This is a long ongoing study of how we use the Charlotte Mason approach in our home.
See previous posts here and here.
So I've covered the first part of our learning at home: Knowledge of God.
Now to begin to unpack Knowledge of Man.
Knowledge of Man consists of History, Literature, Citizenship (Economics), Composition, Spelling, Foreign Languages, Music and Art.
In this house most of these subjects overlap as we try to cover a time period thoroughly. That is what makes us similar to an elementary classroom with a focused teacher and what makes us very different from most highschools. We, in general, keep everyone on the same time period. Some times it takes us a VERY long time to finish a time period.
So how do we approach history?
We do it chronologically. I tend to do a 4-5 year cycle with the kids. In the past, when we reached the 1900's we stopped and went back to Ancient History. As I have read more and learned more, I have done things a little differently. My youngest children begin with U.S. History at it's beginning. This includes the tall tales of Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.
I continue to use the philosophy of CM in which a child gets one reading, offers a narration of some kind as their response and try to link personal lives to the children so they can learn "mind to mind". Our read alouds are engaging (living books). I read short snippets. For the youngest child that might be a paragraph. A reading for the olders could be a page or their own personal readings for 15-20 minutes. Our focused learning lasts about 20 minutes before we begin to study another concept or person.
We know that young people are enormously interested in the subject and give concentrated attention if we give them the right books. (Vol 6)
So what books to choose for history? There is too much to choose from in my humble opinion! I tend to look at the library and used book sales for stories set into the time period we are studying. There are always going to be gaps in what they know.
But thankfully, I don't have to teach my children everything about everything!
I want to give them a good understanding of World History with a Catholic perspective and let them find those things that interest them to pull them into deeper learning the rest of their lives.
So practically what does it look like?
In the past I loosely used Story of the World as a guide. It's to be used as a 4 year cycle. I used it over about six years. We go very slowly so that they can spend lots of time with the people we discover. I read aloud to everyone some history book. They are short pages and we do narration together. The older children also have other historical book (usually a biography) and they complete other kinds of narration for me. (written, lego, acting out, etc)
Form IB- Simple biographies by D'audlaire are read aloud such as Lief the Lucky, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, etc. Also a book of some tall tales of American History
Form IA- Genvieve Foster biographies (George Washingtons World, Abrahams Lincolns World)
Form II-Iris Noble biographies, Autobiographies. This is the year that I add another stream of History-UK History. Our Island Story has been the best fit for us.
Form III-
Form IV-
Form V and VI-
How do we approach Literature?
Liberally! I have lists of books that the children are free to read on their own. I request books for them from the library each week as well as let them wander the shelves. Children that are old enough to keep a century book (age 10+) are also required to keep a book log. This allows the child and I to see trends of what they are choosing for their own as well as regulate the number of difficult books vs. simple books they are reading. My oldest daughter started keeping her log through a digital source.
Because of my belief in this philosophy, I choose many biographies for my kids to read as their literature sources. It's that science of persons/relations that makes the most sense to me. They begin to develop a real relationship with the persons they encounter in the books.
I keep liberal lists of "free reading" for them. This means we select carefully at the library as well as what I "strew around" at home. They do read easy picture books for fun when they are in the middle school years, but I've usually chosen those books as the read alouds for the younger kids.
We use a family approach to Art and Music!
Some of the artists we have studied include Mary Cassatt, Picasso, Audubon, Ansel Adams, Grandma Moses, M.C. Escher, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Matisse, Chagall. How do we choose which artists to study? Two ways. I consider what works are coming to our local museum. If appropriate, we study it at home to prepare for a visit at the end of our study. I also consider the time period we are studying in history and try to pick an artist that would stimulate a deeper love.
Art Study is followed by choosing an art appreciation with the works as it's goal. It's not about copying or creating great artists per say. Six pieces of work are chosen from one artist. I frame and hang one piece up for a week.
The first day we will take 2-3 minutes to look at the piece of work in silence. We cover the piece and narrate about what we saw. This allows each child to give their impression of the work and to link it to what they already know from their previous years of studies. This same piece of work is hung in the dining room for the rest of the week so that the children can come in contact it again and again. Each week a new piece is offered as well as a snippet (or a longer biography is read) about the artist. (Some artists really allow us to learn much about virtue/vice!) This takes about 20 minutes once a week.
Here is a reflection of art study in the homeschool from a couple years ago.
Music is approached the same way. I consider the time period we are working through. Find an artist that might be focused on in our community either through a simple concert or an orchestra. We find several pieces to listen to over a six week period. We read aloud a little about the composers life or the style of music. Then we narrate each time we listen. If it's a kind of musical work that we haven't studied in the past, we might research a little about what style of music or name it was given and why. This takes about 20 minutes once a week. I also play the music in the background while we are eating a meal or doing our "acts of service".
My children also do private lessons individually. This allows them to have some personal experience with an instrument vs. only ear knowledge. We have piano, woodwinds and strings currently in this house.
I do take advantage of local bands and orchestras for my children to join when they show an interest and have the responsibility to practice extra works on their own. After a time of personal practice, my oldest has initiated playing strings with friends. They work towards offering their service of string quartet music at local gatherings.
{quotes from the Charlotte Masons series as always are in italics}
I will cover Citizenship (Economics), Composition, Spelling, and Foreign Languages in Part 2.