Bakers, Take Note

I know that it can be a labourious task to type up a recipe, but many people are interested in the recipes for the desserts that have been brought in the past. If you have contributed a dessert or are bringing one to this week's meeting, please consider writing it out by hand and giving it to me at the meeting. Then I'll do the work of keying it in and publishing it on the blog. Please think about this.

Oh, and don't fool yourself into thinking, "It can't be my recipe they were interested in." The requests have been pretty far flung!

Check Out the ChildLight USA Blog

There is a great new blog post at the ChildLight USA blog. It broadens the vision of a CM education way beyond the limits of our own home schools, and, in reading it you will find yourself drawn into deep thought. Enjoy!

What Do Charlotte Mason and "Naked and Blue" Have to Do With Each Other?

How many of us have desired the results of a Charlotte Mason Education: the creativity, expressiveness, deep thinking, and so much more that comes from an immersion in living literature and history, only to have it fall to the wayside under the pressure to complete curriculum, achieve tangible, measurable results, and meet (other's and our own) expectations of achievement?

How do we set our priorities for the educational pursuits of each day? Which tasks are 'musts', which skills have to be in place (and when)?

For some interesting - and entertaining - ponderings on these thoughts, hop over to the ChildLight USA blog, where Sandy Rusby Bell has written a post entitled "Naked and Blue at My Back Door".

Charlotte Mason Educational Review - Summer/Fall 2008 Issue now available

ChildLight USA has just released the Summer/Fall 2008 issue of the Review. In it you will find an article by our own Deani (!) who spent several days at Ambleside this summer, going through the archives of Charlotte Mason's works with several other CM scholars.

It also includes early information about the 5th Annual Charlotte Mason Educational Conference to be held June 10, 11, 12 and 13, 2009 on the campus of Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. This year's conference theme is "For the Beauty of the Earth". Members of WHHE have attended for the past three years and it is a time of great inspiration and encouragement in our educational endeavours, while at the same time offering time for relationships to grow. It would be wonderful if we could get a van full of WHHE members to go next June! Boiling Springs or Bust!!

New Nature Study Post at ChildLight USA

Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins have a new post on the ChildLight USA blog, addressing common Questions and Answers about Nature Study, particularly when it is done as a formal Nature Study class incorporating dry brush watercolour once a month or so.

Reality: A Link

Many times, our plans are wonderful, but reality is quite different. We need to learn to let the children, our students, guide some of their own learning, to build on their own relations. Barb, at Handbook of Nature Study, has a post that reflects this idea, particularly as it relates to Nature Study. May I encourage you to hop over and read it?

Links from ChildLight USA

• Education is Formation, Not Information - a ChildLight USA blog post by Naomi Heidorn
• Teaching Nature Study - Listen online to the 2007 ChildLight USA Charlotte Mason Educational Conference lecutre given by Deborah Dobbins and Holly Ann Dobbins. This link will bring you to the ChildLight USA website, where this lecture is being featured at the top of the page. Click on the "Listen Now" button.