I was very blessed to be able to spend 3 days in Hattiesburg, Mississippi with an amazing group of women who are all dedicated to learning more about Charlotte Mason and studying her words.  The retreat was absolutely a blessing in so many ways.  I don't think that I realized just how much I needed to be reminded of the love of our Creator until I went to this retreat.  I learned a ton from amazing speakers such as Emily Kiser, Liz Cottrill, Nicole Williams, Art Middlekauff, and Richele Baburina.

Here are a few narrations from my lessons and plenary sessions.  I will not be sharing all of my notes as to protect the copyright of their respected speakers.

"God, himself, is the supreme educator of mankind?

All subjects are inspired by God himself.  All learning, whether secular or spiritual comes from God himself through the Holy Spirit.  He has bestowed knowledge to all individuals and a love of learning to all.  God is a relational God; he yearns for a relationship with his creation.  He doth instruct us and doth teach us.  As Miss Mason states in VOL 2 p 274 "Our cooperation appears to be indispensable condition of all the divine workings." Every idea is a direct representation of the Holy Spirit [paraphrase] (Vol2 p 270-271).

To prove this point, look to Exodus.  The very first person to be filled with the Holy Spirit was the artist who was commissioned to build the lampstands, ark of the convent, etc... this just proves that there are no secular subjects.  ALL knowledge comes from God.  We are not the showmen of the universe, HE is.  He deserves all Glory and all recognition.

God gave mothers an amazing commission.  We are to teach and instruct our children in his love and in his wisdom.

Unfortunately, there is not much that I can share in regards to this breakout session.  For more information on scheduling your day (morning & evening) PLEASE go to the Sabbath Mood Homeschool website and let Nicole help you.  Her scheduling resources are amazing.

Why do children need to learn? 
" [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [4] In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:1-5) All truth comes from God himself.  Children need to learn so that they may know God and grow closer to him. "Literature is a fertile seedbed of ideas.  What we read becomes who we are." Liz Cottrill. Our children must read in order to know. They must read in order to have faith in what is unseen.  They must learn so that they can trust God and follow him throughout their lives.

What should a child learn?
Children should learn the best that we can provide them.  Give them rich literature that is full of living ideas so that they may see the splendor of God himself. They need to learn to read for pleasure so that they may build the habit of reading for pleasure as they grow older.

How do we teach?
We teach by showing constant use until it is familiar.  We must trust the innate curiosity and ability of the child.  We must be purposeful and consecutive.  We need to cultivate an enthusiasm in each child for lifelong learning.

"...we must read to know the meaning to life..." [School Education, p 262-263] Charlotte Mason.   

The following is my narration of our afternoon nature study and nature walk with Nicole Williams.  Our assigned special study topic was moss.

For more information on the afternoon nature study notebook please see the ADE podcast entitled NOTEBOOKS & PAPERWORK PART 1. [EPISODE 111]

​RESOURCES TO USE FOR NATURE STUDY:
*The Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock
*John Muir Laws
*A Nature Study Guide by W.S. Furneaux
*Nature Study Guides by Sabbath Mood Homeschool

My Narration:
Friday, March 2, 2018

We went on a nature walk around the Parkway Heights Church.  On our walk we noticed at least 4 different types of mosses.  Some of the mosses were short and carpet like.  Other mosses were fern like.  One had tall, red stems that were the color of radish stems.  I learned that the stems are called setum.  We also saw live oak trees and the flowers were long and curly.  There looked to be an oak gall forming on one of the branches.  Azalea was in bloom and so was Bradford Pear.  I saw two different types of lyken and one was flat while the other looked like a little pom-pom.  The weather was warm and sunny though I did not have access to a thermometer to get the actual temperature. 

**I will be adding drawings of the Liken to my nature study notebook...

In the painting "The Striking Sunset" by Claude Monet you can see a red sun slowly sinking into the horizon on a rocky seaside in Normandy.  By using math, we are able to know that Claude Monet was in Normandy, painting that picture on February 5, 1883 at 4:55 pm.

Math is filled with BEAUTY & TRUTH.  It should teach us to wonder.  Math should be a perfect joy because "insights in mathematics come ultimately from God." (John Nickle).

The Bible is full of the evidence that God created math & that math shows and sustains his Glory. "[6]yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live." [1 Corinthians 8:6]
"[25] This is what the LORD says: 'If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, [26] then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant will not choose of of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them." [Jeremiah 33: 25-26]
"[8] But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.  [9] It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right." [Job 32:8-9]

...there are many more examples, but it is clear that God has created all that is true and right.  He has created all laws.  "Math is principles that God created and he sustains." {R. Baburina].  As such, as child should be allowed to think and should not be allowed to think that he is behind.  We meet each child where they are at and continue to move forward while showing the glory and love of God himself in the process.

Parents determine the atmosphere in our home.  Let God be the director of us so that he is the director of our atmosphere.

If you want to learn the method then you must evolve your brain.  Living ideas only become beneficial when you form them as habit.

You learn the method by focusing on one set of habits at a time.  You go broad then you go deep!
Have a partner in habit formation.  If you need your children to love learning then be the model for them.  Education is not something to do TO someone, it is something to do WITH someone. [Vol 5, 335].

​Listen to podcast #65 on A Delectable Education!

Geometry was once a week on Friday for 30 minutes starting in Form II.  Geometry is the art of measuring.   It comes from the root words Geo: The earth & Metron: To measure. The Egyptians were the first to measure area.  They used it for measuring boundaries starting at around 2900 BC. The book, "The Boy of the Nile" has some good historical information.

Students started with practical geometry in Form II and moved on to Proof Based Geometry in Form III.

In Volume 6 CM explains that she starts with the WAY OF THE WILL therefore Logic begins in High School. [Towards A Philosophy of Education, Chapter 9]

I will not include all of my notes to protect Richele's copyright for this immersion.  I will say, please take one of her classes if given the opportunity.  She has such a way with words and really knows how to show the glory of God through Mathematics. 

For this immersion we read "Coriolanus."  

Liz explained that it is helpful to read the play that you are studying in Plutarch.  It will help both subjects to come alive.

Make a list of characters and write down who is playing who.

Coriolanus was the last tragedy that Shakespeare ever wrote.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN...

"Both parents and children are unique souls created in the image of God." [Liz Cottrill]

Liz explains authority.  It exists whether we like it or not.  We are always living under authority, whether it be the authority of our parents, government, or God.  We are always under authority.  Anarchy would mean chaos.  Liz states that there is no tyrant worse than self.

No parent can escape the authority to rule.  It was given to us by God himself when he entrusted us with children. Being a parent is a HOLY calling and we are standing on holy ground.

[Psalm 23] speaks of God our FATHER.  He is a good father to us.  He loves us and cares for us. He doesn't do it because we deserve it, but because he loves us.

Our children are not our own.  They belong to God.  They look to us automatically to see what God expects of them. [Principle 4] states that the personality of the child shall not be encroached upon.  Children are little more than lost lambs who do not understand when they do wrong.  Therefore we must obey the command that Jesus gave to Peter when he said, "FEED MY LAMBS."

We must not sin against our children.  If we insight anger, will we teach them to seek God? 

Love is a powerful idea.  It grows not by what it gets, but by what it gives. 

​ 

Children must learn that they are not their own either.  Charlotte Mason says, "What can parents do? Just this, present the idea of God to the child."

For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!

Art Middlekauff writes at www.charlottemasonpoetry.com

Nicole Williams writes at www.sabbathmoodhomeschool.com

Emily Kiser & Liz Cottrill are part of A Delectable Education, along with Nicole Williams, and they can be found at www.adelectableeducation.com

Richele Baburina has math resources available through the curriculum page at www.simplycharlottemason.com
​
The retreat was hosted by Bridgett Cooley who writes at www.charlottemasonsoiree.com

Click here for a link to ADE episode #92 An interview with Bridgette Cooley


Leadership Training
Interview with Bridgett Cooley:

Bridgett starts out with her backstory and her journey to Charlotte Mason. At first she was not interested because thought it was “mamby-pamby.” She started school too early with first daughter. Found ADE through a rabbit trail and realized that what she had found before was wrong. She was encouraged and inspired to read the volumes for herself.

Bridgett had a group of friends that was a mother group. She started her local reading group in December and started “A Delectable Conversation” online in August. The goal was to read through the volumes together. The online group discussed the ADE podcast to narrate the episodes and learn and grow together. The name was changed to “Charlotte Mason Soirée.”

Liz talks about finding her local Charlotte Mason group during a season when she was planning 2 weddings at one time. It was there that Emily and Liz met Nicole. They went through the volumes together.

Bridgett went to a conference in Peoria and wanted to start the group to go through what she had brought back from the conference. They used a guide broken down weekly to go through volume 1. It was more than 30 pages monthly, but 30 pages would be better. Bridgett and Morgan are working on the study guides and a topical guide for the podcast episodes.

Liz recounts her experience of having a group and moving. Her group changed dynamic. They discuss when people don’t get through the assigned reading. Bridgett reads Charlottes own words regarding the importance of Mother Culture. We sacrifice some of our child’s education if we do not continue our own.

Morgan found in the archives suggestions to secretary branches to have reading circles. This was not just for homeschooling parents, but for working mothers and governesses as well. Educating, encouraging, and supporting parents was important to the success of the branch.

Morgan and Bridgett saw the need for reading groups, so they started a training course to help equip others in starting their groups. The groups need to be “just Charlotte Mason.” It is nothing added to and nothing taken away. There will be prerequisite and continuing education. The training isn’t long, it it is efficient. It takes preparation and training. At the end you have support and materials available.

It should take about an hour to go through the study guide lessons every month. The guides are 30 pages a month to leave time and space for a topical guide if wanted. It is a good way to learn the “why and how” to implement a CM education. Leave time for moms to ask questions or to talk about “thorny issues” and bring back to how Charlotte Mason would advise to handle the issues presented.

The leader is a facilitator. She can help to draw people back to the case and point of CM when we go off on rabbit trails. It is s purpose and s direction. The leader doesn’t have to have 20 years experience. They just have to be willing to lead others who are along on the same journey with them. The group is a oral narration. There is accountability and support in the CM soirée leaders group. The CE requirements is to read an article of the dispatch and listen to a podcast every month. It should take an hour or so every month. Info can be found on the soirée website.

ADE Episode 94: Special Studies (October 6, 2017)

Click here for a link to A Delectable Education Episode 94

Learning about Special Studies in the Natural History Lesson really hit home. We have done a terrible job at implementing afternoon occupations this year. This is our 2nd year homeschooling and our first year implementing the FULL Charlotte Mason method (including the riches). We used a different Online Charlotte Mason “book list” last year and we were just getting our feet wet.

Figuring out how to add in all of the afternoon occupations and making sure the boys, and myself, spend enough time out of doors has really been hard. Our Nature Notebooks are really bare right now.

Right now our “seasonal study” has been weeds and we are currently moving over to small mammals. I am not well versed in the local flora and fauna so this has been a huge learning experience for us all. I was one who easily missed the point when it comes to nature study. I am working on my own habits just as much as I am helping my sons develop their habits. The habit of close observation is something that I am sorely lacking in.

Learning about weeds was a bust :(. It is starting to get colder and the small animals are starting to move around more. We are hoping to have a better time learning about them and their habits. All of us have very under-developed habits of observation and it has been a struggle to train ourselves to do better.