The Going Gray Journey

 Cindy Joseph

Hair. It's a hot topic. You might even say it's controversial. I would guess that the only topic discussed with more frequency is the weather. And that's probably because men don't care all that much about hair. Hair is primarily a women's issue. And it's inextricably bound up with age and beauty. Hair defines us as perhaps nothing else does. At the age of 47, I have stopped coloring mine.

This isn't the first time I've tried to go au naturel. Some time in my late 30s I started to grow out the gray, but at a certain point I just couldn't take it. I wasn't ready. I felt that because I was a belly dance teacher, I had a certain image of youth and glamour to maintain. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity...

We hide the truth in vain. It isn't as though people don't know. I can tell when someone colors. Always. And I felt so self-conscious when my roots would begin to show, which was like, three days after I would dye my hair. It just wouldn't stick anymore. As soon as I would shampoo, a little bit of the truth would peek back out. Within two weeks, if I really wanted to keep it up, the roots would need to be touched up again. I usually stretched it out a little further, all the while wondering if people could see the evidence. This is no way to live! 

It didn't matter whether I dyed it myself or had a professional do it. It didn't matter whether the color was permanent, semi-permanent, or came from a health food store. The result was the same. Quick fading and exposure of roots, and on top of that my hair grows fast. Surely I was fooling no one.

It all began when I was 26 and found my first gray hair. In panic, I called my mother, who assured me that I was not suddenly going to turn all gray. It would be a gradual process. I had already been coloring my hair for some time, just for fun. I had always wanted to be a redhead. But with the advent of the gray, I decided that I'd like to see my natural color while I still had the chance. I actually plucked out the few grays as they grew in with tweezers! At some point, this ceased to be an option. The only thing worse than gray hair would be bald spots!!

Ironically, today I believe that hair color causes baldness. A number of years ago I developed a bald spot about the size of a quarter near my hairline. I asked a dermatologist what could have caused it, and he said, "Who knows!" He gave me a cream, which did nothing. Special vitamins also had no effect.

Fast forward to the past year, when I quit coloring my hair altogether. Leading up to that point I had only been touching up the crown and sides, since this could be done quickly, and I don't have much gray growing in the back. Since giving up the dye completely, the bald spot has filled in. Yes, it is filled in with silvery strands, but any hair is better than baldness. Am I right?

In fact, while still coloring, my hair was generally getting thinner. Since it was naturally very dark, I could see more of my scalp when the silver strands (they are white, really) came in, which lead me to go back to using color. Hair dye plumps up the hair shaft, and I figured that the darker hair would make my scalp less noticeable. But lo and behold, since I have let my gray flag fly, I have new hair growth! Yes, it is silver, but any color is better than going bald. Are you following me here? Thinning hair, which eventually will lead to baldness, is not only aging, it's horrifying for a woman. Doesn't the very thought give you chills?

I'm not going to lie to you. The bare truth is, the growing out experience is extremely hard. It's emotional. It's worse than growing out bangs, yet similar. You have to be patient. You have to adjust your hairstyles to hide that demarcation line, to try to make the new hair growing in and the old, colored stuff blend. But at some point a miraculous thing happened to me. I wanted the gray. I craved it. I found two going gray support groups on Facebook, where many brave souls showcase their transition journey with before and after photos.

To my astonishment, all of the ladies who had gone through the entire transition actually looked better as silver foxes than they had as fake blonds, brunettes, and redheads. And it wasn't just the hair itself. It was the woman. In the "after" picture, she always looked more vibrant and confident. Her smile was bigger, her eyes were brighter. Her attitude was notably more confident. These women shined from the inside out.

Colored hair is damaged hair. Period. But isn't the gray hair wiry and unruly? Mine isn't. It's quite lovely, actually. I had grown my hair all the way down my back, and it was one length. I loved the spiral pattern of my curls. But I grew increasingly irritated with the demarcation line and that long rope of faux colored hair. So I added some layers. Then a little more, and that helped. Finally I was ready to make the cut. Several inches came off. It's still below my shoulders, so I am not traumatized. And I can still pull it back, which helps to hide the line between the old and the new.

With a more drastic cut, I could probably have what remains of my dyed tresses gone. But good things come to those who wait. I keep my eye on the prize. My goal is to have very long hair once again, with all of it finally natural. So I'll keep up the trims, continue pulling it up and back and being creative, and one day the new me will emerge like the phoenix from the ashes.

If you are thinking of joining the Going Gray Revolution, I encourage you to just go for it. It may take several attempts before you work up enough courage to go the whole way, as it has for me, and that's okay. And you will likely encounter resistance from others along the journey. Women in the FB groups report being insulted by strangers, hair dressers, dentists, and co-workers; being asked to dye their hair for a friend's wedding; and being harassed by family members. I have heard of women who have literally lost friends over the choice to stop coloring! I am blessed to have a husband who has always been supportive, who has consistently said that he likes the natural silver. Not everyone is so lucky.

What is needed here is nothing short of a paradigm shift. While silver hair has been a trend among celebrities and even teenagers over the last few years, having it happen naturally, and over a certain age, is not so well received. People assume that gray hair is aging, because that's what they've been conditioned to believe. From the photos I have seen, this is simply not the case. Each woman's shade of gray is unique. It's the kind of beauty you can't buy from a box or pay someone to give you. It's God given.

Recently, since cutting off a lot of the colored length, one of my aunts exclaimed that she loved my hair, and she actually wanted to know if it was natural or if I'd had it done that way! I had smoothed it out with a large barreled curling iron, like my hairdresser had done, which showed off the silver better than wearing it curly. The next day at a family reunion, an elder was talking to me about my hair and how the gray runs in the family, when I suddenly blurted out, "Isn't it beautiful?" To which she responded, though a bit surprised, with a "Yes." At 90 years old, she has lovely silver hair herself, which I really looked at for the first time. In the past I would probably not even have noticed her hair. With my paradigm shift, I could really appreciate her beauty.

The more people see of women embracing their natural selves, the more accustomed and comfortable they will be. The thing is, when a woman stops dying her hair, it brings up all kinds of emotions in other people. Sometimes it brings feelings of insecurity and fear to the surface, hostility even. Certain people will think you are crazy. They just won't get it, and it's not your job to make anyone feel better by hiding your head under a crown of pretending. But do have compassion for those who can't let go of the bottle of dye. If they wish to keep living in hair coloring hell, come baldness or high water, that is their prerogative. Just smile, take deep breaths, and stay true to yourself. If we can take this plunge, we can do anything!

Right now there is a definite trend of the Pro-Age Revolution going mainstream, and when you get the itch to give in and run back to the safe haven of hair dye, you can go instead to those brave role models who aren't hiding, but rather are embracing the wrinkles and silvers they have earned.

A Charlotte Mason Morning Basket

When I first began homeschooling, I came up with the idea to place the books we used on a daily basis into a basket. This could be toted around to wherever we were doing our lessons. For the past school year I didn't use the basket, but simply organized the homeschooling bookcase by subject, getting out what books we needed and putting them back on the shelf as we went along.

For the upcoming school year, I'm bringing the basket back! There has been a lot written among Charlotte Mason and other home educators about Morning Time. This is a daily practice of gathering one's children together for shared lessons. When I was a Montessori classroom teacher, with children ages three to six, we had Circle Time to start the morning cycle with the entire class before individual lessons and independent work time began. Same basic idea.

Morning Time occurs at the beginning of the day's homeschooling lessons. It takes on a different flavor in each family. Read alouds with narrations are prominent features. The fine arts--an often-neglected area of study--are given a front row seat. So Morning Time is when picture studies, composer studies, and poetry are explored. Bible reading, devotions, and nature journals are other common elements. It can basically be whatever you want it to be; the idea is to begin the morning with family bonding and restful learning. 

Oftentimes the materials used during Morning Time will be kept altogether in a basket for easy access and portability. Having the Morning Basket will assure that the subjects usually considered as "electives" in the schools but which are key elements in a CM education do not fall by the wayside.

If you go back a couple of posts, you will find my loop schedule for the Fall Term. I added a Morning Basket to the Daily Core. In the Morning Basket category I have listed poetry, music, & art appreciation; dance; and handicrafts. We have been doing picture studies regularly, but music appreciation and handicrafts were spotty. While dance is not a "key" CM subject, Charlotte does include it as important in her writings. My daughter has at times taken ballet classes, and as I am a dance instructor, I have taught her myself. This is a practice to which I want to return. 

I'm planning to extend our Morning Basket to include all of the items in the Daily Core. In addition to the fine arts and handicrafts already listed, the following will go in the basket: literature (King David and His Songs), the Book of Gratitude reader, Spanish materials, and Hamilton's Essentials of Arithmetic. Foreign languages should be worked on daily, and this was decidedly not happening in my homeschool.

To clarify, the specific Morning Basket items, unless they are a part of your own Daily Core, are not all done daily. So for example, you are not trying to work in poetry, music, and art appreciation all in one day. You might read poetry on Monday; listen to classical music on Tuesday; do a picture study on Wednesday; have a drawing lesson on Thursday; and introduce a handicraft on Friday. 

Handicrafts are typically an afternoon pursuit, part of the child's free time after formal lessons finish by 1:00. But I want to put this in the Morning Basket and then encourage Beezy to take it up on her own in the afternoons or evenings and on weekends. 

I'll post pictures of my own Morning Basket when I have all of the items gathered for the Fall Term. Since some of it is going to come from the library, I don't have everything currently on hand. 

Be creative about coming up with your own Morning Time activities. If you are using a traditional Catholic curriculum provider, such as Seton Home Study School or Catholic Heritage Curricula, consider adding a Morning Basket in order to bring classic literature and the fine arts into your schedule. This is one easy way to begin a transition to a more Charlotte Mason style approach!

Summer Declutter

Hear me now, oh, thou bleak and unbearable world
Thou art base and debauched as can be
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet glory
I am I, Don Quixote, the Lord of La Mancha
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune will carry me onward
Oh, whither soever they blow
Whither soever they blow, onward to glory I go!

One of the speakers at the IHM homeschooling conference I attended in May was Colleen Billing, who runs her own company for home organization called Peaceful Interiors. Charlotte Mason wrote that education is "an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." Atmosphere is a full one third of a child's education. So we can deduce that our homes need to be clean, well-organized, and beautiful. Colleen reminded us that our God is a God of order; that we are created with hearts that crave and desire order. Decluttering our homes is paramount for providing a Catholic CM education!

Home organization is not merely utilitarian; it is spiritual. What we see on the exterior tends to reflect what is going on with the interior life. And we are affected spiritually by the quality of our surroundings. As I have written about before, Marie Kondo, in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, goes so far as to say that once we have cleared our clutter, we will be able to uncover our life's purpose!

But decluttering takes time, and time is a luxury that many homeschooling families do not possess. Of course, "discipline" comes right after atmosphere in the CM motto, and by discipline Charlotte meant habit formation. With good habits, your children should not be accumulating clutter. They ought to be in the habit of picking up after themselves and keeping their rooms and possessions tidy. Encouraging them to give unused and unloved items to charity is a great practice to instill. In the same vein, we adults need to model good habits. There is one room in my home in which I have failed in this regard dismally.

Colleen suggested that we choose one room and work on it from start to finish. She shared that the average room takes between four and twelve hours to declutter! So if you are wondering why you can never get that Terrible Room under control, most of the problem is likely that you haven't taken enough time to diligently put in the necessary hours.

My Terrible Room is part of the master bedroom suite, separated from the sleeping quarters by a set of wooden French doors. I know, I am a lucky woman! This room contains my husband's dresser and his closet. The rest of it is my stuff. My dressing table, a bookcase, and a cabinet. Multiple storage boxes and 3,000 magazines.

Marie Kondo says that before you can organize anything, you must clear out the clutter. She counsels us to touch each object and ask ourselves, "Does this bring me joy?" That is the entire criteria. Believe it or not, you can do this with books and magazines without even looking inside. Colleen adds that we should question whether we use the object on a regular basis, meaning at least yearly. This criteria can work with items which hold no sentimental value. Luckily sentimental items are the last things that we declutter in Marie's method. Again, the bringing of joy gets the last word.

Colleen recommends designating a specific time to work on decluttering and burying your phone and computer away from yourself. Marie admonishes us to get to it and do it all at once, rather than the proverbial "a little at a time". She promises that if you declutter your entire home in one fell swoop, you will have such great practice in making decisions about what stays and what goes that you will never have to go through this decluttering process again! I would add that we have to keep up those good habits we have established in our children and ourselves. Marie insists that we must begin with our own stuff, and no one else in the family can help us decide. Since most of us are on summer break from homeschooling lessons, the time is now to get it done!

A couple of final notes on the spiritual side of this topic. Colleen recommended John Michael Talbot's book, Simplicity. Our homes are like little monasteries. Monasteries are very simple but very beautiful. Come up with a vision for your home. Go from room to room and write it down. Dream a little bit. She was also very enthusiastic about flylady.net for additional tips.

It might feel like you are dreaming the impossible dream, but perhaps it is, after all, not so difficult so slay that windmill.

Fall 2016 CM Loop Schedule Prep

Today I worked out a loop schedule for the first term of our Catholic Charlotte Mason homeschooling curriculum for the fall. This might seem like jumping the gun, because May isn't even over yet. But after I wrote up my curriculum plans for submission to our local superintendent, and then added a few more things to it, there did seem to be quite a formidable list of books, despite my efforts to streamline. Then it occurred to me that this curriculum list could be used for the entirety of Level 3 in a CM education, which is grades 6 & 7, roughly ages 11 to 13. (See Mater Amabilis for guides to the levels.)

In other words, I can be thinking in terms of the next two school years overall. And when I decided to determine which books I would use to begin the first upcoming term, things suddenly seemed more manageable. I update my loop schedule whenever there is a change in books or materials being used, printing it out and checking off the items as we go along. The Writing Loop is part of the Daily Core, rotating through the five types of writing each week. The Extended Loops may take up to two weeks to complete.

For the coming school year I added a "morning basket" to the Daily Core, in order to be sure to work in poetry, art, and music appreciation, and some informal dancing. It still all fits on one printed page! And who knows, maybe we will accomplish everything on the curriculum list in one year after all. At any rate, the important thing is that I have a solid plan and a way to implement it, and I won't be worrying all summer about the logistics. So I hope this is helpful to those who are trying to work out a similar type of CM schedule, to see how all subjects can be fitted in. I look forward to feedback and questions in the comments section! 

Catholic Charlotte Mason Loop Schedule, 2016-2017 Term 1 

Daily Core: (open with prayer & devotions)

- Literature: King David and His Songs (Windeatt); Anne of Green Gables series (bedtime)  

- Morning Basket: poetry, music, & art appreciation; dance

- Book of Gratitude reader (Seton vintage reprint)

- Hamilton’s Arithmetic

- Piano practice

- Spanish

Writing Loop (using poems, hymns, prayers, Bible verses, and passages from reading books for copy work and dictation):

- copy work

- dictation

- grammar workbook

- written narration or letter writing

- cursive writing (Seton Handwriting 3)

Extended Loops:

Religion loop:

- The Baltimore Catechism

- The Rosary in Art (Seton): picture studies; Rosary prayers and mysteries from New Testament

- The Loyola Treasury of Saints or Journeys with Mary (De Santis)

- Bible History for Young Catholics (Old Testament, Seton)

Humanities Loop:

- Natural science: nature walks & nature notebook; animal classification cards; The Story Book of Science (Fabre)

- A Child’s Geography of the World (Hillyer) and map work/visual enrichment

- The Care & Keeping of You or The Feelings Book (American Girl, health)

- Fifty Stories from Ohio History (Martzolff)

- Memory Work

Weekly:

Gym & art classes at Catholic school; piano lessons; religious ed. class

2016-2017 Catholic Charlotte Mason Curriculum

It's that time of year again! We are wrapping up our school year soon, and I am getting together the necessary paperwork for next year for homeschooling in Ohio. One of the requirements is a brief curriculum outline. I like to have everything done and ready to hand in to the superintendent's office in early June. The only thing I have left is the portfolio assessment of Beezy's work by a certified teacher. I encourage you not to wait to prepare such documents, as you don't want to have this hanging over your head all summer.

I'm more excited about this curriculum than any I have designed in the past, because I think I have finally incorporated all of the elements of a Charlotte Mason education. Except for Religion, the subjects listed are those required to cover by the state. You will notice that many subjects overlap, and a number of these books could have been put into multiple categories. I divided them up as it made most sense to me and according to how I have them organized on our homeschooling bookcase. Except for the books we will borrow from the library, which are happily a great many, I have acquired everything on the lists! Many books can be used for multiple years. I think I spent a total of about $75.00.

In other years I have loaded each subject with a ton of potential books and resources. This time I worked very hard to streamline the curriculum and include only those items that we will realistically use in one school year. We may not get to all of them, and we may include items not listed here. Home education is always a work in progress and a journey of learning for both parents and children, and flexibility is key.

This curriculum is designed for the 6th grade, for my only child. However, many of these choices could be used with multiple age levels, and with either younger or older children. I hope something in this will be of use to readers, and I welcome questions and observations in the comments section at the end! Also, feel free to "borrow" anything here for your own reporting needs.

2016—2017 Homeschool Curriculum Outline

I. Vintage Catholic Home Education: We will be using a self-designed curriculum incorporating the philosophy and method of Charlotte Mason, drawing from the books and resources listed below. "Living books" will be the predominant choices for lessons, which are those written by an author who takes special interest in his subject and in which facts are presented in story form. Classical learning tools such as oral and written narration (composition), copy work, dictation, memory work, and recitation will be utilized, with a core of Religion and the traditional liberal arts.

II. Curriculum Books and Resources:

- The Charlotte Mason Original Homeschooling Series (six volume set)

- Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss
- Mater Amabilis: a Charlotte Mason Style Curriculum for Catholics (www.materamabilis.org)
- Ambleside Online (www.amblesideonline.org)
- The Year and Our Children: Catholic Celebrations for Every Season by Mary Reed Newland

- Seton Home Study School (www.setonhome.org)

- The Holy Bible, 1953 Catholic Confraternity Edition       

- Catholic Heritage Curricula

III. Subjects and Books/Materials:

Language Arts – "Faith and Freedom" Ginn Readers; The Winston Readers; classic literature (Anne of Green Gables series, Little Women, Little Men); Poetry for Children and Other People; Ingri and Edgar Parin d' Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths; Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb; Bard of Avon and Good Queen Bess (Stanley/Vannema); public library visits and programs; Kids Stuff Spanish (Pirz); Everything Kids’ Learning Spanish Book (Sojo); Spanish flash cards (eeBoo); Language of God (Grammar & Composition, CHC); Handwriting 3 for Young Catholics (Seton); correspondence (letter writing)

Religion – Prayers for Young Catholics (Daughters of St. Paul); Religious Education class at Sacred Heart Church; The Baltimore Catechism, No. 1; The Loyola Treasury of Saints; Journeys with Mary (De Santis); The Guiding Light: The Bible in Pictures; Bible History for Young Catholics (Seton, Old and New Testament volumes); King David and His Songs (Windeatt); Augustine Came to Kent (Willard); St. Thomas Aquinas: The Story of the Dumb Ox (Windeatt)

Geography and History – Fifty Stories from Ohio (Martzolff); America's Founders and Leaders  (William H.J. Kennedy & Sister Mary Joseph); A Child's Geography of the World (Hillyer); Our Catholic Legacy Vol. 1 (world history, Seton); Columbus and the New World (Derluth); Pocahontas (Bruchac); Madeleine Takes Command (Brill); keeping a book of centuries; Native Americans; cultural, seasonal and holiday traditions; visits to Sauder Village living history museum; The National Parks (Tilden); world globe; The Usborne Essential Atlas of the World; States & Capitals flash cards

Mathematics –  Hamilton’s Essentials of Arithmetic (First and Second Books); measurement; fractions; time and money; place values; addition and subtraction with regrouping; multiplication; division; decimals and percentages; related manipulatives; flash cards; calendar; mathematician biographies; board games

Natural Science – Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock; The Story Book of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre; nature walks and nature notebook; Time-Life animal classification cards; study of trees and leaf collection; study of flowers and flower pressing; study of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and dinosaurs; the seasons; climate; sustainable living and organic gardening; science museum visits; ecosystems/animal habitats; chemistry kit experiments; dog training classes; volunteer work at the Humane Society

Health Education – Study of bacteria, mold and viruses; nutrition; food preparation and baking; herbology; vegetarianism; The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Schaefer and The Feelings Book: The Care and Keeping of Your Emotions by Dr. Lynda Madison (American Girl); practical life skills

Physical Education – Gym class at St. Patrick Catholic School and participation in sports programs; dance; daily outdoor play; hiking; sledding; trampoline; running; swimming; scooter; pogo stick; horseback riding; bicycling; dog walks

Fine Arts – Art class at St. Patrick School; The Rosary in Art (Seton); The Story of Painting (Janson); Claude Monet (Nunhead); Linnea in Monet's Garden; Anholt’s Artist Books for Children series; Beethoven Lives Upstairs (DVD & CD); The Composer’s Special Series (Bach’s Fight for Freedom, etc…, DVDs & CDs); poetry, art, and music (classical composer studies, folk songs, hymns) appreciation; painting; drawing; pottery; art museum visits; attendance at plays and concerts; dramatic play; Parks and Recreation/library arts and crafts programs; Fayette Opera House concert series; piano lessons and recitals; movies and documentaries; needlepoint; crochet; creative writing

First Aid, Safety, and Fire Protection – Continued reinforcement of these subjects through library materials, field trips, and home safety plans

May Meanderings

I was up at 6:30 this morning, unusually early, probably in anticipation of attending my first homeschooling conference later today! I will be driving an hour to a city where such things occur. It isn't a Charlotte Mason conference; there hasn't been one of those close to my home. But I'm excited because it is being held by a Catholic company, Seton Home Study. As Charlotte Mason herself was not Catholic, it can be especially difficult for Catholic CM home educators to find good materials to suit our needs. In some ways I think we really are pioneers.

For all CM homeschoolers, the challenge exists to find living books for the self-design of a curriculum. There are full curriculum guides online, but not all are Catholic, and for various reasons it may not work to follow a single one completely. Cost of books can certainly be an issue. In the spirit of thriftiness I enjoy finding vintage treasures at flea markets, garage sales, antiques shops, and library book sales. And of course a great deal can be found through the library system itself.

I like Seton because they provide resources such as reprints of vintage Catholic readers and the Baltimore Catechism, and they incorporate historical fiction novels. When I wasn't getting very far teaching Beezy cursive writing, I ordered one of their handwriting workbooks, and it has been very effective. Today I'm going to take a look at their Bible history offerings for 6th and 7th grade. Though their curriculum is heavy on traditional text/workbooks, these often use a story format rather than the typical dry facts variety. It will also simply be nice to have a mom's day out, to listen to the speakers at the conference and experience being a part of a larger homeschooling community. Where I live there are very few Catholic homeschooling families.

It is wonderful to be able to sit out on my front porch this morning, enjoying the sunshine and birdsong. One of my favorite delights every year is getting the porch all cleaned up and reorganized. We can eat, visit with friends and family, and do our school lessons out here. I've been watching children trickle to the bus stop, and that brings me to another topic.

Last week Beezy had the opportunity to attend full days at the Catholic school where she takes a la carte art and gym classes. She was supposed to go full-time all week, but by Wednesday night she had a sore throat, so she only went for three days. That was enough of the experiment to gauge what it would really be like.

As I suspected, if we sent Beezy there full time, our family life would revolve almost entirely around school. Beezy did enjoy it. She didn't seem to mind getting up early, and she wasn't bored being there all day. What she did not enjoy was the homework, especially for math. From what I saw with all of the homework, she is working at grade level, so I don't think a transition to school life would be a problem in that respect. But a good portion of the evenings were spent with her dad and I helping with homework. One evening she visited with a neighbor friend for an hour. On another we took a family dog walk, and on the third she played outside for awhile. But allowing her to have a life in the evening meant not finishing the homework.

In addition, parents of Catholic school children are expected to do a lot of volunteer work. I put  the issue of the cost of tuition out of my mind in order to evaluate other kinds of costs. The biggest cost is time. I would spend a minimum of five hours every week driving to and from the school. In that amount of  time I can cover two days worth of homeschooling! Beezy didn't have time for the book she is reading for pleasure, or to watch our favorite shows on Netflix. I was not able to do our usual bedtime read alouds. If we were to add her weekly piano lesson, religious education class, and participation in a sport to the mix, I don't see how we would have any free time left. As children get older, even weekends are consumed with homework and extracurricular school activities.

The experience gave me a new appreciation for the ability to homeschool. My husband was dead set against losing this freedom and being chained to the school schedule and requirements. We only have one car, so on a day like today I would not be able to go a conference in a city an hour away. And in our current situation, other homeschooling friends who also have greater freedom with time can get together for play dates and sleepovers any day of the week. With not having to pay tuition, we can spend that money on lessons, classes, field trips, sports, and other enrichment activities that would have to otherwise go by the wayside. And we don't have to become exhausted and disconnected from one another in the process. I was amazed that after having my child at school for the entire day, I still had to "homeschool" in the evenings! I cannot see the benefit.

The Catholic school is great. It's a good place for those families who cannot homeschool. Beezy's class is a wonderful group of kids, and the Catholic environment is extremely important. I wouldn't consider public school unless it was the only option. But I can best live my vocation as a Catholic mother by homeschooling. Even at the Catholic school, the education is infiltrated with Common Core, and the only class in which Catholic school books are used is the religion class. The children pray there three times daily, and they attend Mass once a week. Most of the teachers are Catholic. At home I can provide an education in which the Catholic Faith permeates the entire curriculum, which fulfills the teaching of the Church in a way that the school does not. The sacrifice of time and money would not be worth it to me or my husband. I feel blessed that we can have the best of both worlds, that we can homeschool and also provide a part-time experience of enrichment classes at the school for our child.

We all want what is best for our children. I believe in a Charlotte Mason education. That is simply not something my daughter would be privileged to have at any of our area schools. The freedom of educational choice is one that we must not take for granted. We exercise our rights, or risk losing them. I choose to seize the day!

Is Charlotte Mason Classical?

Is Charlotte Mason classical? Type this question into a search engine, and you will have lots and lots and lots of choices of articles and blog posts to read. You will find in depth analysis and a million opinions. You will encounter academic sounding terms like "trivium" and "synthetic thinking", and all kinds of people trying to sound very smart. Is that a catty statement to make? Maybe.

But here's the thing: I don't care whether she is or she isn't. This question has created a huge debate and a perceived "division" among Charlotte Mason home educators, a gap which many are trying to close in order to maintain CM unity (or for entertainment purposes). Basically I think it's all an enormous waste of time.

Some of you may remember my meandering journey around the idea of unschooling. I'm seeing a replica of the exact same kind of confusion and argument over terms and "philosophy" again, only now it is classical education at the heart of the cyclone. Eventually I said to myself, "Self, who cares?" And I walked away from unschooling. I said my peace and acknowledged that I can't control anyone else's choices. In a strange way it felt like breaking an addiction, as if there were a supernatural pull trying to lure me back to the dark side.

People get so wrapped up in identifying themselves according to homeschooling methods, to the point that it can become an idol. Recently I've seen the trap set again, but you can't fool me twice. Just like with unschooling, "classical" means different things to different people. The definition becomes a matter of personal interpretation to the extent of nearly losing any meaning entirely, and all kinds of "experts" come out of the woodwork. When I encountered Charlotte Mason, it was through an actual book that a fellow homeschooling mother that I physically knew placed in my real life hand. I also heard about unschooling from a flesh-and-blood source. But these avalanches of debates and direly passionate opinions only seem to happen in one place. And it's right here, on the internet.

I ask you, as you move and breathe in your own home with your own husband, children, dogs and goldfish, does any of this stuff really matter to you, personally, in your day-to-day life? Or is it in reality a monumental distraction away from your everyday joys and responsibilities?

I recently read Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass. She is one of these "authorities". Then I came across the article, "Reconsidering Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition" by Art Middlekauff, another expert, refuting Glass' thesis. I lean toward Middlekauff's evaluation of things, but that's beside the point. (You can view the article at http://www.charlottemasoninstitute.org/reconsidering-charlotte-mason-and-the-classical-tradition-by-art-middlekauff/). Naturally Middlekauff's daring to defy Glass (nearly sainted in some circles) stirred a hubbub on Facebook, the ultimate bastion of time wasting, tomfoolery, and breathless emulsion of feelings...nothing more than feelings... (cue music).

But such writings and discussions are "important", right?! Both Glass' and Middlekauff's treatises are interesting, well-written, thoroughly researched, thought-provoking--and completely at odds. And oh the reactionary places we'll go! This classical dead horse is being beaten to death.

Here is what I think. We have the teachings of the Catholic Church on education; we have 6 long volumes written by Charlotte Mason herself (and other writings available from her and the PNEU); and we have Sacred Scripture. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us in all things true, good, and beautiful. Do we really need to force Charlotte Mason into the classical tradition, whatever that may mean? Do we, conversely, have to insist adamantly that she doesn't belong there at all? Can't we just let her be?

Evidently this stuff is important to some people. But I'm going to argue here and now that whether she is or isn't classical won't effect my homeschool or yours one iota. And if it doesn't, what's the point of engaging in the argument at all? It's like asking Dorothy if she's a good witch or a bad witch. Either way (and as she told us herself, she is neither), the Witch of the East has been crushed by her house, the ruby slippers are on her feet, and she's following the yellow brick road.

If you think CM is the best way to go for your family, within the brick-and-mortar walls of your domestic Church, then just get on with it. I give you permission to go directly to Charlotte yourself, where enough abundance exists for a lifetime, and shove the experts aside. Skip that whole field of poppies. The Emerald City awaits!