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February 17, 2020 by Dawn Rhymer Leave a Comment

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.

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February 4, 2020 by CMER Team Leave a Comment

CMER 2020: Waiting List

CMER 2020 is full! We are grateful for that, and we are looking forward to seeing those who have registered on Friday.

Sadly, though, we often receive cancellations the week of the retreat. Sometimes the cancellations even occur the morning of.

Do not hesitate to put your name on the waiting list. We will be in contact with you if a spot opens up.

January 22, 2020 by Dawn Rhymer 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.)

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?

January 19, 2020 by Dawn Rhymer 1 Comment

Picture Study

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

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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December 12, 2019 by Dawn Rhymer Leave a Comment

A Journey with Monet

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

December 5, 2019 by Karen Canon Leave a Comment

Plutarch, with Glee

What do you do when a book is hard? Plutarch’s Lives is hard. The temptation of the parent is to ask questions, to prompt, to remind. To basically do the mind work so that they ‘get it.’ This little nugget below is in my commonplace book and, at least once a year, I find myself returning to it.

T.H. White wrote his version of the Arthurian legend in the years before and after World War II. The young Arthur, known as Wart, receives his education at the hands of a wizard, Merlyn.

The Wart did not know what Merlyn was talking about, but he liked him to talk. He did not like the grown-ups who talked down to him, but the ones who went on talking in their usual way, leaving him to leap along in their wake, jumping at meanings, guessings, clutching at known words, and chuckling at complicated jokes as they suddenly dawned. He had the glee of the porpoise then, pouring and leaping through strange seas. The Once and Future King, chapter V

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