Motivation

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason was a believer in children having to “stand or fall by their own effort” and as hard as it is for a parent to watch their child fail at something they put their hand too, it is also a valuable learning experience.

Often parents get their children to work well with the promise of a star on a chart or the page of their workbook. Charlotte Mason would prefer a simple: “Well done!”

The motivation for you and your child, to do your work in your homes and in learning disciplines should be because you have a habit of doing the right thing. It should also be because we have hearts that want to serve and to please our Lord.

Our children watch our attitudes as we go about our days and if we grumble through our chores and work or if we have a bad attitude about teaching and training our children, how can we expect our children to behave differently?

Lets face it, there are jobs that we all dislike. In our home these are the most disliked ones – cleaning up dog’s mess, washing out the bins and ironing. The motivation not to do these chores is great so we have found ways to make them more palatable. But ultimately without strength of character no amount of bribing, cajoling or stars will change our attitudes.

Eating together as a family

For many years my husband worked late in the evening and as the children were small, they could not wait for him to return home before eating. Recently this situation has changed and we are able to sit and eat together as a family. I have been so thrilled to watch as the dinner time conversation turns to books that we have read or what the children have learnt. These ideas they are sharing freely with their Dad and thus incorporating him into their learning days. There are other reasons to make this event a priority :

So go on…set a pretty table tonight and enjoy a meal together, then allow it to become a daily habit.

Organizational Tips

I have so wanted to complete the re-vamp of my organized mom pages for you, but I have had to care for sick children and attend a homeschool convention which involved me leaving home for a few days. Nonetheless, please visit this page and bookmark it so that you can follow the updates as they happen. There are already extensive ideas for you to implement and the bonus is that they are all tried and tested in a homeschooling home for you!

Romantic Ideas

As hard as it may be for homeschooling moms to juggle all the balls we need to keep in the air, there is one area that cannot take neglect. Your marriage! When your children are little and up at night, or when you are breastfeeding a newborn, your desire for sleep in a nice warm bed pretty much takes up your thoughts. There are so many ways to show our husbands our love even when we are tired.

Sometimes a soak in the bath with candles is a good way to help change your focus from being a nurturing mom to a beloved wife. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to sign up for Lori's Generous Wife tips These are gentle ideas to show our husbands how much we appreciate them. (And I appreciate Lori’s gentle motivation when I find myself too focused on my children, home and business.)

You can also revisit my romantic ideas for married couples!

Quote

“…our non success in education is a good deal due to the fact that we carry children through their school work and do not let them stand on their own two feet.”

“Our whole system of school policy is largely a system of prods. Marks, prizes, exhibitions, are all prods; and a system of prodding is apt to obscure the meaning of must and ought for the boy or girl who gets into the habit of mental and moral lolling up against his prods.”

“It would be better for boys and girls to suffer the consequences of not doing their work, now and then, than to do it because they are urged and prodded on all hands…” Charlotte Mason, Home Education .

Living books

When browsing at the library I came across a series of books that are novels based on historical events. The My Story Series is divided into two categories – girls and boys. I know that my daughter will happily read some of the boys titles too! The ones that were of particular interest to our family were The Queens Spies by Valerie Wilding, Anne Boleyn and Me by Alison Price and Great Plague by Pamela Oldfield. In the boys category I thought the following would appeal to our children: Flying Ace by Jim Eldridge and Waterloo by Bryan Perrett.

I believe that these would be appropriate reading alone for children who are not sensitive to war and difficulty. The characters were real people but much of the narrative is fictional, although the general historical events are real. I appreciate you ordering these titles through Kalahari.net or Amazon.com

Other updates to Homeschool Curriculum for Life

I mentioned earlier that I had to attend a homeschool convention this month. I had the privilege of holding an encouragement talk for a group of ladies while I was there. I have converted some of the content of the talk into three articles to encourage you in your Charlotte Mason philosophy. You will find them at Education an atmosphere, a discipline, a life and Is your homeschool grace based or performance driven?

My daughter is slowly adding to her pages on my website. She recently added some printable horse coloring in pages for your children, please make a stop there. You may wonder why she has space on my webpage...? You can read more about that at entrepreneurship for teens .