Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, Part 3: Enrichment Studies

This is part 3 of my Charlotte Mason Homeschooling blog series. Click below to read the other parts!

Day 1: The Early Years
Day 2: Multiple Ages
Day 3: Enrichment Studies

When I first started really researching the Charlotte Mason method, Enrichment Studies were my biggest doubts. After all, I don't know much about famous artists and composers and poets. I never learned that in public school. How could I teach my kids this if I didn't know anything about it? Sure, I had heard the names before - Michelangelo, Monet, Mozart, Dickenson - but I had no real knowledge.

I decided just to dive in with living books and learn alongside my children. And you know what? It's been wonderful. The kids love when I'm reading a book aloud, and I exclaim, "I never knew that!" They think it's funny that even Mom learns things everyday.

My tips for teaching Enrichment Studies:

• Living books! I know, that's no surprise! But living books are the best way to learn things. Here are some of our favorite living books for artist, poet, and composer studies:

 

• Cycle {or loop} through the enrichment studies! Study a great artist for two weeks, then a famous composer for two weeks, and then the poems and life a classic poet for two weeks. If you do this for 36 weeks, you will study 6 famous artists, 6 famous composers, and 6 famous poets! Seeing the big picture helps me.
• Study paintings! Simply Charlotte Mason sells these artist portfolios for around $16, with 8 full color copies of paintings by famous artists. Have your children look at them, describe how it makes them feel, and try to replicate the painting.
• Listen to classical music! Play some Mozart or Beethoven quietly while your child is working on a handicraft. Listen to classical music in the car.
• Read classical poetry! Get a few books with some great poems by Emily Dickenson, Lewis Carrol, or Robert Stevenson. Read one poem every day for a week. Have your child memorize a few lines or an entire poem! Talk about the style of poetry, point out the rhyming {and non-rhyming} words, and try to write your own poetry.
• Start small - a chapter a day from a living biography, five minutes of picture study, ten minutes of listening to classical music, or reading a poem once daily will have a big impact!
• Involve everyone! Even your youngest children will enjoy listening to poetry. I know my two little boys love rhymes and poems!
• Have a poetry and tea time! If your kids don't like tea, have poetry and snacks! Fancy cookies, finger sandwiches, and sparkling lemonade will make poetry time special.
• Display famous art pieces around your home! If you can't afford a painting, buy a poster and frame it! You could even buy a postcard and frame it or hang it on your refrigerator. {This is a tip I need to do!}
• Learn the hymns that are sung at your church! My kids love "Holy, Holy, Holy", "The Doxology", "Amazing Grace", and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". Learn the stories behind the songs - who wrote them, why, and when.

I hope these simple tips have given you motivation to start Enrichment Studies in your homeschool! And I hope you have enjoyed my 3-part series on Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Tips!

Don't forget to visit other participating Crew members for some more great tips for homeschool parents!

Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine

Jennifer @ A Peace of Mind

Jennifer @ Faithful Homestead

Joelle @ homeschooling for His Glory

Joesette @ Learning Curve

Kari @ Random Acts of Boyhood

Katie @ Katie's Daily Life

Kemi @ Homemaking Organized

Kim @ Homestead Acres

Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom

5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents

The School House Review Crew March Blog Hop is in full swing! Read some of these tips for homeschool parents by clicking on the links below! Come back here tomorrow for tips of Enrichment Studies in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool.

Melissa @ Grace Christian School

Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays

Missica @ Through the Open Window

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Rebekah @ There Will Be A $5 Charge For Whining

Renita @ Krazy Kuehner Days

Sarah @ Renaissance Mama

Sasha @ Such a Time as This

Tawnee @ Adventures in Homeschooling

Tiffany @ The Crafty Home

Tina @ Desperate Homeschoolers

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, Part 2: Multiple Ages

This is the second in a three part series of Charlotte Mason Homeschooling. These are the other posts:

Day 1: The Early Years
Day 2: Multiple Ages
Day 3: Enrichment Studies

Most homeschooling families have more than one child, and some have quite a few! I have five children, which seems like a lot at times and not enough at others! Homeschooling multiple children of multiple ages can be tricky. Having to juggle three, four, five, or even six different curriculums would be, in my opinion, impossible. I much prefer, as do many families, to have Family Learning for many of core subjects.

How can you homeschool five kids with a ten year age gap? How can a 13 year old learn alongside a 5 year old? Won't one of them suffer? How is this possible? These are questions I have been asked, and questions I have asked myself at times!

The core subjects that are most easily combinable are history, geography, science, Bible, and enrichment studies {artist, composer, and poetry studies}. Math and grammar will have to be done individually at each child's grade level. However, the core subjects I listed above are very easy to adapt to fit each child's level, while everyone is learning the same thing.

We use BiblioPlan for history and geography. It is written for grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. Of course, my older children understand and remember more, but my younger children do remember key events and people, learn mapping skills, and enjoy creating projects from the time periods we are studying. Here is a post where I explain how we use BiblioPlan for multiple ages.

We are using Christian Kids Explore for Science. It is written for grades Kindergarten through 6th grade, but is very easy to adapt to older children. Simply add more literature, more research, or more experiments.

Here are some things to keep in mind when homeschooling multiple ages with one curriculum:

• Notebooking! This is a wonderful tool that any age can participate in. I simply give a few guidelines for my children's notebook page {a topic or theme} and they create their own pages. My 5 year old may draw a picture and write a word or two, while my 13 year old creates wonderfully illustrated and fact-filled notebook pages. You can also print notebooking pages from sites like, Notebooking.com.
• Mapping! I make copies of the same map for all 5 of my children. My youngest two don't really know what they're doing, but they are learning to follow directions, mapping skills, and pre-writing skills.
• Literature! Buy or borrow a few living, picture books for your younger children that correspond with the same time period or science topic. This will help them understand what you're talking about and creating interest.
• Family projects! Instead of creating 4 or 5 paper crafts each week {that will no doubt be thrown away}, work on a family project from the time period you're studying {or the science topics}. That way, your children will learn teamwork and will work on something that will be useful and kept for many years to come.
• Keep little hands busy! Allow your little ones to play quietly with play-dough or color a picture while you are reading longer passages. Their minds will be listening to you, but their hands will be busy and their mouths will be quiet.
• Narrations! Allow each child to give a narration from different literature or passages read, adjusting expectations for their ages.

I hope these tips have helped you! Check back here tomorrow for some tips on Charlotte Mason Enrichment Studies.

Read some more posts from participating Crew members for more tips for homeschooling parents!

Dawn @ Double O Farms

Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool

Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner

Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook

Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days

Diana @ Homeschool Review

Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song

Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness

Erin @ For Him and My Family

Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy

5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents

The School House Review Crew Blog Hop is in full force! I'm only posting mine on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Check out some of the participating member's tips for homeschool parents:

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Latonya @ Joy in the Ordinary

Laura @ Day by Day in Our World

Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures

Lori @ At Home: where life happens

Meg @ Adventures with Jude

Melanie (Wren) @ finchnwren

Melissa @ Mom's Plans

Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, Part 1: The Early Years

My family is moving toward a Charlotte Mason homeschool, and I am learning so much along the way. I hope to share some of what I've been learning with you this week as I take part in the School House Review Crew March Blog Hop - 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. I'll be sharing on the following topics:

Day 1: The Early Years
Day 2: Multiple Ages
Day 3: Enrichment Studies

Preschool and Kindergarten are what Charlotte Mason called "The Early Years". The early years are very important to a child's future education. However, Mrs. Mason did not encourage formal lessons at this age. In fact, she thought it best for a child to be at least 6 or 7 years old before he started formal school lessons, and even then, that they be kept short and interesting.

So what exactly do the early years look like? Shouldn't children be learning to read and write? Should a child be allowed to run around in total freedom? I'm going to talk about five aspects of a Charlotte Mason education that should be introduced {and expanded upon} in the early years.

Handicrafts and Skills

Handicrafts are different from arts and crafts. While learning to cut and paste are very important skills to learn, paper crafts aren't "handicrafts" as defined by Charlotte Mason. A handicraft is a skill learned that produces something useful. {I have a page on my blog listing some of the handicrafts we have done, if you are interested.}

A few examples would be:

• lacing beads and cards
• watercolor painting
• making simple toys
• beginner mosaic crafts
• beginner sewing or embrodiary
• making a bird house {we use tin cans}
• baking cookies or bread
• building with Legos or wooden blocks
• learning hygiene {brushing teeth, washing hair, getting dressed}
• making wind chimes
• making Christmas ornaments
• play-dough and modeling clay

There are many more handicrafts that children this age can create and many skills to be learned. We try to do one handicraft a week, but some weeks we do several and some weeks we may not do anything other than watercolor painting.

Nature Study

Nature Study is such a simple thing to incorporate into your daily homeschool. Of course, playing outside can be considered nature study, as many young children are constantly observing insects and frogs, picking flowers and looking at the roots and petals, and asking a myriad of questions. But making a point to do a formal nature study once or twice a week is a simple and important thing you can do in the early years {and really, in all the years!}

A few things you can do for formal nature study would be:

• bird watching
• planting seeds and watching them grow
• observing the clouds and wind
• keeping a weather chart and checking the thermometer
• watching ants or other bugs
• having a picture scavenger hunt {certain plants and bugs to find}
• having a sound-only scavenger hunt {listening for birds, the wind, crickets, and such}
• feeding ducks at a pond
• making nature bracelets {use packing tape, sticky-side up, wrapped around your child's wrist}

Living Books



Reading books is usually a given when you have small children. All of my children have loved to be read to from a young age. Having a nice size supply of living books available for your children to explore is a great idea.

What is a "living book"? I took this definition from Simply Charlotte Mason:

Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.” They can be contrasted to dry writing, like what is found in most encyclopedias or textbooks, which basically lists informational facts in summary form. You might be surprised to find that living books are available for most school subjects — even math, geography, and science!

There are many living books for the early years that your child will enjoy, and he will learn through simply reading a book to him! A few of our favorite living books series for the preschool and kindergarten ages are:

• Let's Read and Find Out Science {not from a Christian science point of view, but still excellent}
• Ordinary People Change the World
• Berenstain Bear books {there are books on seasons, manners, animals, and so much more}
• Step Into Reading Readers {again, the subjects are so vast - science, history, math, geography}
• Poetry and Rhyme books {here's our favorite}
• Christian Liberty Nature Readers
• Story Bibles {the greatest living book of all}

You don't have to do any fancy activities or add anything to rich literature. Simply read and let your child soak in the knowledge.

Finger Plays, Rhymes and Songs

I'm not sure if Charlotte Mason actually advocated for this, but I found it a gentle and effective way to teach your younger children. We use songs to learn the days of the week, months of the year, skip counting, and Bible stories. We use finger plays to learn the days of creation and counting. We use rhymes to learn, well, rhyming words! You can use songs to teach scripture memorization or poetry memorization, states and capitals, and animals and their sounds. Here is a list of some great fingerplays and rhymes you can do with your children. Besides being educational, they are just fun!

Hands-On Pre-Reading, Pre-Writing and Math

This is not necessary for the early years, but some parents really want their preschool and kindergarten children to learn how to read and how to add and subtract. I do introduce and use many math and pre-reading and pre-writing manipulatives and toys at this age, but I don't do "formal" lessons until around mid-Kindergarten {and even then, they are short - 10 minutes each}.

Some great items to have would be:

• letter tiles
• number tiles
• dice
• pattern blocks
• puzzles
• counting bears
• integer blocks
• counting cubes
• alphabet flash cards {two sets for games}
• concentration game
• Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders
• Hi-Ho Cherry-Oh
• large plastic coins
• dot markers

Some activities that can be done at this age are:

• word building with letter tiles. Just write a word on an index card and allow the child to build the word with the letter tiles and practice sounding them out. You can work on word families {cat, bat, mat, rat} or words from a book you have been reading.
• letter building with playdough, craft sticks, or pipe cleaners.
• learning to add and subtract with dice. Or Legos. Or beans. Or counting bears. Just make it a game, and your child will love it!
• playing concentration with alphabet flash cards. Use a few letters at time, preferably some the child is learning.
• writing letters in shaving cream, whipped cream, or a salt try.

I hope that you understand the main point of this post: The early years should be a gentle introduction into learning. Don't push worksheets and reading lessons on your young child. They will learn all they need to learn and more by the activities listed above. Enjoy your child. Read books. Play outside. Read more books. Play outside some more.

I am actually in the process of writing a "The Early Years: Preschool Guide" curriculum guide. It is a 5-day, weekly schedule with nature study, reading, alphabet and math fun, and Bible lessons. I'm hoping to have it done early May, so I can use it with my almost-4 year old, Titus.

Come back tomorrow for the next post in this series: Charlotte Mason Homeschooling - Multiple Ages.

Visit some of the other participating Crew Members for their Tips for Homeschool Parents.

Annette @ A Net In Time

Brandy @ Kingdom Academy Homeschool

Brenda @ Counting Pinecones

Carol @ Home Sweet Life

Cassandra @ A Glimpse of Normal

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm

Crystal @ Crystal Starr

DaLynn @ Biblical Womanhood

Danielle @ Sensible Whimsy