CMER

Dawn Rhymer

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St. Matthew Passion

(This guide was first shared in January 2017.)

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat
Bach’s autograph score

Sometimes the depths of my illiteracy still astound me. I have shared of my past, of my disdain or great indifference toward all things beautiful, and the pride which wrapped itself around those beliefs. How could my heart, soul, mind, and body have made it so long with so little? My current, favorite verse comes from Acts 13:8. It simply states, speaking of God’s patience with the Israelites during the Exodus, “And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.” I am about forty, I have been in the wilderness, and God has so patiently put up with me. This verse both brings me to rejoice and simultaneously drives me to weep.

The project began with simple research on O Sacred Head Now Wounded for my local Charlotte Mason learning community. I came across this statement, “The tune — those of you who love sacred choral music, you’re going to immediately recognize it as the PASSION CHORALE, as a part of a very, very famous piece of music composed by one of the greatest composers of all time, anywhere in any culture, and certainly one of the finest Christian sacred choral composers ever, Johann Sebastian Bach.”[1]

I had no idea what they were talking about. What very, very famous piece of music? The search for the answer led to a consuming project which included listening to no less than twenty hours over five days of Bach’s Passio Domini nostri J.C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum (The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist Matthew) or simply, St. Matthew Passion. The end result, inspired by Cindy Rollins’ 25 Days of Christmas with Handel’s Messiah, is A 40 Day Devotional for Worship.

The devotional spreads the listening of the St. Matthew Passion over 40 days. I highly recommend using it together with the performance by the Netherlands Bach Society. I hope and pray this devotional will be a blessing to you and your family. May God be glorified.

A 40 Day Devotional for Worship

[1] Hymns of the Faith: O Sacred Head Now Wounded, A Presentation of First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

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CMER 2020 Plenaries

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat
Sketch by Andrea Cunningham

This year it was our privilege and honor to welcome Art Middlekauff as our plenary speaker.

One attendee shared of Art’s plenaries,

Loved them all – very informative and easy to follow. Every one of them was both foundational and relevant and I came away having been refreshed by the reminder of what we are seeking to do in our children’s education and why, as well as having learned some new things about the CM method.

I am happy to tell you that much of what we heard* is available through Charlotte Mason Poetry.

Did you miss part of Friday because of the weather? Do you want a quote or a chart? Would you simply like to listen again? Would you like to share what you learned with a spouse or a  friend? Were you unable to join us this year? If so, you will find links to each of the plenaries below.

For those who were able to be with us, do you have a favorite take-away from each plenary? When I introduced Art, I said I had something from each plenary that had been life changing for me, but I wasn’t going to tell so as not to give a spoiler. Now the retreat is over, I can freely share.

[Read more…] about CMER 2020 Plenaries

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Stressful Narrations: Whose fault is this, anyway?

(This blog was published on the original CMER site in October 2015. It is has been slightly modified.)

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat

I hope I don’t come across as picking on parents and teachers, but I guess I am. I know our children can be lazy; I know our children can be stubborn. We are just going to set that aside for now and focus on ourselves. A main emphasis of the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat is Self-Education. As we learn more about MIss Mason’s educational philosophies and apply them, the natural, beautiful overflow is going to be into the lives of our children.

Have you ever lost your patience with a child during a narration? Have you ever been discouraged because the narration didn’t seem good enough…too short, too long, too many missing “important” details, too many mispronunciations, or maybe a complete inability to narrate? Have you ever been tempted to “help” your child along, knowing you were violating some of Miss Mason’s principles, but, really, “just this once (or twice) it is going to be OK because we are going to LEARN from it.” I have, and I have a feeling I’m not alone. [Read more…] about Stressful Narrations: Whose fault is this, anyway?

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Picture Study

This post is part of our series on our favorite homeschool resources.

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat

After having been a member of the Aspen Grover Educational Community co-op for the past five years, my family is going it alone this year. This has been quite a transition.

While there have been many blessings of the co-op, at the heart of it was that we were families who 1) had chosen the Charlotte Mason method of education and 2) were willing to help each other in the education of our children.

I have held close to my heart what Nancy Kelly has shared about her Truth, Beauty, Goodness Community.

The point of our group is learning in community and allowing the mother to spread the feast to her children without having to plan every single subject and lesson, which can lead to burnout.

What was I going to do now that I no longer had this help? Were my children going to get a subpar education? Was I going to burn out?

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