A Delectable Education Charlotte Mason Podcast

Charlotte Mason did not consider nature study to be optional. This podcast is an interview with a mother with eight children who took Mason's words to heart and exerted the effort to make it happen. Listen to her experiences and practical hints for being a successful mother of young naturalists. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without." (Vol. 1, p. 42) "I venture to suggest, not what is practicable in any household, but what seems to me absolutely best for the children; and that, in the faith that mothers work wonders once they are convinced that wonders are demanded of them." (Vol. 1, p. 44) "We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." (Vol. 1, p. 61) Natural History Clubs from The Parents' Review via the Charlotte Mason Digital Collection: "Our P.N.E.U. Natural History Club" "Natural History Club" "P.N.E.U. Natural History Clubs" "The Educational Value of Natural History" Charlotte Mason Institute National Conference Grace to Build Retreat

This podcast episode explains Charlotte Mason's use of nature lore books and how they expand outdoor nature study work. Listen for lots of hints of our favorite such books. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome "Our main dependence is on books as an adjunct to out-of-door work...In [these] books the children are put in the position of the original observer of biological and other phenomena. They learn what to observe, and make discoveries for themselves, original so far as they are concerned. They are put in the right attitude of mind for scientific observations and deductions, and their keen interest is awakened." (Vol. 3, p. 237 "The real use of naturalists' books is to give the child delightful glimpses into the world of wonders he lives in, reveal the sorts of things to be seen by curious eyes, and fill him with desire to make discoveries for himself." (Vol. 1, p. 64) If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent's Review articles that would be helpful for this episode's topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy. The Charm of Nature Study, Parents' Review Article Eyes and No Eyes Series, Arabella Buckley or online here. Madam How and Lady Why, Charles Kingsley or online here. Life and Her Children, Arabella Buckley The Storybook of Science, Jean Henri Fabre or online here. Winners in Life's Race, Arabella Buckley or online here. We Were There with Charles Darwin on the H.M.S. Beagle, Philip Eisenberg Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard John Muir Books John Burroughs Autumn Across America, Edwin Way Teale Life of the Spider, Jean Henri Fabre The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly The Grasshopper Book, Wilfrid Bronson Robert McClung Books Olive Earle Books Millicent Selsam Books Charles Ripper Books Alice Goudey Books Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter The Keeper of the Bees, Gene Stratton-Porter A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold William Long Books Treasury for Children, James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot Rascal, Sterling North (Contains affiliate links)

This podcast episode explores the reasons Charlotte Mason gave for the necessity of a child's education to include a vast familiarity with the outside world. Beyond discussing why nature study is critical to knowledge of God, the benefits to personal growth, and its fundamental effects on future academic success, many practical suggestions for accomplishing this essential study are discussed to encourage your family's implementation of and regular involvement in nature study. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome "We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." (Vol. 1, p. 61) "When children are old enough to understand that science itself is in a sense sacred, and demands some sacrifice, all the common information they have been gathering until then, and the habits of observation they have acquired, will form an excellent ground work for a scientific education. In the meantime let them consider the lilies of the field and fowls of the air." (Vol. 1, p. 63) "Consider, too, what an unequalled mental training the child-naturalist is getting for any study or calling under the sun––the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for? Besides, life is so interesting to him, that he has no time for the faults of temper which generally have their source in ennui; there is no reason why he should be peevish or sulky or obstinate when he is always kept well amused." (Vol. 1, pp. 61-62) "Never be within doors when you can rightly be without." (Vol. 1, p. 42) "The first buttercup in a child's nature note book is shockingly crude, the sort of thing to scandalize a teacher of brush-drawing, but by and by another buttercup will appear with the delicate poise, uplift and radiance of the growing flower." (Vol. 6, p. 217) If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent's Review articles that would be helpful for this episode's topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy. Home Education (Volume 1), Part II School Education (Volume 3), pp. 236-238 "The Charm of Nature Study" by G. Dowton, an article from the Parent's Review The Handbook of Nature Study, Anna Comstock The Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv (Contains affiliate links) Charlotte Mason Digital Collection Nature Journal Examples {Here}, {Here}, and {Here} John Muir Laws' Nature Journaling site Examples of Bird and Flower Lists PR Article on the benefits to language from Nature Study

Our discussions on the subject of history resulted in an onslaught of questions. This podcast episode slowly and carefully addresses the most common and frequently asked history concerns, misunderstandings, and points of confusion we have received about Charlotte Mason's approach to teaching this subject. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome   "We introduce children as early as possible to the contemporary history of other countries as the study of English history alone is apt to lead to a certain insular and arrogant habit of mind." (Vol. 6, p. 175) "The flowers, it is true, are not new; but the children are; and it is the fault of their elders if every new flower they come upon is not to them a Picciola, a mystery of beauty to be watched from day to day with unspeakable awe and delight." (Vol.1, p.53)   Colonial Living, Edwin Tunis Frontier Living, Edwin Tunis Our Island Story, H.E. Marshall Winston Churchill and the Story of Two World Wars, Olivia Coolidge Most Gracious Majesty: The Story of Queen Elizabeth II, Elinor Parker The Battle of Britain, Quentin Reynolds The Story of Edith Cavell, Iris Vinton (Contains affiliate links)   Check out Leah Boden's Periscope, The Charlotte Mason Show

The scope of the subject of geography matches the size of the world it covers and Charlotte Mason's approach to this subject is likewise vast and multifaceted. This podcast episode discusses the purpose of geography study, the variety of resources used for learning, and gives a broad overview of the progression throughout forms I to VI.

The Bible is the most authoritative and ancient of all books and Mason considered its lessons to be the supreme lesson, leading most directly to knowledge of God. This podcast explores why she was of this opinion, why we must not neglect its lessons, and how those lessons should be presented.  

Since it's impossible to cover every aspect of a subject each week, questions arise in our listeners' minds. Many of you are sending us your questions and in this podcast we attempt to thoroughly answer a few of these based on the wisdom of Charlotte Mason and our experience in using her method. This is the first of several sporadic Q&A sessions we will post. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman Hannah Coulter, Wendell Berry (Contains affiliate links) Addall Used Book Search Engine Living Books Library's Book Sale Pages List of living books libraries around the country Another list of living books libraries Ten Books you can read in Ten Minutes a Day Liz's Annual List of Books She Read

  Beyond the books, what are some tools that are useful in putting history into living color for a child? At what age should we begin to use a timeline, or should we use a timeline at all? How do we implement the book of centuries? Listen in as we wrestle with some of the things that make history lessons come alive. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome   If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent's Review articles that would be helpful for this episode's topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy. Home Education (Volume 1), pg. 292 Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), pg. 177 Miss Beale's Parents' Review Article on "The Teaching of Chronology" Parents' Review Article on making and keeping a Book of Centuries   The Living Page, Laurie Bestvater (Contains affiliate links)   Laurie Bestvater's Book of Centuries Another Book of Centuries from Riverbend Press Bernau's Article on the Book of Centuries With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available Beale's Article on the Teaching of Chronology With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available H.B.'s Article on the Teaching of History With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available Biggar's Article on How to Make a Century Chart With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available

When we are clear in the direction we are headed in our children's history studies, know the time period and the order and the streams to cover, what books will we use to explore those unfathomable numbers of events and characters in history? Is a spine necessary? What is the real value of a biography? How much should we be concerned about the historical accuracy of the account we are reading? Explore these ideas with us in this episode. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome   "[B]ut let the mother beware: there is nothing which calls for more delicate tact and understanding sympathy with the children than this apparently simple matter of choosing their lesson-books, and especially, perhaps, their lesson-books in history." (Vol. 1, pg. 289) "We know that young people are enormously interested in the subject and give concentrated attention if we give them the right books." (Vol. 6, pg. ) "The knowledge of children so taught is consecutive, intelligent and complete as far as it goes, in however many directions." (Vol. 6, pg. 158) "In Form IV the children are promoted to Gardiner's Student's History of England, clear and able, but somewhat stiffer than that they have hitherto been engaged upon." (Vol. 6, pg. 176) "Of all the pleasant places in the world of mind, I do not know that any are more delightful than those in the domain of History. Have you ever looked through a kinetoscope? Many figures are there, living and moving, dancing, walking in procession, whatever they happened to be doing at the time the picture was taken. History is a little like that, only much more interesting, because in these curious living photographs the figures are very small and rather dim, and most attentive gazing cannot make them clearer; now, History shows you its personages, clothed as they were clothed, moving, looking, speaking, as they looked, moved, and spoke, engaged in serious matters or in pleasures; and, the longer you look at any one person, the more clearly he stands out until at last he may become more real to you than the people who live in your own home." (Vol. 4, pg. 36) "The fatal mistake is in the notion that he must learn 'outlines,' or a baby edition of the whole history of England, or of Rome, just as he must cover the geography of all the world. Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period. Though he is reading and thinking of the lifetime of a single man, he is really getting intimately acquainted with the history of a whole nation for a whole age." (Vol. 1, pg. 280) "Literature is dangerous--except when taken in large doses." --Martin Cothran (quoted here.)   America Begins, Alice Dalgliesh America Builds Homes, Alice Dalgliesh And There Was America, Roger Duvoisin Land of the Free, Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft D'Aulaire Picture Biographies Gerald Johnson's A History for Peter: America is Born (Volume 1) America Grows Up (Volume 2) America Moves Forward (Volume 3) Dorothy Mills' History Books, Reprints available as well Paul Johnson's Histories Barbara Tuchman's Histories Basic History of the United States, Clarence Carson The Silent Storm, Marion Marsh Brown and Ruth Crone Isaac Newton, Harry Sootin (Contains affiliate links)   A wonderful resource with reviews of living books series, See especially Messner Biographies, Signature Series, Garrard History Series Books, and Landmark Books

Merry Christmas! As we celebrate the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we took a break from discussing history to bring you a special episode. Art Middlekauff shares with us a lesser-known, but very important work by Charlotte Mason herself--her poetic reflections on the Life of Christ entitled, The Saviour of the World. We hope this episode, and more importantly, these poems, will bless you and yours today and in the year to come. Listen Now: If you are seeing this message, please make sure you are using the most current version of your web browser: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Chrome You can find Art Middlekauff's blog here The Savior of the World (online) Hardback reprints of Volumes 1, 3, 4, and 5 Paperback reprints of Volumes 1, 2, and 3 This post describes an app to read an online Bible with links to the corresponding Saviour of the World Poems In Memorium