Education is a Discipline

Atmosphere in a Charlotte Mason homeschool

Sorry about all the helicopter, guest, and toddler interruptions, haha, but that's life and part of my atmosphere. ;)

Education in crisis: a little pep talk :)

Transformation

Watching determined people hesitantly work towards implementing Charlotte Mason's ideas into their home is like watching a baby take his first breath.

Their tentative steps into nature...
Their sudden interest in good books...
The beginnings of their struggle to build virtue and character...
Their budding awareness that their children are persons with value and inherent dignity...
Their nascent gratitude for God's goodness...
Their newfound ability to pay attention and to use their reason....

It's so beautiful.

They don't know it yet, but it's leading them towards a wholeness they've never known.
They are becoming human again.

Scheduling notes for the AO/MA 2014-15 school year

Hi Friends,

Many of you are in scheduling mode right now and asking for help, so here is our routine/schedule for the upcoming school year using AO Years 0, 2, 3, 12. (Mater Amabilis years Prep, 1B and Year 2 of 1A)

Page one is the schedule, which I based on my combined experiences at Basic Combat Training in the US Army and with Carmelite monastic life, because I'm crazy like that... and it works. True story.
Page two is the gritty details... what exactly we are up to.

As before, we have three formations (we call them consilium)-- one in the morning, one after naps, and one in the evening.  I'm toying with the idea of having afternoons be poetry AND music and opening up the evenings more because we always have company at night... we shall see as we go along.

I'm schooling three elementary children, tutoring one high school senior, and entertaining a toddler, and "academics" go til noon. Haven't used this much yet (although it's close to what we did last year) so it may need some tweaking, but this is the general plan. I'll keep you posted as far as how it seems to be working.

A couple notes:

I don't combine years. Each kid gets cycled through time with me, youngest to oldest. Kids can get up whatever time they want and join me in that morning routine as long it's AFTER 6:30 and BY 7:30. Obviously, there are days where.... yeah. It's not happening. That's why we school year roundish (we break for advent, lent, and a month in the summer but usually keep "schooling" lightly because CMing is a life.

We don't snack. Meals are an event around here. They take a while, and since we cook from scratch, they require prep. Also, we ALL nap. If you're not sleeping, you are having a "quiet time." That's when freereads goes down.

Wednesday nights we do a book study/bible study or prayer group in the community so that is pretty open. Workbaskets are just random tups full of whatever handicrafts the kids are into at the time (Sewing, knitting, spinning, woodworking, whatever)
The "phases" are what they do to make soldiers in BCT, and I use it in the same way-- as a guideline to help me know how to provide the right environment/ oversight to each kid. Kids are cycled through as needed.

In keeping with "Education is a discipline, atmosphere, and life" we aren't going to do much breaking from good habits this year to see if that helps with the Mondays. ;) As before our observation of the Hebrew Catholic liturgical year makes for a good mix of ordinary and holy moments throughout the week.
Hydration just means I make sure they drink some water.... and I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory.
Don't be put off by the military mindset.... our days feel relaxed and it plays out as naturally as breathing.

Feel free to ask questions in the comments!
Good luck, I'm praying for you in your planning!

Nesbitt Routines 2014/15 by Barbie Nesbitt

New Term... let's go!

Term two starts for us today.

We have so many great books lined up and are so excited. This is the second year in a row that our term breaks have matched up with the liturgical year almost perfectly (Term 1 breaks for Advent and Christmas, Term 2 breaks for lent and Easter, Term 3 breaks for a month of summer vacation.) It has been wonderful... just enough time to do some serious partying with family and friends, some spiritual reflection revolving around the liturgical season's events, and to get in a good house scrubbing. Had we not also been dealing with my husband's father's death, I think this would have been the perfect situation.

Not making many changes, but I'm cutting down our morning time  a little bit this term in an effort to be more efficient with individual time. They really do work better alone than in a group, I noticed. At least in this stage.
For the kids, I'll be teaching a CM community knitting class each week, and they will resume their bi-monthly Wayside co-op activities.

I'm also scheduling a Great Books study group weekly for the adults in addition to the CM and Bible Study we do each week. My hope is that at least once a month we can keep up getting together to discuss Great Books, too, using the Socratic Method.  On weeks when people don't come, I plan on reading for an hour, and either blogging or discussing what I'm reading in our facebook group.

It seems to me that this is a fun way we can keep the older young people and adults involved in the "education is a life" aspect. I've really enjoyed the times we've had young graduating homeschoolers or college students join us at CM study groups or Bible Studies, and I'm sure they will be equally enjoyable to have around in a Great Books study group. This is also an opportunity for us parents to pre-read books we need to be sending down the line to our high school students. Many parents in the community here have not ever been exposed to the Classics, so this is a great opportunity for growth for everyone.

Anyways, happy schooling to you all! Looking forward to a great term!

Musings on morning time

As our Advent break draws nearer to the end, I've been reading, one by one, the Ordo Amoris posts on Morning Time. I am doing this because our own morning time, which evolved naturally over the last two years as I noticed that we did a lot of great work in the mornings, has a lot in common with hers. Being older and more experienced, I want to learn what I can from her to make it run more smoothly.

Overall, her posts have been very encouraging, and helped to solidify what we were already doing naturally, and to give me a vision for what it was and could be in the future (as my kids are still very young.)

Around here we call our family meetings "Consilium" which means "council" in Latin. It also means advice, wisdom, judgement, plan, and purpose. Seemed like it fit.

On my schedule, Consilium I happens after breakfast and liturgy of the hours but before individual work, chores, or personal hygiene.
Consilium II happens around the lunch table, and Consilium III happens around Fika, our tea / snack time. I'm a big planner, so each section is already pre-planned. We *try* to do each consilium each day, but since we don't always get to it, I also love that consilium is in addition to their normal, everyday work. It's an addded bonus, but it IS where we do the bulk of our growing/learning/family educational culture stuff.

In our house, Consilium I consists of our "calendar meeting" and the Connecting With History work. We open with calendar time, which isn't what other people do with a special time of that same name. Instead, we open our calendar, discuss upcoming events, and record firsts (first snow, first leaves falling, first steps, etc.) in our book of firsts. We also do a quick habits lesson, and a run down of any character type stuff that's been going on and needs to be addressed. Lastly, we go through one section of the Catechism and discuss. It's a family meeting.
Then we either read from a history book or a book of saints biographies as per our CWH day. We discuss what we have read and do map drills and pages in our book of centuries. We might act out a scene from history. CWH basically lays out the program, and we just follow along, doing something different each week. We also might do memory work from our history readings or the Bible. And we discuss the catechism, and it's relation to what we are reading.

Consilium II consists of Arts & Literature. We read a poem and practice reciting a poem we are learning, and then we read some literature, usually something of a "classics" kind of nature like Peter Pan, or Treasure Island. On Tuesdays, it consists of a Shakespeare reading, Thursdays, a Plutarch reading, and Fridays, a Picture Study and Composer study. Maybe a poet study if we have something scheduled for that day. The rest of the week we just continue in  a good lit book, often mythology or an epic poem.

Consilium III consists of Science & Geography. This is when we do nature study or outdoor geography, read geographical poetry and / or do experiments. If it's raining or we are indoors, I do a read aloud from The Story of Science or from a geography book I select that has a bushcraft/survivalism or travel type theme.

Consilium IV is not called that, nor is it official, but that's what it is. Sometime between dinner and bed we read the Bible and discuss it. We also fit in a folk song.

In other words, I break up my "morning time" into small chunks throughout the day, and since we pray the liturgy of the hours as a family (which consists of prayers, psalms, a scripture reading, and intercession) several times a day, we don't really consider it a liturgy. The two are intimately connected though.... praying the liturgy of the hours before Consilium prepares us to head into consilium in a different mindset.

In reading these blogs, I was a bit put off by her insistence that morning times are liturgy and I admit I giggled a little a I read about her frustration with forgetting to say: "the Lord be with you...." at the end.

As a Catholic family, we differentiate between individual actions and communal actions undertaken by the entire church but when we can we attempt to unite to the body of Christ, not divide from it. We already have liturgy, and we participate in the liturgies of the Church daily, so we don't need to innovate new --less perfect, less communal-- liturgies.  But there was something to her insistence that I completely acknowledge and understand. She is trying to emphasize that what happens in morning time is sacred. Something holy is happening as we struggle and endeavor to recite, discuss, and read and debate and grasp in peace. And that, right there, is something I completely understand.

I also understand her insistence on doing it in the morning. I don't know what it is about the morning. All I can say is that we have their attention. Something magical happens in the morning in their minds and in ours. That's why I chose to do history in the mornings. It's the one thing that catechizes them super profoundly, so I wanted to makes sure they got a double dose of catechism in the day via history study in the AM, when they are paying attention.

For me, by the time afternoons come around it's usually the time when they get rowdy, so having outdoor events planned for that moment is really great. It also allows me to do whatever work I want to  accomplish in the house while they flit around outside noticing things and looking them up.  I have thought about switching my focus to make Consilium I longer and more all-inclusive. My children at this time are all so young that I'm not sure they would be able to handle more than one read aloud at a time. All things are possible, but at this time I don't really see how I would do it.

These are some of our most treasured times together, and though it would be easier to just school them individually and move on, it's of infinite worth to me that these times build up the communal/family culture. My children enjoy the individual time they get with me, but they do the bulk of  their growing through our family interactions and work towards a common goal. We have a large family mindset, recognizing the value of interaction between us, and so for us.... that's what it's all about!

There are no breaks from education.

In keeping with AO's idea of "terms," I try to set up our year so that we break for a month during Advent, a month during Lent, and a month for Summer. Breaks are hard on me... mostly because my kids need some kind of routine. By the time break rolls around we are usually ready to stop formal schooling for a while and to focus on the things that matter in these seasons, but my biggest challenge is to keep my kids from going squirrely.... they just seem to thrive on routine.

Yesterday, I resolved to watch them closely to see what kinds of things I could have them focus on that weren't "academic," persay, but involved in their overall character building-- things like good habits. I was surprised by what I saw.

Even though we are "on Advent break" from schooling, and although I have placed zero academic pressure on them during this season, here are just a few things I noticed that the children did either on their own or by asking me to help them.

My oldest (7): Read Act I of Shakespeare's Macbeth with a commentary, wrote a page in her journal about it, recited last month's memory work in science, poetry, math, latin, and catechism, made up math word problems, sang a memorized hymn, named two birds she saw in our yard accurately and looked up a new one, and studied for, took, and passed a classical latin pronunciation exam. With absolutely no pushing from me other than encouragement to "finish what she had started doing" before she moved on. (habits training)

My second oldest (6): Read and copied the names of candy bars from Willy Wonka, regularly spoke to me in French, looked up two science questions about the nature of matter, did math word problems my oldest made up for him, and narrated a Bible story he had just read to me perfectly.

My second youngest (4): Begged to learn Latin, traced and copied letters and correctly pronounced them, identified the letters in her name in various places throughout the house, spoke French to me, correctly identified a bird in the backyard, told me a story she invented that was quite good, used vocabulary that shocked even me, and and used proper math and logic to get out of eating her lentils.

My youngest (1.5): Spoke French and English to me, sometimes in full sentences. Demonstrated an uncanny awareness of her surroundings. Counted to three on her fingers.(!) Laughed hysterically at a line from Macbeth when it was read to her, and then repeated it over and over again. ("By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes...")

My only conclusion can be this: "Education is a discipline, an atmosphere, and a life."
I never cease to be amazed at the depth of wisdom in Charlotte Mason.
If you keep this maxim in mind as you build family culture, not only does education become a lifestyle but your children grow to delight in learning... to thrive in, and create for themselves, an environment that challenges them to learn more and to think better.

On books, joy, and things

There is something I hear almost every day while skipping through Charlotte Mason blogs, groups, and forums that I find troublesome. I want to address it, but since I'm not sure I can put my finger on it, this is only an attempt at grasping at the description of a premonition with words I'm not sure will do it justice.
Charlotte Mason's methods, and homeschooling in general are gaining in popularity. And I admit that popularity scares me a little bit, for many reasons I won't bother with here.
Of the families I have encountered who follow CM's ideas, I find there are two camps of extremes that many people seem to fall into. The first, are those who call their schools CM because they use living books, go outside,  and finish by noon, but who don't bother to look at the other things which make up a CM education. The second are those self proclaimed "purists" who reject all forms of education and curriculum which stem from anything that wasn't explicitly described/mentioned/theorized about by Miss Mason herself in her own writings, to include questioning forms of classical methodology on the basis of a lack of commentary regarding said forms.  The truth, I suspect, like all things, lies somewhere in the middle.

I love Charlotte Mason's ideas, but I am not Charlotte Mason. Her ideas were her own, but came from her interactions with other idea-havers, I take those and try to push them to new places, following the same trail that has been forged, and sometimes glancing off the trail. Looking behind me. Enjoying the scenery. And that's OK.  My identity is secure, But I get the feeling that, while navigating the homeschool world, many women don't seem to have that same security of identity, and seem to be seeking after something more than just a means to provide their children with a delightful, complete Classical education. Women want leadership and practical help, and Miss Mason certainly offers that in a most marvelous manner, with wisdom and patience and great care. But I get the feeling, every so often, that people just "hear about Charlotte Mason" while researching, think to themselves, "I want that!" and then go about trying to purchase what they need to make it happen. They don't understand  that receiving a classical education is a paradigm shift, a thing that will literally require that the whole family get on board and start living what they claim to believe as true, important, and necessary. Charlotte Mason is not a style of curriculum. It's a lifestyle change.

Now, you've heard me blog about classical education, and you've heard me blog about catholic education. You obviously come here a lot to read about a Charlotte Mason education. And recently, I tried to put to rest the idea that these educational theories were at odds one with the other. The pursuit of truth and beauty is not UNIQUE to a CM education, although CM does it particularly well. At the same time, without the ability to *reason* no student will arrive at truth or beauty. The value of the Classical / Catholic education, on which CM's ideas are based, is that it formally teaches this skill. But the value of that lesson is only as meritorious as the teacher who has instilled in his student the love of learning, the reason for needing reason, and the purpose of life-- Catechesis.

CM students who have parents that don't get this are bound to have problems. The students will form in themselves an ability to discern and connect with the true and beautiful that is handed to them, but they will be lacking the ability to sort through ideas themselves and come to their own conclusions.... and to join in the Grand Conversation in a way that adds to the conversation and doesn't just take away from it.

CM's techniques can help all children to appreciate truth, beauty and goodness, but it takes the ability to think like a philosopher.... to think and parse and organize...... to be someone who can attack the status quo. She knew this! And she advocated the teaching of logic, only in her time she felt that it was adequate to surround the child with good books, and then to allow him to absorb critical thinking skills from his interactions with the authors. Her reasons for doing this were two-fold.

First, students raised using her methods had been taught to carefully notice, mentally organize, categorize, and express information as it came from the very beginning of their education. They had little need of formal teaching in doing so by the time they were older because this was how they had been trained. Critical thinking was a habit. Hard mental work was a habit.
Second, her students had read ONLY the best books. And these books had become as friends to them, mentors and guides. Many of the classical educators of her day were uninterested in the persons they were teaching.... only enamored with the method of classical education. Because of that, they failed to inspire a desire for truth and a love of knowledge. This is huge, because it was through the reading of the world's greatest authors, often in the original languages,  and through knowledge of the scriptures, combined with the respect of the teachers towards the children on the journey that children grew to become critical thinkers.... students who desired to know more, and who were able to work with the information they were given in such a way as to organize it and come to logical conclusions. The Bible itself helps us to understand this:  

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

It does not say that God will do the work here. It says that WE will do the mental work.
CM parents who don't understand this will be raising lovely people who are self-motivators, hard workers, and beautiful citizens. But they won't be world-changers. They will still be followers.

Education doesn't happen by osmosis. The child himself must absorb and fiddle with and-- not regurgitate--- but process information. Recently, on facebook, I saw that an article written by a pope-hating schismatic condemning the Church-approved Divine Mercy devotion had begun making the rounds. I was distraught to find that in a group of homeschooling Catholic mothers, a woman posted the article. What was even more disturbing was to find that more than 2/3 of the comments from the beginning were from women who read the article and responded to it in this way:
"Oh my! I had no idea! I will stop saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at once!"
None of them thought. Not logically. They were lemmings. Never mind that the very pope who leads their Church had handed out copies of the Divine Mercy prayers to visitors at his audience that week and exhorted them to pray it. Never mind that the Divine Mercy prayers are approved by the Church, and for a logical reason. No, they were satisfied to completely give it up-- indeed, to call it EVIL-- because they had read a convincing-sounding argument on the internet that said so. My mind was boggled.

In our day, things are much more complex than they were in Victorian England. Technology and the advent of the information age has made "knowledge" cheap and easy to obtain. But somehow people are more stupid now than they were when there were no smartphones to google questions. Their attention spans and ability to discern the underlying truths or lies of what they read are practically non-existent. It is maddening for the student of logic to walk through the clamoring earth, turning his ear to the left or to the right because illogical, false, and ridiculous conclusions are being formed in every direction and shouted from every hilltop.  Literally maddening. I'll get to that in a minute.

Suffice to say that logic is critical. Thinking is critical. Habits are critical.
The reason CM succeeds particularly well at speaking to my generation is because she lays out a map for the journey of the home educating parent. Not only does she vision-cast, but she gives practical advice. Not only does she theorize but she comes alongside her reader an expounds upon her theories. Her books are a compass and scale, her words a trail of delight through the dangerous and often confusing world of education.

Which brings me to my four-fold issue.
Daily, I come across women who, motivated by the promised joy that a CM education brings, attempt to "purchase" that joy-- or worse, steal it!-- without any hard work. And those who do have completely missed the memo.
Miss Mason's methods work because:

Life should be simple.
Work should be hard.
Prayer should be constant.
Only the greatest minds should be our friends and teachers. (Good books)

Life should be simple.
No, I'm not suggesting you buy a farm, although I'm quite sure that doing so would benefit every one of us. I am suggesting that a true classical, and therefore Charlotte Mason education requires a simple life. Gone are the excessive "extras" of modern life and back are the basics: good time management. attention to detail. remembering what's important. getting rid of stuff, clutter, and baggage. finding work that is meaningful. making do with what you have. Not taking on more than you can handle. Finishing what you start.
In following this idea, CM's student's are done early because we don't have endless piles of curriculum and things to sort through and accomplish each day. We don't switch it up every two weeks or every few months or even every year. We stick with ideas, and ride them through to the end.

Work should be hard.
A simple life is best lived in hard work. This is why people yearn for the family farm. We have work, we do it, and we are satisfied. This goes for mental work too, and Charlotte's students know this. We don't reward or punish the children as they work. We allow natural consequences and the satisfaction of a job well done. This builds confidence and.... surprise... joy.
Today people are lazy and obsessed with entertainment over work, chocolate and wine over sacrifice, naps and jammies over clean homes and diligence. This is not the way of the saints, and it certainly is no the way of joy! Is it any surprise that so many people in our world are medicated for depression?? Our minds AND our bodies are rotting away. Perhaps worse is the rotting of our minds, as mental laziness creates a seat for stupidity. A disciplined mind, no matter how simple, will always be superior.
In Chapter III of Ourselves, Charlotte Mason lays out quite clearly the enemies if the intellect: Sloth, poor intellectual habits, inability to stay in one field of thought, and an inability to connect ideas because of a lack of "well-rounded" knowledge. We all know that hard, physical work is good for our children, and even for ourselves. But let us never forget that hard mental work is the cornerstone of a truly CM education.

Prayer should be constant.
The elements of a simple life are perhaps best laid out in the monastic rules of Catholic religious life. I hear the Rule of St Benedict is excellent at demonstrating this, but I'm not as familiar with it as I should be. I live by a version of the Rule of St Albert of Jerusalem, who wrote it for the Carmelites.
Regardless, most of the monastic rules are perfect examples of a simple life lived, based on this principle: work, and pray. (You may have heard Catholics say: "Ora et labora!") I would add.... "detach," but this is not something that lay people can do in the same way that monastics do it. That being said, I assure you we can come closer to what they do than what we are doing now. Wink, wink. A life of prayer starts with a habit Charlotte Mason calls "thought of God," and which Catholics recognize as a contemplative life, one in which our awareness of God's presence brings about a change of heart and attitude. Prayer is sustaining, and food for our souls.... a way to acknowledge this "thought of God." And so we pray. Basing our schedules and routines off of prayer times rather than eating or playing times is a great way to discipline the mind and a practice of those who historically have achieved the greatest ability to think clearly.

And good books should be teachers.
I add this point as a fourth and most important point because it was so dear to Charlotte herself. Miss Mason's ideas about books should be read by each individual educator. Her methods can not be followed casually with any measure of success, as evidenced by the scores of unschooling "CM" educators busily fluttering around the internet desperate for new curriculum or new CM ideas "that work for them." 
We learn by imitation. I see my children do it every single day. If we do not give them the Great Minds, the Masters to imitate, who will they imitate? Would you rather your daughters imitate Penelope or Amelia Bedelia? Saint Joan of Arc or Judy Blume's Margaret? Would you rather your sons imitate King Arthur and Caractacus, or Harry Potter?
We who have heard Charlotte's thoughts on literature and who have smiled and agreed, what business do we have putting twaddle in the hands of our children? Why read a compilation created by a disordered thinker over a whole work written by a master? (Omnibus and Story of the World, I'm looking at you!) Discovering twaddle is tricky in a world full of books, but the best guideline I can give, and one I use in my own home, is this:
1. Does the book capture the interest of the adult as much as of the child and it is written in language that will not only delight, but also teach and instruct the reader(s)?
2. Does the book require that even the adult concentrate to extract it's full meaning?
3. I might even add an additional guideline: Is the book the original source of the ideas it conveys, or does it expound upon an original idea? And if it expounds upon that idea, does it do so in a logical way or is it building an illogical idea on top of the mental work of others?
And if you are following the other guidelines-- committed to a life of prayer, hard work, and simple living--- will you really have TIME to read twaddle, even "not quite" twaddle? Not a chance.
I was recently involved in a discussion between a group of protestant women and a group of Catholic women regarding the nature of the Church. It was a very upsetting conversation to me on many levels, but mostly because these are women who I have very much fond affection for. We had both read the Bible. They were sure of their position because of how they were reading the Bible, but I was certain they were reading the Bible incorrectly. I attempted to prove it with good books... by quoting the earliest recorded Christian writers like Ignatius of Antioch and Justyn Martyr. They remained unconvinced, I'm quite sure, because they couldn't even fathom the paradigm shift required in their thinking skills.... they had been taught one way: to follow rabbit trails of ideas, and I was trying to teach them TO THINK (to follow one logical trail of ideas) because if I could prove that Christians believed a certain thing HISTORICALLY, then surely they had to acknowledge that things had changed somewhere along the way.
These are "well-read" women, but they couldn't think because all their lives they had been reading books that were less than perfect, so that when they finally found themselves faced with logic, they couldn't recognize it and in fact, vehemently rejected it in favor of a fallacy they had repeated and repeated and repeated to themselves time and again by reading books which were good, captivating, interesting, etc..... but which weren't THE BEST BOOKS. They were used to reading books in the Christian Living section of the Bookstore. I was trying to point them towards the Church Fathers, original sources of ideas in their original form. Whole different animal. (It was reading the Church Fathers that led me to Catholicism, of course! I took them as my RIGHTFUL teachers.... and so should we all, not because I did but because they have the authority and place in history to teach us the BEST and TRUEST living ideas from which have sprung all other ideas about faith and Christianity!)

It seems like every day I read a new post by a homeschooling mother looking for ways to purchase.... or steal..... a CM education for their children, to secure joy without being willing to actually do the work of reading CM for herself and then applying it, keeping these four principles in mind. And yet these four principles are what constitute the bulk of a classical liberal arts education. These four things--- simplicity, hard work, prayer, and good books/teachers--- will lead to good thinking, and therefore to truth and beauty and the transformation of the world. I have even met people who felt satisfied and accomplished giving their children a list of "living books" to read each week and who all but ignored the foundations of good thinking--- grammar and arithmetic and logic! DESPITE Charlotte's own ideas, which I'm quite sure they never read for themselves.

So let me say it again, and I say it as much to myself as to anyone who might be reading:
You cannot purchase a CM education in a box. You cannot teach the classical liberal arts without setting up a culture of simplicity and order, hard work, prayer, and submission. You cannot be less than perfect, and then expect perfection. You cannot have children who love the outdoors, and not go outside yourself. You cannot have children who are kind, and not be kind. You cannot have children who are wise, and not seek after wisdom yourself. And you cannot be a Saint unless you seek to "be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) God will help you.

Follow the advice of St Josemaria Escriva who said: "Work, and things will change! You will yield more fruit, and it will be sweeter than before."

"Classical" educators, in my mind, who enroll their children in sing-songy memory work co-ops in the hopes of creating something they refuse to be themselves will not succeed. Charlotte Mason educators, in my mind, who allow their children to read twaddle disguised as literature, and to lounge around reading and playing all day rather than taking their studies and their responsibilities seriously, will not succeed. This is NOT a statement against any particular program or book or series, but rather against sloth, laziness, and intellectual suicide.

I leave you with these brilliant words, even more important in our day:

"Nothing is more common in an age like this, when books abound, than to fancy that the gratification of a love of reading is real study....there are many, who certainly have a taste for reading, but in whom it is little more than the result of mental restlessness and curiosity. Such minds cannot fix their gaze on one object for two seconds together; the very impulse which leads them to read at all, leads them to read on, and never to stay or hang over any one idea. The pleasurable excitement of reading what is new is their motive principle; and the imagination that they are doing something, and the boyish vanity which accompanies it, are their reward. Such youths often profess to like poetry, or to like history or biography; they are fond of lectures on certain of the physical sciences; or they may possibly have a real and true taste for natural history or other cognate subjects;—and so far they may be regarded with satisfaction; but on the other hand they profess that they do not like logic, they do not like algebra, they have no taste for mathematics; which only means that they do not like application, they do not like attention, they shrink from the effort and labour of thinking, and the process of true intellectual gymnastics. The consequence will be that, when they grow up, they may, if it so happen, be agreeable in conversation, they may be well informed in this or that department of knowledge, they may be what is called "literary"; but they will have no consistency, steadiness, or perseverance; they will not be able to make a telling speech, or to write a good letter, or to fling in debate a smart antagonist, unless so far as, now and then, mother-wit supplies a sudden capacity, which cannot be ordinarily counted on. They cannot state an argument or a question, or take a clear survey of a whole transaction, or give sensible and appropriate advice under difficulties, or do any of those things which inspire confidence and gain influence, which raise a man in life, and make him useful to his religion or his country."

Cardinal John Henry Newmann
On the Idea of a University

Setting the Classical Question to rest once and for all (maybe)

I've been doing a ton of thinking about the differences and similarities between a typical Charlotte Mason education and a typical Classical education in a practical (not theoretical) sense. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think a Charlotte Mason education was superior. But I find it important to note that Charlotte's vision was achievable within the framework of the classical education.... because though what I received was basically a Charlotte Mason education, my parents were classical educators, and had never heard of Charlotte Mason. In other words; they have the same goal, use many of the same methods (albeit slightly differently), and if the parents are themselves thinking people, they will probably come to the same conclusions.

Children have different personalities, evident almost right away in their upbringing. I have a son who could stand in a corner all day but never learn his lesson, but take away something that he cares about and he straightens right up. I have a daughter who is very logical for her young age, and needs parents who constantly uphold the standard without slipping. I have another daughter who reacts with pain and horror when she is disciplined by an impatient parent, but who tries her best to do what she ought right away when we remain calm and affectionate. I could go on. Though these children are different, all of  them are helped by Charlotte's ideas, because she taught the respect of children as persons. This idea is a given to Catholics, who are taught from the beginning to respect the human dignity of children, but may easily be missed by people in other faith traditions or who have no religious background at all.

I have many friends who are fence - sitters, drawn to Charlotte's ideas but resolutely remaining on the classical side of the question for many reasons.  For many Catholics, this happens out of fear. We know and understand that a classical education is our heritage, and the pursuit of the liberal arts our sacred duty as human beings. We fear that Charlotte Mason, not being quite fully Catholic, can't understand the nuances of a truly Catholic education. I think that's a little silly, although I can appreciate the concern. Now, if Charlotte was good enough for GK Chesterton, she was good enough for me, but maybe I don't know anything. (One day I will blog about CM compared to the Jesuit educational model, and that of Don Bosco.... it's a fascinating topic that deserves to be explored, since each of these were so similar!)

For others it happens out of pride or anxiety. In the early years, CM is certainly more "gentle," with children, and though they catch up quickly and in some ways excel if pitted against their classically-educated peers, it can be disconcerting seeing children in a classical school spouting off long lists of president's names or timeline dates they have memorized when our own children aren't.

But in my experience, most people reject CM once they hear about it and stick to the modern classical method (a paradox!) because CM is just too complicated... there are no ready-made curricula that actually provide Charlotte's methods, and those that do are quickly abandoned as we read her work ourselves and realize the principle of integration.

We have to read her ourselves, think for ourselves how we are going to do it, and implement it ourselves. We (the educators) have to be willing to change, to grow, and what's more amazing-- to discipline ourselves in surrender to this great ideal: the education of our children. CM is not just for kids, it's for parents, too.

Those of us fortunate enough to have CM schools in the area, and there are a few, still have to learn her methods so we can remain consistent with their education at home. In a CM education, the parent takes full responsibility for the student's education, and so does the student, as he grows in awareness. CM is self-education, if nothing else. In fact, if I had to pick just one major difference, that would be it: Charlotte Mason taught children to educate themselves in the liberal arts, learning from the original great thinkers. The Classical method teaches the liberal arts TO children. Many classically educated children go on to be great thinkers themselves, make no mistake about it. But a hunger for knowledge--- that's a sign of a CM education. It's a given that Charlotte Mason had one goal: that children love to learn.

Most of us CM educators agree that Charlotte Mason provided a "type" of classical education to children... she certainly taught them the liberal arts. In my case, I was given what amounts to a CM education growing up.... and certainly I am full of ideas and connections between ideas. In fact, connections between ideas are what I tend to call "God moments" when lightbulbs go off in my brain, and you usually hear all about them right here, as you well know.
I certainly can say I have a passion for learning.

I have a vast knowledge of names and faces and friends throughout history and out in the wild. I am familiar with most of the great works and an excellent writer myself. And I've even studied philosophy-- I majored in it in France. Philosophy: the ability to think and reason,  as you know, is the end-all, be-all of a Classical education. Knowledge of God in a Christian education.... combine the two and you have a Classical, Catholic education.... one which many protestants are attempting to reproduce in some ways through programs like Classical Conversations. (Other well known protestant curriculum providers, like Heart of Wisdom (ironic name much?), are working hard in the homeschool world to eradicate any classical/Greek influence in their children's education, choosing to provide a purely "spiritual, Hebrew" education. Watch me LOL.... but that's another blog for another day.) When I look at my own education, I see that I was given a catholic, classical education in every sense of the word: a grounding in the seven liberal arts with a CM twist: my parents were respecters of persons. I have a hunger for learning, and my mind makes connections between living ideas. Success, right?

But even with all that under my belt, one thing I can NOT do is understand philosophy in the terms used by the great minds. Sometimes, I can understand it, but not reproduce it or add to it. When I read the great books, I often feel like an outsider looking in. Though I can comprehend the ideas therein, I cannot add to them anything constructive, just absorb in awe and wonder.

Now this may be because I am not that bright, but I have come to believe that this is also because my education in grammar, arithmetic, logic, philosophy and rhetoric was not formal in the sense of a course in which I learned to use language or terms a certain way, and then build upon that knowledge in any kind of a framework (what the French call "encadrement.")

Rather, my understanding of arithmetic, logic, philosophy, grammar, etc. comes from a large, feast-like banquet in which I picked and chose what was interesting to me and connected to other ideas I was learning about. I lacked structure, and the lack of structure is NOT an impediment to me as a wife, mother, and journalist. However, I have noticed that my husband is a more clear, less muddled thinker than myself. And he himself was given a FORMAL education in logic, for example, which later helped him to not just *understand* philosophy, but participate in the great philosophical dialogue in a way that I never can without that same formal dialogue.

Let me give you an example:

I can read Peter Kreeft, find it moving, apply it to my life, and make something beautiful come to life with what I've learned. I can even teach a class on Peter Kreeft's ideas to others, or share what I've learned through him in a small group setting.

My husband, however, can hold his own in a debate with Peter Kreeft. He might be invited to lecture alongside him one day. He is capable of holding a debate or conversation with him, and from time to time, point out a logical flaw in an argument he might make. (not that this has ever happened, nor would it.... just giving an example of how the end-product of our different educations might look.)

So what does that matter in a practical sense for those of us who aren't aspiring to be debaters?

Well, in my house, for example, the husband leads and the wife and children follow. (Most of the time, haha.) Imagine how that looks... my husband, with his trained eye for the logical/ reasonable, etc. is VERY qualified to lead us. He hears a problem and immediately breaks it down into parts, analyzes each part, sees how it fits into the whole, and repositions the problem parts so that he finds a reasonable solution. (I liken this to doing a complex math problem or diagramming a complicated sentence.)

Me? I hear a problem and instinctually sense right or wrong responses, feeling my way through it, and perhaps even using experience or evidence to guide me. I can point out where the bits are that need reworking. I can even come up with solutions that are viable. But I often miss the "bigger picture" or "long term" application, and nearly make very big mistakes because of it!

Now, of course, this takes natural ability. But I do believe that our educations come into play here, and I keep that in mind when planning out my children's educations. In fact, I read a FASCINATING article the other day about women's educations in the middle ages, that demonstrated exactly why and how women were educated classically...
For tasks like running a nation, the ability to think, debate, reach for the stars, etc. is critical. For tasks like running a household, other abilities come into play. Now, I probably would have had better luck with some of these issues-- with learning logic, for example--  had I been better at follow-through as a child.... with finishing what I start. But CM addresses that, and had my parents been followers of her method, they would have made sure to help me follow through until this stuff was as natural to me as breathing. My point, though, is that I am OK in my own role without it.

What do our kids need? Each of them is different. Each of them demonstrates a propensity for certain types of thinking. My eldest is a philosopher, already. My second child an engineer. My third an artist. My fourth? We will see. Will all of them need to learn formal logic and formal rhetoric? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It will take discernment, to see which ones are called to "higher" tasks, and which ones are called to ordinary-- although no less important-- tasks.

Many of us younger CM educators frequently experience sidetracks into the realm of the Classical World as if it were foreign territory.... interesting and exciting, but also different and slightly fuzzy and unclear. And it is. In the younger years, CM children seem to have a finger in every pie, but Classical children seem to be adept at things that make us insecure and awe-struck.... we watch them spewing off long lines of memorized work and think.... "OUCH!! My kids are NOT doing that!! I must be way behind!"

To understand what a classical education actually IS, I recommend first looking at what it is NOT. It is not what we imagine when we think of students in classrooms today, filling out lists of spelling words and math terms, taking home worksheets, and other such nonsense. It is not workbooks, or textbooks, or fact-sheets, or sing-songy memory work.

William Michael, director of the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, wrote an excellent article about the Dorothy Sayers phenomenon here. While I do believe Mr. Michael's point is a good one, the reality is that practically speaking, this means not very much. Dorothy Sayers' ideas about stages really just facilitate the classical education for children. In the past, an education was begun at 6 and ended when it ended.... with the study of what was true, right, good, and beautiful from throughout history.

Insofar as the language arts go,the emphasis on grammar, latin, etc. is really about ordered thinking. Learning practical and classical arithmetic helps us to think clearly.

In practical terms, most classical schools tend to follow a similar sort of path as CM students.
"The Well Trained Mind," was the first how-to-homeschool book that I read, and re-reading it once I had a grasp of Charlotte Mason's methods reminded me of why I liked it in the first place. Practically speaking, the curriculum looks very similar and the ideas are very close. WTM recommended more textbooks and didn't have the same standards for living books that were 100% twaddle-free, but ultimately, school "looks" sort of the same. The notebooks used in WTM were not used in a CM education (more on notebooks in this blog soon!) There was more writing at an early age in WTM. In most classical schools, the teacher teaches and the students listen... something that is not happening in a CM education, where the teacher facilitates and the student and book interact. Charlotte Mason's method is self-education. WTM and other classical methods make heavier use of the teachers' knowledge (or in the case of homeschool, the curriculum writer's) knowledge.

Both do narration, copywork, and dictation. Both read, hopefully mostly from living books. Both emphasize grammar and latin, arts and sciences.
In a practical sense, the differences are so subtle.... subtle enough to be almost imperceptible. But they are important distinctions, and make up a truly "Charlotte Mason" education.

What are these differences?

In the younger years, grades 4-6 in a modern classical education, for example (or when they are ready, in a truly classical education, begun whenever and building upon itself) a formal composition course is given in three stages, commonly called the "fable stage," the "narrative stage," and the "chreia or maxim stage." Charlotte Mason, on the other hand, did not do ANY formal instruction in composition, but rather used written narration (built upon a foundation of oral narration experience in the younger years) and excellent copywork/dictation , along with grammar (formally begun in grade four, but taught throughout in gentle language lessons.) Charlotte's students can use living books here.... such as Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style," or the classic work "On Writing Well."
Similarly, we can teach a formal grammar course for one or two years, but then leave it to living books such as "The Transitive Vampire" alongside some formal recitation of the rules of grammar.
A PhD thesis I recently read used a preliminary study to demonstrate that a Charlotte Mason education with no formal composition instruction at all provided a more than adequate skill in composition. I myself am a writer, having never received formal composition lessons in the classical manner. I like to think that I'm a good one. ;)
My thought for the fence-sitters here is that should you realize when your child reaches this level that s/he has not had adequate narration experience, then you might consider a formal composition course. Should your child already be a strong writer, as outlined in Charlotte's works, then feel free to skip this step and to trust her.

Outside of this, there are very few differences between a CM and Classical education in these stages other than the approach to memory work (which I will discuss momentarily.)

The only other practical consideration is that in a traditional classical school, in grades 7-12 traditional logic, material logic, and rhetoric are taught. Again, these are not formally taught in a CM education, but rather acquired through reading the great thinkers. Thus Ambleside students, for example, read Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book" for logic, and read some of the best works of apologetics out there. This method is perfectly suitable, but again it is worth noting that should a particular student demonstrate a propensity for debate or especially a need for improvement in communication, debate, or critical thinking skills, then certainly a formal logic course could be taught, and these are readily available to homeschooling families. However, the necessary use of these formal courses is another story. Not every child will need one, and if Charlotte's methods are adhered to closely, especially from the beginning, I believe the need for these courses will show itself to be greatly reduced, if not eliminated. It possible to teach ordered thinking and communicating using the great books alone.

Especially should you sense that your student has a particular call to leadership, careful consideration of the child's ability in these areas (communication, critical thinking, debate) should be given. But of course, the whole goal of a classical education and of the teaching of the liberal arts is that all students be ready and able communicators, thinkers, and debators. So there you have it, the only differences in practical terms are the endless hours spent in the formal teaching in textbook or teacher-to-student format of the subjects of composition, logic, and rhetoric, much of which should be evaluated as the child grows. The main goal, in a CM education, is for the teacher to get out of the way... and that should be considered when one considers adding a formal course in any of these subjects.

Now there is an other area which deserves some thought, and that is the area of memory work. Charlotte's students recited, of this we are sure. The emphasis in recitation was not at all on facts, dates, etc but on what was true, beautiful and real.
To this end, memory work should consist mostly of poetry and scripture, passages from great speeches, and be done in such a way as to be virtually painless-- Charlotte describes a method of memorization "by accident" in which the child is exposed to the poem each day at varied times and during other events (hair brushing, eating, etc) and thus the poem is learned painlessly.  I know this is how I have memorized things in the past, poems that still stay with me!
Charlotte's students also recited those necessary facts they must know in the areas of math, grammar, catechism, etc. This was undoubtedly in question-and-answer format and was perfectly necessary, but kept short-- five minutes before or after class, unlike in the modern classical method where the bulk of the class is spent in recitation / memorization "work."

One thing is certain: Charlotte's students would not have learned their memory work with daily exposure to "fun" sing-songy versions of facts, which differs greatly from the modern classical method employed in courses like classical conversations. That being said, if the child enjoys this exposure,  I personally don't see any harm in teaching memory work in this way.... particularly if their friends or siblings are also doing it as it gives them a sense of big-ness / importance to be able to do what they see their siblings or friends doing.

One last thing to consider for me has been in the methods of evaluation, namely tests and records of work accomplished. For the first few years of my children's schooling, despite having rabidly doused myself in Charlotte's ideas from morning til night, I still felt compelled to keep binders full of *proof* that my children were learning. I can't say if this concept came to me naturally or through my reading of The Well-Trained Mind, but my children had notebooks we filled with evidence that they had worked. They enjoy going through these notebooks, but I noticed they enjoy most looking at copywork, narrations, maps, and art work they have designed. I've never seen them stop on pages of math problems, worksheets, or word lists that weren't created by themselves. As a result, I've stopped wasting a lot of unnecessary time on record keeping. For example, almost all of our math work is done orally right now. I write down our narration to encourage them to narrate better, but not when we narrate in a group. Our grammar is done mostly orally as well.

I have plans to write a different blog post about notebooking in a CM education, so this clearly isn't the place, but I did want to give an example of the difference here between a Classical concept of examination and a CM concept of examination.

Charlotte's student's exams consisted of telling back something they had learned throughout the term, something very different from the multiple choice, formal essays etc. of the Classical and traditional methods. There were no comprehension questions, no three paragraph responses, no diagrams.... just an oral or written explanation to the teacher of the subjects studied and what knowledge was acquired. A conversation.

Looking back at some of the teaching techniques the two methods have in common is important. A sample copybook employed in the classical method often contained a line or quote from a poem, for example, at the top of the page. Below, on each line, the student would labor to re-create the phrase over and over in his or her "best writing." I did this as an adult in the Spencerian Script copybook series from Mott Media and found it tremendously boring after the first line.... despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoy penmanship.

Charlotte's students had copybooks which were quite different-- each line was a copied piece of literature, scripture, or a poem from the child's own reading which s/he had found delightful. The lines were copied using the habit of perfect execution (ie. perfectly from the beginning) and were not repeated over and over, so that when one went back to look at the copybook it became a commonplace book... a carefully kept journalistic record of the child's mind and a map of the world of ideas s/he was building. What a difference! One copybook might be seen as building the habit of perfection for perfection's sake... the other for the sake of later delight and enjoyment... and even further reflection. Powerful! This is the stuff I love about Charlotte Mason, and the reason she has my heart.

Rest assured that I will have plenty more to say on the subject, but for now I feel confident that there is enough evidence in these few paragraphs to show that a Charlotte Mason education is indeed a classical education, and more. At the same time, it is perfectly possible to provide a traditional Classical education with the end result being children who grow into self-educating adults who love to learn if we are careful to adhere to some of Charlotte's ideas about parents and children... ideas which are a part of our heritage of ideas should we be blessed enough to be Catholic.  I can say I was given a Charlotte Mason education despite my parents having never heard of Charlotte Mason because my parents were classical educators, respecters of their children as persons, outdoorsmen, and lovers of ideas. They were thinking people.

There is truly no need to pit the two against each other or to bounce, conflicted,  from one to the other in the hopes of creating "thinkers," but just as in all things, an actual, careful study of Charlotte's ideas in her own words and of the history of education as a whole is the best way to understand her methods and the reasons why she did what she did. Producing children who love to learn, and giving them a classical education, ultimately requires that parents provide what Charlotte called "a thinking love." This thinking love .... we owe it to our children.

Happy educating!

More thoughts on integration

I wrote yesterday about the integrated life.

The topic has been sticking around in my mind all morning as I experienced what is a typical Monday in my home.

My husband called from work around 6:30 am to ask me to prepare my son to join him when he got home. My son got ready. When my husband walked in the door, my daughter asked if she could join them, and he said yes.

I had a neat pile of books sitting on the dining room table ready to tackle, but the only people I was left with couldn't even name letters, so I sighed.

I set about doing my morning chores with the little ones following close behind me undoing everything I was doing. Grateful for the time to train them despite the annoyance of having to take the time, I got down on their level and began to do the work of instilling habits in them from the start. "Can you help mommy pick up that sock?" and "let's see if we can make this look nice and neat..."

In an hour or so my older children will come home, tired and happy from their activities out of the house, which included daily mass and a visit to their grandfather.
I will make lunch, and we will eat together. Afterwards I will settle down with them and read a story or two, and we will take naps. Then they will work on the things they left behind this morning: math lessons and map work, grammar and a science activity. If we're lucky! There's a good chance someone may pop up at the door, and then lessons will be for after dinner.There's also a good chance hospice will call and let us know it's time for us to gather bedside around my Father in law. Then maybe we'll have to skip lessons tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day..... life is happening. Every day. But I am armed with a list, and with a method, and ready at every moment if  the opportunity should present itself.

THIS is what I meant by "integrating," not the other way around, where life dictates what learning will happen. That is unschooling, and this is an academic education. We integrate learning into life, but we aren't rejecting formal lessons. We are just being malleable... allowing the day to dictate the right place and time for those lessons, and keeping them a priority without falling to pieces when they have to shift a bit.

We didn't have to be homeschoolers long to learn a few things that have shaped how we look at homeschooling.

1. When you homeschool, there is INFINITELY more "housework" that needs to get done because you are actually living IN the house. This requires a plan and some initiative. Good habits are critical.

2. When you homeschool, life gets in the way. Every time. This is important, because it ties into our philosophy. People will think you don't do anything all day and pop over at random times. All your children will get sick at the same time. You will have family emergencies. New babies will come. Your husband will be home some days. People will ask you to babysit.
The reasons "not to get things done" are vast and wide, and it takes a firm vision and adaptability to overcome these challenges. Some people respond by shutting in the children from 8-2 and forming a "school-like" environment (desks, a classroom) in the house. We don't. We are at home, and not at school, so our lessons take place at the kitchen table and on the living room floor. Other people respond by saying "well, they still learned something." And calling it a day. We don't. We believe it is our duty to provide a strong academic life to our children, AND to be flexible.A lack of one thing doesn't mean we can let EVERYTHING go. It just means we need to keep calm and educate on.

Similarly, when I refer to integrating, I mean subjects. We are used to thinking in compartments because in school, this is how we learned. Not so with a Charlotte Mason education. People often look at the lists of subjects covered in regular CM week and balk--- "WHAT??! I could never have the discipline to do all that!!" I hear that all the time, and get frequent, frustrated phone calls from new-to-CM families who are struggling to fit every subject in, but wanting to.

A CM education isn't like that..... we aren't stuck at our desks all day. When we read good books, we learn ALL the subjects, and this is an idea that has struck me so powerfully that I am considering re-thinking our one-subject-per-day method... and even our future.

Normally, I read science books on Mondays and Literature on Tuesdays and Geography on Wednesdays and History on Thursdays and Arts books on Fridays. But lately it has seemed that I am reading history books every day and science books three times a week,  or that some of my subjects are deeply overlapping.
When we read Aesop, it is literature. But it is also history--- and even bring out discussions about science! Plutarch is civics and history. I read Le Fabre's insects the other day to the children, and they noticed the religious lessons, the lessons of "the back then" way of life, and the lessons in science and nature study and even religion! Jenny Wren in the Burgess Bird Book is a gossip. Should we gossip?  On and on it goes.
It's becoming harder and harder to compartmentalize, And I'm becoming conflicted about where to schedule certain books... and that's a good thing. It means I'm starting to get this CM thing right.
It also causes me to reconsider our future plans. As a Classical home educator using the Charlotte Mason method, I myself am steeped in the Great books and in the experience of life-long learning. Suddenly, twelve years of school doesn't seem enough to go on to really "educate" my children. Suddenly back and forth emails I am having as an adult with my parents on the topic of a book we've both read are reminding me that learning is still happening NOW. Suddenly the entire concept of a "children's book" seems a little silly, really.
I'm also surprised that instead of "sending the kids off to college" I am seeing something different in my mind's eye: maybe a campfire visit with my kids and maybe even their kids, after a hard week's work, singing some treasured folk songs, and reading some John Muir, discussing it late into the evening and solving the world's problems as the world settles around us and the cicadas buzz.
Anyways, I used to think about how my kids were going to grow up really good scientists or really good historians and how something was going to stick. But now I think... my kids are going to grow up really good THINKERS, and then the whole world is their oyster.

Lately, too, I've been getting rid of all my books that don't make the "perfect" cut. And that has often included books that are so clearly subject-oriented that other subjects are excluded. In the end, I find, I'm reading history when I read a living book about a plant and the one who discovered it, or reading science or arithmetic when I read the biography of a philosopher. Everything seems to mesh into this big, beautiful "story of the world."  I love it, but it makes it so hard for me to compartmentalize when I am planning books for the family to read aloud! This is also an integrated education--- although it seems more complex, there is something so beautifully simple about reading a classic and saying: "let's see what we dig out."

I hear parents ask a lot of questions about how we lesson plan. The real answer is that we don't... we read incredible books, and we discuss them. Sometimes we use them for reading practice, other times for memorization. We might copy portions of them in our own hand, or dictate portions of them to each other. If they contain a potential activity that we think sounds important or interesting, we might re-create it using materials we have at home, to better understand it. That's really the extent of our "plans."

I hear parents say a lot of things on facebook. Here is one of the most common complaints I hear in the homeschooling realm:

"When will my child be ready to do this stuff on his/her own?"

I believe that children will branch out when they are good and ready, and that our job is neither to stifle them nor to push them, but just to observe, encourage, support, and model until they figure it out. When we make this stuff important to everyone in the family, people tend to NOT fall by the wayside. I learned by having a co-op with a dear friend of mine that the stuff we do not get to still gets done when we commit to doing it regularly even when life gets "in the way" and it is imperfect.
The growth still happens.

Ultimately, when I talk about integration I am thinking of how we ALL begin to connect the dots and how the material we study affects our day and how our day affects how we study and everything in between.I mean--- not unschooling--- but flexibility and learning-across-borders. I mean that our learning has become a lifestyle, and that it just feels.. whole.
I have friends whose kids don't even realize they are IN school-- they are constantly telling people that they aren't. Which is embarrassing, but hilarious. And kinda what we want, in the end.

An integrated life.

Littles learning from bigger beans learning from bigger beans...

I've heard people in Charlotte Mason circles talk about the integrated life often, but never really took notice of what they were saying until recently. I have always had a lot of things on my plate, and managed to accomplish them quite well.
But my life, in the past year, has become almost unbearable.

My husband is a firefighter. There are many things I, as the wife, love about the job. But one thing is sure-- we have a non-traditional family schedule, in which we are constantly moving between I'm-on-my-own mode and daddy-is-home-all-day mode. The way it works is basically that just as we start getting comfortable all being home together, he leaves us alone, and just as we start getting comfortable being alone, he comes home. Those of you who are military wives might relate-- you have the hard period at the beginning of deployment, and then it just happens and you get into a groove, and then you have the hard period at the end where you need to re-adjust to the new family dynamic. Fire families have that on constant replay, month after month after month. It's a bit exhausting, especially if you're homeschooling.

When my husband is home, we can't really "school" the way we want to. It's not always him-- a different set of circumstances always seems to rise against us. Sometimes we all have to head down to this or that place to take care of some kind of official business. Other times we deal with fire-family specific issues. Other times he just needs to UNWIND, or the kids want to spend time with him. It is pretty much a guarantee that if he's home, we won't be following the schedule I meticulously worked out, and not doing it every day means that the days he ISN'T home I'm working hard to implement it instead of actually successfully walking  through it-- kind of like a perpetual Monday. Yikes.

We also had many other challenges this year. We caught a super crazy stomach flu bug that took us out for two weeks, and then another bug that took us out for almost a month! We had a new baby, and two new babies in my brother's family and my husband's brother's family. We had some family members who needed help, and watched a lot of kids during the week.

My father in law is dying. We have been living with him for four years now, helping him as he overcame the struggles of living with lung cancer, and at this point in his journey we have become his caretakers. I could write for days about everything that entails. It's hard.

It seems like every time I think about it, I get discouraged.
When I add all the issues that come with just trying to raise good kids in a counter cultural environment, the problems that come up in marriage on a regular basis, my mounting pile of laundry and dishes, and all the things that make up "life," I don't see how I can ever make it out on top, let alone accomplish the other things on my plate. (my midwifery studies, and work, and ministry in the community.)

It's just too much.

Enter Charlotte Mason, who daily reminds me that "education is a discipline, an atmosphere, and a life."
I really began to reflect on this when I was trying to integrate the Connecting with History program into my daily ordered little schedule boxes. It drove me nuts, because I couldn't just spread out everything into tidy little boxes. It required "a thinking love..." something which, again, Charlotte Mason really challenged me on.

I think for families with one or two children, a curriculum like Mater Amabilis or Ambleside Online would be really easy to implement and near perfect as written.
I think for larger families, even very large families, a curriculum like that would require a little bit of tweaking (combine religion, for example, and maybe literature), but would still be quite close to perfect as written.
But one thing is necessary-- that the families who attempt it live in the kind of environment conducive to more "traditional" schooling. By that I mean that the father and mother arrange some sort of set schedule or routine and both agree to it, that they set some hours for schooling to occur, and that they organize themselves accordingly. They need to be willing to say "no," more and "yes" less.

But we are a missionary family, we feel, and we just can't do that. We have to say "yes," sometimes, even outside of our own comfort zone.

No matter what we do (and we've tried it all!!!) none of these things seems to work with us.
We've had a schedule. But even my husband can't control some of the crazy interruptions that seem to come our way. We've had a general routine outline, but again.... sometimes it just gets away from us. The closest thing to success I have had involved checklists... but even those sometimes have been put off to other days and other weeks.

In a moment of pure frustration last week, I took a few hours to lay these questions before the Lord, and funnily enough, instead of showing me what we were doing WRONG, I felt strongly that He was showing me instead what we were doing right.... something that had escaped my notice. When I finally did notice, I realized that just focusing on those and letting all my panic melt away was truly the best possible answer for us.

So what were we doing that was working?

Our homeschool has a vision statement.

We call ourselves missional homeschoolers, and as such we say that we are "embracing a flexible, rigorous, living education, nourished by great ideas, that values people over things."
I'm discovering more deeply each day that we do that by heeding Charlotte's words about what education actually is.... a discipline, an atmosphere, and a life, and an INTEGRATED one at that.

So how does it look?

1. Education is a discipline.

It requires both personal discipline on the part of the parents and children, and family, or communal discipline. Ultimately, this IS discipleship in a family context. This is because children do what they "see." Want to raise readers? Be a reader. Want to raise kind children? Be kind to your children. Want modest girls? Dress modestly. Want kids who love math? You need to love math. Etc. More things in life are caught than taught. The Bible teaches us that. Charlotte Mason teaches us that. Any parenting book worth a darn teaches that. More on that in a minute.

But discipline must be taught, formed, and worked on as a habitual way of life. Discipline involves the whole person (body, mind and soul) and no one aspect can be ignored without pulling down the rest of it.

Have you ever been around a really disciplined person? They exude holiness. It's inspiring!

As a part of my own quest for discipline, I have been re-reading some of the classics that remind of who I am and what I am called to do, like Elisabeth Elliot's "Discipline, the Glad Surrender." It has been tremendously helpful for me to maintain a personal devotional time where I examine these questions of discipline, and I plan to continue doing so. I have taken more seriously lately my responsiblity to faithfully steward my body, my time, and my actions.

Our family, also, needs discipline. By placing special attention on habit formation and character, as well as the structural "skeleton" that holds our values in place (things like getting dressed when the day begins so we are ready for anything, or prioritizing our health by eating well and exercising, or keeping a clean house so we are always ready for random company.)  Discipline means teaching the children to accomplish the things on their list with joy.

It helps in our house that my husband is extremely disciplined. He takes all of his responsibilities very seriously, which can be exasperating and the source of many of our struggles. At the same time, I admire this quality in him and am so grateful for it... with it he is helping the rest of us to take life seriously, because we only get one shot.

2. Education is an atmosphere.

Discipline naturally creates a certain atmosphere. When the house is messy, people are messy, relationships are messy. On the other hand, for example, when there is order in the home, there is order in our hearts, and we can think clearly and relate calmly. Surrendering to the idea that authority over our children isn't about having the right to tell them what to do but instead having the responsibility to gently model for them and guide them.... these are questions of atmosphere. If I tell my daughter to get dressed and brush her teeth from my computer desk where I am undressed and unwashed, it creates a friction. But when I do so with her, it creates complicity, and the interlocking segments of our relationship are cemented.
I used to despair over this portion of Miss Mason's philosophy, because I had so little control over the atmosphere in the home. I wanted peace, godliness, and education, and my family members and community seemed instead to bombard us with mess, chaos, and stupidity. I was stressed.
Over time I came to learn that it's not the kind of battle I win by arguing. I had no control over anything in the atmosphere... except myself. And things began to change.

Have you ever walked into a home where there were people living who actually practiced their religion? The house feels different.... the vibe is peaceful and surreal. It is like a slice of heaven, even if the people living in it are imperfect.

You see, education is absorbed. As naturally as my kids play crusades in the back yard, because we read about them together. When my husband and I model a certain type of way of living, an integrated life, so to speak, our children benefit regardless of our external situations... and that's when the magic happens. And even when it's been just me on my own, the value of personal discipline and not losing sight of my goal has been that much learning happens just by virtue of living well.

The secular world understands this, because books like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families have been bestsellers. Read it, and see why that is. Education is an atmosphere.

3. Education is a life.

Discipline produces an atmosphere. An atmosphere which, over time, produces a culture of life. When discipline is happening in the house (both individual and communal) the atmosphere changes. When the atmosphere changes, our lives change. And even if one or even more of us are "off" that day, things still seem to be life-giving instead of life-stealing.
This is what an integrated life presents--- the opportunity to work on our bodies, our minds, and our souls, by the Holy Spirit, for the good of the world.

In a Charlotte Mason education, subjects are integrated. There is a fine line between integration and what we call "unit studies." We want the child, and not the parent, to make the connections. But there IS a general sense of united-ness in the approach, in that we don't waste time blathering on and on and pushing and shoving aspects of knowledge, or facts, down children's throats. We seamlessly integrate learning and life, and most importantly, we allow children the privilege of learning from the very best available materials, and of exercising their own minds instead of the constant drudgery of pressing against the minds of others. We are a home AND a school. Not just a home. Not just a school.

The other day, after almost six or seven straight days of homeschool fails, my kids and I had what we all agreed was the PERFECT day.

We finished school before lunch, the work we did was fascinating, and we covered every subject and all of our goals..... seamlessly. It was also the only day that week I integrated our work. How?
During our morning time, which we call Consilium (Latin for "Council."), we had our family meeting. we studied the Bible and prayed and sang. We worked some math problems together. We did penmanship while listening to our composer, and I read aloud from a history biography. The children narrated, and drew in their journals. We did our memory work. Then we read from the Catechism, everybody practicing their reading with me. We did copywork from that lesson, and only because it went with the illustration they had drawn. We did grammar that way. Then we had nature study, played musical instruments together, and realized we were DONE with everything on the list, so we played to our hearts' content all afternoon. Yes, there were a couple of individual readings left. We knocked those out at naps and after dinner. That was it! It didn't "feel" like school. It felt like connecting. It felt like discipleship. It felt... amazing.

When I asked my kids about their day they all told me how much they loved it. "It was fun," they told me. And "I love it when you are WITH me."

Ever since that "perfect" day, I've been scouring Charlotte's works for notes about integrating subjects. I've been letting go of the idea of fitting my large-ish, missional family's work into little scheduling boxes. I've been planning with an end goal in mind: discipline, atmosphere, and life. And it's working! We're getting through it... and it. is. glorious.

Yes, I've had to let go of some ideas, like following any ready-made curriculum just so and individually. Yes, I've had to be flexible-- sometimes holding Consilium first thing in the morning, and other times holding it just after naps.  Yes, I've had to stop trying to plan out a perfect week a year in advance. But... it's working. And it feels Spirit-breathed, and efficient, and discipleship-oriented and glorious. It feels integrated.

I can't yet put my finger on what that means. It isn't a unit study... But I do notice themes in my booklists each day. It isn't just shortening subjects and working faster through each of  them, because I do notice that when I 'm doing it right the pile of books on my table to cover that day goes from enormous to quite small. It isn't about children leading, because if they do I feel a failure at the end of the day coming on. It isn't about relaxing more, because if I did we'd never get ANYTHING done.

On the other hand, it IS about variety. It IS about being willing to work hard in quick spurts. It IS about coming into relationship, both with the texts and with each other. It IS about discipline, because we must all be willing to give it our best effort. It IS about atmosphere, because we absorb most of it through the gentle process of taking part in the Great Conversation. It IS about living, because what we study rightfully directly relates to what we are living each day.

This is a living education. And we are feeling more alive each day.

How reading the Bible changed my life and 10 ways to let it change yours.

The inside of one of the 20 or so Bibles I have around the house. :D

Bible study is a critical part of Catholic life, but the Catholic approach took some time for me as a revert. It wasn't until I studied Carmelite and Maronite spirituality that it really clicked.

I remember as a teenager reading the Sunday gospel readings with the Fransiscan friars at the Mission Santa Barbara during my confirmation prep classes. Propped up against a mossy fountain with only the sounds of birds and running water around us, we'd crack open these thick, red paperback NABs and dig in. I don't remember a single thing we actually studied, but I remember the rhythmic turning of the pages, the reflective silences, and the sweet smell of newsprint.... moments of peace scattered through my busy teenage life.

When I began the first steps of leaving the Church, it was the Bible that spurred me on. I was in a serious relationship with a young Swedish Australian man, and though he wasn't religious himself, I was shocked to discover that his awesome family was--- they were Jehova's Witnesses!

Curious, I began to ask them more and more about what animated their lives. They shared the Bible with me, offering to study it with me and point me in the right direction. I was intrigued on two levels-- first, because I absolutely loved books, and the idea that a book could contain so much practical wisdom and insight that it could keep people entertained for all their lives blew my mind. I was also intrigued because of what I began to read. The central themes of scripture started to resonate in me deeply, and though the idea that I was a sinner didn't completely sink in, I began to feel the first signs of the twinging of my conscience as I read along. Something was shifting.

The Jehova's witnesses didn't know what to do with me. Most people accepted to study the Bible with them because they were looking for answers. I wasn't unhappy, and wasn't feeling like I needed "something more." And I actually didn't think they knew what they were talking about half the time.The little booklets and guides they used as they pored over the scriptures with me were interesting but --I felt-- came to illogical conclusions. My father was a historian. I wasn't buying it. But I thought it was fun. And necessary... stirring something up in me in a deeper, reflective way that I wanted to continue.

I praise God that though I studied with them weekly for more than a year, my "intuition" kept me from swallowing what they were preaching, but at the same time I thank God for their witness and example. Diligently, two by two, they took time out of their lives to meet with me and read the Bible every week. They brought me to the Kingdom Hall and encouraged me in my studies. They provided a beautiful example of what being "set apart" in this world means-- though they were dispersed throughout the world in every normal type of job and activity, they behaved with the kind of upright character and nobility that is seldom found elsewhere. They weren't judgmental, at least, not externally, but they were firm in their beliefs and absolutely unyielding to the spirit of the world that embraced immorality and ugliness. They were a simple, thankful, diligent people, and I enjoyed studying with them very much.

Over the years, they came to understand that I was going no-where with them. Although I had made many positive changes in my life and begun a pursuit of godliness, at least in an external form, it was clear I wasn't going to become a Jehova's Witness. We remained in contact, but they abandoned me to my sinful ways and the closeness we had developed over time became a distance.

My life remained somewhat unchanged, although there was a distinct shift in my thinking. I continued to party, to forge ahead on my own. I kept a Bible on me, though, and a rosary--- artifacts I held onto but hardly understood. Years passed. Inspired by a Christian roommate, I bought a Life Application study bible, and read it from time to time. It sat on my shelf and promised me answers to questions I didn't want to look at.

And on that fateful Christmas Eve when Jesus finally brought me to my knees a repentant sinner for the very first time, I didn't have a Bible in my hands. Just a prayer I lifted high.

But after that night, I ran home, cracked one open, and read with great attention. I could no longer deny that God was real, and that He was intimately involved in my life. I wanted to know Him more. I began to read everything I could get my hands on. I went to daily mass in an old Spanish style Jesuit church downtown near my apartment.

I found myself there with the same crowd each day-- a couple of homeless folks, an old lady, a tired old Jesuit priest and a young man my age who seemed very devout but who lit up a cigarette every time we left the church...something my non-Catholic Christian friends would have balked at. There was quiet there in that huge church, and reflection. Something sacred. But it didn't compare to the sea of faces down at my local Calvary Chapel expectantly looking to me to change.

The women at the Calvary Chapel all had shiny, well groomed hair and wore dresses and sweaters that matched the seasons. They held potlucks and retreats and had casseroles ready to drop off wherever they were needed. They drove mini-vans full of excited, happy teenagers who liked their families and Jesus and they asked me how I was doing and they stopped what they were doing to pray loud with hands on me. Their houses were clean and tidy and full of the world's riches--- big televisions, nice cars, marble kitchens that looked like magazines and boats in the garage, but they had spiritual riches too--- happy families, loving marriages. Open homes that welcomed me and prayed for me. There was an irresistable AMERICAN-ness to them.... though I had grown up wealthy in a European community, there was something different about these people. Everything was shiny and wide-open and unintellectual. There was nothing ancient in their homes or in their hearts, and I was continually confronted by a new-ness I didn't know how to assimilate into. Entertainment and enjoyment was the order of the day, and they were determined. And successful. And spiritual, which I loved.

Like the Jehova's Witnesses, they kept themselves separate from the world in their priorities and thinking. Unlike them, they enjoyed all of the things the world, and seemed to be constantly showered with good luck.
As a general rule, they were greatly concerned with the poor and suffering,  but the spirit of materialism sometimes crept in. Instead of not buying things, they only bought things which came from other Christian companies.  And they often bought a lot of things. Of course, they used these things to enhance their witness in the world, but there were inconsistencies that really bothered me. For example, they abhorred pornography, but were fine with using and selling "toys" to each other in the context of marriage. They were against abortion but ok with birth control pills. Some of it didn't sit right with me, but I really enjoyed their company, and the time we spent together. They had a lot of joy, and a lot of success, and enthusiasm. Just very American. Like I said, it was a different approach.

As I began to study the bible with them, true growth occurred in me. Each Sunday and weeknights in small groups were delivered a talk on a topic that applied to my personal life, and as they led me piece by piece through the Bible, the pages came to life and spilled out in my actions or the things I saw around me.
They offered many different methods for Bible study, all of which seemed helpful. Sometimes we would go book by book through the Bible. Other times we'd stick with themes and topics we found interesting and relevant. It would take our breath away, the clearness of the thing being studied, and we'd all agree and amen, and then pause in reverential silence before breaking into praise and worship and praying for one another. It was beautiful. I started to crave bible study all day long. At work I'd take breaks and scan the pages of my Bible for new truths. At home I'd spend hours holed up reading with some tea and a blanket, my cat batting at my toes. My friends and I would get together and STUDY THE BIBLE instead of going out partying. What??! But we did! And it was amazing.

At this point in time I began to have some issues with truthfulness. I hit a wall in my spiritual growth. At the time, I had a set of Christian friends, and a set of non-Christian friends, and I wasn't about to let go of either. At the same time, they absolutely could not mix--- my non-Christian friends drank, smoked, did drugs, lived promiscuous sexual lifestyles and stayed up late dancing every weekend. Their only plan was to have as much fun as possible.
My Christian friends, on the other hand, NEVER drank, or smoked. They stayed up late hanging out and talking about Jesus, and often seemed kind of.... unrealistic or at least different in their approach to life. I hesitate to use the term "blissfully ignorant," but for many of them who had grown up Christian, there was a naiveté there that I can't discount. They were unbelievably nice. But I couldn't connect with many of them on a deeper level because I felt that they genuinely couldn't understand my struggles or those of my closest friends. In their happy, joyful Christian bubble, they would never know the depths of pain caused by generations of mortal sin, or the tug of a soul who had tasted evil and been confused about its sweetness. I might be wrong.... but that was the impression I got. When I read the Bible with them, I was always mystified because things they took as "givens" were so new to me. The things I read challenged me to my core they casually passed through and moved on with.

It was hard. I felt that I would never be able to connect my real life with the theoretical life I was building in my mind and heart through Bible study. I felt that I would always have to have this double life, where I thought and felt one thing, but did and said another. And what was worse, was that whenever I had brought these Christian friends with me into my "other" life and bared my inner and outer real life to them, they had surpassed me in sinfulness and stupidity by the end of the night and even boggled my mind with their behavior, rather than showing me an example of an integrated life, where faith and reality interact in peace. I became convinced that many, if not most, Christians were hypocrites, and the ones who weren't were simply ignorant of "what was out there." I became depressed.

Enter a family who showed me that Christianity wasn't a theory or a spectacle, but a journey, and a relationship with a living God. With great patience and much prayer, they showed me how to turn every one of my undertakings over to the God who made me, and to take time each day to evaluate my own culpability and my own direction.... to hear from God, and to act on what I was hearing. Little by little, discipled by them, I learned to walk with Jesus, and to turn to His Word for my spiritual food and drink. Somehow, God began to integrate my head and my heart, and to help me TURN from my past life and actually begin to peel the layers of my selfish thought patterns away. I no longer felt I could integrate somehow SIN and RIGHTEOUSNESS, like the time I wanted to work in the porn industry and still be a Christian. (WHAT??! But it's true!)
I now knew I could integrate REALITY and RIGHTEOUSNESS, instead, and turn from sin. I also learned that righteousness didn't mean shackles but true freedom, and that I COULD change without becoming blind, ignorant, naive, or a liar and hypocrite. I learned that God is in the business of transforming and renewing, not repressing and hiding. Behold, he makes all things new!

This changed my life.... and this time, for good.

Weekly as we studied, talked, prayed, and I watched them live, I realized that each of us was born with the ability to come to KNOW God, and to hear Him, when we began to live a disciplined life that put Him first and loved on people, when we expected more from ourselves than we did others, we would come to growth and joy that was unstoppable. I learned that chaos and confusion, in which I had lived the majority of my life, was not the inevitable end. I learned that peace was the plan, and that there was a Shepherd who knew how to get me there.

As the years passed and I continued, as I had finally learned, to study my Bible not for whatever tickled my ears but for what the Holy Spirit was speaking directly to me that day, and to take that Word and apply it to my own life, my life full of sin and stress and sadness and selfishness..... I began to see real growth. Suddenly the things I had been no longer seemed as important as the things I was to become, and the places I had been no longer seemed like home as I pursued my true Home, the heart of God. But then, again, I hit a wall.

I returned to the Catholic Church from whence I had come because of the Bible. My husband and I refused to accept all the teachings of a church that didn't line up with what we read in the Bible, and we meant it. We studied the Bible, the arts, science, history, and the lives of the Saints and we saw clearly that the ancient paths had not swerved or changed. We accepted the heritage which was ours. We came under real apostolic authority. And we learned to tap into the grace available to us in the sacraments-- or mysteries--- infinitely more than just "ordinances."

When we came back to the Church, we experienced one of our greatest challenges. We learned that much like the Israelites of old, the Church was full to the brim of people who had every reason to get it, and who yet, inexplicably, did every stupid thing under the sun. Including worshiping idols of their own making, ignoring the clear voice of their Shepherd, and rejecting the Spirit of God in favor of the Spirit of the world. Those Catholics we DID meet who seemed to grasp the enormity of the blessing they had received by virtue of their belonging to the community of believers, tended to rest on the side of trusting the Church and her tradition (a good thing) but with very little emphasis on personal spirituality. Or worse, they failed to understand the true universality of the Church, preferring their own tradition to others' and looking with disdain across the East/West gulf. They worked and prayed, but always as if it was a job and not a transformation.

For example, they said vocal prayers, but often said things like: "I said an Our Father for him" instead of "hey, let's pray right now." Their kids were a bit wild, and often the mothers ran the home instead of the fathers. In the homes where the fathers did lead the home, they seemed so somber and strict and kept to themselves. We couldn't even get in to observe how it worked. We were very discouraged. And lonely.

On the one hand, we wanted orthodoxy of belief, orthodoxy in liturgy, orthodoxy in structure and action. On the other hand, we wanted people who LOVED THE LORD, who KNEW Him, and who had experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the regeneration that comes with it. On the one hand, we knew without a doubt that God had Himself called us to the Church. On the other hand, we constantly felt ourselves growing depressed over the state of the Church. Years later, we are still mystified every time we read about some ridiculous Catholic scandal that quite frankly shouldn't even BE an issue, as contrary as it is to the faith. The Church is a hospital for sinners.

The place of Bible study in all this has been frustrating. The Bible is a cornerstone of Catholic life. It is critical that we study and live what we learn in the scriptures. The Bible came into the world THROUGH the Church and the Church encourages people everywhere to not just read and study it but to pray it every day and let it transform our lives. Jesus Himself has set this standard for us in the Gospels. In theory, we are all about the Bible.

In practice, though, it's very different. I have attended Catholic Bible studies before in my local roman parish and found them lacking... usually touchy feely ("how does this passage make your feel?") in nature, I've been disappointed in the the depth of teaching somehow neglected on the assumption that all Catholics don't really know or understand the Bible. This assumption is ridiculous, as the Catholic faith IS the Bible. On the other hand, it is reasonable--- most cradle Catholics I meet have not made an effort to make scripture a part of their ordinary, daily lives. They have a family bible they take down for special events, but rarely have their own, worn copy of the scriptures. Frequently in Catholic bible studies I hear people say things like... "I'm not sure but doesn't it say somewhere in the Bible that. (insert thing the Bible does NOT say anywhere)" and "I always read that (insert scripture taken totally out of context here)." Whats' worse, the leader has often agreed!!
It is frustrating.

I have led Catholic Bible studies in my own home and in other people's homes. It has been incredibly challenging to find Catholic materials to teach with aside from the Bible that point towards practical life. While study guides that speak of deep theological issues abound, finding a simple women's bible study to use and share, for example, on married life or family life, is really REALLY hard.
Usually we have ended up using an inconspicuous protestant study guide like one of Beth Moore's studies, and we have added in Catholic elements as needed. There are some excellent Catholic Bible study programs out there, but they are often expensive and/or geared towards entire parish use, not small groups like I've grown accustomed to.

On the positive side of this is the fact that this points to the Church's universality and discipline: the Church says that (a) there is no one "right way" to do practical life so long as we are within certain guidelines (order in the home, etc.) and thus we have no need of specially written Bible study materials to pass out universally.  The Church provides the guidelines in encyclicals (teachings on doctrine), so when we read them regularly and daily read passages from the Bible, we have *all we need.* And the Lord himself places people in our lives to serve as examples and to give us ideas. And this is true! So we are expected to do this on our own, and especially.... in our families. Again, this is right and good.

And (b)  we are expected to grow, to immerse ourselves in the Word, and to make it a part of our lives, but we are NOT expected to idolize our personal Bible reading times, which can be so enjoyable that sometimes we want to do nothing else. :) I like this too--- when I was a protestant I spent more time each day sitting with a bible and a notebook than I have ever been able to as a Catholic. And don't get me started on the "quiet time" pressure cooker for married women.

So I sat with my bible much more as a protestant.... but the reason for this is that as a Catholic I am daily being sustained by my portion of the Word and spending myself in good works--- something I don't "like" as much in the sense of enjoyment, but that I think is good and right.

Reflecting on this, I can remember over and over again as a protestant witnessing people who needed to take action (find a job, go to work, love their kids better, forgive a spouse or parent, etc.) and who instead spent HOURS daily in "prayer and study," "waiting to hear from the Lord," and driving the people around them bonkers in the process.
I've done it too. It's called looking for a way out of what we must do.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for a retreat, but usually the midst of a crisis aint that time. And in a culture where the Bible is the ONLY place to turn, and a book we read, it's all too easy to get sucked into this way of thinking. In the Catholic Church, the Bible is the Word of God. And revered as such. But there is more--- Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium (or apostolic authority) together form a balanced approach to life that helps us to stay the course without getting selfish or side-tracked. There are sacraments, mysteries too. We are married, and the grace that flows from that is something that speaks to us of what we must do. Don't need a Bible for that--- it's a given. We are baptized. We are to confess. We are to meet the King in the Eucharist. Again, these are givens, and they help us to pick ourselves up and move forward when we might be tempted to hide ourselves in the comforting words of scripture. Because faith without works is dead-- because talking without action is just that..... talking. And works have a price.

So eventually, though that HUNGER for God's Word never abated in me, I learned to be satisfied with my portion, and to put it to good use, which caused infinitely more growth in me than I had had when I spent hours each day with my nose in my Bible, but totally ignored all the hard stuff around me I needed to do.

When I discovered the Carmelites, I was in so much need of a way to balance those two things out. I wanted the use of intellect that Catholicism had brought to our lives, but I also wanted the profound trust in God and relationship with Him that my Charismatic friends had. And I wanted to be surrounded by people who got that. The Carmelite tradition is deeply spiritual, but it is also profoundly biblical, and it was at the foot of Mt Carmel that I found this peaceful balance between letting God speak to me in quiet and remaining in the presence of God in the noise of the world. Of course, God never lets me stay put when I get comfortable, and He took me from the Carmelites as soon as I felt at home.

Interestingly enough, he placed me securely in the arms of another, very similar spirituality, also called the "Faith of the Mountain" by it's people. I followed my husband to our Catholic church home, a tiny Maronite parish where we are one of the only young families. And yet--- I love it here.

Like Carmelites, the emphasis in Maronite spirituality is intensely biblical and often relies on a clear vision of the Old Testament and Hebrew tradition interpreted through the New. Like Carmelites, Maronites emphasize silence but recognize the Presence in the midst of the world. Monastics in the midst of the world, they know a balance between "retreat" and "pour out," and their interaction with sacred scripture is life-giving and unselfish, both transformative and functional. Did I mention that I love it here?

I still read my Bible every day. I read it alone, and I read it with my kids, and I read it with my husband. I rarely read it with my friends, but we talk about it!

I take great joy in listening to the sounds of my children practicing verses they have memorized, or sharing a Bible story with their father in the back room as I do the dishes. I enjoy praying scripture over my children as they sleep and at the Shabbat table, and over my friends as they sit on my couch pouring out frustrations and joys. It still animates every part of my day. And I do miss the days when I had nothing better to do than to read, read, read the Bible. But I'm glad that now my life is about doing and not just hearing. That's in the Bible, too. ;)

Below is our family's bible reading and prayer routine. If you don't have one yourself, I encourage you to get one started.

1. Personal Bible reading.
We get up in the morning and each read the Bible on our own. My kids are young, so they might just thumb through a picture Bible, but I have a set schedule: I read a daily devotional from the lives of the saints, and then I read the day's readings and journal them using the SOAP (scripture, observation, application, prayer) method. I find that it is the perfect balance between Lectio Divina and Inductive Bible Study.

2. Family liturgy of the hours.
We stop all activity in the house during the traditional hours and pray the psalms.

3. Family Catechism in the morning and Family Bible reading at night.
These both involve USING the Bible, but also involve lots of discussion and sharing and praying. We also memorize scripture together during these times.

4. Topical Bible study during the week as needed.
Sometimes someone in our family has an issue or needs to make a decision, and we study what the Word of God has to say about it to help us make a right decision.

5. Praying scripture.
We often pray for ourselves, each other, and our guests or friends and family using words we pull directly from scripture. We have these on a calendar we use to help us pray.

6. Encouraging notes.
When we write each other reminders, little notes, or cards we use Bible passages to emphasize what we want to say.

7. Meditation.
Whether we are praying the rosary alone or together, or practicing lectio divina or some other type of scriptural meditation (like doing dishes! Haha) we use scripture to animate our thoughts.

8. Torah and Gospel study.
On Saturdays we study the Old Testament and Sundays the Gospel reading for the week both individually and as a family, often listening to talks by others or reading sermons to each other. Charlotte Mason gathered everyone together on Sundays to discuss the Gospel readings. We think it's a wonderful practice, and even more so when it's done with family members, friends and guests, or neighbors and community members!

9. Games.
We sometimes play Bible games or scavenger hunts to sharpen our bible knowledge skills.

10. Blessings, proclamations, war and Word baths.
When my husband and children go out from our home, and when they come in, I have made it my practice to wash the world off them using the Word of God. I pray -- over my husband's work uniform and vehicle, and as he goes out and when he comes in, and do the same for my children. We also make it a practice to bless each other with scripture before bed and on special occasions like birthdays and our feast day meals. Often times, when we feel led to really incorporate a scripture, we will make a proclamation of God's truth by just speaking it out loud into the house or room. We also use scripture in spiritual warfare-- when someone speaks something we know isn't a godly way of thinking, we speak the opposite scripture over our selves and family members. We don't do this out of superstition but to remind US of who is King, and to immediately submit whatever part of us might be slipping back into agreement with God's Word.