Weekly reflection on Charlotte Mason Vol 1 Home Education, pages 21 - 37

It is easy, as a homeschooling parent, to go right to making decisions and plans regarding the curriculum you'll be using to teach your child academic subjects. Here, however, Miss Mason, starts us with what matter most – taking care of the health of the child. The curriculum will not matter if your child's health doesn't support learning. The most critical factor is your child's environment, and most in that is fresh air.

“The children walk every day; they are never out less than an hour when the weather is suitable.” That is better than nothing. p. 29

I have been beginning each “homeschool-preschool” session with a brisk 30 to 40 minute walk around the neighborhood, weather permitting. This is wonderful for many reasons. We have become more intimate with the changing weather; discussing the weather at hand and what about it is pleasing to the senses. It allows us to put any stresses of the morning behind us for the day, a way of “changing channels” in preparation for the next phase of the day. We feel more connected to the routines and the people of our immediate community as we tend to see the same people doing the same things every day. This is no easy accomplishment in today's age. The obvious benefit is exercise. Usually our baby falls asleep in the stroller as well, almost ensuring she'll be in a good mood and cooperative when we return home. Once we arrive back at home, we have a snack, discuss the day ahead – review the calendar visually and verbally – and go up to the playroom/learning room for about an hour of reading and activities. This walk is in addition to whatever outdoor play we have scheduled for later in the day. Tried out on a whim, the daily walk has proved a mainstay of our homeschooling mornings.

One quote that stood out to me was a comment on the issue of “lessons.”

'Oh, she has her lessons regularly every day.' Probably: but lessons which deal with words, only the signs of things, are not what the child wants. There is no knowledge so appropriate to the early years of a child as that of the name and look and behaviour in situ of every natural object he can get at. p. 32

My husband made the insightful comment a few weeks ago that our son's impressive vocabulary outstrips his logic. It is easy to assume that since he is so articulate that his reasoning powers would be highly developed as well. This is not the case. He is right on track with those, being 4 years old. His leaps of reasoning are often rather amusing.

It occurred to me that lessons that are solely language-based presume not only a certain level of vocabulary, but also and most importantly, context, which my 4-year old simply doesn't have yet. While I do present verbal lessons to help him develop the important connections between vocabulary, natural law, and reason, I have observed the lessons he gains the most from are hands-on. His favorite ones are “animal encounters” at our local natural history museum, conservation lands, and wildlife sanctuaries held for preschoolers where they get to see and touch animals as they learn about their habitats on nature walks. Experience supersedes any “gaps” of understanding complex natural systems and reinforce relevant vocabulary. Plus they are way more fun with the other kids than sitting in a room with his mom.

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