CMER

Dawn Rhymer

by 10 Comments

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?

by 1 Comment

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?

[Read more…] about Picture Study

by Leave a Comment

A Journey with Monet

Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat
Coming into Giverny in Winter, 1885

It was very fitting that I was standing in “In Winter,” the fifth section of the Money exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. I let the audio device I had been dutifully holding near my ear drop to my side. I tried to remember anything I had heard which had captured my imagination. I couldn’t. I tried to remember in detail any of the paintings I had seen. I couldn’t. I felt cold and empty. Would I make it through the Monet exhibition with nothing to show for it? Would my spirit and my soul not grow in beauty and knowledge? Would I simply have checked a box?

The din of the crowd, each with his own audio device, and the visual cacophony of the exhibition overwhelmed me. There were so many people, so many paintings, and so much to hear from those who had carefully made the audio I had been listening to. But at that moment, none of it was living. My eyes darted frantically and desperately around “In Winter,” and I prayed for wisdom on how the amazing privilege of standing before Monet’s paintings would leave an indelible mark upon me. [Read more…] about A Journey with Monet