It really does help to focus if we look at Miss Mason’s principles and then determine what to do from there. Here are some of her principles that come to mind: 1. The child needs to learn about the world around him 2. The child needs to learn the habit of attention and observation, careful, accurate observation. 3. The child should draw what he sees.
So, from these principles, I come to this conclusion: “draw what you have in your hand.” That might be a leaf on the ground, a blade of grass, a bud from a tree, a dandelion, an ant, a leaf from a houseplant, your cat’s left ear, its paw, the guinea pig’s toes, a particular cloud.’
Some of these things you can carry into the house and set before the children on a neutral background and have them sketch from there. We have sketched a bird that flew into a window right before my eyes, and broke its neck. Within seconds, we had the poor sparrow on a bit of newspaper and the pencils and papers out. We have sketched a chicken’s beak, and a geranium that just bloomed, because they were available.
The main thing is to take advantage of what you have, so a formal plan may not work very well. Next is to teach the children somehow not to flip out over bad drawings. The point is not the drawings, it’s the type of detailed observations you make in order to attempt a drawing.
You can ask some questions as they look- how many petals, how many toes, how many stripes, what does this shape remind you of, what does the color remind you of, what else does this look like, how big is it, what is the texture like, how does it behave, what does it do, what was it doing when you found it…?
Observe.
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4 Comments
We’re doing nature studies this year. That’s pretty much entirely your fault, so if I need help, I’m coming here first.
Thank you for this. I’ve been homeschooling for 14 years, and am just now beginning to take a more in-depth look at Charlotte Mason’s principals, wanting to implement them in our family.
Do you have any suggestions for a newbie to CM? My four school-age kids are 15, 11, 8 (with developmental delays), and almost 5.
Thanks a bunch!
Take a look at AMblesideonline.org There is a free CM curriculum there, as well as many articles on applying her principles.
AO hosts the six volumes on education that Miss Mason wrote. Her sixth volume is my favorite- it’s really the synthesis of all her work. Plus, the first section of the book is her working through her 21 principles one by one.
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book For the Children’s Sake is wonderful, too, for a beginner.
There are two email lists you should consider:
CM for Moms of Many:to subscribe send an email to CMforMomsofMany-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
AmblesideOnline-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
AO is working on setting up a discussion forum that should be open in another couple of weeks.
Cindy Rollins’ has a great blog where she talks about CM a lot- ordo amoris, http://www.ordo-amoris.com/
Right now she is going through a study of volume 6.
Feel free to ask me anything. I love to talk CM.
Thank you, DHM. I’ll check these out, and I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions for you!