"Something that concerns you and concerns many men."

Not asphodel, but definitely greeny.

by Anne White

Of asphodel, that greeny flower,

                        I come, my sweet,
                                                to sing to you!
My heart rouses
                        thinking to bring you news
                                                of something
that concerns you
                        and concerns many men.  Look at
                                                what passes for the new.
You will not find it there but in
                        despised poems.
                                                It is difficult
to get the news from poems
                        yet men die miserably every day
                                                for lack
of what is found there...

(Excerpt of "Asphodel, that greeny flower," by William Carlos Williams.)

Poems are not places to get today's news, according to William Carlos Williams; or facts, or dates, or phone numbers. Or, really, anything practical and useful.

And yet, he says, we die (not peacefully, but miserably!) "for lack of what is found there..."

In Can Poetry Matter: Essays on Poetry and American Culture, Dana Gioia refers to this poem in a slightly different context. He has been discussing the problem of poetry, in the twentieth century, having lost its wider audience, and having become sort of a niche thing that only other poets care about. Gioia says this:

Williams understood poetry's human value but had no illusions about the difficulties his contemporaries faced in trying to engage the audience that needed the art most desperately. To regain poetry's readership one must begin by meeting Williams's challenge to find what "concerns many men," not simply what concerns poets. (p. 17)

Now, all this is undoubtedly true of poetry, and requires much thought. But let's expand. Is Christianity just for Christians? Certainly not (although "Christian sub-culture" is a real issue). Is educational truth just for educators? Are homeschooling methods just good for homeschoolers? And here's a big one for us: is Charlotte Mason's philosophy only to be kept in a C.M. box, to be brought out at C.M.-branded events or in C.M.-labelled books? Consider this principle of education:

12. "Education is the Science of Relations"; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of––  "Those first-born affinities / "That fit our new existence to existing things." 

If we are indeed born persons, living in a world in which we relate to several billion other born persons, we need to care that many of those same persons are dying (not peacefully) "for lack of what is found there..."  They are not finding it "in what passes for the new." And yet we tremble to offer our despised poetry, our good news (on whatever level). We are, as Charlotte says, "diffident," modest, shy (Preface to Ourselves). However, as she also says there, we are  urged to "encourage the others.". And not just the friendly "others," but the older ones, the younger ones, the better-educated ones, the bored and cynical ones. Not just those who sign up for conferences or buy books, but those who might throw our asphodel on the ground and stomp on it.

What is that mysterious, vital something found in poems (that isn't the news)?

The answer seems to be this: in discovering what it is "that concerns many men," or, in other words, the people around us. As Charlotte said, what is the spirit of our time? What questions are people asking about science and art, or (more worryingly) are they asking any questions at all? Can we offer handicrafts and living books? Can we help others to reclaim their first-born affinities?

Let's rouse our hearts, as Williams says, and take courage. Swap books. Start Sunday schools and math clubs. Care for communities. Share beauty and truth. And think of asphodel, that greeny flower.

Are you feeling liminal?

(Photo taken at Woolwich Dam and Reservoir, September 2024)

by Anne White

In the bleakness of January 2021 (when it felt like Christmas had taken a Narnia-like pass and the winter would go on imprisoning us forever), Amber Sparks wrote a piece for ElectricLiterature.com, called "I Just Want to Hang Out in the Wardrobe." 

Well, who wouldn't? But Sparks (chafing in that pandemic limbo) says her craving isn't for full-on Narnia; she writes, "I’ve been wishing instead to stop at the threshold, to open the door of the spare room and crawl into that wardrobe and not come out again." She goes on to talk about the particular attraction of "liminal spaces" in literature--the thresholds, vestibules, hallways, or phantom tollbooths that lead us to--well, somewhere else. That cinematic moment when Dorothy pauses with her hand on the doorknob; or, in The Secret Garden, Mary finding the locked door in the wall. Sparks doesn't specifically mention C. S. Lewis's "Wood Between the Worlds," but that would also fall into the "liminal" category: not a world in itself, but a place containing the doorways to all the other worlds. 

She warns that those of us over a certain age may never be able to return fully to the fantasy worlds that not only enriched our childhoods, but that, often, helped us survive them. As a child, she dreamed of finding "a place where a kind of low, slow magic still exists, where gym class doesn’t, where underdogs are issued powerful weapons and magical powers"; and books became those magical spaces for her. And for a time so long that we think it won't end, we keep returning, until one day, like Alice in Wonderland, we find we can no longer fit through the doorway.

"At 42, let’s be real, I can’t imagine a talking animal giving me a magic talisman without snickering a little. The first time I thought about how the Pevensie children’s mother must have broken her heart with worry when she sent them to the country, I think I wept a little to be so grown up at last."

But there is still a memory of that enchantment that we allow ourselves, or perhaps there is a new one that (as Sparks says) we don't fully experience until we have slowed down enough to appreciate those thresholds for themselves. 

"Waiting is, in fact, a repellent concept for most children, eager to be in action, eager for answers."

It might be similar to discovering a peculiar enjoyment of airports and train stations; or even of the journey itself, rattling down tracks past the backsides of towns, or suspended in that unlike-anything-else time of flight, before we get to our real destination. T. S. Eliot wrote about exactly that sense in "The Dry Salvages" (part of the Four Quartets):

When the train starts, and the passengers are settled
To fruit, periodicals and business letters
(And those who saw them off have left the platform)
Their faces relax from grief into relief,
To the sleepy rhythm of a hundred hours.
Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Or who will arrive at any terminus...

Some of you reading this may still be able to fit yourselves fully through the doorways of enchantment; to get off the train and know you have arrived. Others, like the camel in Nick Butterworth's The Little Gate, may find they have to kneel down or unload a few things first. And then there are those of us whose knees are getting a bit stiff to go through fairy doorways. What then shall we do? Just wait outside?

Sparks finds that writing itself "is a kind of liminal space, with all the possibilities of wonder and none of the risk. We can’t get back to Neverland once we are grown, but we can write a path through the midnight sky." In other words, there is a sense that our creativity can open those worlds for others. And perhaps those of us who don't write (or paint or compose or sculpt or weave), but do read, and particularly those of us who read to others (older or younger), can do the same. This also applies to those who teach Sunday school, lead nature walks, or explore mathematics joyfully. 

And for ourselves? Even if we cannot force our way in, Sparks says, we may still find that "liminal spaces have a regenerative power of their own...Perhaps we liminal adults can feel we, too, belong, that the world is almost a good place for us, too, if we can remake it in these spaces." These outside places, these doorsteps and waiting spaces, also have things to teach us.

As Sparks says, liminal spaces can still offer wonder, without the risk. Maybe there is a new kind of adventure for us right there in the woods, even when the magic rings are lost. 

More Tea in the Jar

by Anne White

This morning I saw an online video where someone cut up the contents of four boxes of herbal teabags, and put the tea leaves in a jar. Short version: it was a pretty skimpy amount. The video creator also showed a much fuller jar of tea leaves that had been bought in bulk, for the same price as the four boxes. So, by that account, we can have a large jar of tea, bought without packaging waste; or we can have a small jar of tea, plus a pile of garbage, for three times the price. Pretty much a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Charlotte Mason said that her principles of education “tend in the working to simplification, economy, and discipline.” (School Education, p. 214)  Perhaps we could think of them as more tea in the jar, with less wasted effort and financial cost.

Now, we do need to be careful here that we don’t measure education with a calculator or a stopwatch. Karen Glass has mentioned the benefits of eating a real apple, pointing out that with all its stem and core and seeds and soft spots, it is still superior in many ways to any kind of more efficient apple pill or powder we could create. For instance, perhaps—just perhaps—the tea that comes in those tea bags is so superior to the bulk stuff that we don’t mind paying more money for a smaller jar.

However...what if the bulk tea turns out to be more flavourful, more calming, or whatever more we wanted it to accomplish? Well, then we’d probably be even more annoyed when we viewed that pile of empty tea bags and the large receipt for what we paid.

But we might find ourselves telling others about our great discovery. 

And then…inviting them for a cup of tea.

An Act of Faith

by Donna-Jean Breckenridge

In Jan Karon’s Christmas story, “Shepherds Abiding,” she wrote, “In the face of losing everything one hoped for, lighting a tree was an act of faith.” The main character, Father Tim, is cheered by the sight.

“Well done! he thought, pulling his hat down and his collar up. 

“He walked more briskly, glad to be alive on the hushed and lamplit street where every storefront gleamed with promise.”

This Christmas, you may be surrounded by hard things. It may be the loss of a loved one this past year (we at AmblesideOnline grieve our beloved friend and Advisory member, Wendi Capehart), it may be a shattered dream, it may be a financial struggle or a wayward child. But Christmas takes courage, as Advisory members Donna-Jean Breckenridge and Lynn Bruce recounted recently in an episode of The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins. And sometimes just the act of lighting a tree, baking some cookies, and wrapping a gift takes all the courage you’ve got. 

Know that we pray for you. In the prayer of Father Tim in that same book, “Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families: We commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness. Knit together in constant affection those who, in holy wedlock, have been made one flesh. Turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the hearts of the children to the parents; and so enkindle fervent charity among us all, that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

To our beloved AmblesideOnline Community around the world, we on the Advisory wish you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy and Blessed New Year, and a reminder of the greatest news of all: Emmanuel! God with us. Jesus is real -  the Story is true! 

To hear the entire podcast, click here:

https://thenewmasonjar.com/047-2/

AO: Challenge the Seventh

Previous challenges:

Challenge 1 is here.

Challenge 2 is here.

Challenge 3 is here.

Challenge 4 is here.

Challenge 5 is here. 

Challenge 6 is here.

We concluded the text portion of the previous challenge with Miss Mason's disclosure that she is labouring 'to disclose for public use' the way to give children that 'attention, interest, literary style, wide vocabulary, love of books and readiness in speaking' which unlocks an education so rich and meaningful it continues long after school days are over.  She is excited about this, and she is sure of her ground.  This is volume 6, written fifty years after her first volume and after decades of work.  These methods are not mere theories.  What she writes about has been tested in real, practical, boots on the ground, teachers in classrooms, parents and governesses and tutors in homeschool rooms experiences.  Mason required families who signed up with her PNEU schools to submit exams to the PNEU office for grading. She was strict about this, so she could see the results of these methods put into practice in homes, cottage schools, experimental schools, boarding schools, around the world.

  It is true most of the P.N.E.U. members were indeed middle to upper class with educational and financial advantages we would consider upper class in most western cultures today.  However, many of them were also deeply philanthropic and active in social reforms and either started or contributed to schools for working class children, continuation night schools for children who had to work for a living, small country schools for the children of miners or other disadvantaged workers.  There are articles in the Parents' Reviews about reaching out to help mothers in the slums.  During World War I, at least some of the teaching students from the House of Education made it part of their work to run girls' clubs in London, specifically to give at risk girls skills and interests that would keep them off the streets, and the used such P.N.E.U. methods as they felt would reach the girls where they were.  Miss Mason was serious about helping as many people as possible by sharing what she could about putting her methods to 'public use.'  It is for this audience that she wrote volume VI- the general public who may not have previously known about her work.  She explains here her audience, her experience and justification for reaching out to this new audience:

"I am anxious to bring a quite successful educational experiment before the public at a moment when we are told on authority that "Education must be . . . an appeal to the spirit if it is to be made interesting." Here is Education which is as interesting and fascinating as a fine art to parents, children and teachers.
During the last thirty years thousands of children educated on these lines have grown up in love with Knowledge and manifesting a 'right judgment in all things' so far as a pretty wide curriculum gives them data."

Now she explains some of the differences in her approach, the things that justify her bringing this old/new idea before the public, what it is she wants done differently.  Note that this 'new' thing is not necessarily 'new' in the annals of education history. It could be 'new' in the sense that the British school system wasn't doing this anymore.  

She wants the children prepared for school by having heard stories in good English. She does not want their schoolbooks limited to the restricted vocabulary limitations of what they can read for themselves.  So while teaching them the nuts and bolts of reading, she wants them to be *hearing* well written stories and literary passages beyond their ability to sound out on their own: 

I would have children taught to read before they learn the mechanical arts of reading and writing; and they learn delightfully; they give perfect attention to paragraph or page read to them and are able to relate the matter point by point, in their own words; but they demand classical English and cannot learn to read in this sense upon anything less. They begin their 'schooling' in 'letters' at six, and begin at the same time to learn mechanical reading and writing. A child does not. lose by spending a couple of years in acquiring these because he is meanwhile 'reading' the Bible, history, geography, tales, with close attention and a remarkable power of reproduction, or rather, of translation into his own language; he is acquiring a copious vocabulary and the habit of consecutive speech. In a word, he is an educated child from the first, and his power of dealing with books, with several books in the course of a morning's 'school,' increases with his age."

It is from these excellent books, in advance of their reading skill, that children will gain the expansive vocabulary that is one of the foremost tools for gaining more knowledge.  Consecutive speech is the ability to communicate clearly, in order. It is not just a pleasant and useful habit- it is the sign or an orderly mind, of clear thinking. 

She knows there are going to be objections to her method, she has heard them- and, oh, so have we, so many times, in exactly the same words as the the next sentences Mason writes:

But children are not all alike; there is as much difference between them as between men or women; two or three months ago, a small boy, not quite six, came to school (by post); and his record was that he could read anything in five languages, and was now teaching himself the Greek characters, could find his way about the Continental Bradshaw, and was a chubby, vigorous little person. All this the boy brings with him when he comes to school; he is exceptional, of course, just as a man with such accomplishments is exceptional; 

Not all children are the same, we hear, and Mason heard.  Some children are advanced in quite astonishing ways, such as this youngster who joined Mason's PNEU correspondence school.  

Of course not children do not all have a matching set of gifts, strengths, weaknesses. That has little to do with the application of Mason's methods, however, because of the areas in which all neurologically normal children (and adults) do have in common:

"I believe that all children bring with them much capacity which is not recognized by their teachers, chiefly intellectual capacity, (always in advance of motor power), which we are apt to drown in deluges of explanation or dissipate in futile labours in which there is no advance."

All children may not be duplicates of each other in precise abilities. But all children have great potential, often un-known by their elders.  The current (to Miss Mason) method of doing school tends to suffocate those natural intellectual gifts, or waste them- by wasting their time with lectures and useless busy work.  That busy work, by the way,  may amuse and entertain the children, but that doesn't mean it informs and educates them. "There is no advance."  Have you thought about what this might mean?  I'm wondering. How much advance is there is filling out worksheets? Making pretty designs and collections of scripted information on file folders using scissors, glue, and some tape is fun for children with certain artistic bents.  There is nothing wrong with fun.  But what direction does it go, and how far? Is this something you do as an adult to learn, to process information, to communicate information to friends or employers? With narration, there is not level at which it is a bit babyish or immature to narrate. You can take narration up to the next level, and it becomes composition, and then essays, and more. Whatever work projects you assign to your children, what is the advanced version? How will they advance in this area? What will it look like?  Maybe, if there is no advance which takes them into their adult lives, it is not work worth assigning for school, no matter who they are.   And while all children may not be alike, we are all more alike than we think:

 "People are naturally divided into those who read and think and those who do not read or think; and the business of schools is to see that all their scholars shall belong to the former class; it is worth while to remember that thinking is inseparable from reading which is concerned with the content of a passage and not merely with the printed matter."

Regardless of individual strengths and weaknesses, the business of education is to help the learners read and think.

If this is not happening, neither is education.  Of course, other things are happening, too:

"The children I am speaking of are much occupied with things as well as with books, because 'Education is the Science of Relations,' is the principle which regulates their curriculum; that is, a child goes to school with many aptitudes which he should put into effect. So, he learns a good deal of science, because children have no difficulty in understanding principles, though technical details baffle them. He practises various handicrafts that he may know the feel of wood, clay, leather, and the joy of handling tools, that is, that he may establish a due relation with materials. But, always, it is the book, the knowledge, the clay, the bird or blossom, he thinks of, not his own place or his own progress.
[His focus is on the work, not on himself.]"

His focus is on the work, not himself, not his grades, not his scores, not how much he is beating the other students nor how far behind. These things are irrelevant to the actual work he is doing because the work itself is valuable and meaningful for its own sake.

"I am afraid that some knowledge of the theory we advance is necessary to the open-minded teacher who would give our practices a trial, because every detail of schoolroom work is the outcome of certain principles. For instance, it would be quite easy, without much
vol 6 pg 32thought to experiment with our use of books; but in education, as in religion, it is the motive that counts, and the boy who reads his lesson for a 'good mark' becomes word-perfect, but does not know. But these principles are obvious and simple enough, and, when we consider that at present education is chaotic for want of a unifying theory, and that there happens to be no other comprehensive theory in the field which is in line with modern thought and fits every occasion, might it not be well to try one which is immediately practicable and always pleasant and has proved itself by producing many capable, serviceable, dutiful men and women of sound judgment and willing mind?"

It's not enough to just use the same books- if you are mucking them up with vocabulary tests and multiple choice questions, rote memory and grades which are compared to those of the other children, that is missing the point of this form of education, and removing its value.  You need the principles, and the student needs to be the one doing the learning. 

"In urging a method of self-education for children in lieu of the vicarious education which prevails, I should like to dwell on the enormous relief to teachers, a self-sacrificing and greatly overburdened class; the difference is just that between driving a horse that is light and a horse that is heavy in hand; the former covers the ground of his own gay will and the driver goes merrily. The teacher who allows his scholars the freedom of the city of books is at liberty to be their guide, philosopher and friend; and is no longer the mere instrument of forcible intellectual feeding."

"Vicarious education."

What does an vicarious education look like?  It looks like somebody who knows hwo to read and to think, and who does it.

  Who should be working the hardest at the children's education?  The person doing the reading and the thinking, and that should be the student.

The teachers or the students themselves?  How do we see to it that they do the work? By giving them the books, the real books containing real knowledge and ideas, not just lists of facts that other people put together in textbooks, and then by giving them the work of thinking- which happens with narration.

This concludes this first set of AmblesideOnline Challenges.  By now you should have read from the opening page of Volume VI to the end of the first chapter, which is more material than it seems like. Most books today have a whole idea perhaps in an entire chapter. Mason's books are densely packed with multiple ideas worth thinking about on every single page. 

By now, you should know some of the plants in your own backyard or neighbourhood, something about the different categories of leaves, and you should be comfortably singing folksongs.  You have been reading for your own education and personal growth several times a week.  I hope you have attempted the forum.

There will be other challenges- I am preparing to move from the Philippines back to the U.S. and the holiday season is upon us, so I won't be working on another set of challenge posts until sometime in January.  However, you should continue to challenge yourself. I hope you have grown through this series.  I hope where you are now is a little further in understanding and practice than you were two months ago.  I hope you've been encouraged.

Here are some challenges to work on for the next couple of months.

1. This is an open-ended challenge to consider.  Let me review a handful of Mason's statements:

a. "One discovers a thing because it is there, and no sane person takes credit to himself for such discovery. On the contrary, he recognizes with King Arthur,––"These jewels, whereupon I chanced Divinely, are for public use." 

b. For many years we have had access to a sort of Aladdin's cave which I long to throw open 'for public use.'

c. The public good is our aim; and the methods proposed are applicable in any school. 

This has been a cherished goal of the AO Advisory for all many years. We also want to help you put these ideas to use, first in your own lives, homes, and families, and then, if at all possible, in some other public use.  Use these methods and ideas to reach out to children in your neighbourhood, churches, and community, the people God brings into your life.   Will you pray with us for all our eyes and hearts to be open for these additional opportunities? I can't tell you where or what they may be. Here are some I know of:

Start a story hour at your library or volunteer to help at one. Or do this with your church. Or ask if you could try this at a local homeless shelter or battered wive's shelter.
Foster care- officially, or unofficially.
Foster care respite care
Mentor family for drug rehap program (look into what is available locally and see if this is something you can do)

For that unofficial foster care-  Maybe there is a single parent or a struggling family that would benefit from you offering to do something fun with their kids once a month.  Take them to a park. Tell them a story, a fable from Aesop's, or the story of the three little pigs or Goldilocks. 

Visit a nursing home as a family and sing for some of the residents. Or bake cookies for the staff.

Plan a meaningful craft activity and invite another family over to do it together.

Volunteer to hold babies in the NICU. 

Serve a meal 

I'd love to hear of any other ideas, suggestions, or examples!  Not all of these will work for every family in every season, of course. You may be the family in need!  This is not a guilt trip, it's a list of hopeful possibilities for some time in your life.

Challenge 2:  Try something in the century-book, century chart, timeline department.  There are multiple ways to approach this. Start simple. In my family what we did most frequently was a family timeline essentially composed of duct tape on a large set of pocket doors. We used half of an index card and sketched figures or events on them and taped them to the appropriate lines on the wall.  My goal was to do this once a week. The children chose from their own readings, although sometimes I would ask them to choose from a specific book.

 If you want some help and ideas on timelines and time charts- see this thread in the forum- Forum: Timelines and History Charts

Challenge 3: for nature study look at Moon cycles.  One thing to do is to pick one night a week to look at the moon and then sketch it on a calendar- look at the moon November 21, for instance, and then sketch it on the Nov. 21 square of your calendar.  Do this for at least one month, preferably 2, and see hat you notice.  You can also make a chart: Moon cycle chart

Challenge 4: Read something for you.  One of the sweetest, most practical and helpful of the PR articles I have ever read is a paper delivered to a PNEU group by an older mother whose children are apparently grown.  The title is "The Limitations of Theory," which is delightful in itself, but even better is the title she says she considered- "Experiences of a Muddler".  The goal expressed in this paper is perfectly in keeping with the goals of these challenges, 

" to encourage parents to confer together, and that the papers read need not always be didactic treatises, but might sometimes be homely chats on what is interesting us all so much—the training of our children."

PR Article: Limitations of Theory

Challenge 5:  Start working on some Crafts for Christmas gifts.  We have quite a collection here in the forum: Forum: Christmas gifts to make

Challenge 6. Consider working together on memorizing a poem to present to grandparents, or adopted grandparents, or residents of a nursing home, or for a little family party for Christmas or New Year's. Or start a poetry night.  Here's how the author of Please Don't Eat the Daisies conducted their poetry night (get a tissue). 

Here are some winter and Christmas poems to consider.

Challenge 7: Read Karen Glass's recent series called The White Post.   You don't want to miss these!

1, Introduction

2. Sow an Act, Reap a Habit

3A The Wisdom of the Past

3B The Wisdom of the past cont

4a A New Hope for the World

4b. A New Hope for the World cont.

#5, Old or New? 

And don't forget to narrate!

Why Don't You Write Me a Letter

(Obscure and meaningless cultural reference in title. It's the title of an old Pop song from back in my day)

Handwritten notes and cards are rarer than ever these days, but this is a good time to bring back the charming form of personal connection.  Take some time over the next month to write some thank-you notes with your children.  Thank people for gifts. Thank people for being part of your lives. Thank the mail carrier for delivering mail.  Thank somebody at church for being there.

"you can seldom write one letter too many, but you may easily write one too few, and be sorry for it all the days of your life."


From a Parent's Review article in 1890.

What Could An AO Co-op Look Like?

The real answer is it could look like almost anything you like - it would be your co-op, your gathering of a few local homeschooling famiiies, and you would decide what would work best for you.  You might meet once a week or once a month- or something in between.  You might have ten families all doing AO on schedule, and you could essentially have a cottage school together. You might have two families, and one of them isn't even all that keen on Charlotte Mason, but you could still figure out some things that are compatible with your regular school days that you could enjoy doing together. You might live in a concrete jungle with a two hour drive to any green space so you don't want to do anything but nature walks on a co-op day, or you might live in the woods and have people come out to your house so you can combine nature walks with your co-op day.

We have two possible approaches to suggest.  First, we have some suggestions I have compiled from my own experiences with an AO or CM co-op and collected from others.  These suggestions are intended for use by families using AO essentially as written, but it wouldn't be difficult to adapt them for use with those who combine other curricula, or just do CM, or for a group with a mix of homeschooling philosophies.  I hate saying the possibilities are endless because it is such a cliche, but really, the following ideas could be combined in too many unique ways to tabulate, and one of them is probably just right for your group.

(scroll down to the end for the second suggestion- an exciting announcement)

Don't let the perfect become the enemy of good enough to get started.  Just figure a few things out and jump in, committing to being flexible, tolerant of other families' foibles and your own.  Keep a sense of humour and work out the kinks as you go along.

To begin with, ask around and find out who else might be interested.

~Collect names and ages of families/children, so you know what you will need. For instance, if you have no high school students, your co-op will look different to a co-op that includes several high school students.
Then have a get-together so you can plan out your co-op.  Try a park day, or a Saturday morning while the parents who are not the primary homeschoolers are able to be home, or hire a couple of teenagers to supervise the kids in the backyard while parents/teachers meet in the living room. Parents work together to plan things out. Everybody needs to volunteer to do something, or the thing will fall apart. This cannot be a drop the kids off time, and you should not accept three moms doing lessons and working with the children while two or three other moms sit in another room and chat as a matter of course for your co-op. Some ideas to discuss:


~What is it you each want most from a co-op? If most of the moms really just want some time with other adults, consider having a parents' study group a couple of times a month instead.

~If you have AO families (or families using all the same curriculum from any CM type offerings), think about dividing your kids into forms- so all kids in years 1-3 would do the same things together on co-op day, and all the year 4-6 or 7 would be together, and then 8 on up would be together (fuzzy lines are okay here). 

- Consider going in together and hiring an art teacher, foreign language instructor, somebody who can teach a handicraft, a music teacher, a singing instructor, a math tutor, a biology teacher (not all of the above at once, necessarily)- knowledgable instructors who can give some focused weekly instruction and directions that all of you can practice at home throughout the week.

--For AO families: Consider this a good time to use one of the 'Unicorn' (that is, really hard to find or expensive) books. If only one person in your group has that wonderful hard to find book, ask if they would consider bringing it and reading aloud from it at co-op meetings. 



Things you will want to consider in addition to what year each of the students is in and what books they are reading: 
~Meals and/or snacks (brown bag, collect dues and order in, potluck, don't have them?)
~How often do you meet?
~Where will you meet?
~Do you want to collect dues and hire a specialist for some things? 
~Time of day? 
~any standards of behavior or statement of faith that need to be ironed out?


Here is a group of suggestions- pick and choose! Some of them would be best for a co-op where all families are following the same AO schedule, some would work best for families that are at least on baord with Charlotte Mason, and some would be compatible even for a group where only one person is a CM homeschooler. 

Things a co-op group could do together with the kids in year 3 and below :

• Read aloud and then act out a fairy tale, folk tale, or myth with the kids
• Same with the Lamb's retelling of Shakespeare
• Parables of Nature
• A weekly science demonstration- something fun about basic science stuff, how things work, why water does what it does, how toilets flush, why you don't put a magnet on your computer, etc.
• Work together on some of the geography concepts we have listed for those years
• Read Heroes (or other Greek myths, D'Aulaire's is good)
• Play a game- a board game, an outside game, something fun that they might not get to do at home because they don't have enough kids to play. One of the old school yard games is a good choice, something like duck, duck, goose, Mother May I, or something else.

Year 4 and Up:

• Read aloud Shakespeare together in character each week
• Plutarch
• Read Bullfinch's myths together
• Pick one free read from any of the upper years and read it aloud together and narrate, discuss
• Some basic map drills
• Dictation
• Mad Libs to learn parts of speech, or some other basic grammar lessons on parts of speech
• Play a game- a board game, an outside game, something fun that they might not get to do at home because they don't have enough kids to play. This is a good time for something like kickball or soccer or some other loosely organized team sport.

High School:

• Some of the above things as well as:
• Roar on the Other Side
• Grammar of Poetry (while each of these books is used for a specific year, you could group together all students in years 6-8 or 9 and work through one book one year, and the other the following year.  Lani, one of our auxiliary members, tells me  her co-op found it easy to go through  'Grammar of Poetry by doing it together twice a month (with homework in between, but just practicing lesson covered) over two school years. Roar was easily done in one year this way. GoP worked quite well for 6th and 7th grades.')
• Writing class
• Foreign Language
• Volleyball, soccer, kickball
• Biology- dissections 

Things that could be done together with a wide range of ages, or divide up the group if that would help:

Folk songs- also view Children of the Open Air videos to learn Sol-fa, or Music at Home,

Swedish Drill

Picture study

hymns

Recitations- if the group is too large for all to take a turn reciting, draw names for five recitations (need not be done all at once, could divide this up and have one at the beginning of the day and one during a snack or lunch time). See the Burrell article on recitation on the PR section of the website and have a short lesson on recitation).

Listen to composer music, perhaps read aloud a biography of the composer over a few weeks by reading each co-op time.

A timeline- similar to recitations, it does not matter that all of them are doing different times, draw names and five people come up and put something on a timeline and explain why they chose that event or person (would require having the same location in order to use the same timeline, or having a portable timeline that could unfold so it can be easily seen)

"Book reports," just narrations- not everybody needs to present if that would take too long, either choose ahead of time or everybody knows they might be called on, or draw names and have a few people come up to share their favourite reading that week.

Biography- share a biography of the term's composer, artist, or poet and read aloud together every week.
Drawing- 

Learn Latin (or some other foreign language if you all agree on the language)- or just play something like Rummy Roots together (it's a card game of Greek and Latin root words)

Handicraft: have different people come prepared to teach different handicrafts through the year, or hire an art instructor to do group lessons. 
PE- play an outdoor game (kickball seems to work pretty well for large groups of kids with disparate skills, but there could be other sports presented and the basic rules learned)

Nature study- also do some kind of object lesson using Hons- Present something like a branch from an oak tree, a basket of seashells, a pinecones, rocks, bones, etc and have the kids just look it over and find out as much as they can from their own observations and then combine knowledge, read something from Hons, ask a few leading questions, discuss.

Nature Walks- You might also consider booking time at a local nature center for some specific lessons 

What if you are the only CM or AO mom in the group?

Things you could probably get other moms to go for, regardless of educational philosophy:

• A nature walk, trip to a nature center, getting an interpretive guide to talk to the kids
• Going in together for an outside art teacher or drawing teacher, or somebody to do dissection with the teens, or somebody to teach a craft, or foreign language+
• singing hymns and/or folk songs
• Book reports- you don't have to be on the same page for this at all- the kids read what they read independently, and the other kids give a book report and your kids narrate a book they finished that week.
• PE- whether drills, or kickball, or volleyball, etc.
• Some kind of recitation- perhaps a public speaking opportunity.
• Mad Libs for parts of speech is still fun in a group, regardless of educational philosophy and background.
• Map drills for continents, oceans, countries, states

• Book Discussion group

I'm sure there are ways other things could be adapted so they are mutually beneficial and compatible with your individual goals for your families.

We would encourage you to focus on organizing your co-op in a way that would not burden parents too much by requiring a lot of outside work to keep up, but that could, at the same time, somehow incorporate things they might already be trying to fit in (like reading a biography of the term's artist together, or picture study, or some of the geography work, or recitation and dictation) so that they would be gaining some community but not at the cost of having to cut out large chunks for the school work they wanted to do or squeezing it into fewer days a week. How much the co-op would do would depend on whether it met weekly or monthly, full days or half days, and where you meet. If it is not a place conducive to nature walks, for example, you will want to either forego them, or you would omit other things to make time to drive to a place for nature walks. 

Here's a sample schedule for one co-op:

Opening prayer, recitation of Philippians 4:8 or CM's motto
Hymn - 10 mins
Picture Study - 10 mins
Folk Song and sol-fa instruction - 20 mins
Swedish Drill - 10 mins
Paper Sloyd/handicraft - 20-30 mins
Shakespeare - 20-30 mins
Drawing lesson - 20-30 mins
Lunch - 30 mins
Nature Hike with journaling and/or Free play


Another co-op of just two families (8 kids, 4-11) meets twice a month, once for a field trip planned by one of the mothers, and the second time the other mother does the following with the kids:

Recitation - we gave the kids a chance to recite poems (their choice) or play piano pieces they had learned for each other.
Picture Study
Nature Study - more often 'object lesson' type of stuff for the 'class' type meeting - mostly on various aspects of plants this past year. Our 'field trip' outing was often a park or nature hike, though so it rounded out a bit.
Composer Study - introducing the composer, listening together and discussing what we heard, with the understanding that we'd all continue listening at home through the month.
Handicrafts - we did Paper Sloyd in the fall and hand sewing projects in the spring.


Have you worked out a local co-op or study group compatible with AO that works for you?  We'd love to hear about it!

Announcement and Possibility Number 2- As Leslie recently announced, 'AmblesideOnline is putting the final touches on a streamlined version of AO that can be done with groups of students in Form I (grades 1-3), Form II (grades 4-6) and Form III (grades 7-8 or 9). Are you thinking of doing AO in a co-op setting? Are you hoping to start a CM cottage school? Perhaps you need a way to streamline a large family into a couple of Years? AO 2.0 may be just what you're looking for!  Coming soon!!'

You could have a co-op using this 2.0 program designed for cottage schools working with kids coming out of public schools, or you could use the 2.0 as your source for books to do together once or twice a month.

Note: It is a lighter version than our official AO curriculum, which is still, in our opinion, the 1969 mustang, the 1957 Chevy, the Ferrari, the Porsch, and the car we don't even have yet- the solar operated, green fueled and designed durable and affordable hover-car! In short, the AO curriculum as seen on the website is still a winning and excellent combination of classic and modern, style and workmanship, heavy duty, road tested durability and affordability. That is not going away.  This AO for Groups curriculum is for cottage schools and larger families.  It is the 12 passenger van for families who don't fit in the AO family car anymore. 

They Do Shakespeare Here?

by Wendi Capehart

Several years ago one of my daughters and I attended a Charlotte Mason seminar. There was a group of teens and young people there, some of whom were her special friends, met online via the Advisory and AO. They had some loosely planned activities to do together, planned mainly by Advisory son Tim Laurio and his soon to be bride Hannah Hoyt (I believe they are the main planners).

 My girl told me a story about one of the other teens there. She knew nobody before she came, not even as online friends. She clearly felt a bit out of place and awkward- something I think most of us can sympathize with. She wasn't sure she fit in. But then one of the young people explained they were meeting at such and such a time under such and such a tree on the grounds to read Shakespeare together in character, and those who were interested could join them, but nobody was required to be there. Hold your breath a moment in preparation for what happened next.

The girl feeling like a square peg in a round hole shivered and adjusted her perspective, looking, wide-eyed, her countenance brightening perceptibly as she turned to somebody near her and said eagerly, "They do Shakespeare here?"  I wasn't there, so maybe I am wrong, but I always think of this story as one of those Holy Ground moments, when the kalaidescope shifts and something beautiful is revealed- and what is more beautiful than an awkward child feeling miserably alone and out of the group suddenly realizes she is not alone?

Why yes, yes they did 'do Shakespeare' there, and she found her 'tribe' as she looked around at the other young people who suddenly appeared to be square pegs as well, and she realized she was in a place with plenty of square spaces in which to fit comfortably.

 My girl told me this young lady came right out of her shell over Shakespeare readings and seemed to have a lovely time henceforth. And I suspect that is why, when I was talking about this [2016] Conference with this daughter, now grown up, married, and with a baby, she said, "Oh, I could do Shakespeare with any interested teens who come!

 And so she is. The teens who wish to will be reading Midsummer Nights' Dream together in character. We purchased a version edited for homeschoolers by Joyce McPherson, so no worries about any of the sometimes bawdy bits Shakespeare includes.

 Those who want to join may, nobody is required to. Parents are still responsible for their own teens- this isn't babysitting or childcare. And because so far of those teens who are coming, most are coming to help with a younger sibling, and my girl is coming with a nursing baby, the times and locations will have to be flexible. They will work out details of where on the grounds and when amongst themselves. They will choose their parts, and read aloud in character, sharing books if necessary, breaking for the little ones amongst them as needed. It will be very flexible, very informal, and I am sure very, very delightful. Because we, too, do Shakespeare here, and so do most of you.

It's still not too late to register for the conference.  It is too late to ask for special dietary needs, but you may pack your own food and eat on the grounds or in your room (their rules- no outside food in their dining room).  Hope you can join us!

Charlotte Mason is inclusive

by Anne White

A brief exchange on the AO Forum left me wondering if there was something about CM philosophy I'd never grasped. Or maybe I knew it and never realized that I knew it. In any case, putting it out there in words seemed to shine one of those Renaissance-art halos around a half-acknowledged truth:

When we say "Children are born persons," we are acknowledging not only their individuality and their own value as individuals, but also their personhood, their inclusion as human beings.  As Mortimer J. Adler said in his book on philosophy, human beings have several features that make us undeniably more than just a concatenation of atoms or members of some other species.

Those of us who have ever been mildly or wildly startled by a noticeable family resemblance on a prenatal ultrasound, or right after a baby's birth, understand that. Even when ultrasounds weren't quite as distinct, about fifteen years ago, we were surprised to see how much the face of our soon-to-be youngest already looked like her sisters. She was already, recognizably, one of us, part of a family. And each new person (like a Cabbage Patch Kid) also comes with a status certificate marking him or her as a genuine member of the family.

In Wendell Berry's books, the character Burley Coulter calls his circle of close family and friends "the Port William membership." The membership did not apply for inclusion or have to swear a loyalty oath; they just made themselves responsible for the well-being of each other.

It's like the other side of the coin. As a human being, you are valuable and loved because you are you, but you are also valuable and loved because you are us. It's not only what makes each one distinct, it's what draws us together.

Family Fun and Culture

by Wendi Capehart

A few years ago I participated in an online discussion with a woman who said that she wanted to work outside the home because her family wanted to provide extra cultural experiences for the children, and that could not be done on most single incomes. I'm not really sure what she meant - she was rather vague about it all. It's possible that the kinds of things she had in mind could not be done on one income. For my family, if it can't be done on one income, then we won't be doing it. But it's surprising what can be done on a limited single income.

Here are some ideas for including culture on a modest income.

Instead of eating out, fix a fancy dinner at home. Set the table with the best dishes and candles. Have everybody dress up and pretend to be eating out, practicing table and restaurant manners.

Invite people over often. Make sure to include interesting, fun people; eccentric, odd people; tourists and immigrants, and unusual people. Include old people with stories to tell and young people with dreams to share. Include missionaries, former and current. Include your minister and the elders of your church. Ask for stories of faith, stories of when God blessed them, and stories of dark days.

Art museums often have free days. Check out the one nearest you. We've often taken advantage of this, even when the museum was an hour or two away. We packed a nice picnic lunch and ate at a park when the weather was nice, in the car on the way home if it wasn't. Always keep your eyes open for free or inexpensive attractions.

We buy a year's family pass to a different attraction each year. It may be the zoo, the children's museum, the children's theater, or the symphony. We can't afford to do them all at once, and with a family our size the cost of a yearly pass is seldom more than it would cost us to get in once, so we choose one each year and immerse ourselves in that one, attending at least a dozen times a year.

Study another country/culture in our homeschool once a year, learning the customs, meals, holidays, and so on, and incorporating something of your studies into your daily lives.

We study art and artists using old art calendars. We hang works by a particular artist each month, discussing the paintings and the artists.

Take advantage of NPR and other radio stations. Listen to classical music all the time, studying the lives of composers at the same time.

Call local colleges and ask if there are any international students who would like a home-cooked meal with an American family.

Volunteer at the nursing home. We have met natives of several different European countries in a small Midwestern nursing home (I won't embarrass myself by trying to spell them).

Read, read, read. Spend lots of time at the local library. Once we lived in a home that was not was not very near to any library. Paying the extra fee for a library card was my birthday present from husband and I loved it.

Every once in a while the older children and I get out the Shakespeare and read it aloud together, each taking a few parts.

My husband chooses a different classic to read aloud to the kidlets at bedtime. He's done Pilgrim's Progress, Farmer Boy, Bread and Butter Indian, some of the Childhood of Famous American books, and many, many more.

Vacations? As a military family every time we moved we tried to make part of the move include visiting an interesting spot. We did stay in two locations for five years each so we took lots of short jaunts to places of historical or environmental interest. We prefer camping to staying in motels (family size, again. With a family this large most hotels want us to pay for two rooms.

Have poetry recitations at home.

Plant a garden, perhaps an historical herb garden.

Collect sea shells, stones, or pressed flowers - label them with their Latin names.

Many libraries in larger cities like Chicago and Boston hold passes to museums and other educational attractions, and sign them out to local residents.

If you live near a college, look into their music and drama productions. Sometimes tickets are very inexpensive. Sometimes you can attend rehearsals for free.

Host a hymn singing.

And, as I said, read, read, read. Discuss what you read together. And then read some more.