Episode #20 | The One Room Schoolhouse and Family-Style Learning with Donna Goff One-room schoolhouses are extinct, but it’s not because they were ineffective. On the contrary, one-room schoolhouses were ...
This park is unique in that it is the only national park that is mostly underwater! It must be explored by boat or by snorkeling. You can pay for a ...
Early on in our marriage my husband and I decided that we wanted to prioritize traveling our own country before traveling internationally. We want our children to develop an intimate ...
In December 2021 my husband and I surprised our boys with an early Christmas gift: a weeklong trip to Florida, to visit Everglades National Park. We wrapped a suitcase filled ...
Episode #19 | Education is an Atmosphere (Relationship with the World) “When we say that ‘education is an atmosphere,’ we do not mean that a child should be isolated in ...
Episode #18 | Video Games and Play with Dr. Peter Gray This is part two of my conversation with Dr Peter Gray. In this episode we discuss what play is, ...
Episode #17 | Real Life Learning with Dr. Peter Gray (Part 1) Charlotte Mason said that “When we say that ‘education is an atmosphere,’ we do not mean that a ...
Episode #16 | Education is an Atmosphere (Relationships with People) Charlotte Mason famously stated that parents and teachers have three instruments available to educate children: atmosphere, discipline, and life. What ...
This post is a compilation of what I’ve learned from planning my family’s education over the past six years, plus my time as a homeschool student myself. It’s a simple, ...
Episode #14 | Punished by Rewards with Alfie Kohn Charlotte Mason advised that we shouldn’t use external motivators to make children learn. She said “, prizes, places, rewards, punishments, praise, ...
Episode #13 | Rewards, Praise, and Punishment We can’t discuss the big idea of authority without addressing rewards and punishments. Do they actually contribute to our goal of developing moral, ...
Episode #12 | Authority and Docility In the last three episodes, I discussed the big ideas of attachment– what it is, why it’s important, and how we can nurture a ...
My family just spent the past year studying this time period in American History, and I want to share our favorite books we read this year, as well as a ...
Let’s discuss some ways parents treat (or don’t treat) their children like people. And for this article I’m going to shift gears to a more spiritual source. To the man ...
Charlotte Mason’s first principle seems so simple and obvious — of course I know my child is a person! But knowing your child is a human is different from seeing ...
All of us contributing to Simple Wonders have been introduced to Charlotte Mason and her philosophy at different points in our lives, but one thing is common among us all: ...
You’ve heard all the wonderful things about a Charlotte Mason education, but have no idea where to start. Her six volumes on education are intimidating, and yo You’ll learn the ...
Episode #14 | Punished by Rewards w/ Alfie Kohn [description] Episode Links
Episode #15 | The Ideal Parenting Style I’ve spent the last couple months talking about the two foundational elements of parenting: love and authority. These elements may also be known ...
Episode #11 | Creating an Atmosphere of Love and Learning As I’ve studied attachment and love, I’ve wondered how they affect children’s learning. So I asked Dr. Russell Osguthorpe, an ...
Episode #9 | Love + Attachment (part 2) “Let your children feel and see and be quite sure that you love them…. dear mother, take your big schoolgirl in your ...
Episode #9 | Love + Attachment (part 1) Why is it so difficult to teach my own children? It feels like my child is emotionally distant. How can I repair ...
Episode #8 | Freedom Within Boundaries Although I’ve been studying Mason’s philosophy of education for a few years now I still had some unanswered questions about her first principle. I ...
Episode #7 | Children Are Born Persons It’s important to understand principles, to have a framework, before we move on to applying Mason’s methods. So for the rest of the ...
Episode #6 | Teaching Children of All Abilities w/ Julie Christensen My child has a learning disability. Can I still apply Charlotte Mason’s methods? I’m feeling like my child needs ...
Episode #5 | The Connection Between Reading and Thinking We all want our children to receive a high-quality education – one that builds knowledge and teaches them how to think. ...
“Children Narrate by Nature.––Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any ...
The mind can know nothing save what it can produce in the form of an answer to a question put to the mind by itself.” Charlotte Mason. Philosophy of Education, ...
How to Use Questions in Daily Lessons Before reading how to use questions in daily lessons, you need to understand the why — read my previous post “Questions” before continuing. ...
Children Should Learn From Real Things “We older people, partly because of our mature intellect, partly because of our defective education, get most of our knowledge through the medium of ...
A Charlotte Mason Education is heavily based on books. She boldly declared that “…no education seems to be worth the name which has not made children at home in the ...
Episode #4 | Self-Education What makes Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and methods different from others? How do we nurture a love of learning in our children? What should parents look for ...
Christmas time can be a complicated time for mommas, especially if you’re trying to live a minimalist, intentional lifestyle. So what can we give a generation of children who has ...
Episode #3 | Mothers Work Wonders Families, especially mothers, are devalued in our society. We’re told mothers are replaceable, that we need to modernize motherhood; but all the science says ...
The relationship between mother and child is the most fascinating and beautiful of all human relationships. It’s inspired poets, artists, and authors since the beginning of time. For nine months ...
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing, behold, there will I ...
“We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child’s sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of ...
Songs can be some of the best tools for helping your homeschool day go more smoothly. Do your children struggle with transitions? Let a song be your cue to switch ...
Learning by Heart Learning by heart is also known as “recitation” in Charlotte Mason’s method. Recitation is more than memorizing: memorizing is committing information to memory, but not necessarily comprehending ...
“The knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and therefore their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.” Charlotte Mason How Firm a Foundation There is a difference between ...
Episode #2 | Home-Centered Learning What makes the home an ideal learning environment? What does a home-centered education look like? Why was public education started and why were orphanages shut ...
