Fall Term Reflections

 Sauder Village in Ohio

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall landscape! This time of year always brings out my contemplative side, and with having less extracurricular activities this homeschooling year, I have more time for reflection. I am very pleased with our simpler schedule for lessons, and I've been continuing to think about the theme of recent posts regarding using Charlotte Mason as a springboard, then proceeding to do things in your own way. 

I have been very inspired by my reading of CM's original homeschooling series. There is so much meat there to chew on! But it has always been my nature that, once I have mastered something to my own satisfaction, I need to move on to the next thing. Thanks to Charlotte Mason, I have learned a solid, natural, and delightful method of teaching and learning. It has worked beautifully in conjunction with my Catholic faith. 

But as I have previously written, I saw the wisdom in the classical notion of teaching less subjects and using less books. Loop and block scheduling have been just what I needed to fit in all of the liberal arts feast. Yet that broad and generous curriculum to which serious CM homeschoolers aspire was just too much, if you try to include every possible subject suggested by Miss Mason. I did not feel like I was teaching from rest. And often a subject would only be attended to once every two weeks. I wanted more consistency and to be able to focus more upon each subject. The answer was fewer subjects per term and books that can cover a "family" of subjects. 

For example, the reader from Seton that we are using, A Book of Gratitude, contains poetry, classic literature, and stories of saints. We can use it for narrations, copy work, and dictation. Poems can be memorized and recited. Truth, goodness, beauty, religion, and virtue can all be found in its pages. Historical fiction, such as Island of the Blue Dolphins, which my daughter recently finished reading, sets off several doves from one magic hat. (I thought that was better than the usual "kills two birds with one stone" saying!) If the historical novel is about a saint, you have literature, religion, history, and geography all contained. Some novels will also cover survival skills and natural science. You get the idea.

A particular article in Sarah Mackenzie's blog, "Amongst Lovely Things", kept beckoning me to reread it. She discusses how, in hindsight, she would not have spent so much time reading about and worrying over homeschooling philosophies and methods. At first I disagreed with her, because I felt that it was crucial to have an organized method to work from. I still believe this, but it's also important to observe and follow what works best for your individual children. This is more important than trying to follow the guidelines put down by educational experts and gurus. 

So where does that leave Charlotte Mason? I have to tell you that at times when I was reading her brilliant words, I wished very much that she was Catholic. If only the teaching and traditions of the Church were woven into the fabric of her philosophy, I would be completely happy. 

I went back to an article by Marianna Bartold at the Keeping It Catholic website about using a "living books through eyes of faith" homeschooling approach. She says that this idea is not new to Catholic education, but that Charlotte Mason homeschoolers have popularized it. While I do not believe, as Marianna does, that CM is chock full of heresy, there was one occasion in which I found an anti-Catholic sentiment being expressed. In other places certain influences of evolution theory and Socialism have thrown up little red flags. Some may also question CM's parenting advice. My conclusion has always been that faithful Catholics can take what is good from CM, which is based upon natural law, while keeping to the Church's teaching on education. 

The real problem for many home educators is that they simply don't have time to read CM's books, or even companion books by modern authors. There is too much to assimilate, and it is an overwhelming task to try to incorporate 15 to 20 subjects, especially all in one term. What most seem to need is a basic set of techniques and an understanding of what living books are and how to use them. Catholics also need those resources which will help them to design a curriculum permeated by the Faith. And we desperately need to follow Sarah's Mackenzie's advice in learning to teach from rest. 

So that is where I am right now. I have gleaned what I need from Charlotte Mason. Those key methods used--living books, copy work, narration, dictation, picture study, memory work, observational nature study, a book of centuries, and the like--are common to traditional education (by which I mean as regularly used in the early 20th century, and not only by Catholic schools). We do not need to "Catholicize" Charlotte Mason. Instead, we can design the curriculum using a combination of Catholic resources and living books, apply the traditional methods, simplify the schedule (using looping and/or blocking if they work for you), follow the practice of short lessons, and relax! 

For me at least, it's time to move beyond Charlotte Mason and focus instead on being the best Catholic homeschooler and mother that I can be. And for Catholic parenting advice, We and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland is unsurpassed! 

I have included all the titles in our current Lesson Basket. If you would like details about any of them or how they are used, please ask in the comments! By the way, I took written narration out of the language arts loop, because composition is included in the CHC grammar book. Also, letter writing is contained in Primary Language Lessons, and narrations are written into the nature notebook. 

Gymastics class turned out to be no longer an option, but physical education does not have to be formal. My child plays outdoors daily, year round. She climbs trees, walks her dogs, goes for walks in the neighborhood, uses her trampoline, rides her bike, builds snow men, dances with friends, and all that good stuff!

Daily Core: (open with Pure Faith: A Prayer Book for Teens)

- A Book of Gratitude reader, Seton (poetry, stories & saints)        

- Everything Kids' Learning Spanish Book

- Hamilton’s Arithmetic

- Piano practice

- The Baltimore Catechism (10 Commandments memory work)

- Storyteller (Giff, historical fiction)

Language Arts Loop:

- Emma Serl’s Primary Language Lessons

- Language of God grammar & composition workbook (Catholic  Heritage Curricula, Level C)
- Cursive writing (Seton Handwriting 3)

Extended Loop:

- The Rosary in Art(picture studies, Seton): Rosary prayers & New Testament mysteries (Holy Bible, 1952 Catholic Confraternity Edition)
- Bible History 6 for Young Catholics (Seton)

- Handbook of Nature Study (Anna Comstock, notebook narrations & illustrations)

- A Child’s Geography of the World (Hillyer) & Usborne Essential Atlas of the World

Weekly:

Piano lessons

Religious education class

If You're Going to Do a Job Half-Assed...

Allow me to explain the title. When I was in high school, my dad asked me to clean the kitchen, so I did. Except that after I had finished, he came into the kitchen and reminded me that he had told me to clean it. Confused about what he meant, he pointed out the specific things I had missed in my duty. Dad asked, "If you are going to do a job half-assed, why bother to do it at all?" 

Far from feeling criticized, this "philosophy of the half-assed" was forever emblazoned into my psyche. The image of the half-assed stirs the imagination! And it challenges one to take action, to make a decision, to commit and to persevere.

I have been thoroughly committed to homeschooling, and even more so since becoming Catholic. As a convert, I had to learn what it means to be a Catholic mother and home educator. Catholicism has radically changed my worldview, and it is the ribbon woven through every area of life. The Faith supplies a depth of meaning and a focus that was seriously lacking before, and when I allow it to be, it is a balm for my perennially restless spirit.

I'm not surprised, then, that I also experienced a sort of crisis in my homeschooling as a result of my conversion. I had been using a relaxed Charlotte Mason method prior to being Catholic, and though that seemed to work well, I was always on the lookout for new inspiration. As I have written about extensively, I was seduced by unschooling and its promises of joyful, "natural" learning, while feeling simultaneous revulsion to the dogma of radical unschooling.

Blogs, Facebook groups, and other online resources bear testament to the eclectic approach to homeschooling that seems to be increasingly prevalent. It's eerily similar to the "cafeteria Catholic" phenomenon. When you start picking and choosing which tenets of the Faith you will and will not subscribe to, the domino effect will obviously come into play. Unfortunately this is not apparent to many, and the very center of Catholic belief, the doctrine of the transubstantiation of the Eucharist, comes into question for some of these folks. 

I am not saying that being an eclectic homeschooler is anything so very dire as falling prey to the temptation of self-will that leads to cafeteria Catholicism, or that there is even anything inherently wrong with choosing an eclectic approach to teaching one's children. One of the things we relish as homeschoolers is the very freedom to be who we are as individuals and families, and to prioritize that which we most fervently value in life. The great challenge is to find what philosophies, methods, and resources will best help us to reach our goals. Wading through the enormous possibilities can be positively overwhelming, and the result can be something hodge-podge, unfocused, and, well...half-assed. 

Let me illustrate what I mean. Out of curiosity, I once belonged to a FB group of Christian Pagans, or Pagan Christians, as the emphasis would vary. That will make absolutely no sense to some of you, as you will recognize in this wording an oxymoron. Yet there is a compelling urge for many to design their own religion, to take what they like from various sources and be "free" to worship as they choose. Never mind that the elements in question simply don't go together and result in religious multiple personality disorder, if you will. On a side note, one of the moderators for the Christian Pagan group was staunchly anti-Catholic, though she wouldn't admit to having a bias, and she kicked me out of the group! I was evidently too Catholic. So much for "freedom" of religion, eh?

In a similar vein, I occasionally come across self-proclaimed pagans and other non-Christians wishing to learn how to do a secular Charlotte Mason method. Good people, there is no such animal! Clearly, Charlotte Mason's overriding philosophy is that Education is the handmaid of Religion, as she wrote in Volume 6 of her home education series. And just as clear is the fact that by religion she meant Christianity.

Now, this begs a question for Catholics, as Charlotte was Anglican. Should we even be attempting to "Catholicize" CM, or is it intrinsically heretical, as Mariana Bartold of Keeping It Catholic suggests? As I have written before on this topic, I have found none of the heresies, such as naturalism, modernism, and pantheism, that Bartold brings out in her arguments. Her real issue seems to be that  Charlotte Mason was Protestant. In adopting CM's philosophy and method, we must recognize the "Bible-only" nature of Charlotte's faith and make sure that Catholicism permeates our curriculum. We must be certain, regardless of the methods we use, that our Catholic Faith is the foundation upon which we build our homeschooling. I have found no compelling reason that the Christianity that Jesus himself established cannot be the cornerstone of a CM education. I see no way, on the other hand, that one could rightly establish a secular CM homeschool.

Certainly anyone can employ the tools of narration, copy work, and nature studies, for instance, regardless of religious affiliation or the lack thereof. But using those tools in and of themselves does not a CM education make. For that, one must read Charlotte's own words, critically evaluate and understand them, and realize what the aim is in its entirety. By all means, you can be inspired by Charlotte Mason without necessarily adopting the whole kit-and-caboodle, but... And now we come full circle.

If you are baking a cake, and you wish it to turn out as anticipated, you must precisely measure the ingredients and follow the recipe. If you are a reasonably accomplished baker, you may make substitutions to those ingredients that work quite nicely. You may even be able to improve upon the original recipe. We have resources today, and increasing awareness of child development, that Charlotte Mason couldn't even imagine. I think it would be extremely difficult to do CM in a completely "pure" way.  Because I have a Montessori teaching background, I have used what works for my child from that method along with CM. At one of the Montessori schools where I taught, unit studies and whole language methods were integrated. Similarly, because they are effective and my child likes them, we use some workbooks, which are not part of either method.

I have done my homework in both areas, and I continue to do it. I have a firmly established vision for my child's education and our family life, and everything I do works toward that. Charlotte Mason and unschooling, despite some perceived common ground, are like oil and water if you really understand the purpose of each. I've come to be certain that it's important to narrow the possibilities and to commit your homeschooling efforts in a particular direction. Harsh as this may sound, it isn't okay to just "wing it", regardless of what mothers in other groups may tell you. Do you imagine that the Blessed Mother was secretly thinking to herself, "I'll just wing it?"

I only speak of these things at all because I have been there. I have been confused, and mislead by well-meaning people, and I've been terribly scattered at times. I had a belly dance instructor once who said, "Know what you are doing, and then you can do whatever you want." Another teacher said that you can't create dance fusion until you have mastered those forms that you desire to fuse.

So what I am saying is, be careful what you put together. Make sure you know what the ingredients are before you go about creating your own recipe. Have a firm vision and purpose in mind, and choose your methods wisely. Realize that method flows from philosophy, just as Sacred Scripture flows from the Church's Tradition, and not the other way around. Make an actual plan. Do not homeschool willy-nilly. Make sure, above all else, that your choices are Catholic, and keep yourself and your children out of that half-assed cafeteria line!

Keeping It Catholic: Charlotte Mason Red Flag

“Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not education at all” (G.K. Chesterton, The Common Man).

My Keeping It Catholic homeschooling guide, by Marianna Bartold, finally arrived! As I mentioned before, she red flagged both Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori. I have read the whole CM portion (her objections to Montessori are basically identical), and the author makes what appears to be a fair argument for cautioning against some aspects of Mason's worldview. Her reasoning is based on the perceived evidence that Mason's philosophy is too laced with heresies such as rationalism and naturalism, and is inspired largely by the Enlightenment figure, Jean Jacques Rousseau. One should be aware of these issues, by reading Mason's own words, Bartold suggests. (Note: Having now read a significant amount of CM's writings, I have found none of those heresies suggested by Bartold nor any infatuation with Rousseau.)


The good news is that the methods used by Charlotte Mason which I like, such as living books, narration, and copy work, were actually borrowed from classical education. Bartold herself says that the classical method can be applied to any worldview, be it Catholic, Protestant, atheist, etc... In and of themselves, then, the educational methods used by Charlotte Mason are not problematic. Furthermore, she understood children and how to effectively teach them. Scholasticism is the Catholic philosophical application of classicism. Since this is all new to me, I'm going to have to read the whole volume and come back to distill what I have learned.

What about unschooling? It is not mentioned in this volume in the Red Flags section. However, Bartold does object to the idea she perceives in the CM method that the teacher is only a facilitator of the child's education, which is a belief embraced by some unschoolers. (I did not, however, get the impression that Mason actually thought this way in my own readings.) Child-led learning is said to be the inheritance of Rousseau's influence, so it is perceived negatively. The idea that children naturally desire to learn is denied, a point on which I vehemently disagree with Bartold. She understands John Holt to have been an atheist, but I have no idea whether that is true.  

My idea of Catholic unschooling, as I have put it forth, is that the parents must actively teach their children along with the child-led, auto-education (self-teaching). Merely "strewing" educational materials in the hopes that one's children will find them and be interested is simply not adequate. Radical versions of unschooling do not fit with the parental vocation. In my opinion, there is certainly room for interest-led learning and a relaxed, gentle approach, but the education of the child in every area of life, including academics, is the primary responsibility of Catholic parents. The child cannot be left largely to his own devices in that case.  

What I argue along with other unschoolers is that the "traditional" means used in public schools need not apply in acquiring an excellent education. So can I, in good conscience, be a "Catholic unschooler"? According to my definition, yes, I think so. This is true especially since Bartold thoroughly covers various learning styles and the four basic human temperaments and advocates that the parenting/teaching style should correspond to the child's individual needs. Custom-designing the education is thereby encouraged, which also fits in with an unschooling mindset.

On that note, look again at the quote by C.K. Chesterton. According to what he said, it logically follows that a child cannot get what qualifies as a true education, according to a Catholic conscience, in the public schools. The general view of life espoused in the schools is secular humanism, a religion at odds with any form of Christianity and many other faith traditions. For the Catholic parent, this leaves only the options of homeschooling or a Catholic school. If public schooling is absolutely unavoidable, then Catholic parents have to be even more diligent in countering the ill effects and in firmly establishing the Faith as central to the child's education. It seems to me that this would be a nearly insurmountable task, but with God all things are possible. The challenge for the homeschooler is to keep it Catholic, for the Faith to permeate the entire education.

Bartold lists St. John Bosco as a good source for Catholic educational philosophy and methods, who is also designated as an inspiration for Catholic unschoolers in Suzie Andres' books. So since I have much more reading to do, I think it's time to take a hiatus on the subject for now. Have a blessed Holy Week, everyone! Next time you hear from me I will be a bona fide Catholic!!

Self-Designed Catholic Homeschool Curriculum

As I increasingly orient our homeschooling to the Catholic Faith, I'd like to share what we are using for "curricula", considering that term in an open source, unschooling kind of way. That is to say, by way of seamlessly joining learning, life, and the Faith. Using my little way of the fleur de lis, with faith formation at the lily's center, I endeavor to be vigilant in keeping Beezy's home education Catholic. Our curriculum is self-designed and utilizes "living books" as much as possible.

The most important resource, of course, is the Catholic Bible. (We use the Holy Bible, RSV, second Catholic edition). I checked out a Catholic Children's Bible from the library but decided it wasn't going to work. It paraphrases the stories and then explains their significance. I could tell it would be tedious for Beezy and would not work well for her age level. Even for older children, though, this does not fit into the Charlotte Mason philosophy of using original sources and letting children make their own connections regarding the material. The Bible as it is written has always unfailingly held Beezy's attention. I only got the children's version because it was suggested on the Mater Amabilis online Catholic CM curriculum site.

I have been teaching the Rosary to Beezy, and we have covered all five Joyful Mysteries, reading the stories from the Bible to meditate upon as we pray the Hail Marys. At her age (8), one decade at a time is plenty. For copy work, she has written out the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. We will continue with the Fatima prayer and the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen), as well as the Apostle's Creed. This also covers memorization/recitation.

Since yesterday was the Feast of St. Joseph, I read a St. Joseph Story for Kids from parentsduty.com. I especially liked this, because it discusses doing chores as a gift of oneself. I could almost hear the wheels in Beezy's head turning! We are almost finished reading, Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maiden by Evelyn M. Brown. This is from Ignatius Press, which has a whole series of novels about saints. I read a chapter, or part of a chapter if it is very long, and Beezy narrates it back to me. This book also falls under the subjects of history and Native American studies. We previously read, Our Lady Came to Fatima. 

Today Beezy asked me who the "Glory Be" prayer is addressed to. When I told her, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, she wasn't sure exactly what that meant. She knew the Father was God, and the Son was Jesus, but who was the Holy Spirit? I just so happened to have a book I was planning to begin today, A Young Person's Book of Catholic Signs and Symbols by Francis Tiso. This book begins with the symbol of the circle representing the One God, and then proceeds to the Trinity. Love those moments of synchronicity!

So there are several ideas for beginning a Catholic-based curriculum. You probably already have a Bible and a Rosary. I simply type the prayers on the computer to print out for Beezy to copy, and the books come from the library. Easy breezy lemon squeezy! Not all of your resources have to be Catholic per se. For example, we are reading Little Town on the Prairie for American history/literature right now, and we are using a basic, "Time and Money" workbook, plus a toy clock with movable hands, for math. The important thing is to avoid curriculum choices that are anti-Catholic or specifically eliminate Catholic historical content (or which contain a Protestant bias). You want to be sure that the Catholic point of view, or point of conscience, as it is expressed by Keeping It Catholic, is upheld.

Speaking of KIC, my book had not been sent due to a warehouse error, but I have been assured it has been shipped, so no doubt I will be giving my feedback on the Keeping It Catholic Homeschooling Guide soon! Tonight Beezy's religious education class, which meets weekly, prayed the Stations of the Cross, and I joined them, participating in this ritual for the first time myself. Ten days until I'm Catholic, thanks be to God!!

A Homeschooling Fleur de Lis

"In the Middle Ages the symbols of lily and fleur-de-lis (lis is French for "lily") overlapped considerably in Christian religious art. Michel Pastoureau, the historian, says that until about 1300 they were found in depictions of Jesus, but gradually they took on Marian symbolism and were associated with the Song of Solomon's "lily among thorns" (lilium inter spinas), understood as a reference to Mary. Other scripture and religious literature in which the lily symbolizes purity and chastity also helped establish the flower as an iconographic attribute of the Virgin. It was also believed that the fleur de lis represented the Holy Trinity" (Wikipedia).

 
<sup>I was inspired by the fleur de lis to come up with my own "little way" of homeschooling, under the patronage of St. Therese and the Blessed Mother, but not necessarily under the label of unschooling. Though I have not yet received my Keeping It Catholic book, I think I have read enough on unschooling to see that it is problematic for the Catholic homeschooling family, possibly even in the less radical forms. The Faith is supposed to permeate the entire educational experience, and because unschooling does not put forth a clear educational philosophy and method (at least not to my satisfaction), I think I am safer calling what we do ''relaxed CM Catholic homeschooling".  But we'll see... And even if Charlotte Mason was heretical in her worldview, as Marianna Bartold proposes, living books, narration, and nature journals are not used exclusively in the CM method, and these and other techniques can certainly be employed in a Catholic homeschool, as long as the books and materials used are not in conflict with Church doctrine. In this I agree with Mater Amabilis, and I have found some book suggestions on their online curriculum list to try. 

As to the fleur de lis, the central petal represents Catholic faith formation; the left petal stands for order on the homestead; and the one on the right is CM, open source learning. The base of the fleur de lis in my little way corresponds to the Holy Family, with Jesus at the center and Mary and Joseph on each side. I think St. Therese would agree with keeping it simple in our homeschooling so that we do not break our heads over it, as she was wont to say. I want my family to be grounded in the Catholic faith in all things; I wish to continue to bring order to my home and yard (for how else can anyone who lives here relax?), and order is also necessary for the blossoming of Beauty; and I feel that using the CM method in a relaxed, Catholic way gives me a firm foundation for educating my child, along with keeping the good aspects associated with unschooling in mind as we seek open sources for learning.</sup>

Homeschooling: Keeping It Catholic

To my dismay, Marianna Bartold, of the blog "Keeping it Catholic" (keepingitcatholic.blogspot.com), and author of the Keeping It Catholic Series home education guides, has written a great deal regarding the philosophical reasons why Catholic homeschoolers cannot, in good conscience, employ the methods of either Maria Montessori or Charlotte Mason! There is also the keepingitcatholic.org website. Since I do want to keep my homeschooling Catholic, I ordered her Volume I book from Amazon so I can read in depth about why she has red flagged these two educators, especially considering that Montessori was Catholic. In regard to Charlotte Mason, so far I have gathered that Bartold believes that because Mason's philosophy was heretical, and because her methods would naturally lead back to her heretical worldview, then no good can come of using anything in her method. I don't know that Charlotte Mason was indeed heretical, but at any rate, does Bartold draw a logical conclusion?

Let's first consider that the Catholic Church teaches that while Catholicism contains the fullness of the Truth of the Christian faith, other Christian branches and other religions contain portions of spiritual Truth, and that all Truth comes from the Holy Spirit. While we don't want to fall into religious indifferentism and conclude that all traditions are equal, we can still learn something from the beliefs and practices of others. I can see no way in which the CM practices of using living books and narration or keeping a nature journal, for example, would be inherently heretical. I can't imagine agreeing completely with any one educator, no matter how brilliant, except for the One Great Master, Jesus. (And because of her complete unity with the Holy Spirit, Mary would also qualify as a source of perfect Truth.)

Today I also found a website called Mater Amabilis: a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for Catholics (materamabilis.org).  Their discussion forum says, "Mater Amabilis and this group are 100% faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church."  Bartold argues that the Charlotte Mason method cannot be morally "Catholicized".  Who is right?  I'll have to read Keeping It Catholic before I weigh in on this.  But I can't see how implementing the educational style of Miss Mason could be immoral as long as one holds fast to the Tradition of the Catholic Church.  Even if as an Anglican Christian some of her religious beliefs were in error, it does not hold for me that all of her educational ideas and practices would therefore need to be avoided at all costs.  If a theory and practice are sound and work for your child, shouldn't you feel confident in using them? More on this to come...