Mother Culture: A Charlotte Mason Support Group in Bradford, Ontario *Note date change!*

** Please note the date changes below.  Thank you all for your kind words and support as our family has struggled to find health this fall.  We are pleased to report that hubby is now recovering at home after a week long hospital stay. **

I am so excited to start a new year of Charlotte Mason Support Group!  As many of you know I host this little book club for very selfish reasons as I am so energized and encouraged by the visits of like-minded mamas every 5-6 week.  You give me a boost that helps me to imagine I might survive this crazy game for a few more weeks. 

If you have never visited, please feel welcome to come and join us.  This is a meeting for home educating parents interested in or practicing the Charlotte Mason philosophy.  Babes in arms are welcome but otherwise it is a nice evening for mom’s to get out and just socialize without our little cherubs.  We meet on Thursdays from 7:30-9:30.  This year, we are going to turn over a new leaf and start promptly at 7:30 and I will give an incentive – an on-time draw – for the first meeting, so come a few minutes early if you can. :)

Our readings and discussion always revolve around the Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education and the implementation of that philosophy.  If you are unfamiliar with her then, in short, she was a British educator of about 100 years ago who believed in the value and ability of all children despite their age or social status: a revolutionary idea at the time.  She taught that we have three main tools of education which are summed up in the phrase, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life”.  In other words, we don’t just set before our kids a vast cornucopia of academic matter (life) but just as important is the acquisition of strong habits (discipline) like attentiveness and perseverance in order to prepare us for adult life and work.  And all of this must be presented in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids but respects them as persons and thereby doesn’t bribe them to learn for the sake of marks or the satisfaction of the teacher but for the love of learning itself.  She encouraged us to do this by not creating a specialized schoolish environment (atmosphere) but by putting our kids in touch with great ideas, amazing literature, beautiful artwork, and music and simply experiencing them. As such, she encouraged the use of narration, living books, short lessons and lots of free time, nature hikes, and being exposed to great art and music. 

If this style of educating resonates with your family and you live nearby enough to the Bradford, Ontario area, then plan to visit and jot the dates in your calendar now.  The book that we are reading this year is For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  I’ve read this book before and it is among my top three homeschooling book favourites.  Rereading it right now is such a treat.  It’s very inspirational and philosophical.  If you’d like a copy of the book, I have extras in stock at $18.75 each, plus GST.

The dates and reading schedule are below.  Please do let me know if you are coming so I know how many folks to plan for.  If you haven’t been here before, email me for address information at cori@mapletreepublications.ca.

In addition to our book study we also try to bring balance to the meeting with some theory or practical application.  This year we decided to add practical pursuits for moms, or what Miss Mason would call “Mother Culture”, some of the passions and hobbies that we as mamas pursue to enrich our own education, (which, in turn, will enrich the lives and education of our children).  We would love to have 8 different people volunteer to lead discussion on these chats and so far have had many suggestions but only settled on the topic for the first meeting: Catherine Dell’Erba will be sharing about organic living and choosing foods wisely for our families so please feel free to bring any ideas or resources that could add to that discussion as well.

Dates, reading assignments, and mother culture topics are as follows:

September 24^th, 2015 - CANCELLED

Read Introduction and Chapter 1: What is Education? (pages 1-11)
Mother Culture: Organic living facilitated by Catherine Dell’Erba

October 22nd - * NOTE DATE CORRECTION *  

Read Introduction and Chapter 1: What is Education? (pages 1-11)
 & Chapter 2: “Children Are Born Persons” (pages 12-41)
Mother Culture: TBA

December 3^rd  

Read Chapter 3: Authority and Freedom (pages 42-58)
Mother Culture: TBA

January 7^th, 2016

Read Chapter 4: A New Perspective (pages 59-90)
Mother Culture: TBA

February 11^th  

Read Chapter 5: Education: A Science of Relationships; Knowledge of God (pages 91-105)
Mother Culture: TBA

March 24^th  

Read Chapter 5: Education: A Science of Relationships; Knowledge of Man (pages 106-132)
Mother Culture: TBA

(April 2^nd KWCHEA Conference in Kitchener, Ontario)

(April 16^th RVHEA Conference in Ottawa, Ontario)
(April 29^th & 30^th OCHEC Convention in Hamilton, Ontario)

May 5th

Read Chapter 5: Education: A Science of Relationships; Knowledge of the Universe (pages 133-147)
Mother Culture: TBA

(May 28^th KATCH Conference in Peterborough, Ontario)

(May 27^th & 28^th HENB Conference in Sussex, New Brunswick)

June 2^nd

Read Chapter 6: The Way of the Will, Reason, and the Unity of the Whole (pages 148-158)
Mother Culture: TBA

(June??? Tentative: Barrie New and Used Homeschool Sale)

(June 10^th TEACH New and Use Sale in Brantford, Ontario)

Looking forward to seeing many of you at these gatherings! I am so looking forward to these meetings this year.

Blessings on your 2015-2016 home school year!

Cori

www.mapletreepublications.ca

cori@mapletreepublications.ca
905-778-9412

A Fresh Start

Well, how has your first week of school gone?  It’s so neat to hear from so many of you on Facebook at our new page, “Maple Tree Publications”, and to see your excitement over new books, new routines, new lessons.  September is a clean slate, a new start.  I have even heard from some of you who homeschool throughout the year and still there is that air of turning over a new leaf.
 

So, I decided that we had to participate in the fervor and to take pictures so I could post pictures of the shining faces of my little cherubs.  My kids had to search for the number of their grade while we walked idyllically around the Toronto Zoo on our first day of school.  We only found a number one.  We saw the gorillas and panda bears and also saw the komodo dragon being fed and talked to the zoo keeper because no one else was there to chat with her.  We took a fun first day of school picture on the bronze statue of the komodo dragons.   It was the continuing of a tradition started a dozen years ago: if we are going to do this education thing differently, we will do it different from the start and always take a field trip on the first day of school.  All in all we had a great day. 

The drive home was quite peaceful despite the city traffic we had to drive through.  Dinner and the evening were just fine.  Then 1 am rolled around.

My head had finally just hit the pillow after staying up late to make sure I was ready for the next morning and almost simultaneously two girls stumbled bleary eyed out of their bedrooms, a bit of panic in their steps...  Sick!  It was a long night.  Our hopes of a positive start on Wednesday were dashed.  No back to normal then or Thursday.  Sigh!

I get overwhelmed at times, wishing things went better, that I was a better teacher, more organized, less impatient, less irritable, wanting to deal with kids who were always enthusiastic, who listen the first time, who don’t leave wet towels on the floor in their rooms until they stink.  Sigh.  My plans just don’t always work.  I feel like I am failing my kids.  But then when I step back and look at things with far - sighted glasses I see how far we have come and I also see so much that we have to look forward to.  It’s then that I am reminded that it isn't worth getting worried about the daily grind.  There is always time for a fresh start. 

So tomorrow, we will try again for the anticipated gentle startup that we had hoped for. I think it's going to take us a few weeks at this rate to settle in. I had hoped we would be off and running by the end of this week or at least by early next.  Sigh! One of my sickies did perk up and voluntarily did two of her math lessons this evening. Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.

I am realizing that our real lessons are learned when the going gets tough, not so much when we get to see the Komodo Dragon keeper impart all her wisdom about her charge.  Its learning to juggle sick kids and all the other things that the day throws at me without giving up and crying…. Too often.  It’s my kids learning to help one another out when there are two of them sick and only one of me to be the nurse.  The ones who aren’t sick (yet!?) learn to step up and help with newspapers or make the meal or empty the dishwasher.  They have learned a lot this week.  They’ve practiced skills we’ve been honing for years. 

So even if I had done the best of planning for this new school year, I would not have been able to plan these lessons.  I would have avoided them.  But learning to work together in these small adversities has been a greater lesson for these first few days than if we had got all the language arts and math lessons going. – Though I am hoping that tomorrow will be the day to tackle those lessons, finally!

A word of wisdom that my pastor imparted a few weeks ago has been rolling around in my head: Courage, true, biblical courage, is never cultivated in comfort.

Mamas (and Papas and others): know that your struggles are not in vain. You are building a lasting legacy so be strong and courageous! Wishing you all the best today as you build. ;) And for many days after.

Peace,

Cori

www.mapletreepublications.ca
cori@mapletreepublications.ca