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 Twin Cities Charlotte Mason Community

FAQ

FAQ about a Mason Education:
 Some Questions from our past CM seminars


Basic Philosophy and Methods


Narration: 
I need some hands on ideas with CM narrations!
Narration is basically a retelling in your own words.  Often you retell a living book, but you can narrate just about anything really, such as a picture, a musical composition, a flower, a math problem, etc.  This can be done orally or in written form.  You could also ask your child to do a drawing narration or act out a story or build it with clay or legos. This gives each child and each day a little bit of change and flair.  But your main tools will be Oral or Written ( Ages 9 or 10 and up) Narration.
Here are a few of my favorite articles about Narration:  


​My  6 year old and I have struggled through narration this year, it feels like drudgery. My son seems to understand the story best when I don't require narration. It stresses him out and I totally get it!  When I am asked to narrate amongst my peers I also totally stress out and go blank. Do you have any advice for us both to grow in our narration skills?


Habits: 
​How you go about practically training habits? 


Practical Methods: 
I need some vision for what lies ahead. Can you give me some more details and practical how-to's for homeschooling... We're in the very beginning stages of all of this?  AND Can you help me grasp a better understanding of CM in practical schooling... what does it actually look like? 


General: 
Do you think CM could be a good fit for any mom and child that wants to do it?


​Would you have some advice for people who want to leave out parts of the approach (i.e. picture/composer/hymn study, foreign language)?
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​What does CM look like in combination with other methods (classical, Montessori)?

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CM Subjects


I encourage you to listen to A Delectable Education Podcasts to help you begin to understand teaching methods for all of the subjects!  It's fabulous and a very accurate CM resource! 
Language Arts: 
I want to learn more about teaching language arts: Dictation, Copywork, Spelling etc. Where can I go for help? 


How does one teach with confidence using the CM method? (I’m thinking some other approaches/curriculum are very systematic, with results that are very objective i.e. copywork, transcription, narration, dictation to develop language arts skills vs. something systematic like All about Spelling or IEW)

I encourage you to start by listening to ADE's podcasts on Language Arts! 

I like the methods of narration, copywork, dictation, nature study, etc, but how do I know this is helping my child?

Teaching reading?

Teaching writing?

​History: 
I have really enjoyed the Delectable Education podcasts and am interested in integrating the history streams. I would love a little more fleshing out of that topic and how it practically works.


Fine Arts: 
What are some handicraft ideas?  

What are some good handicrafts for boys?

What if you as a dad don't like doing handicrafts? 

How do I do composer study? 


Natural History/Nature Study/Science: 
How do I do nature study?


Math: 
​I am curious about math!

Special Concerns 


Any advice on teaching with special learning needs, like dyslexia?

Teaching Multiple Ages



​I would like some strategies for engaging and teaching children of varying ages. 

Scheduling And Curriculum


Curriculum:
What are some good resources for forming your own CM school year/education?

What are some good curriculum, maybe not CM, that can be adapted well to fit into a CM approach?

Scheduling: 
​What does a Typical CM day look like?

​How do I go about scheduling a day, making sure I'm covering enough for my 7 year old, especially with a 2 year old and newborn in August? 


Co-ops and Extra Curricular Activities: 
​Do people doing CM method tend to do less extra curricula’s, outside classes?

What do you think about potentially doing more formal classes/co-ops (i.e. classical conversations, other academic co-ops) versus doing more things at home or with groups that are formed more organically? 

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Early Years ( Birth-6) 


What age is appropriate to start homeschooling?

What activities are best in the early years to help stimulate learning and form a strong foundation for the homeschooling experience? 

​I am curious about toys and what we can surmise about what toys Mason would've thought best.
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Middle School and High School


What does a CM approach look like as kids get older? (i.e. science, math, nature study)

​How do I prepare for junior high and high school?  I am most interested in learning how to transition into the older grades using CM's methods all the way through high school, particularly in writing and college prep.

​Charlotte Mason didn't live in a time period with SATs, ACTs and college life.....will this curriculum be enough for college? This way of doing school is so outside the box for me. I  want to make sure it really works!! 



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