I have been so inspired by how LindaFay’s blog, Higher Up and Further In, about Charlotte Mason education, that I risked life and limb to dig out my Charlotte Mason books from their hiding places.  I found them in the bottom box of a stack of 4 moving boxes of course.  I became interested in Charlotte Mason when we first starting homeschooling, but didn’t really do anything with the information I had found.  In reading the books again, I am reminded at how well Sonlight goes along with CM.

One reason I like Sonlight so much is that it is all put together for me.  I don’t have the temperment to research what I want to teach, when to teach it, etc.  So even the thought of adding something simple like picture studies to our curriculum is making me nervous.  I mean, which artist to study?  Which paintings?  Where am I going to find copies of the paintings to look at? Then it hit me.  We live in Washington, DC - so does the National Gallery of Art.  I took my copy of A Charlotte Mason Companion  where the author outlines the steps to a good picture  study.  She even recommends some artists to study.  I checked her list against the list of artists featured at the National Gallery and discovered that the museum has a good collection of Mary Cassatt, Raphael, Monet and Renoir.  They even have a huge collection of Ansel Adams.  So those will be our artists of choice for the next year or so.  I plan to have the children study the specific works that are on display at the National Gallery and then end our year with a trip to the museum to see the art in person.

I am excited about this new venture.  I like that we won’t be doing huge extensive studies of schools of art, techniques or even of the artist’s lives.  We will be reading short biographies, but will mostly focus on just enjoying the art for itself.  I believe that Charlotte Mason had her students do picture studies for only 10 minutes a week.  I can handle that!  Next on the list - nature journals!

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It’s been one of those days when it’s just great to be a kid.  When we returned from the CCD year-end hot dog party, Boo and Pumpkin Girl came in the front door and went right out the back. That was 6 hours ago.  Because of the way our street bends at a right angle and because all the houses on our side of the street have their backyards open on to a big grassy area, the children in those houses have the run of the place.  Most of us don’t have fences, but the houses themselves and an adjoining baseball field provide the boundaries for playing.  The children are all fairly close in age and a good portion of them are homeschooled.  The whole group of them have been running all over the field, up in our yard, in the tree over yonder and back again.  My children have come in for the occassional drink of water and potty break and I have seen them with a couple of friends taking a break in the shade of our canopy.

I have met several of the neighborhood moms and like me, they are busy with the demands of managing a home, often with a baby or toddler to look after.  Even though we can’t always be right outside with the older children, we all try to keep an ear open for any misconduct, hurt feelings or unfairness. I would say that for the most part, the children get along wonderfully.  Because of our large climbing-sliding thing and our playhouse, the neighborhood children spend a good portion of their time in our yard.  I’ve listened to arguments start and get settled and I think that most of the bickering I’ve heard was between sibling groups, my own two included.  Still, a gentle reminder to the offending party usually takes care of it, though sometimes Pumpkin Girl gets herself too overworked and I bring her in for a rest.

My children have been briefed on a few key rules:

1.       Don’t go into anyone’s house, even if invited.
2.       Don’t eat anything that is given to you by a friend without checking with me.
3.       Stand still with your hand over your heart when the National Anthem plays at 5 pm, then come inside.
4.       Stay together
5.       If you can’t see our backdoor, you’ve gone too far.

So far it’s been working well.

One of the perks of living on a military base is the safety and overall friendliness of the neighbors.  I love to watch the children playing, running around without a care.  One of the funniest things I’ve seen since living here was a line of knights, dressed for battle, marching single file across our backyard, down to the big tree across the field where another set of young knights (both boys and girls) were waiting.  I think every child in the neighborhood was out that day, too.

It might not be Mayberry, but it’s pretty darn close.

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