First Meeting Information

It is hard to believe that this month is but a few days from ending.  I'm sure most of us have either already started our new school year or are a few weeks away from beginning.  I hope you all had a great summer break and are fully charged for a new year.

I'm so excited about our new group.  We have about thirteen moms interested so far.  I look forward to our first meeting on September 20th at 7:00 pm.  Location will go out to those on my email list.  We will begin our year with a 40 minute book discussion of the first five chapters in Catherine Levison's A Charlotte Mason Education.  I understand that Amazon is currently out of stock but hopefully Simply Charlotte Mason isn't.  If for some reason they are, please let me know and maybe we can coordinate sharing a book until you are able to get a copy of your own.

The second half of our meeting will be dedicated to watching a 36 minute DVD of Eve Anderson's Teacher Training Tools on Narration.  She was a teacher and headmistress in a Charlotte Mason school in England.  The video will demonstrate this very important and pivotal method of learning the CM way.  I know that this can sometimes seem like a difficult thing to do or get started with in our homes.  Hopefully, this tool will give us some instruction to begin the practice or to pick up some good tips on implementing with our children.

In case anyone is feeling the need to read more and be inspired I wanted to recommend a few books that are not necessarily on methods or how to, but explain the heart of why Charlotte Mason is a good approach.  The first is For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay and the second is When Children Love to Learn by Elaine Cooper and contributors.

Over the weekend we had a great unofficial support group session viewing the Books & Things Seminar.  I am so grateful to our host and the moms that could attend.   This is a wonderful group of moms.   Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I posted some topics under our schedules tabs that we will be covering this fall.  If there is anyone interested in leading one of these topics please let me know.  I think this would be a great way for us to practice narrating what we are learning : )

If possible please follow us on blogger or sign up to get post updates by email.  It would be nice if this is our official meeting updater.

Learning & Supporting Each Other: An Introduction

We are a group of moms that over the course of the summer started wondering whether there was a gentle approach to educating our children without undermining their educational abilities.  A way to let a love of learning grow in our children.  A way in which they would  build such a relationship with their studies that their education was actually enjoyable and meaningful.  A way in which all tedious and unnecessary tasks could be eliminated from daily activities to allow them to just be kids.  A way that an appreciation for God's creation could flourish.  A way to provide them with a generous Liberal Arts education without overwhelming them ...

We are excited to learn and support each other through our home schooling journey using the wise wisdom from an English 19th century educator; Miss Charlotte Mason.  Through her philosophy all these things can be possible.  We are not looking to reinvent the wheel.  We will look to those who have done this successfully and try to learn from them as well.  There is a movement out there and we are happy to be a part of it.

Our meetings will take place in the Conejo and Simi Valleys in California.  We will strive to meet once a month during the traditional school year (September - June) on Tuesday evenings.  We are a new group and welcome home school educators looking to learn or educate their families with Charlotte Mason methods.  I will be so bold as to say that if you believe like Ms. Mason did and are looking to make "[E]ducation (is) an atmosphere, a discipline, a life,"  in your home this is a group for you.

We will begin with an introduction about Charlotte Mason and her methods.  We will pick a book to discuss and a topic based on her methods to explore.  Some of the topics we hope to cover are listed in our page tabs.  Our first meeting date will be posted in the Schedule page soon. Be patient with us, as we are all learning together how to educate our children using the wisdom of Ms. Mason and her gentle approach.  This blog will serve as a journal for our group and the relationships we hope to build.