Thursday, October 4, 2012

Mother Culture 2012-2013: A Charlotte Mason Support Group


Well Friends,

If you haven't been with us for long then you mightn't know that we host a bit of a virtual support group here Under the Maple Tree to compliment the real life support group that I also get to enjoy meeting here in my home.

Every year, the little group of us choose a book that we will read and discuss together.  In the past we have read some really great resources like For the Children’s Sake and A Charlotte Mason Companion.  Last year we went through the newest edition of Educating the WholeHearted Child.  Of course, from time to time, we also add in readings from Charlotte Mason’s own writings.

This year’s book is A Biblical Home Education by Dr. Ruth Beechick.

I’m sorry that I am posting this information after the fact as we have recently had our first meeting but if you’d like to join us for these gatherings either in person or virtually, I wanted to let you know the details and let you know that you are welcome.

As we did last year, I am going to try to post notes on the readings after each meeting.  I didn’t do very well at it last year even though so many of you responded with comments on the blog or by email.  I guess I can only do better this year.  And I am sure that I will improve since the ever so helpful Jacki Young, who has been faithfully be helping to lead our little group in my living room for the past year, has also now offered to take minutes of our meetings so that if you can’t be here because of scheduling conflicts or because of distance, you can still access the resources and ideas that we chatted about.  Thank you Jacki!

So, if you’d like to join us then, the meeting schedule and reading list is as follows:

September 20: Introduction and Chapter 1 (20 pages) Bible

November 1: Chapter 2 (18 pages) History

December 6: Chapter 3 (18 pages) Science

January 10: Chapter 4 (18 pages) Worldview

February 21: Chapter 11 (22 pages) Choosing Curriculum

April 4: Chapters 5 & 6 and Appendix (42 pages): Thinking Skills, Reading Skills, Cross-Dominance

May 9: Chapters 7 & 8 (35 pages) Study Skills, Writing Skills

June 13: Chapters 9 & 10 (27 pages) Grammar Skills, Early Education

I guess I have had it in my head that we are going to roughly read the book from front to back (in a manner that we don’t often). J Since there are more chapters than meetings we will be doing one chapter some meetings and two during others. We usually attach some sort of list of practical topics to the reading so that we have the chance to look at and share resources but I thought that, though Dr. Beechick’s is a fairly simplified list, we could just use her chapter topics for our practical discussions as well and try to embrace her philosophy a bit more fully.  That is, Dr. Beechick’s philosophy is that there really are just two topics that should encompass schooling: language arts skills and content, or learning to read and reading.  Given that the first four chapters are about the content and the next five are about language arts skills, I thought we should deal with the first chapters individually and the later ones in twos. Please note that we will read chapter 11 out of order since it is about choosing curriculum and some wise women thought it would be helpful to look at that just before we start going to conferences in the spring.

If you’d like to join us for the meetings in Bradford then here are the rest of the details about our little gatherings. You don’t need to be a die hard “CMer” to attend nor do you even have to have or read the book though it is our basis for discussion. You can come for one meeting or for all – there is no cost to join. Meetings are for parents only (and nursing babes, of course) and are held on Thursday evenings at my home in Bradford from 7:30 to 9:30. I have copies of the Beechick book available for $14 (as well as many other Charlotte Mason style resources) if you need them.  If you would like to attend, then please RSVP to me, Cori Dean, at 905-778-9412 or mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca, and I will send you my address and answer any other questions that you have.

Looking forward to meeting with many of you during this school year!

Blessings,

Cori

Maple Tree

No comments:

Post a Comment