Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival

I feel like I write for two audiences: family/ministry/real life friends, and homeschool friends that I "know" through the internet. (Is that an accurate assessment? Comment and let me know!) And really, I usually only blog for the first group. However, the backstory of this post combines both categories. Amy is my real life and internet friend, and she coordinates the Charlotte Mason blog carnival. She's both a missionary mom and a homeschooler. She signed me up to host, so here I am.

Our assigned topic this time is "Knowledge of the Universe: Physical Development and Handicrafts," and you can find what Charlotte Mason herself had to say about that here. It's really just a tiny bit, so I'll quote it all:

"It is unnecessary, too, to say anything about games, dancing, physical exercises, needlework and other handicrafts as the methods employed in these are not exceptional. [For details see the Parents' Union School programmes.]"

And that's all. But physical development and handicrafts are both important parts of a Charlotte Mason education (she did write more about them elsewhere), and so let's see what bloggers have to say about those topics--and others!--today....

Dark, awkward photo of Amy 
and me in the same room

First, Nicole tells us how photography has been a favorite modern handicraft in her homeschool co-op. She also wrote about Christmas gift handicrafts last year, and she had some great ideas there!

(Since the assigned reading was so short this time, I'll add this quote from Vol. 1:

"The points to be borne in mind in children's handicrafts are: (a) that they should not be employed in making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like; (b) that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do; (c) that slipshod work should not be allowed; (d) and that, therefore, the children's work should be kept well within their compass."

Nicole's blog posts are lovely examples of real, useful crafts--not "futilities"--presented in a very careful way.)

Nebby shares a wonderfully informative post about how they do "Extracurriculars: PE and Crafts." Again, I have another little quote to go with that:
"[PE and crafts] should form a regular part of a child's daily life. For physical training nothing is so good as Ling's Swedish Drill, and a few of the early exercises are the reach of children under nine. Dancing, and the various musical drills, lend themselves to grace of movement, and give more pleasure, if less scientific training, to the little people."
Nebby's "outsourcing" echoes that very nicely; Swedish drill might be a thing of the past, but gymnastics, dance, track, swimming and ice skating are all great options today!

Amy also apparently has a post almost ready to go, so here's a place holder for that. Check back later to read it.

I'll go way back into my own archives, and pull up this old post about a spring handicraft that my daughter really enjoyed. A more recent post is just pictures, but if you want to look, here is a Ukrainian craft class that we just took recently, something that is making us all want to paint more. And the current favorite handicraft in our home is cutting up fabric samples to make doll clothes, with minimum sewing and more tying together; I don't have photos of that yet, but maybe you can imagine it?

Bogdan on the day I met Amy (June 2012)

And then for other lovely posts, that still fit the Charlotte Mason theme, but not this carnival's topic....

• Cooking Up a Thanksgiving "Feast" (ideas for the week of Thanksgiving)
• Advent Favourites (lots of Advent ideas, Christmas music, etc)
• Teach Creative Writing without Lessons (self-explanatory title, eh?)

Thank you for reading! As you follow the links above, please leave comments and let the writers know that you visited.

Amy will be hosting the next carnival. Click on the link for more info on how to send in your entries and follow the carnival path.