Why I Love Charlotte Mason

I have mentioned Charlotte Mason this past year as a method we were trying to include in our schooling. As the year went by, we shifted more and more into her method and we love it.

We do use some classical method curriculum and ideas, but we lean more of being a CM style home school.

One of the aspects I love most about Charlotte Mason is her use in living books. These are mostly books written by a single author writing about their favorite subject. It's their passion and you can tell by their writing. It makes a book come to life and has so much depth. These take the place of text books.

When you read a book to the children they are to narrate back to you what they got out of the passage, paragraph, page, or chapter (depending on age). This takes place of tests or question and answer worksheets. They eventually can write their narrations on their own.

The other thing I love so much about CM is the short lessons. For young children the lessons are no longer than about 20 minutes each subject. This keeps their attention and discourages dawdling. It allows the child to concentrate and get the most out of each lesson.



I also love her standards for each day. There are 3 things she thinks a child needs each day:

1) Someone or something to love: siblings, parents, pets. Something to care for.

2) Something to do. Something meaningful and worthwhile. Examples would include, caring for gardens
    writing a letter, teaching a sibling something, building a castle, or sewing. I like to think of it as a project
    that needs attention daily until finished.

3) Something to think about. Enjoying ideas and thoughts of others, maybe a parent's ideas or a sibling.
    An author's ideas. Something beautiful to look at and think about. Pictures that tell a story or the beauty in
    nature. So much to think about! I mentioned yesterday that we put a Van Gogh picture on our shelves for
    the boys to look at and think about. I like to switch those up as I can.

I'll be posting more about how we implement CM in our day soon.

I love all of these videos my friend told me about. It really gives you CM ideas to think about and use:

Ambleside Schools

Whats On Our Shelves

One of the biggest reasons I choose this home is because of the built ins. They are wonderful! Even though I loved them so much, we didn't have a ton of stuff to put on them, and I didn't quite have the stuff to put at the very top. You know...the stuff you don't really need goes up there because you can't reach it ha.

I worked with what we already had. I added all of our school books, or these babies would be bare.
I really love the way they came together. Take a look, up close and personal.



This is right by our reading nook. I placed a lamp, and the basket holds our family devotionals and Bibles.
There is a picture of a Van Gogh painting for our "something to think about" (more on this and the Charlotte Mason method tomorrow).
Pictures of the boys we made a few years ago for father's day. And, a tiny picture of my husband when he was a boy.
We have decor and garden books on the bottom,  and rich literature and bible study books on the second shelf.






On this side we have fine arts, geography, children's bibles, and read alouds. We added pictures of some of our sponsored boys and a flower pot full of OLD thread.



This shelf has some wonderfully aged literature, letter "B"s and mercury glass.



This last shelf has a lot of nature inspired items. Birds and our nature collection, as well as another picture of a sponsored child and an old army picture of my Papa.

I love filling our home with things we use and love.

Across the room are some more built ins that are not organized, so you don't get to see all of it. But, I did want to show you that we put our home computer there, and there is another set of stairs there. How fun haha! The boys are up one set down the other. All day long.

Well Done

Have you heard the new song by Moriah Peters?

It is the cutest, most happy sounding song I've heard in a long time. Complete evidence that Christ lives in her is her pure joy.

I know it's a "trend" to play it cool, so smiling and getting too full of joy is not the thing to do haha.

That's what I love about her. She smiles.. a lot. Joy is a part of being in His love.

I have been called out on for being too happy at times. Well friends, it's who I am. I'm happy, blessed, and loved!

The song is called Well Done. I agree with Moriah that at the end of my life, I long to hear those words, "well done!."

The words:


I'm headed down this narrow road
Chosen by the few
And all that I know is
You told me to follow You

I'm taking a risk and leaving it all
Not knowing what I'll go through
But I'm not alone
As long as I follow You

So when my life's a leap of faith
I can hear You say

Well done, well done
I'm gonna chase You, Lord
I'm gonna show the world Your love, woah
I'll run, I'll run
I'm gonna run this race
To hear You say well done

If people walk with me, talk with me, looking for truth
They're gonna find out soon
If they're following me then
They're gonna follow You

So let my life speak loud and clear
Lord, I wanna hear

Well done, well done
I'm gonna chase You, Lord
I'm gonna show the world Your love, woah
I'll run, I'll run
I'm gonna run this race
To hear You say well done

I'm so glad that I get to serve You, Lord
You're the only One I am living for, woah
I'm gonna run straight into Your open arms
I'm gonna follow You with my all heart, woah, woah

Well done, well done
I'm gonna chase You, Lord
I'm gonna show the world Your love, woah
I'll run, I'll run
I'm gonna run this race
To hear You say well done

I'm gonna run this race
To hear You say well done
[x2]

Well done


The video:

House Updates: Kitchen & Entry

This is another progress post.

We have painted. It's amazing what a difference painting can make, and I'm so exited to show you! We still want to change the lighting and add decor, but it already feels so crisp and clean and I like that.


This was the picture I showed you when we first moved in. I know, the color was fine, but just not what we wanted.






This is what I had in mind:





We painted it a khaki-ish color, but sometimes looks gray.  The island is painted a shade of blue. Can you tell? Here is a closer look.






Here it is looking back from the hallway. We bought new curtains with blues and grays at Lowes.






And here it is from the back door:






Let's move to the entry shall we? This is when we first moved in.







Here it is with a new color, light, and rug.







And a peek from our living room into the entry and kitchen.






Stay tuned, because this room is almost done!!

Hoped you enjoyed the updates!










Between Naps on the Porch

My Craft Room: In Progress

We have a good size closet in our house. We weren't quite sure what to do with it. If you recall, I have a wish to learn to sew. Simple things like pillows and curtains. I've had a sewing machine for 3 years now and have never used it. It scares me. But, I decided to make this room into my own (well okay, I share with the boys) craft room! It fits our old computer desk and has plenty of storage and a door so I can shut it when it gets messy like the pictures I'm about to show you.


The room has come a long way since we moved in, but is nowhere near done, but I thought I'd share so you can see the progress in real time.


So, here we go.

Piled with frames that need to be hung and extra pillows, this room is still serving as somewhat of a storage room, you know how it is.


On the desk is a box of ribbon, and in the bottom of the desk is fabric that I will use for practicing.





To your left of the room is the boys' art station. They use it daily.





The 7Up crate is filled with markers, paint brushes, glue, twine, googly eyes...you name it.





And a small display of our craftiness.





I will post more pictures as I work on this little nook.

Fourth of July

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the 4th? It's one of my favorite holidays because it's in the summertime (yay), it's simple, and the fireworks.

I remember sitting out on the fence when I was a little girl and watching them from far away. I just loved watching the burst of color in the sky.

We always start the morning with a breakfast to go as we head out to the 4th of July Parade.

These boys were so excited for the big day!






Traditional pictures (and a very messy boy..so messy we had to go straight home after and wash these clothes ha)











With the statue we get pictures by every single year.








A new tradition perhaps? The jumping picture.





The cutest little camper...oh my.





Then we headed home to prepare for our 4th of July party. It was so much fun!


This is my mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle. These ladies are sisters and they are precious. My aunt got in a car wreck a few weeks ago. She rolled her car 8 times. By the grace of God she was okay and came away with some broken ribs. We are so blessed to have her in our lives!











My sweetest cousin and one of my best friends with her littlest.





The girl table...I'm not used to one of those! *grin*









And the boy table:









The flowers. I had a lot of fun decorating if you can imagine.








And at last we headed to the fireworks.








It was such a beautiful day.