hay said, “the first of these two branches ... can in all cases be taught, and the second beyond hints and suggestions for guidance must be left to the taste and judgment of the speaker.” (p. 33-34) What Charlotte Mason called “the fine art of beautiful and perfect speaking.” (1/223) “It will now be seen that I spoke nothing but the truth when I said that reading was an art which had its fixed laws. We have found laws for the emission of the voice, for respiration, for pronunciation, for articulation, and for punctuation ; that is to say, laws for all the material side, the technical part of the art of reading. Let us now pass on to its intellectual aspects.” (Ernest Legouvé. A Short Treatise on Reading Aloud. PR 17, p 436) Hay said, “the first of these two branches ... can in all cases be taught, and the second beyond hints and suggestions for guidance must be left to the taste and judgment of the speaker.” (p. 33-34) The Speaking Voice: Its Development and Preservation, Volume 1, Emil Behnke The Speaking Voice: Its Development and Preservation, Volume 2, Emil Behnke The Art of Reading and Speaking, Canon Fleming How You Talk, Paul Showers Awaken: Living Books Conferences Episode 69: Recitation Episode 179: Recitation Immersion Nicole's Recitation Handout Episode 266: The Unity of the CM Method Arthur Burrell's Recitation: The Children's Art Mrs Tongue Does Her Housework 2024 ADE @ Home {Virtual Conference} ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, Celeste Cruz, mom of eleven children, from infant to seniors in High School, joins us to reflect on her Charlotte Mason Journey. "Not only confidence in themselves, but confidence in their children, is an element of the masterly inactivity, which I venture to propose to parents as a 'blue teapot' for them 'to live up to.' Believe in the relation of parent and child, and trust the children to believe in it and fulfil it on their part. They will do so if they are not worried." (3/30) "People are naturally divided into those who read and think and those who do not read or think..." (6/31) Paddle-to-the-Sea, Holling Holling's Book of Indians Awaken: Living Books Conference Episode 264: The Time-Table Celeste's blog: Joyous Lessons ADE's Patreon Community

Charlotte Mason's Method can seem confusing and difficult to implement, especially if we view it as a list of do's and don'ts. But when we learn to see it as a unified whole, it is revealed as a truly simple and cohesive method of education. “Time is insufficient for teachers as well as for scholars. How then find room for a new subject ? Where place it ? What would give way for it ? The answer is easy. The art of reading can only benefit education where it adds nothing, eliminates nothing, supersedes nothing, but by assimilation is our aid to all things. It is not a tax but an aid to memory ; it does not fatigue, but relieves and supports the mind. It is to education what the gastric juice is to the nutritive process : it causes and facilitates digestion ; it is not in itself a new factor, but a component part of all the other factors.” (Short Treatise on Reading Aloud. PR 17, p 129) "The reader will say with truth,-" I knew all this before and have always acted more or less on these principles " ; and I can only point to the unusual results we obtain through adhering not ' more or less,' but strictly to the principles and practices I have indicated. I suppose the difficulties are of the sort that Lister had to contend with ; every surgeon knew that his instruments and appurtenances should be kept clean, but the saving of millions of lives has resulted from the adoption of the great surgeon's antiseptic treatment; that is from the substitution of exact principles scrupulously applied for the rather casual ' more or less ' methods of earlier days." (6/19) “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) "As we have already urged, there is but one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves." (6/99) "The children, not the teachers, are the responsible persons ; they do the work by self-effort." (6/241) "'The mother is qualified,' says Pestalozzi, 'and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child ; . . . and what is demanded of her is a thinking love. • • • God has given to thy child all the faculties of our nature, but the grand point remains undecided-how shall this heart, this head, these hands, be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A question the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or misery to a life so dear to thee. Maternal love is the first agent in education.'" (1/2) "What we cannot do with Miss Mason's Ideal is to reduce it to lowest terms, and just in so far as we try to, so far we misrepresent it, and misunderstand it. But some of the secret undoubtedly lies in the Programmes of Work; the longer we work from those wonderful programmes the more we realise how well balanced they are; how satisfying to the hungry mind; how the subjects dovetail; how difficult it is to teach history only in history time, how it will 'flow over' into geography, literature, or even into such unexpected channels as arithmetic or botany." (In Memoriam, p. 151) "Method implies two things -- a way to an end, and step-by-step progress in that way. Further, the following of a method implies an idea, a mental image, of the end or object to be arrived at." (1/8) "It would seem a far cry from Undine to a' liberal education ' but there is a point of contact between the two ; a soul awoke within a water-sprite at the touch of love; so, I have to tell of the awakening of a ' general soul ' at the touch of knowledge. Eight years ago the ' soul ' of a class of children in a mining village school awoke simultaneously at this magic touch and has remained awake. We know that religion can awaken souls, that love makes a new man, that the call of a vocation may do it, and in the age of the Renaissance , men's souls, the general soul, awoke to knowledge : but this appeal rarely reaches the modern soul ; and, notwithstanding the pleasantness attending lessons and marks in all our schools, I believe the ardour for knowledge in the children of this mining village is a phenomenon that indicates new possibilities. Already many thousands of the children of the Empire had experienced this intellectual conversion, but they were the children of educated persons. To find that the children of a mining population were equally responsive seemed to open a new hope for the world. It may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living." (6/Preface) "It is such a temptation to us ordinary folks to emphasize some part at the expense of the rest and so turn a. strength into a weakness. There is only one way to avoid this danger. That is constantly to read and re-read Miss Mason's books, constantly to remind ourselves of her first principles -- for from now onwards Miss Mason's work is in our hands; we dare not leave un-made and effort to keep the truth." (Wix, p. 153) “Questions there will always be, but if we continually keep in touch with Miss Mason's thought by constant reading of all her books, we shall have a sheaf of principles at command by which we can test the value of this or that criticism, this or that book.” (Franklin. PR 36 p. 419) Talkbox.mom Episode 182: Visualization Episode 235: When the Feast is Too Much Miss Wix's Article: Miss Mason's Ideal: Its Breadth and Balance Episode 167: Method vs. System ADE's Patreon Community

This season, we are interviewing experienced Charlotte Mason moms, inviting them to tell us how they've come to "Trust the Method." In today's episode, Bethany Glosser, mom of six children, teenagers to preschoolers, shares her experiences both successes and "failures" and has important words to bring us about our ultimate hope for our children. Quotes Mothers owe 'a thinking love ' to their Children.-"The mother is qualified," says Pestalozzi, "and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child ; . . . and what is demanded of her is a thinking love. • • • God has given to thy child all the faculties of our nature, but the grand point remains undecided-how shall this heart, this head, these hands, be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A question the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or misery to a life so dear to thee. Maternal love is the first agent in education.'' (1/2) "Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child,-the knowledge of God, of man, and of the universe,-the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making." (6/158) Books For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay Links INK Newspaper Morgan Conner's Reading Lessons Living Literature Courses with Jono Kiser Beauty and Truth Math Climbing Higher Math ADE's Patreon Community

Charlotte Mason encouraged us to use a time-table to ensure lessons were kept short and varied. Today on the podcast we're talking about this essential tool, why Miss Mason called it the first principle of a well-managed schoolroom, and how we can make one to fit our family today. "Time-Table; Definite Work in a Given Time. -- I shall have opportunities to enter into some of these points later; meantime, let us look in at a home schoolroom managed on sound principles. In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not 'as good as another;' that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child's attention to his work." (1/142) “In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not 'as good as another'; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child's attention to his work.” (1/142) “It is impossible to overstate the importance of this habit of attention. It is, ..., ‘within the reach of everyone, and should be made the primary object of all mental discipline’; for whatever the natural gifts of the child, it is only so far as the habit of attention is cultivated in him that he is able to make use of them.” (1/146) "Miss Kitching's introduction to the discussion of this subject involved the following points: "1. That the P.U.S. time-table is intended to serve simply as a guide to the teacher in making her own, for it stands to reason that no two schoolrooms are identical as regards the work done, or the time allotted it. "2. That in making her own time-table the teacher must be careful that no two lessons requiring the same mental effort follow one another in close proximity. "3. That it is better to leave the term's work unfinished, than to rush the pupils through for sake finishing the work set. "The general outcome of the discussion was to the effect that some modification of the programme and time-table is absolutely necessary, each teacher using her own discretion in the matter. Somebody very wisely remarked that Miss Mason intends the programme to fit the child, and not as some wildly imagine, the child to fit the programme." (L'Umile Pianta, May 1915, pp. 58-59) "It is evident that the young lady at home has so much in hand, without taking social claims into consideration, that she can have no time for dawdling, and, indeed will have to make a time-table for herself and map out her day carefully to get as much into it as she wishes." (5/261) Talkbox.mom  Beauty & Truth Math Episode 258: Afternoons ADE's Schedule Cards Schedule Cards in Russian, Spanish, French, Portuguese ADE's Patreon Community

The theme of this season of A Delectable Education: Charlotte Mason Podcast is "Trust the Method." But what does that mean? Are we just supposed to blindly follow a dead woman's advice from the 19th Century? Emily, Liz, and Nicole discuss these questions and more to help set the stage for the year to come, starting with "Why are you choosing to educate your children in the first place?" "The object of this organisation is not merely to raise the standard of work in the schoolroom. Our chief wish is that pupils should find knowledge delightful in itself and for its own sake, without thought of marks, places, prizes, or other rewards; and that they should develop an intelligent curiosity about the past and present. Children respond and take to their lessons with keen pleasure if they have even tolerably good teaching; and the want of marks, companionship, or other stimulus is not felt in those home schoolrooms where the interest of knowledge is allowed free play." ("A Liberal Education for All" Pamphlet, 1928, p. 31) "Those who do not regard education as a vital whole but as a sort of conglomerate of good idea, good plans, traditions and experiences, do well to adopt and adapt any good idea they come across. But our conception of education is of a vital whole, harmonious, living and effective. Therefore, every plan rises out of a principle, and each such principle is a part of a living educational philosophy, and does not very well bear to be broken off and used by itself." ("A Liberal Education for All," p. 33) “The reader will say with truth,––"I knew all this before and have always acted more or less on these principles"; and I can only point to the unusual results we obtain through adhering not 'more or less,' but strictly to the principles and practices I have indicated. I suppose the difficulties are of the sort that Lister had to contend with; every surgeon knew that his instruments and appurtenances should be kept clean, but the saving of millions of lives has resulted from the adoption of the great surgeon's antiseptic treatment; that is from the substitution of exact principles scrupulously applied for the rather casual 'more or less' methods of earlier days.” (6/19) “In the matter of education, we are hovering round the truth: that education is not merely a preparation for life, but the work of the lifetime is boldly announced. And, given thus much insight, is it conceivable that the education in question is no more than the cramming of a few text-books? Like religion, education is nothing or it is everything––a consuming fire in the bones. How is it that we do not see, through the hurry of eating and drinking, getting and having, that our prime business here is to raise up a generation better than ourselves?” (5/145-46) She trusted that parents and teachers do not have to, “develop the person; he is there already, with, possibly, every power that will serve him in his passage through life.” (3/75)  “Like all the great ventures of life, this that I propose to you is a venture of faith, faith in the saving power of knowledge and in the assimilative power of children. Its efficacy depends upon the fact that it is in the nature of things, in the nature of knowledge and in the nature of children. Bring the two together in ways that are sanctioned by the laws of mind and, to use a figure, a chemical change takes place and a new product appears, a person of character and intelligence, an admirable citizen whose own life is too full and rich for him to be an uneasy member of society.” (A Liberal Education for All, No. I. Theory, by Charlotte Mason, https://charlottemasonpoetry.org/a-liberal-education-for-all/) For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay Charlotte Mason's Six Volumes John Taylor Gatto's article Episode 4: Three Tools of Education Charlotte Mason's Short Synopsis Episode 167: Method vs. System ADE's Patreon Community

A Delectable Education is back for its NINTH year. We have grown a lot over these past 8 years, and so has the Charlotte Mason Community. We are honored to be here sharing with you all still. In this episode we are sharing some big announcements like our 4th Annual Parents' Educational Course Reading List, our 4th Annual Online Conference (coming February 2024) and new Teacher Helps and Training Videos to help your school year go smoothly. We're glad you're here with us. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray 2024 ADE Book Club selection (Find the suggested reading schedule here) Episodes By Topic: Explore previous episodes grouped by subject 2023-24 Parents' Educational Course: A suggested reading list curated for the modern CM educator ADE at HOME 2024: Our fourth annual {Virtual} Conference, check back for more details in November. Registration begins November 24, 2023. Teacher Helps: Products we've created to help you plan, forecast, and implement lessons Natural History Planner Form 3-4 Bible Lesson Breakdowns (Revised Form 1-2 Bible Lesson Breakdowns here) Form 1-2 Literature Breakdowns (Available August 7, 2023) Upper Forms Geography: If you have previously purchased these, you can re-download the revised copy from your Purchase History Recitation Planner with optional add-ons for printable Bile Passages Teacher Training Videos Sabbath Mood Homeschool Science Curriculum: Nicole has completed her curriculum with High School Ecology ADE's Patreon Community  

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. The episode closes with a fitting devotional to help you gain perspective on the value of the past year and inspire you for what lies ahead. Show Notes: Seven Days that Divide the World, John Lennox Episode 241: Seasonal Reflections Seasonal Reflection Questions ADE at HOME {Virtual} Conference (First weekend in February each year, access for 3 months following) Awaken: Living Books Conference July 21-22, 2023 ADE's Patreon Community Parents' Educational Course Episode 232: Forecasting Lessons -- How to plan Beyond the Forum Podcast with John Lennox

Charlotte Mason's educational method was worldwide in her day and, thanks to persons like Mariana Mastracchio, this is happening again in our day. This episode closes out the ADE series on Charlotte Mason in Community for this season. It is an inspiring personal account of how one American-Brazilian mother is impacting the country of Brazil to bring Charlotte Mason's method to that Portuguese speaking nation. Charlotte Mason For All Podcast Mariana's Podcast and the Mentorship  - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/descobrindocharlottemason/ - Website: https://descobrindocharlottemason.com.br/ Publishing Company, Editora Ideias Vivas - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/editoraideiasvivas/ - Website: https://editoraideiasvivas.com.br/ Schedule Cards in Russian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese Charlotte Mason Colombia Charlotte Mason Online Charlotte Mason France Russian language resources: -www.uchimdoma.com  -https://vk.com/mamauitman (NOTE: May not be accessible in all areas of the world) -Luda's Video Seminars: Образование - это атмосфера Образование - это жизнь Образование - это дисциплина Как учить не по учебникам * Contact Luda if you are interested in a Russian translation of the book For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Charlotte Mason held big gatherings to continue training educators in her method. Some of our formative learning about Charlotte Mason happened through conferences. This interview in the Charlotte Mason in Community series is with Joy Vanderley who hosts the Awaken conference in Traverse City, Michigan, and who shares about some of the joys and work involved in holding a local conference to make this special environment available to people in your area.   A Charlotte Mason Companion, Karen Andreola Living Literature Courses: Open Registration begins May 1, 2023 Awaken: A Living Books Conference: July 21-22, 2023 Michelle Miller Howard's Children's Preservation Library TruthQuest History

Charlotte Mason recommended "afternoon occupations" and instructions about them were included in her programmes. Are there particular occupations, specified times and occurrences, and how much does the parent need to superintend these occupations? These and all questions involving afternoon was the focus of the original episode being re-aired, which includes a preliminary conversation from this year about clarifying particulars and eight years more experience of Nicole, Emily, and Liz. "Then comes 3:45 when the children have an hour's work before tea—handicrafts, singing, painting, picture study are the type of lessons given at this time. Then comes tea, after which the children read and sew and have some time to amuse themselves." ("The Work and Aims of the P.U.S.") "That the claims of the schoolroom should not be allowed to encroach on the child's right to long hours daily for exercise and investigation." (Vol. 1, p. 177) "Thus, the morning, after breakfast (the digestion of which lighter meal is not a severe task), is much the best time for lessons and every sort of mental work; if the whole afternoon cannot be spared for out-of-door recreation, that is the time for mechanical tasks such as needlework, drawing, practising; the children's wits are bright enough in the evening, but the drawback to evening work is, that the brain, once excited, is inclined to carry on its labours beyond bed-time, and dreams, wakefulness, and uneasy sleep attend the poor child who has been at work until the last minute. If the elder children must work in the evening, they should have at least one or two pleasant social hours before they go to bed; but, indeed, we owe it to the children to abolish evening 'preparation.'" (Vol. 1, p. 23) "Five of the thirteen waking hours should be at the disposal of the children; three, at least, of these, from two o'clock to five, for example, should be spent out of doors in all but very bad weather. This is the opportunity for out-of-door work, collecting wild flowers, describing walks and views, etc. (see Home Education). Brisk work and ample leisure and freedom should be the rule of the Home School. The Children's Day will, on the whole, run this: Lessons, 1 1/2 to 4 hours; meals, 2 hours; occupations, 1 to 3 hours; leisure, 5 to 7 hours, according to age. The work not done in its own time should be left undone. Children should not be embarrassed with arrears, and they should have dues sense of the importance of time, and that there is no other time for work not done in its own time. Should the children flag at any time, a day's holiday, a little country excursion, should refresh them." (From Suggestions which accompanied the PNEU Programmes) "[Referring to the afternoon occupations]...at any time of day, in any division of time, to suit family arrangements; when possible, out of doors." (From Suggestions which accompanied the PNEU Programmes)   If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent's Review articles that would be helpful for this episode's topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy. Home Education, Part II: Out of Door Life of Children The Secret World of Weather, Tristan Gooley Episode 217: The Work and Aims of the P.U.S. The Parents' Educational Course Reading List List of Afternoon Occupations

What do it look like do use the Charlotte Mason Method with a group of students? Kelsi Rea joins the ADE ladies today to explain how she went about developing her Charlotte Mason school. Her enthusiasm is contagious and has led to her consulting with dozens of others with the desire to open schools, as well as co-ops. Charlotte Mason In Community Kelsi Rea's Website Emily's succinct description of Charlotte Mason's Method (to get you started coming up with yours) Heritage Christian Academy

Charlotte Mason firmly believed that novels are our greatest teachers, hence why she included them as a major serving in the feast that nourishes our children's education. This episode was recorded live at the ADE At Home conference, February 3, 2023, with Nicole, Emily, and Liz leading a discussion with attendees who had read the book and come to contribute what they had been taught by Elizabeth Goudge's novel The Scent of Water. If you have read the book, you will revel in the myriad messages this book conveyed to us all, and if you have not, you will be inspired to read it. The Scent of Water, Elizabeth Goudge Awaken: Living Books Conference, July 21-22, 2023, Traverse City, MI

For this installment of our ongoing series, CM in Your Community, we are focusing on all the materials available for CM lessons! Mathematics was not a subject Charlotte Mason spoke about a lot, but it was essential, and she thought it beautiful. If you need help in leading your student through upper level math, today's Charlotte Mason in Community interview with Tabitha Wirges and Julie Ryle will prove to be a tremendous encouragement. Listen to two very experienced homeschool moms walk through the mountainous land of algebra and geometry and their contribution toward making this a less daunting task. For the Children's Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay A Charlotte Mason Companion, Karen Andreola A Charlotte Mason Education, Catherine Levison Climbing Higher Math Living Literature Courses Bestowing the Brush Art Lessons Swedish Drill Teacher Help Beauty & Truth Math Sabbath Mood Homeschool Science Guides Grammar Lessons from Liz Cottrill Picture Study Portfolios Poetry Scansion Lessons Geography Map Questions for Form I, Form 2, Upper Forms ADE's Teacher Helps for Lessons

Charlotte Mason's method is relevant for every kind of child, which this week's episode verifies. Over two years ago, the ADE ladies were interviewed by Beth Corcoran on her Flamingo Feathers podcast, which focuses on education for children with special needs. Beth has graciously allowed us to post that episode for our listeners, of interest not only to parents with special needs children, but will especially inspire anyone by her introduction that describes how the ADE episode of 2020 has subsequently changed her family's life.

Narration, attention, habits: Charlotte Mason knew they were natural to a child and work together. The ADE ladies welcome Annette Dionisio to the podcast, a mom who has diligently employed the art of narration in all areas of life with her children. Beyond the books, narration is key to our personhood and Annette has found it key to parenting. Enjoy this episode of "Voices from the Conference" as Annette presented two. lessons with her children and caught the attention of our 2022 attendees with her masterful use of a child's natural gift of narration.

Books are not just for school lessons, but as Charlotte Mason concurred, family read-aloud time is essential to the education of a child. Listen in as Emily, Nicole, and Liz reminisce about their own experiences and share an abundance of suggestions for how to make family reading part of your family culture.

Homeschooling with Charlotte Mason's method brings life, more life than we expect. Don't miss this episode from the Charlotte Mason in Our Community series if you wonder about habits, notebook organization, the purpose of handicrafts, service to others, creativity, time management, and productivity. Micah Pettes joins the ADE ladies to discuss the story of how her Charlotte Mason education inspired a family business that is blessing hundreds of other families.

This is a re-release/update to our original Episode #80. Charlotte Mason developed her educational method for all students, but many feel that by high school they must get on to more serious preparation for college or career and abandon the course they have been on. The moms of A Delectable Education discuss the high school years, what studies are tackled, how to deal with college transcripts and applications and college entrance exams. Does Mason's curriculum prepare a child for the real world? Will they be able to succeed in a non-Charlotte Mason environment? What does high school look like if you follow a Mason approach to education?

Homeschooling teenage boys has its own challenges. The ADE ladies welcome Cathy McKay in the Voices of the Conference series to share her wisdom and experience in raising teen boys. Attendees of the 2022 ADE at HOME Virtual Conference will be glad for more opportunity to learn from Cathy.

A Delectable Education Charlotte Mason podcast seeks to inspire, encourage, and explain the Charlotte Mason method. During the midwinter ADE at Home {Virtual} Conference, all three take place in various presentations. On today's episode, hear how many different individuals participate in this conference either with friends, away from home, at home...and share some of their ideas for making the most of it.

Living books are the heart of the Charlotte Mason method of education, and providing a wide variety of books is essential. Of special importance to families in this century is reading living books about and from the perspective of people of various ethnic backgrounds. Today's guest, Nicole Cottrell, describes her gift to the Charlotte Mason community of a database of diverse living books particularly of people of color. We also discuss several other places to find living books of all sorts.

Charlotte Mason spoke to the fears and anxieties of mothers in her day. Her counsel is exceedingly relevant today. The ADE ladies have invited Jessica Becker to the podcast to discuss one of our most prevalent problems in this cultural moment, the undercurrent that affects our homes and homeschool education: fear and anxiety.

The spreading of the practice of Charlotte Mason's method has created a demand for living books, old standbys that this generation deserves to know. This week begins this season's new series: Charlotte Mason in Our Community with a focus this month on book publishing with an interview of Rachel North, a Charlotte Mason enthusiast who lives in England and has restored, updated, and transformed  some of the classic books Mason used to again find their place in our curriculum.

A Charlotte Mason education requires a lot of time and effort on the part of the teacher to prepare the best feast for the children. How does the parent also manage all the needs of daily life in the home at the same time? Listen to Emily, Nicole, and Liz discuss home management while homeschooling for some wisdom gained from their own experience.

This new episode on handicrafts contains further revelation on Charlotte Mason's  purpose and approach to handicrafts. Emily, Nicole, and Liz, as always, draw out the practical application for this crucial, seemingly complicated, and vital part of the feast. Whether you are crafty or inept, there is wise advice for implementation here.

Welcome to Season Eight! Emily, Nicole, and Liz are delighted to bring you up to date on new helps for teaching being offered  at A Delectable Education's site, events to look forward to, and an overview of the great things you can expect in the coming school year on the podcast as they continue to share the riches of the Charlotte Mason feast.