Author Archives: Karen Edmisten

Snowy reads for snowy days

Snow today! It makes me want to break out the snow books: Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and illustrated by Mary Azarian, is the story of Vermont native Wilson Bentley, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bentley developed a new technique for photographing snowflakes, and he spent an amazing amount of time doing it. He became passionately devoted to it, and produced a staggering collection of snowflake photographs. This picture book is suitable for young children, but my older girls and I love it, too. For more photographs, rather than illustrations, see Bentley’s Snowflakes in … Continue reading →

Nature Study in the Dead of Winter

We did a little impromptu nature study yesterday. Temperatures have been in the single digits here in our corner of the world, so we managed to squeeze in this nature study without spending time outdoors. Although I’m a fan of Charlotte Mason methods, I have to confess that I’m not dedicated enough to her philosophy (that children should get outdoors every, single day) to actually go for a nature walk when it’s five degrees outside. (I like to remind myself that Miss Mason lived in England, rather than in the frigid American Midwest, and that even she would nod in … Continue reading →

Top Ten Reasons to Homeschool

#10. No mad morning dash, trying to have everyone ready to head out the door while it’s still dark, no 7 a.m. lunch prep, and no racing through the house at 7:23, frantically searching for a shoe while shrieking, “The bus will be here in two minutes!” #9. Girls like to do math in their pajamas. There’s something regal about it. Especially if you add dangly earrings. Feather boas are nice, too. #8. Mix and match curriculum. No grade levels. No letter grades. Just mastery. On their timetable, not someone else’s. #7. Family togetherness. Family togetherness. Family togetherness. #6. No … Continue reading →

Our Favorite Literature

Or, “What Great Books Have Taught Us.” As I’ve mentioned before, we do a lot of reading around here — together, alone, silently, aloud. I think of our books as the main and most important curriculum we use, because reading together does more than just impart a good story. Good books inspire and inform, prick the conscience and confirm the truth. They make us dig and think, laugh and nod, wonder and weep. With these things in mind, I want to share a few of our favorites, and the fruits we’ve gained from reading these gems: Charlotte’s Web taught us … Continue reading →

The Dad in Our Homeschool

People often ask if my husband is involved in our homeschooling. They assume that because he is an English teacher in a public high school, he must handle a lot of the teaching of English in our home. Nope. But, although I can’t say that he directly handles the conjugation of verbs, making up spelling lists or overseeing composition, I can say that he is directly involved in our homeschool in a way that is unique to Dad. He is involved as my partner in planning. Again, it’s not a direct involvement, since he trusts me to research, ruminate, ponder … Continue reading →

Is a GED necessary?

Does a homeschool graduate need a GED (General Equivalency Diploma) in order to be a “real” graduate? Is a homeschool diploma considered a legitimate diploma? There was a time, back in the dark ages of homeschooling (when only a few courageous pioneers were bravely bucking the system) that most of what was done by homeschoolers was deemed illegitimate, including bestowing on them a “homemade diploma.” I remember being in that camp myself, laughing at what I thought were the backward, uninformed few who wanted to keep their children behind closed doors. (I was a teenager at the time, who knew … Continue reading →

The “unschooling” in our homeschool

In my last post, I said that we’re “Charlotte Mason-Unschooling-Touch-of-Classical-Unit-Study-Book-Loving-Learners.” Since I’ve already covered much of the Charlotte Mason aspect of our homeschool, I’d like to touch on what we do that could be called “unschooling.” What, exactly, is unschooling? Well, it may just depend on who you’re talking to. One of the problems with homeschooling lingo is that it’s not really standardized. A lot of terms, such as “unschooling,” are used differently by different groups, and that can lead to misconceptions and confusion. But, I’ll try to touch on some general definitions. “Radical” unschoolers generally advocate a hands-off approach, … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Week in Review: January 27 – February 2, 2007

We covered a wide variety of topics on the Homeschool blog this week, from dust bunnies to the Titanic. Here’s an overview: Saturday, January 27 Andrea Hermitt took a look at where we homeschoolers spend most of our time: Homeschooling or Housekeeping? Sunday, January 28 A great science resource was reviewed in Andrea’s Website for Homeschoolers: Science News for Kids. Monday, January 29 Andrea did some Digging for Historic Truth on the History Channel. And, in her post What Grade are They In?, she discussed how homeschoolers assign (or don’t assign) their kids to specific grade levels. I finished a … Continue reading →

Mixed-up Methods

With all my talk about Charlotte Mason recently, readers are surely thinking, “Wow, she’s a confirmed Charlotte Mason-ite. Clearly, that’s her method. She sure loves Charlotte. Yessirree, no doubt about it. That Karen is a CM-er.” Well, yes. No. Maybe. Well, part of the time. But, then there’s our classical side. And our unschooling days. And sometimes, now and then, a workbook-y type of thing going on. And there you have our homeschool in a nutshell. I’m a pendulum, swinging back and forth between various methods and ideas. I try a bit of this, throw in a little of that. … Continue reading →

Charlotte Mason: What’s the Point of Copywork?

In this series of posts on CM methods, I’ve covered several of Charlotte Mason’s ideas about education. Today, I’d like to touch on one that doesn’t always get quite as much coverage as “living books” and narrations. Copywork was advocated by Charlotte Mason as a way to teach handwriting, but also as the best way to teach spelling and punctuation rules, sentence structure and basic grammar. It was her theory that reading and copying excellent literature would lead to excellence in composition skills. I’ve used some of Miss Mason’s ideas about copywork and have been really pleased with the results. … Continue reading →