Summer Vacation...with a Charlotte Mason Flair!

Year round homeschooling.

What image does that phrase invoke for you?   Perhaps a negative one...a not so glorious summer spent with your children sitting at the kitchen table reluctantly toiling over workbooks and textbooks for several hours a days while all their friends and the neighbor kids play outdoors, go biking and swimming and just hang out.



No thanks, you say.  Not interested in that at all whatsoever.

Sure, it would be nice to have a little extra flexibility throughout the traditional school year.  Start a little later and enjoy the rest of the summer season.  Take a little bit more time off around the holidays. Longer breaks just because.  More freedom. More flexibility. More time to breathe. Time to simply be.

But then there's the reality of it all...after the busy school year, you really need to just be done.

Well, you can have your summer vacation AND homeschool year round too.  Just shift your perspective and revamp your summer vacation with a little Charlotte Mason flair!

Choose some interesting whole and living books to read aloud (at bedtime, tea time, or during lunch) or listen to an audio book on your car rides.  Pick from those beloved books and stories that you remember from your childhood that gave you the warm fuzzies or find something new to explore together. Snuggle up on the couch for a bit on a hot afternoon or sprawl outside on the grass or picnic blanket and lose yourselves for a while in another world.

Start a weekly tea time tradition with your children.  Enjoy some sweet tea or ice cold lemonade. Have a variety of yummy snacks available - perhaps even take the time beforehand to make something special together.  Then grab a good book and enjoy coming together and reconnecting while you eat, drink and read.  What better time to enjoy reading some of those living books!

Engage in Charlotte Mason's practice of narration...informally known as the "art of talking".   Listen to your children and what they have to say.  What was their favorite part in the book you're reading or the movie you just watched?  Share yours!  What exactly should you do with all those tree frog tadpoles rescued from your pool's cover?   Which is better to use to build your house in Minecraft...wood or cobblestone?  Why?Narration need not be formal to be effective.  In fact, I would argue it's far *more* effective when it flows out naturally from simply living interesting, involved lives together.  Wonder, question, ponder, discuss!

Venture out on some nature walks with friends and start a family nature study project.  Plant a butterfly garden, go frogging on a rainy night, grow some giant sunflowers, raise a few caterpillars or tadpoles, start a baby snail nursery or toad habitat.  Live with your project over the whole season.  Explore, observe, connect, discover...get messy.

And certainly don't forget all those real life, hands on experiences. Trips & travel, summer camps, fairs & festivals, museums, re-enactments.  Do something new together.  Try something out.  Go someplace different. Make your children's world just a little bit bigger.

Homeschooling year round with the Charlotte Mason method can be just as flexible as you need it to be.  It's not about a particular curriculum or "doing school".  It doesn't have to start in August and end in May and there are no required hours or subjects. Instead, the focus is on your children and on providing a wide variety of meaningful, real-life learning experiences. It's about emphasizing connections and relationships and exposing them to new and interesting people, places and ideas.  And the reality of this approach is that whether this learning takes place during the official school year or during summer vacation, every second of it counts as "school".

So go ahead! The summer season is a perfect time to implement some of Charlotte Mason's lovely ideas into your family's learning lifestyle.  Enjoy your summer vacation...with a Charlotte Mason flair. :)

Also published in:

Homeschool.com - The Summer Fun Issue

If You Give a Boy a Video Game: Learning to Spell

I don't consider spelling to be a "subject" so much.  At least not all sad and lonely, isolated by its poor little self.

Instead I consider learning to spell to be a naturally integrated part of reading and writing.  As children grow in their skills as young readers and writers, their spelling skills grow as well.  Now, this process may take more time and may not be nearly as flashy looking as it is for those kids using a formal program - consistently over many years from a very young age - but it is far more organic.  There is connection and meaning and purpose in natural learning that is often lacking in other approaches.  And I've got to tell you, it is a glorious thing to witness.

Over the years my children have done lapbooks and notebooks, kept journals (personal and shared), done freewriting, copywork from favorite books, letters, notes, cards, emails, and lots of messaging with friends and family.  At a couple different points in time, my two older girls (now 15 and 13) have requested spelling programs and for a short season or two have somewhat consistently worked their way through them.  But honestly, that's not when they feel that they've experienced the most growth.   Real, purposeful writing driven by interest, purpose and need, combined with an abundance of time has generally been just right.

They read. They write. They ask questions. I answer. They grow.

My youngest (9) has at various times also enjoyed making lapbooks, keeping a journal and writing notes and cards to friends and family.  Sometimes.  Not a lot though.

He is just now this year making huge leaps and bounds in becoming a fluent reader, and in this process has been noticing many patterns and spelling quirks in various words that he comes across.  But writing in general and learning to spell things on his own has not been a big focus for him.

Until about a month ago...

The catalyst? The game changer?  Video games.

If you give a boy a video game, he'll build towns, and cities and entire worlds.  He'll make houses, castles, gardens, lava pits, barns and beautiful sky walks made entirely from glass.

And as he's building, he'll want to make signs to label everything, everywhere.

So he'll ask questions - lots of questions. All.The.Time. And then he'll label everything, everywhere.

If you give a boy a video game, he'll want to look up and watch some videos on how others build things, beat certain levels, make it past checkpoints, create portals.  And when he finds some he thinks are awesome, he'll want to comment and tell the other kid just how great their video was, how much it helped him.

If you give a boy a video game, he'll soon find that there are like minded friends to play online with.  And he'll want to to know how to message them.

And again, he'll ask more questions - lots of questions.  So many questions.  All.The.Time.

The little voice is constant.  "How do you spell...(fill in the blank)?" -and-  "Is this how you spell...(fill in the blank)?" -and- "Is this right?"

I find scraps of paper everywhere with names and lists and ideas written on them. The two of us make up lists of words he uses and doesn't want to have to keep asking me for help on. We talk about patterns and the quirky way things are sometimes spelled. He wonders about "silent" letters and certain combinations and questions who came up with all this spelling stuff - who decided how everything should be spelled. We talk and we look things up and sometimes we just shake our heads in amusement at how some things just don't make sense. He continues to ask question after question after question.

And I see growth.

If you give a boy a video game, he'll play, create, conquer, discover, and make some new friends.

And chances are, if you give a boy a video game...somewhere along the way, he'll learn how to spell.

The Reality of How We Do Nature Study

Nature study.  For some, the phrase invokes lovely images of a mom and her brood of children walking together serenely through a field or woods, lingering perhaps to sketch a leaf here and a butterfly there, carefully collecting treasures for later and closer examination, with mom calmly offering necessary guidance and pointing out various points of interest.

Well, in theory, this is kind of what our family does.

In theory.  In practice, not quite so picturesque or calm and serene.

We muck about.  We tromp. We go off the path. We get lost.  (Always take the time to stop and get a map.  Just saying.)



I always bring along small paper bags, plastic ziplock baggies and a critter container for all the fascinating specimens discovered along the way on our nature walks.  But the reality is, that over the years it's been my pockets that end of getting stuffed with all the *treasures*.  Some are slimy.  Some leak.  Some are dead.  Some aren't. *shudder*  And for some reason I have yet to figure out, I always seem to be left carrying a very big stick.  Always.


We spend forever in one spot on our walks.  Not moving forward. Forever. So much to see, so much to discover - but we're easily distracted from the well trodden path.  A mucky pond area, a fallen tree, a dried up creek bed full of water snails...they beckon and invite.  So we stay.

There's no plan.  No lesson.  No carefully coordinated and themed notebooking pages.

What we do is messy.  It's dirty.  It's chaotic.  And in case I didn't mention it before, so much fun!

This approach to nature study is *us*.   It fits.  And I personally find it's where the true magic and wonder happens.  Off the path - in the muck and bramble (and poison ivy) - there are unusual discoveries to be found, interesting adventures to be had...and by far, the best memories are made.

It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents of all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in.  Let them once get in touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life.  We were all meant to be naturalists, each to his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things. - Charlotte Mason

Off the Path

An Unexpected Guest: Hummingbird in the House

As a nature loving family, the kids and I are always on the look-out for critters in need of roadside assistance in our daily travels.  Caterpillars, turtles, praying mantises, frogs, toads...you name it, we stop to lend a helping hand if at all possible (and safe to do so).

This past week we were surprised to pass what looked like a hummingbird slowly hopping across one of our back country roads.  I stopped the van and backed up to take a closer look.  Yep, definitely a little hummingbird.  On closer inspection, she appeared to have no injuries and everything looked as it should, but she could not fly.  Thinking the poor thing must have been nicked by a passing vehicle and gotten her marbles shaken up a bit, we took her home. Ideally, we were hoping she simply needed peace and quiet, something to eat and a little bit of time to get her wings back - then she'd be on her way.

Well, things didn't go quite so ideally.  I did some research on what specific needs our unexpected guest had...which turned out went beyond needing nectar alone.  Hummingbirds also need protein.  If they go without it for more than 4 hours or so you run the risk of potentially crippling the tiny birds.

So this meant we needed bugs.  Teeny tiny, itty bitty bugs.  Lots of teeny tiny, itty bitty bugs.  Hmmm....this was not something we were likely to be very successful at.  This called for more research - which led me to this online site:  How to Rescue a Hummingbird.   It was there and on a few other sites, as well as some books we fetched from our local library, that suggested combining home-made nectar (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) with hard boiled egg yolk and crushed up insects (yum).

The oh-so-appetizing
 concoction of
homemade nectar,
hard-boiled egg yolk
and freeze dried bloodworms.
Just shake and serve. 

Having just spent most of the summer raising a couple hundred tree frog tadpoles (a whole other adventure) we happened to have on hand some freeze dried bloodworms (high in protein).  So we mixed these in with the egg yolk and sugar water and shook up a delicious evening cocktail for our little visitor. She seemed impressed with our culinary skills.

The next morning I fully expected she would be ready to take off.  No such luck.  Her wings seem to work fine - she flutters, she flaps, but she doesn't fly.  So now we shifted our focus and wondered if she was not an injured adult but instead a late fledgling - a juvenile that had not yet learned to fly and somehow ended up where she should not have been.  Well, this put a whole new spin on the situation.

Hummingbirds are migratory birds, they head south to warmer weather where the flowers and insects are still abundant.   If this little guest of ours was a non-flying juvenile, would she be able fly soon enough and well enough to make the long journey?  A journey in which her food sources might be few and far between?  This complicated things. Over the next couple days I continued my research and the kids and I continued to make little Pippin (a hobbit name that seemed fitting for either a girl or boy hummingbird - though our friend would appear to be a female) feel as welcome and content as we possibly could.  

Exploring
on our
family nature walk.

With our busy schedule, this included tagging along with us on a family nature walk, hanging out at a craft show that my 12 year old daughter shared a booth at, and attending our Sunday morning church service and following potluck dinner. We took her for walks outside in the sunshine, helped her exercise and strengthen her little wings, provided her with drinks from the flowers we still had blooming in our yard (and a variety we came across on our nature walk), and told her constantly what a beautiful little creature she was and how she was destined to be a fabulous flyer.  A little self esteem boost never hurt anyone.

Hanging out with Zach.

Later this week, our unexpected guest will be settled into her new home.  Through our state DNR website, I contacted a local songbird/migratory bird rehabilitator and she will be taking Pippin in.  This wonderful lady will work with her on learning to fly and will even care for her through the winter months so she doesn't have to risk braving the elements as a novice flyer on her first flight south. Then in the spring, she'll release Pippin back into nature.

The kids and I have been blessed to share this little snippet of time with Pippin and I admit that I will miss our quirky little friend.  But I am also confident and reassured that she will be in good hands...and conveniently, only about 10 minutes away.

Pippin enjoying some time
outdoors - hanging out on our marigolds.

Pippin's temporary home - an old basket with a
tiny wooden skewer for a perch.

The detail and color of her feathers is simply gorgeous.

Back to (Un)School!

"When are you guys starting school?"   This has been the question of the past month.  It's on everyone's minds and on the tips of their tongues.  It's what everyone wants to know. It seems to be the question that every homeschooler weaves into every conversation with another homeschooler and it's blazing all over Facebook and other social media sites.

So...when do we start school??  

If only there was a simple answer to that question for us.  Like August 14th or August 26th or September 3rd.  But as unschoolers, the truth of the matter is that my answer to this question isn't really all that quick and easy to give.  Simple?  To us, yes.  It's delightfully simple.  But for folks wanting a quick and easy answer (a date)...it's a bit more complex.  

To say we never stop or we learn all year round might give the impression to most that we "do school" all.year.long.  Ugh.  Not at all what I wish to convey.

To say we NEVER EVER start school gives a whole different negative impression.  Technically, it's true.  We never "start school".  We don't "do school".  Nope. Not our focus at all.  But we do learn.  Goodness, do we learn!  We joyfully pursue interests and passions, work on individual skills and projects, go to interesting places and meet up with awesome people, and focus on setting and achieving personal goals.

Our goofy attempts at a "Back-To-(Un)School" pic.

The answer I tend to give is that as fall approaches, our routine begins to shift.  Everyone else goes back to school (most homeschoolers included). Our homeschool co-op  and art class starts back up sometime in mid-September.  The tea set gets dusted off, new family read alouds are chosen and goals for the coming year are discussed as we go along our merry way.  

Honestly, by the time September is here, we all start getting restless for a little shift in the routine. Summer is full of friends and sports camps and swimming and nature study and the beach and family vacations.  Coming into fall, basketball and hockey season feels dangerously imminent.  And I have to say that while these sports are two of our children's chosen passions and we LOVE THEM wholeheartedly (borderline obsessively), they do bring about a temporary end to life as we know it.  So after the mix of wildly hectic and much needed lazy days of summer -and- before sports become the epicenter of our lives, we feel a strong pull for something *different*.  A bit of a different rhythm.  A tad different routine.  Not much different.  Just a tiny bit.  Just enough.

You may ask, "if you don't *do school*, what exactly do you do?".

Short answer:  We follow our interests and pursue our goals. 

Longer, more rambling answer:

For my 9 year old son, plans would include but not in any way be limited to - having me read aloud to him, watching lots of documentaries, playing video games (!), reading on his own (with a bit of help from time to time), learning to type and being able to spell some things without having to ask me or his dad all the time (not surprisingly, related to video game interest), playing games more often (Apples to Apples, Sequence Numbers, Bugopoly, Rummikub, Uno and the like), going to some more military battle/war re-enactments, having a regular tea time complete with yummy snacks and the aforementioned read alouds, learning to cook and bake (like his father does so well), riding his bike, doing some awesome experiments (time to open up the crystal growing kit), learning more about electricity, earth science, astronomy, military history, tanks, battles, wars, weapons, tornadoes, hurricanes, the Titanic and other shipwrecks and disasters, playing with friends, going to a natural history or other science museum, working on his handwriting (in his mind this is tied into the tea and yummy snack time), working on his drawing skills and possibly exploring cursive.  I'm sure there's about a gazillion things I've left out! 

My 12 (almost 13!) year old daughter will continue with her passion for nature study - drawing us all in as she goes. In addition to her nature explorations, she'll spend the majority of her time cooking, baking, cake decorating and devoting herself to her current all-encompassing passion for crafting, jewelry design and researching and implementing related business ideas...from the moment she wakes up till the moment she passes out at night.  It has been my experience that not many 12 year old girls express a need to have their own personal drill and solder gun! This middle child of mine is also curious about the Life of Fred math books so we'll be checking that out to see if it's a good fit for her pattern loving brain. :)

My oldest daughter has plans to pursue her interest in photography, devote a good portion of her time to fitness and nutrition in preparation for basketball season (basketball is her all-consuming passion), spend as much time as possible with her friends and listening to her beloved music, continue reading books of her choosing as well as some that I suggest (book selections that we read, share and discuss together), getting her learner's permit as soon as it is feasibly possible and filling out job applications in her quest for flexible employment (the "need" for funds has recently become highly important). She also has a couple of more traditional looking academic goals she'll be working on in a very relaxed and unschoolish fashion including algebra (insert a tiny shudder from me) and a living books based unit study on biology (about which the Charlotte Mason method groupie in me is super excited about).

Rounding out their learning, both girls also lend a helping hand with family projects, join in for our family read alouds, watch a variety of documentaries and enjoy our nature walks and trips to museums.

Another component that is crucial to this lifestyle of learning is my involvement.  I facilitate, expose, encourage, share, chauffeur, assist, involve and invite.  We've all found genuine enthusiasm to be wonderfully contagious...both theirs and mine.  And so we share our lives, our interests, our gifts, our skills and our passions.  We laugh together, discuss & debate anything and everything under the sun, wonder, ponder and ask lots of questions, seek answers, argue, fight & generally annoy one another, apologize, offer support, and overall delight in each other's company.

And there ya have it.  Our back to (un)school plans.  What we do. Shifting with the seasons, we continue to learn.  We live our lives, follow our interests and pursue our goals...without school. 

Back-To-(Un)School!

Making Learning Fun: Circus Ponies and Clown Cars?

I've seen a good number of homeschoolers concerned about and devoting an awful lot of time and energy to making school "fun".  In the attempt to engage their young learners and hold their interest and attention (on the curriculum's required topics and subject matter), well-intentioned moms proceed to pull out everything but the circus ponies and clown cars!  The more they give, the more that is expected.  Every day, every week, they strive to find a way to one-up themselves.

And these moms are tired.

Comic from homeschool dad, Todd Wilson.

When I read how much work some homeschoolers do in the name of "making learning fun",  I'll be honest...it makes ME feel EXHAUSTED.  And I'm not even there hanging out in their personal three-ring circus.

Don't get me wrong, I spend an inordinate amount of time facilitating my children's interests and passions. Military re-enactments & museums, craft stores, shows & shindigs, researching questions, ponderings, curiosities & video game walk-throughs, reading aloud together, new games, projects & experiments, nature walks & related projects, basketball and hockey practices, games & camps, and an abundance of get-togethers with friends who share in similar interests.  Obviously, somebody has to seek out and be on the look out for these opportunities and experiences. Somebody has to get them there.  Somebody has to pay for the stuff.

And that somebody is me. :)

But I don't focus on making these things fun.  More than that, I am absolutely 100% philosophically opposed to making learning fun.



When learning is real and meaningful, when it has a purpose, when it stems from a child's interests, goals and needs...none of that hoopla is necessary.

Because here's the thing - learning IS fun.  All by itself. On it's own. You don't need to turn it into a three-ring circus.  No bells or whistles.  No circus ponies or clown cars. It.Just.Is.


Instead, take the focus away from trying to *make* something fun and shift it over to your children.  What are they interested in?  What excites them and lights up their eyes?  What topic, subject, project or experience do they not stop talking about, EVER??

Feed these interests. Support their gifts and goals. Facilitate, encourage, and involve. Live together.  Laugh together. Share yourself and your own interests, passions and skills.  Make your children's world just a little bit bigger every week.

And sometime maybe, take a trip to a real circus to see the ponies and clowns...just for fun.