A

Architecture

Immersion Presented by Karen Canon

Architecture is another avenue by which we travel through time and see the ’emotions, aspirations and beliefs’ of the civilizations that produced it. It is both an art form and science, and it earned a place on Mason’s schedules for her students. Come join us in this Immersion Session as we experience one approach to the study of architecture. We will practice various forms of narration and will use a Century Chart in order to see how an architect’s life and works fit in and reflect the events of his day.

B

Story-telling: Family Stories

Workshop Presented by Dawn Rhymer

Every father and mother should have a repertoire of stories––a dozen will do, beautiful stories beautifully told…

Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character p. 216

What is Education after all? The answer came in the phrase, “Education is the science of relations.”…What we are concerned with is that the fact we personally have relations with all that there is in the present, all that there has been in the past all that there will be in the future–with all above us and all about us–and that fullness of living, expansion, expression and serviceableness for each of us depend upon how far we apprehend these relationship and how many of them we lay hold of. Every child is heir to an enormous patrimony, heir to all ages, inheritor of all the present.

Charlotte Mason, Parent’s Review, Vol 13, pp. 485

Do you tell your children family stories? Do you realize your family stories are connecting your children and your grandchildren to the past, present and future of your family? Charlotte Mason saw story-telling as a vital element in our children’s education, and she also saw education as being The Science of Relations. In this workshop, we will look at their connection.

We will also learn about story-telling from her Volumes and take a step back in time to attend “The Art of Story-Telling” at a PNEU Conference. We will glean much from a modern story-teller who is in line with many of Miss Mason’s principles. And, of course, there will be a few family stories thrown in. Hopefully you will leave this workshop excited and equipped to tell your children stories, making them heir to all ages of your family.

C

Composer Study

Immersion Presented by Jennifer Taylor

Hearing should tell us a great many things, but the great and perfect joy which we owe to him is Music. Many great men have put their beautiful thoughts, not into books, or pictures, or buildings, but into musical score, to be sung with the voice or played on instruments, and so full are these musical compositions of the minds of their makers, that people who care for music can always tell who has composed the music they hear, even if they have never heard the particular movement before. Thus, in a manner, the composer speaks to them, and they are perfectly happy in listening to what he has to say.

Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, p. 30-31

You are invited to come in, take a seat and tune your ears during this composer study immersion. You will receive hands-on experience in how to guide your students in a music appreciation lesson as you take on the role of the student in a Charlotte Mason schoolroom. We will highlight Megan Hoyt’s book, A Touch of the Infinite: Studies in Music Appreciation with Charlotte Mason. Following the lesson, there will time for questions and answers. Resources to enhance your understanding of music appreciation will be available.

D

Shakespeare

Immersion Presented by Sarah Lancaster

And Shakespeare? He, indeed, is not to be classed, and timed, and treated as one amongst others,––he, who might well be the daily bread of the intellectual life; Shakespeare is not to be studied in a year; he is to be read continuously throughout life, from ten years old and onwards.

Charlotte Mason, Vol 5, Formation of Character, p.226

Despite her wide reading and her admiration of many thinkers, Charlotte Mason placed William Shakespeare in a class of his own. He is one of the few writers whose work was considered so important that students studied his work year after year after year. Unfortunately, many parents today are hesitant to introduce their students to the Bard. Whether it is from their own intimidation, a feeling that this Elizabethan poet couldn’t possible speak into the lives of modern children, or concerns about the mature themes in Shakespeare’s work—perhaps all of the above or something totally different?!—too many students have yet to be introduced to the emotion, the magic, the beauty that is Shakespeare. In this immersion session, we will model a Shakespeare lesson, discuss how to approach bawdy or violent material, and brainstorm fun ideas for getting kids up and acting.

E

Ourselves

Workshop Presented by Karen Canon

Mason believed a Moral Education was to be accomplished by both indirect and direct means. She wrote Ourselves for middle and high school children in order that they may have an ‘ordered presentation of the possibilities that lie in human nature, and of the risks that attend these.’ (Volume 4, Preface)

In this workshop, we will explore what Mason meant by ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ approaches to a Moral Education and how Ourselves fits into her scheme. We will also practice reading and narrating various excerpts.

F

Narration 1

What and Why

Workshop Presented by Dawn Rhymer

Principle 14: As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should ‘tell back’ after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.

Charlotte Mason

Narration is one of Miss Mason’s foundational principles, and, as it is written in Principle 14, it sounds simple. Why then does narration sometimes seem so hard? Often this is because we do not fully understand what narration is or the why behind it. In this workshop we will cover both of these topics and leave you motivated to continue implementing narration, which is, as Miss Mason calls it, the ground-plan of your children’s education. (Mason, V1 p231)

G

Nature Study in Community

Immersion Presented by Jennifer Taylor

“We’re all meant to be naturalists.”

Charlotte Mason

You are invited to be inspired in the teaching and learning of Nature Study in this immersion session. Nature Study in a Charlotte Mason education can be experienced in several delightful ways. During this immersion, you have the opportunity to participate in Nature Study as a student in a group setting on the beautiful Ponderosa property. Our time together will include a planned object lesson, time for exploration, journaling and shared narrations. Time for discussion will follow the Nature Study. Be sure to bring your nature journal, paints, pencils and appropriate nature walking attire (boots and coats recommended!).

H

Picture Study

Immersion Presented by Sarah Lancaster

What is Picture Study? When I sit down with my children on a Monday afternoon, what does it look like? How can I teach my children to love art when I know little or nothing about it myself? What happens after we look at it?! What about projects and crafts? Why does Picture Study even matter? Isn’t this just an “extra” to tack on when we have free time in the schedule?

Studying beautiful art is an integral part, not only of a Charlotte Mason education, but of a rich and full life. Many of us find ourselves overwhelmed and confused about what that actually looks like. We ask, “How can I—not an artist and woefully ignorant about art history—introduce this to my kids?” It’s easier than you think. In this immersion session, we will do a picture study together, discuss Miss Mason’s purpose and goals for including this subject, and examine what we need to bring to the table to help our children unlock the beauty of the Masters.

I

CM in Community

Relationships in the Life and Learning

Workshop Presented by Jennifer Taylor

…community is based on life with other persons in the spirit of Christ: to support them, to empower them, and to learn from them.

Joan Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

Charlotte Mason states that “education is the science of relations”. This includes the relationships that we have with one another as parents, teachers and students. Book Study, co-op, natural history club…these are all examples of ways we can live and learn in a Charlotte Mason community. In this workshop, we will discuss the purpose of being in a Charlotte Mason learning community as well as present ideas to start a community in your area. Resources will be available to support you in this endeavor.

J

Scheduling

Workshop Presented by Sarah Lancaster

There are approximate 12,874,598 systems out there to help you whip your day into shape. This isn’t one of them. We all know that we need a plan to keep our days running smoothly, but too often we try to force ourselves to accommodate someone else’s system. It chafes like a badly-fitted pair of heels. Our learning either winds up feeling harried and frantic or it putters out altogether. How can you figure out what your family needs?

This workshop will present a profusion of planning possibilities. From the free spirit who wants to take each moment as it comes, to the strict planner who swoons over spreadsheets (color-coded, please), we’ll look at a spectrum of options, take some time to brainstorm our own family’s challenges and priorities, and discuss how to create a healthy balance between a daily schedule and the unpredictable nature of parenting and homeschooling.

K

Poetry

Immersion Presented by Karen Canon

Mason tells us that poetry, literature and art are avenues by which ‘the best thoughts of the best minds’ reach the minds of children. (Volume 6, p. 157) A poem may be the very height of ‘a worthy thought, well put’ combining the best of men’s ideas with the craft of language. In this Immersion Session, we will experience poetry in the manner Mason advocated, forming a relationship with a poet and his/her works and gaining a sense of the times in which that poet lived and wrote. We will practice various forms of narration and response. Handouts will include a term’s worth of selections to use in your own homeschool.

L

Narration 2

How

Workshop Presented by Dawn Rhymer

We are always asking our children to narrate. Do you fully understand how hard a task you are asking of your child? Have you actually tried to narrate yourself? During this workshop, we are going to cover the how of narration and practice many types. Hopefully both your understanding of narration and empathy for your child will grow as you get the chance to practice on your own. In addition, by trying narrations, you will leave the workshop better knowing when to use the different types.

M

The Mystery of the Grand Conversation

Conversation Facilitated by Dawn Rhymer

I am often asked questions specifically about The Grand Conversation. As I took a step back to research this topic more fully, I learned the term is not to be found even once in Miss Mason’s Volumes. What then is The Grand Conversation? What part does it play in a Charlotte Mason Education? How has it become such a buzz-word in the community? Join me as I share what I have learned about the history of this term and what Miss Mason might say to us today it if she could whisper into our conversation. Finally, we will have our own Grand Conversation as we discuss and brainstorm ideas on how to implement The Grand Conversation as part of our Charlotte Mason Education.

N

Charlotte Mason: The Little Ones

Conversation Facilitated by Misty Sena

Charlotte Mason said, “In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother’s first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air.” (Mason, V1 p. 43) At the same time, she did not just mean for them to spend their early years running wild. She wrote much about laying a foundation in the early years.

During our chat, we will discuss the two areas that Charlotte Mason focused on. The first being hours upon hours of time spent outdoors and what that might look like. The second is the necessity of purposefully and thoughtfully training our children in good habits which she likened to the rails for a train.

O

Plutarch

Immersion Presented by Karen Canon

To inspire in her students the quality of citizenship, Mason had her students read from the multiple-volume set commonly known as Plutarch’s Lives. ‘Plutarch taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. I read of men in public affairs, governing or massacring their species. I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice.’ (Shelley’s Frankenstein)

In this Immersion Session, we will read and narrate from one of Plutarch’s Lives, gaining an understanding of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ behind it. Handouts will include the text for one term of Plutarch Study to use in your own homeschool. (Note: the life we will cover is one not already covered by Anne White’s Study Guides available at AmblesideOnline.org.)

P

A Sense of Place

A Geography Immersion

Immersion Presented by Jennifer Taylor

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”
–Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture

To have a sense of place is to have intimacy with the land and its people, past, present, and future. A sense of place requires relationship, which leads to community, and when we create relationships, we care. Charlotte Mason claims that the culmination of a child’s education is about how much he cares and about how many things he cares. One of the ways we discover a sense of place is through the study of geography. Join me on a journey to a part of our beautiful world during this geography immersion. You are the traveler and living books are our tour guide. Experience a hands-on geography lesson that will equip you to teach this subject using a Charlotte Mason approach.