Along with narration, copy work is one of the chief methods of learning and reviewing, according to Charlotte Mason. Assuming you are using a literature-based curricula and have a plethora of living books lying around, copy work is one of the most painless ways a student can review an important concept, whether it be a grammar skill, science precept or historical fact.

 Set good copies before him, and see that he imitates his model dutifully: the writing lesson being not so many lines, or ‘a copy’–that is, a page of writing–but a single line which is as exactly as possible a copy of the characters set. The child may have to write several lines before he succeeds in producing this. –Charlotte Mason, Vol. I

“Set good copies before him,”…

The best way I have found to “set good copies before” my students is to use a software program called “Startwrite.”  I love it because it allows you to:

–set the handwriting style to the one you have chosen for your household. (We prefer Italic,   since there is not an entire ‘new’ alphabet to learn when it is time to start cursive.)

–provide a perfect sample of what you would like your student to copy, rather than relying upon your own handwriting capabilities.  ;-)

–print letters with writing hints such as the place where each letter is begun and numbered arrows indicating which line is made first, second, etc.

–print letters with solid,  dashed  and dotted lines as your student begins to learn his letters.

–Add color, graphics and shapes to your copy work.

–save money by not buying handwriting worksheets/books – now you can make your own.

–save more money by printing paper with the correct spacing for each of your children, instead of buying it at the educational supply store.

Other Uses for Startwrite

1.  Leaving a large space at the top of the page and printing lines at the bottom, let your student tell you a story. He can use the top for an illustration and write the story on the lines at the bottom.  Or, YOU can write the story and he can copy it over a few days’ copy work practice.

2. Make a model of a friendly letter that your student can copy for thank you notes and letters to family and friends.

3. Let your students design their own pages to use for their notebooking projects. This is especially appealing for reluctant writers! (Somehow writing on a page with a few lines and graphics is much easier than confronting a blank page.)

4. Use it not only for history and science, but also for Bible verses, a Book of Mottoes, a time line, poetry…use your imagination!

5. New features - now Startwrite includes a Spanish and a numeric font, so you can use it for copywork in Spanish as well as for arithmetic practice.

Sample Worksheets

Take a look at some sample worksheets below.

Try it Free Before You Purchase

One of the best things about this software is that you may try it before you commit to purchase – and I would encourage you to do just that. We homeschoolers are a frugal bunch and prefer knowing as much as we can before we buy, right?

You may immediately download a trial from the website and get started! Simply click on the “Free Trial” tab at the top of the page and download the full version.

If you decide this would simplify your life, the price for the full version is (at the time of publication) $39.95. Not bad.

So what did you think? Do you own this already or have you tried it before? If you are using it now, how does it save you time and energy?

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Wow! Click on the photo above to watch this incredible video. It is cued to begin about minute number two rather than at the beginning, so the part you will be watching is about four minutes long.  I usually don’t watch much more than about half that time, but I promise you will be amazed  and thrilled to see what happens to this unresponsive man when he listens to beloved music from his own era. Very moving.

Music.

What an incredible power it has to inspire us, as the stirring video above demonstrates!

Although we don’t fully understand why this is so, music has been proven in numerous studies to increase the spatial-temporal abilities and intelligence of children. (You probably have heard of “The Mozart Effect.”)

Not only has this been documented by others, we have often experienced the effects of music ourselves – lifting our spirits when we are down, energizing us when we are weary, bringing us closer to God in worship.

With such a proven and profound influence, music certainly should be a part of our children’s education.

Charlotte Mason thought so, too.

What we want (education to result in) is a common basis of thought, such a ground work as we get from having read the same books, grown familiar with the same pictures, the same musical compositions, the same interests; when we have such a fundamental basis, we shall be able to speak to each other whether in public speaking or common talk; we shall “all hear in our own tongue the wonderful works of God” because we have learned a common speech…

–Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6

Just as children…were given the greatest literature and art, so they should have the greatest music as well…
–Mrs. Howard Glover, quoted by Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6

In the past, one was not considered educated without an appreciation and ability to recognize the more common composers and pieces of music.

For all or any of the reasons above:  music study/appreciation should be part of our students’ education!

What Does Music Study Look Like?

You don’t have to buy a special curriculum or or make detailed plans to “teach” music to include music study in your homeschooling .  Thankfully, you don’t have to play an instrument yourself or be trained musically to enjoy and listen to excellent music, either.

Similar to Picture Study, you can simply just choose one composer a semester or so and play several pieces until the style is familiar and recognizable to your children. Additional ideas:

• You may read a book on the composer’s life.
• One book written from a Christian perspective that might be fun to read to your children as you listen to music is Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers.
• You may purposefully just ‘sit and just listen’ to pieces of music, especially as you introduce your students to a newer composer, or you may…
• Make it a daily habit to listen to a particular piece of music for one week when you are accomplishing other tasks– upon rising, at meal time, when doing chores, when children are getting ready for bed, etc.
• You may incorporate Music and Composer Study into history, as we do with our curricula, studying each composer and listening to his* music as we learn about the time period in which he lived.

*Did you know there were also female classical composers? This subject begs to be researched further – perhaps by your high school student.

How Do I Make Sure My Students Are Engaged?

Just as with reading a book or Picture Study, we desire for our students to actively ‘engage’ while they are listening to music.  Especially if Music Study is new to your students, giving them a few pointers to help them listen may be warranted. Consider the following questions and activities while listening to music:

• How does this music make you feel when you are listening? (Happy? Sad? Worried? Peaceful?)
• Is this music fast, slow, in between…?
• Close your eyes and think of the ‘story’ this music suggests to you. (And can you tell me the story/draw the story/write the story?)
• Draw a picture of what the music “looks like.”

Ideas for Further Study

• Can you hear any of the instruments that were played in this music?
• Do you hear any parts of this music that are repeated?
• Consider using resources to learn a little about the fundamentals of music theory.
• Have your students complete a lapbook about different musical instruments or their favorite composers.
• Provide instrument lessons for your students.

Music and Composers per Historical Period

We have included the historical period of the music/composer if you are incorporating music/composer study into history, like we do. A few resources we have enjoyed are also provided.

Middle Ages –

There were not many composers named during this era, but here are a few sources of period music:

Both the CD above and below feature Gregorian Chants. The first one is solely male voices, while the one below includes male and female voices.

Renaissance & Reformation -

This includes several of the works of Martin Luther with his words interspersed. 

Quiet and tranquil, this CD might especially be enjoyed by mom.  

Find music from these composers on YouTube, or buy a “Best of__” CD to listen to them:

Colonial – Revolution

Claudio Monteverdi
Johann Pachelbel
Georg Friedrich Handel – make sure to listen to The Messiah
Franz Joseph Haydn
Schubert
Ludwig v. Beethoven
Johann Sebastian Bach

Westward Expansion – Immigration

Franz Liszt
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Richard Wagner
Frédéric Chopin
Claude Debussy
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Modern

Sergei Rachmaninov
Claude Debussy
Igor Stravinsky
George Gershwin
Aaron Copland
Ottorino Respighi

Do you do music study in your household? How do your children respond? Did you show them the video at the beginning of this post?

To make a comment (and I hope you do!) , please click on the comment box at the top right hand of this post.

Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival– by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

This is an excellent 12 week study about personal and corporate revival, designed to be used in small group study.  From Amazon: Get ready to experience the freedom and joy of an honest and humble heart, true repentance, God’s amazing grace, genuine holiness, a clear conscience, radical forgiveness, sexual purity, and walking in the Spirit. Each week includes five days of individual study, questions for group discussion and interaction, testimonies of changed lives, and ‘Making it Personal’ questions and exercises.

Brokenness: The Heart God Revives (Revive Our Hearts)– by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

This is another VERY REVEALING  study, appropriate for a small group.  I liken this study to peeling an onion, slowly, layer by layer. (Warning: You are the onion!)  This is the first of a series of three called “Revive our Hearts.”  From Amazon:  Every great movement of God is preceded by a season of humility and repentance and a time of tearing down walls, of getting honest with God and others about your true spiritual condition….God will use your brokenness to restore your ‘first love’ for Jesus, rekindle your spiritual fire, reconcile your relationships, and repair your life.  An excellent book!

The Gospel for Real Life (with Study Guide)– by Jerry Bridges

Some time ago I worked through this insightful ‘primer’ of the reformed faith  with a dear friend.  Jerry Bridges does an excellent job of clearly explaining our foundational beliefs in understandable language.  This is suitable to use with your high school student – I wish I had found it earlier! If we fully understand what Christ did for us on the cross, we are truly empowered to live  in His grace.

What books have been life-changers for you? I would love to hear in the comments about your favorites!

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Using the website Random.org, (which actually works on more than 100 entries),  we randomly picked a winner from all of your sweet comments!

And the winner is…drum roll…. Sally T. from Burnet, Texas!! Congratulations, Sally!

And to Thank You for Entering Our Giveaway…

We are offering you very special pricing on our Daily Lesson Plan CDs!

If you have been homeschooling any length of time at all you know how difficult it is to find the RIGHT homeschooling curricula.

It’s either…

• too hard to follow
• takes too long to plan and/or prepare to teach
•  too expensive
• too traditional, full of monotonous textbooks and worksheets written from a secular worldview
• does not incorporate HISTORY, SCIENCE, LANGUAGE ARTS and FINE ARTS in one, simple to follow plan, OR
•  is just plain boring!

Read What Others are Saying About our Curriculum…

[I was concerned about] buying the books and the price of the first grade daily lesson plan curriculum, [but found] it was awesome!!!!!! So much better than doing Charlotte Mason on my own and we tried {popular Christian, literature-based curriculum} and it doesn’t compare. I like how everything is incorporated. It has been put together so much better than anything else I have looked at. The books are great, the schedule is easy to follow. If I were to write a curriculum ( as if I had the time) this would be it, but this is so much better that what I would have put together. My daughter loves it too!!!  –Wendy

The greatest part of Epi Kardia is the wonderful collection of (recommended) whole book titles for the different time periods and the way arts and science are already woven together for me to use. An added benefit is the love of learning this curriculum has helped instill in my children. They are NEVER bored with this program.  –Jennifer

I would absolutely recommend Epi Kardia especially for any family that is interested in well-planned curriculums that are literature-based using a Charlotte Mason approach… I was impressed with how comprehensive the Daily Lesson Plans were and our family was not disappointed with the results of using it… I have learned so much about our history and Charlotte Mason’s methods…I think I learned more from your curriculum than I did in school. –Tracey*

Our Daily Lesson Plans were written by homeschooling moms, just like you!

By God’s grace, we successfully homeschooled our children through high school.

Although I occasionally chose to put my children in a class taught by someone else, especially for that high school math, I never sent them out to any of the recently popular and expensive “homeschooling” options where someone else chooses the curriculum, someone else does the teaching, and I was only responsible to make sure their (overabundance) of ‘homework’ was done.

Instead, we chose to keep our children at home, where we could focus on mentoring and discipling them, training them from our
Biblical worldview, and teaching them how to love and serve each other, our family, and others.

Rather than trying to do “school at home,” as in many of the popular “canned” textbook curricula, we chose to teach the way children naturally learn, using Charlotte Mason’s methods of superior, well-written literature, short lessons, plenty of time out of doors, and early focus on instilling obedience and habit training.

This was our mindset in creating our Daily Lesson Plans…

…which feature

• integrated daily lessons in history, science, reading, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, literature study, poetry, fine arts, and more
• weekly themes and objectives outlined at the beginning of each week in all of the subjects we cover
• reading assignments, discussion questions, science experiments, history activities, art projects – with weekly materials and list of supplies to make preparation a cinch
• vocabulary and spelling (up to middle school) words and copy work selections already chosen from the history and science reading
• short grammar lessons with answer keys provided

VERY Special Pricing for One Week Only!

Beginning TODAY and continuing until Thursday, March 28th at midnight, we are offering our Daily Lesson Plans CDs at a whopping 50% off — with FREE SHIPPING* on all CDs ordered!

This applies to one set or several! Save as much as $100 + shipping fees on one CD if you buy one complete year of lesson plans!

 Set I, II, or III of any grade level – usually $75 + shipping charges, now only $37.50!!

Complete Year’s Plans – usually $200 + shipping charges, now only $100!!

All you have to do to place your order is go to our online catalog and order. Your shipping cart will automatically calculate your savings – no coupon to have to remember and type in.

If you would rather order by mail, please let us know what you would like to order by email and we will immediately invoice you. Remember, there is no shipping charge on CDs. If you choose to order other items at the same time, shipping will be calculated only on those items.

To take advantage of these spectacular prices, head over to our online catalog. Remember, the sale prices will be reflected in your shopping cart once you add one or more CDs to the cart!

Best Regards,

*Take a look at the rest of Tracey’s detailed review of our First Grade Lesson Plans!

Welcome to the March 20th edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival!

If you are new here, you will want to carve a little time out of your day, grab a cup of coffee or tea and spend some time perusing the articles  from homeschooling moms who use Charlotte Mason’s methodology in their home schools. Expect to learn, be inspired and encouraged!

This edition’s theme is “Education is a Discipline,” but there are always posts that relate to other areas of Miss Mason’s philosophy included in the carnival. And we usually squeeze in a few posts on the last edition’s topic as well.

I hope those of you who are in ‘cold country’ especially, will enjoy the photos! Your flowers will come soon, I promise.

Parenting = Teaching and Training

The parent who believes that the possibilities of virtuous training are unlimited will set to work with cheerful confidence, will forego the twaddle about ‘Nature,’ whether as lovely in itself or as an irresistible force, and will perceive that the first function of the parent is that function of discipline … — Volume 2, p. 65

Nancy, from Sage Parnassus, posts Parents as Rulers, Inspirers, and Revealers – Charlotte Mason on Thoughtful Parenting, wherein she suggests that Miss Mason had much to offer not only the educator, but also the parent.  Melissa also shares her thoughts and ruminations on our topic from her blog, Educating Mother: Education is a Discipline {chewing on a couple of things}.  Barb at Harmony Art Mom offers us food for thought with her post entitled Homeschooling for Life and Not a Lifestyle. I agree that Charlotte would have wanted to see her charges develop a lifelong love for learning.

Editor’s Note:  Due to a technical problem, this is a post that is being added a few hours after the publishing of this issue:

Here is Erin’s post, Education is a Discipline, from her blog, Seven Little Australians and Counting.

A very clear presentation of how Sarah instills morning habits in her children, Discipline and the Two R’s,  is posted on her blog, All That’s Good. I love these concrete examples, don’t you?  Another beneficial post along these lines is by Tammy, who chronicles her experience Curing the Habit of Frustration, presented on her blog, Aut-2B-Homeincarolina.

Why Homeschool? Retaining Sibling Relationships, is a thoughtful post by Kelly at The Homeschool Co-op. You will not only enjoy the post – the photos of her kids are too cute!  Nadene also talks about her children, and transparently shares a current struggle  implementing the ‘perfect’ Charlotte Mason home school.  Read her post, Stresses and Struggles, on her blog, Practical Pages.

Poetry Study

Here are a few posts that either didn’t make it into the last edition of the carnival or were included after it was initially published: Laura shares her first experiences sharing poetry with her son at her blog, Windy Hill Home School in her post entitled Poetry.  At the other end of the homeschooling spectrum, here is an inspiring poem with suggestions for middle and high school lesson plans included on the Epi Kardia Blog, Poetry Study: Anne Bradstreet: Puritan Poet.  Additionally, Amy from Fisher Academy International shares her very useful post on how to analyze poetry For Novel Poetry Analysts…Like Me!.

Nature Study & the Arts

The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival would not be complete without celebrating nature and all we may learn there, especially during the delightful Spring season! Barb at her Handbook of Nature Study blog shares her informative and visually cheerful post, Early Spring Flowers – Nature Study and Art Project. After Barb’s post, head over to Hodgepodge where Trish offers us 10 Easter and Spring Arts and Crafts activities to enjoy.   Jimmie at Jimmies Collage then features her Georgia O’Keeffe  Artist Study (along with the display of her daughter’s beautiful work!) Thanks to all three ladies for the lesson plans and photos of gorgeous art work to inspire us.

Even if you are not quite ready for the art studies, Melissa’s post Snippets from Charlotte on Being Outdoors will encourage you to carve out the time to regularly leave your four walls and go outside (with your children!) on her blog, Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys in the Yard.

Living Math

In her post at Jimmie’s Collage, Jimmie describes how she incorporates principles of “living” math along with a textbook curriculum in Using Teaching Textbooks in a Living Math Approach.

Scripture Prayer Calendar

And, finally, a lovely gift to us of a downloadable Scripture Prayer Calendar from Nadene of Practical Pages. Thank you, Nadene, for the helpful photos and clear directions for creating our own calendars, as well as for the reminder of the need to be lifting up our children in prayer.

Thank you to all of the authors for their useful entries and to our readers for taking the time to read and comment on our posts!

The next Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival on April 3rd will be hosted by Jimmie at Jimmie’s Collage. The theme will be Living Books –  (definition of, why we use them, our favorites, choosing books, etc.)
* PR article to read for background: Schoolbooks and How They Make for Education.

Editor’s Note: if you would like to have one of your posts included in the next edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, please send the following to charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com instead of using the blog carnival form:

• the name of and link to your blog
• the title of and link to your post
• any remarks you would like to make about your post

Blessings~

P.S. Reminder to those interested in entering a no-strings-attached give-away of a year of Charlotte Mason curricula : click here to see how to enter. The random drawing will tomorrow, March 21st.