Episode 271: Trusting the Method with Melanie Verlage

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.

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The Body, Bill Bryson

Episode 269: Voices from the Conference with Jono Kiser

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Episode 270: Can We Make Children Care?

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.

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“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

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Black Friday-Cyber Monday SALE

All of the digital products in our Teacher Tools categories will be on sale for 20% off from Friday, November 24 through midnight (EST) on Monday, November 27.

Use code “Thanks20” to apply the discount to any product in these categories:

Teacher Helps: Planning
(Curriculum Templates, Exam Planner, Schedule Cards, etc.)

Teacher Helps: Forecasting
(Bible Lesson Breakdowns, Composition Planner, etc.)

Teacher Helps: Lessons
(Grammar Lessons, Reading Lessons, Geography Map Questions, etc.)

Teacher Training Videos: Workshops
(Nature Study, Science, Will Training, Forecasting, History, Living Books, and so many more.)

Teacher Training Videos: Demonstration Lessons
(Handicrafts, Reading, Math, Shakespeare, Music, Nature Journal, Geography, and Handwriting Lessons)

Conference Packages
(Exclusive Conference Quality videos designed to be shared with regional groups; personal Q&A excluded from discount)

In addition, we are excited to be partnering again this year with several other Charlotte Mason mamas who own online shops. Check out the great offerings from each of the following shops!

Afterthoughts Blog – Brandy Vencel’s shop has study guides, audio downloads, Swedish Drill books, event downloads and beginning Phonics lessons. Everything in this shop is 20%!

A Humble Place – A Humble Place offers Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aids and art prints, a gentle kindergarten curriculum, seasonal art devotions and prints, and other homeschooling items. From 11/24 to 11/27, you can get 30% off all Picture Study Aid PDFs, and many printable quote design PDFs are just $0.99! No coupon code is necessary.

Beauty & Truth Math – Math guides using Charlotte Mason’s method provide parents and students support alongside mathematically rich textbooks. Visit our website to learn more and see our Black Friday deals.

Charlotte Mason Simple Languages– These foreign language programs help families learn modern languages together through children’s folk songs, poems, conversational family phrases, Gouin series, and more. Save 50% off site-wide (for a limited time).

Composer Study Companion– Each study includes an easy to read biography of the composer’s life and 6 listening examples with activities and extension ideas. 50% off all products in my Gumroad store! Be sure to also check out the free Christmas Around the World unit study for free! Use coupon code “CM2023” to get the discounts!

Jeannie Fulbright Press, curriculum and tools to enrich your Charlotte Mason education. Offering peaceful, purposeful, and prestigious products to transform your homeschool: from the Charlotte Mason Heirloom Planner and Language Arts in Poetry to Culture & Craft Enrichment curriculum and our hardcover, visual Book of Centuries Timeline. BOGO for one day only: 11/24 Black Friday. And to get an exclusive 20% discount on all products from 11/24 to 11/27, use the discount code: THANKFUL

Nature Study Hacking– Combining Nature Study lessons with Nature Journal prompts these books to help beginners learn how to use a nature journal AND study nature regularly through first hand observation. Save 25% off site-wide from Thanksgiving Monday-Cyber Monday. Use the code: THANKFUL

Sabbath Mood Homeschool – offers a Charlotte Mason-style science curriculum from elementary through high school, as well as Special Study help, living science and nature study book lists, and a series of articles sharing how to do science Charlotte Mason’s way. Use the coupon code “20in2023” to get a 20% discount from 11/24 to 11/27.

Tillberry Table– Sweet and simple Charlotte Mason-based guides designed for a full term’s worth of Composer Study. Each of the 17 grab-and-go guides contains a short bio, song info, links, and QR codes to all the music. All guides are 25% off from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

Episode 269: Voices from the Conference: Jono Kiser on Dangerous Books

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.

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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

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Episode 268: Recitation Tactics

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, through both the “Mechanical” and the “Sentimental” Branches.

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