So how exactly does a Charlotte Mason (CM) school day look like? Well first off, let me give you a set of basic times that each age group needs to spend per subject. This is a true test of time that Charlotte Mason believed allotted for the most out of each learning experience. This may surprise you, but it works! It prevents dawdling, boredom, restless behavior & lack of interest and attention.
Age 7 & under = 10 minutes or less (Yes! Seriously!!)
Ages 8 & 9 = 20 minutes or less
Ages 10 & up = 30 – 40 minutes is more than sufficient
Using short lessons is more than just an insignificant technique; Charlotte Mason considers this a “root principle.” When it comes to times, our family sets those old kitchen wind up timers, and once the timer goes off, that child knows that they have put that subject away, and begin the next one, unless they are at the very end of something that takes no more than a few short minutes. Each child has their own timer, even if that means setting their own non-activated cell phone alarms so they have no excuses, and it really helps to keep them on their toes, and to know that they have to concentrate and get each subject done, or they will have to start all over again. That’s all it usually takes to motivate them.
Okay, so that said, let me show you what an average homeschool day looks like. This is what a basic day at our house looks like. Remember, each family’s school will be completely as different as each person’s fingerprints are. This is neither right, nor wrong. It is just a fact, and that’s perfectly okay. Our school is far from perfect, but we are still learning and continually working on our own schedule to fine tune it.
On a “perfect” school day, our kids get up by 7:30, get dressed, and then do their morning chores, eat breakfast, and are ready and at the table to begin school by 8:00 – 8:15. I usually get up at 8:00, because many nights I don’t sleep well due to the fibromyalgia and the restless leg syndrome that I have. Once I hit the floor, I am up and immediately ready to begin the part of the schooling that requires my help. The kids need to be doing whatever they can school wise by themselves until that point, whether I get up at 8:00, or 9:00, that specific day. That is part of dealing with homeschooling when someone in your family has a chronic illness, disability, or other obstacle.
We try to do as many subjects as a family as often as we can. This can include reading a book together, studying a specific country, war, or past event from history, like the Holocaust, to watching a movie or TV show that is educational, like the History Channel. Right now, we happen to be watching the series, “The Bible.” The kids are fascinated and enthralled by each story, and usually ask to watch the next one right away. We also read from the Bible, or a devotional together, and one of us says a prayer for our school that day, over their dad’s day at work, or for other things and people that need prayed for.
So, for instance in our school, one of our three teenage sons (age 15), has found fixing small motors and appliances, to be a natural God given gift of his. So one thing that works well, is to have him use a book on that particular subject, for not only Reading, but also it encompasses Copywork & Narration (which I will delve in to more detail on, later on in this site), and English Grammar, all from a book that interests him. He also gets hands-on experience, and plenty with the large family that we have! J We have another younger teenage son (age 13) who is fascinated in pirates right now, and Bearded Dragons. After researching both, we now own two (yes 2), live Bearded Dragons named Lelo and Stitch, and we are reading the book, “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson, together as a family, about Black Beard and his pirate adventures to find a hidden treasure. Each day all of our children narrate down what that specific chapter was about, and each detail they remember of the story. They usually want me to keep reading, but when our time is up, we stop, and that way they are enticed to see what happens in the story the next day. (Note here, that several of our 9 children have dyslexia, and so then may either narrate back to me orally, or orally as I type what they tell me on the computer, or write it out themselves.)
As far as the actual care of the dragons, it is 100% our son’s responsibility to feed, water them, clean their cage, make certain they get a “bath” in about an inch of water in the bathtub once weekly, and to give them the exercise they need. One of my least favorite bugs has always been crickets, ever since, as a child, a family of crickets nested in my pom-poms when I was on the pep squad in school years ago. Now, I have to admit, unpleasantly, I actually go out and buy them for our dragons. NOT something I ever thought I would ever find myself doing in this life, or in Heaven above!!! But, for the education and enjoyment of my children, I have swallowed that fear, and force myself to do so. Thank God that they also eat kale, leaf lettuce, live meal worms (which gross me out equally as bad to touch), and several other things.
Lesson Schedule – A Quick PeekI’m going to post about my typical schedule later in the series, but here’s a quick look at a morning of lessons for my 5th grader. The lessons vary as the week goes on, but this is pretty normal.
Here is a sample of a school day of a typical 5th grader and what it might look like.
So, before lunch, he’s tackled all the 3 R’s + some. The afternoons, as you’ll see in a coming post, aren’t wasted educationally – they just take on a different “look”.
"Teach them to your children, and talk about them (the Scriptures), when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
Deuteronomy 6:7
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