Welcome to week 17, The Child and Mother Nature Charlotte Mason Home Education Read-Along Series.
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The Child and Mother Nature Charlotte Mason Home Education Read-along
This week we are reading pages 78-80 of the Home Education volume. The Child Should be Made Familiar with Natural Objects.
If you want to see the rest of these posts in one place, you may view them HERE. And don’t forget to download your free worksheets with each reading! If you are interested in a Charlotte Mason “curriculum”, our favorite resource is Ambleside Online.
****If you need to purchase the Charlotte Mason Home Education volume, it is available in a newer version HERE. (Affiliate link)****
I am using the Original Homeschooling Series, Volume One, Home Education- the pink books.
The Mother Must Refrain from Too Much Talk
Charlotte emphasizes that the mother should keep her talking to a minimum when out in nature with her children. Allowing a child space to explore, observe and interact with nature themselves will present far more learning opportunities than if she were to be talking and lecturing the entire time out of doors.
Making a New Acquaintance
The real challenge for a mother is to keep talking in check during these times outside so as to afford the children and opportunity to become intimately acquainted with Mother Nature themselves. It’s okay to respond to what children want to show us with a quick observation, a naming of something or a short explanation. But the priority must remain to let the child be so that THEY engage with the natural world without reliance upon you for every morsel.
Two Things Permissible to the Mother
CM states that, in moderation, the mother may point out touches of loveliness to the child such as a particular landscape or grouping of colors with delight and she may also comment of such things in regard to their Creator, God. The purpose of this is to guide the child’s observation to the Creator and the beauty of His Creation.
My takeaway from This Week’s Charlotte Mason Reading
Again and again, CM impresses upon us the confidence that a child is capable of learning so much more than we credit them with if only we will step out of the way and let the observe, experience, think and do.
We do not have to hand feed every piece of knowledge to them in order for them to KNOW. If we will allow them space, with the occasional comment or nugget of information, the child with discover the rest without much help from us.
How about you? What’s your takeaway this week from the reading???
Don’t forget your free printable to go with this week’s reading!
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