Today, we want to do Stage 4.
I like to call it the Check-up Stage.
Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast.
I'm Sonya Shafer.
We’ve been talking about how to make the transition to the Charlotte Mason method in
your homeschool, easing into it little by little.
We’ve talked already about Stages 1-3: The Basics, Once a Week and Everyday Subjects.
I recommend that you watch those videos if you haven’t already.
Today, we want to do Stage 4.
I like to call it the Check-up Stage.
At this stage, I want you to look at three different subjects and just check on them
and make sure that you are using Charlotte Mason methods for those three subjects.
The subjects are science, math, and language arts.
Let’s start with science.
The way that you would teach science in a Charlotte Mason approach is through living
books and narration.
We already talked about those in Stage 1, so watch that video if you need a refresher course.
I often get asked “Where can I find good, living science books?”
Well there is a great list on our website.
I'll leave a link to that in the notes.
You want to pair the living books and narration with nature study and you’re already doing
nature study if you’ve completed Stage 2, the things that we do once a week.
So make sure you’re doing both of those things.
Now in the upper-level sciences, around grades 7-12 let’s say, you’re going to want to
start making a transition in those grades.
It’s hard sometimes to find a good, living science book that has accurate, up-to-date
scientific information, that is not filled with evolution, and that actually helps the
child learn how to do those upper-level sciences.
Many of the good living books at that level will just tell about that particular science,
they tell about chemistry or about biology, but they don’t give the child practice in
the math aspects, actually doing chemistry or biology or physics.
So, up in those grades we like to recommend getting a conversational textbook, one that
will help your child understand those upper-level sciences well, but also one that will help
them make that transition to textbooks.
If they’re doing further education upon graduation, they’re going to need an introduction
to textbooks somewhere along the way.
And Charlotte did use some textbooks for her students.
So that’s where we recommend that you go ahead and incorporate some textbooks, but also
bring alongside good, living science books that you can pair with that textbook and keep
that love of learning alive.
Make sure that it’s a conversational textbook, one that is very conversational in tone,
not just a fact dump.
All right, so check on your science materials and make sure that those fall in line with
a Charlotte Mason approach.
The next subject that we want to check up on is math.
Math, in a Charlotte Mason approach, uses everyday objects around the house as manipulatives
for the kids to actually see how the math works.
They start thinking mathematically and see the concepts in front of them.
But then as soon as they can, we set aside those manipulatives.
Also math should be done with short lessons.
And by that I mean in the younger elementary grades, you’re looking at about a fifteen
minute lesson for the new concept with a five minute review mental math lesson at the end,
so twenty minutes total.
As the kids get older, you can stretch that out a little bit longer and a little bit longer.
But try not to have your younger kids sitting down doing a worksheet for an hour a day.
That is not a Charlotte Mason approach to math.
Charlotte Mason wanted the teacher, the parent, to interact with the child.
It is a wonderful opportunity to build that relationship with your child and to see for
yourself whether they’re getting it, whether they’re understanding.
Also, one thing to keep in mind: I mentioned it should not be worksheet driven.
Don’t just give your child a worksheet.
In the lower grades especially there was very little handwriting done in math.
I know that’s kind of a foreign concept to many of us who were brought up on
math worksheets.
But, just as we use oral narration in those younger grades and not any written narration, that
carried over into math lessons as well.
Most of the math was done orally with the parent or with the teacher, and very little
handwriting was done.
Because in those younger grades the kids are still really having to focus on that handwriting.
It takes a lot of effort and a lot of mental concentration.
So, we don’t want to steal that concentration and give it to the handwriting when it should
be focused on the math.
So remove that obstacle out of the younger kids’ way.
We put writing to the side and we do not require very much of it at all, so that the children
can focus on thinking mathematically.
You want to make sure that they are learning the “why” behind the “how.”
It’s not just “Here’s how you do this particular thing.
Use this formula, and you can figure out the answer to the worksheet problem.”
No, Charlotte wanted students to know the “why” behind it, to really think mathematically.
There’s a great article that is on our website, written by Richele Baburina,
and I'll include a link to that in the notes for you.
Then the third subject that I want you to do a checkup on is language arts.
You’ve already been doing some language arts.
The poetry that you’re reading once or twice a week, that’s language arts.
The literature book that you’re reading every day with your family, that’s language arts.
The oral narrations that your children are already doing for history and Bible and that
you’re going to be doing for science, those are language arts, narrations. It's oral composition
is what it is.
So you already have a lot of language arts integrated into the other subjects.
What I want you to focus on here and do a little checkup on is just a couple of other
areas of language arts.
First one is for handwriting.
Make sure the resources you are using for handwriting are doing a few things:
Number one: Keeping the passages very short.
We want to focus on quality over quantity.
We want our children to give their very best handwriting and if they do that, they’re done.
So don’t over-tax them by giving them this whole sheet that they have to do, or that they
have to write for ten minutes.
Have you ever tried writing for ten minutes solid?
It makes your hand hurt.
So keep those handwriting lessons short.
And then the other thing that I want you to remember is that what they are copying should
be ideas, not just dry facts.
Let them have copywork from scripture, from hymn lyrics, good poetry, passages from good
literature books, things that contain great ideas that will feed their minds even as they
are practicing their penmanship.
So that’s copywork for handwriting.
Another area that I want you to check your language arts in is what you’re using for spelling.
In Charlotte Mason’s approach, the children did not do formal spelling lessons
until ten years old.
Now they were doing some spelling before that in their reading lessons, and even their copywork
helps them with their spelling.
But at ten years old is when Charlotte Mason introduced prepared dictation and that is
mainly focused on spelling.
Now, you heard my word “prepared” when I said that.
“Prepared dictation.”
It’s not cold turkey dictation.
Charlotte did not want the children just guessing at how you spell a word because that sets
up that eternal debate.
You know, we all have some words that to this day we can’t remember, you know,
"Is that one 'er' or 'ar'?"
Because we’ve seen it both ways and it’s set up two images in our heads.
Charlotte wanted to avoid that situation for children as much as possible.
So, she wanted the children to study the passages ahead of time, and then, when it’s time
for the dictation lesson, you make sure that the children know how to spell the words first
before you ever dictate the passage.
Watch for that area of language arts, make sure that it’s in line with
Charlotte Mason methods as well.
And then the other one I want you to check is grammar, English grammar.
Charlotte did not introduce this subject, again, until the children were ten years old,
same as dictation.
And when she did introduce it, it was a very straightforward instruction: “This is a noun.
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.”
But then she would bring in good, literary passages for them to practice with: “Here
are three italicized words in this poem.
Tell me which one is the noun.”
Things like that.
So even then you can bring in ideas along with the grammar lessons.
And then one other thing that I want you to do:
At this point if you have kids who are ten years old, or older, start making a transition
to having them do some written narrations.
Once they are comfortable with the oral narrations, hopefully by this stage you have become comfortable
with the idea of using narrations along with your living books for history, for Bible,
and now for science, the older kids, once they have gotten a grasp on their oral narrations,
start to make a transition to writing some of those narrations,
that is their written compositions.
So make sure that you are making that transition for your older children.
There’s a great video that I did a few years ago called "The Natural Progression of Language Arts."
I want you to watch that video. It will really help you see how Charlotte laid out this whole
progression from the early years, preschool, all the way up to high school.
So you see when each part of language arts comes in and how they build on the foundation
that was already laid.
It makes total sense once you see the big picture.
I'll leave a link to that video in the notes for you.
So, your assignment for Stage 4: Make sure that the materials you're using for science,
for math, and for language arts agree with the Charlotte Mason method.
And if any of them don’t agree, then make changes in those as you feel comfortable
and as you’re ready.
Don't forget to check the links down below for the living science books list,
for that math article, and for the language arts video.
And also, if daily lesson plans would be helpful to you in these particular subjects, math,
language arts, and science, you can check out our Individual Studies lesson plans.
Because those are the subjects that need to be done one-on-one, individually, at each
child’s pace.
All the other subjects can be done as a whole family together.
I'll put links to the individual studies in the notes as well for you.
Next time, we’ll look at the final stage for the transition.
But, look at all the subjects you’ve already made the transition in.
Really, you’re doing mostly Charlotte Mason now.
Well done!
The final stage is just going to be icing on the cake, some final subjects that you
can add in if you want to and as you feel ready.
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Thanks for watching. See you next time.