About
This page was last edited on May 15, 2012.
This started as a nature blog inspired by “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv. Then it grew into a Charlotte Mason homsechooling blog. We took a detour and tried a few different methods but we are back to Charlotte Mason now. I love the Charlotte Mason method for the simplicity and consistency and her ideas about habits and spiritual matters. I have many posts about homeschooling methods, philosophy and curricula (see the ”Ideas” page which also includes some tutorials).
This is me, Cori. I am Mom to two boys, ages 8 and 5. I like knitting, baking, reading, photography, and nature. Kelly is my husband and father to our boys: Hunter and Chandler. I apologize for the confusing name changes in the blog. I might try to go back and change it, but there are many posts! I am a Christian, with a tendency to embrace the Holy Spirit and ignore the rest, but trying sort it all out so I can teach our boys.
17 Comments
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Nice to meet you and read some posts in your blog. Lovely boys and outstanding love and appreciation of nature. I enjoyed my visit and come again as often as I can.
silvia
Love your website!! I am considering homeschooling my 3 & 4 year old in the secular CM method. I am a HUGE fan of Last Child. So sounds like we are ‘on the same page,’ so to speak. I would love to know more about you and how you came to your decision as well as your philosophy. What is your background? How do you plan your lessons, etc… Would you write more about this?
Thanks,
Nina
Thank you both. Nina, I added a post about our decision to homeschool and it is now linked above. I will add more tabs as I get time and include favorite ideas and our current reading list. I do not have a teaching background and I do not believe this is necessary to have a successful homeschool. I am simply a life-long learner. If my children become life-long learners too, I will be happy.
Best Wishes,
Cori
You are so right, I do have a teaching degree and I do not think it helps in a direct or necessary way. In the sense that my “life” as a teacher and other things I’ve done, have led me to where I am, yes it was necessary to travel that road, but there is not a need or specific connection between having a teaching title and being a homeschooling mom.
I think YOU do a TERRIFIC job with your kids, and for that whatever you have it’s proving to be more than sufficient to give them an outstanding education and a lovely childhood.
Thank you Silvia! Such nice words and the encouragement is much appreciated. =) I was just telling Kelly that homeschooling can be a thankless job, like mothering, and this blog is a way to connect with other Moms with similar interests. Thank you, thank you!
I just finished reading Last Child In the Woods yesterday! So much to digest. I kept screaming – thats why we relaxingly unschool in the woods!!!
I’ve seen just about eveything he’s talking about – I’ve been pondering a blog post review of the book, but it is still to fresh, and my mind is unfocused – go figure.
I’m finding your blog the breath of fresh air I so desperately needed. Thanks for taking the time to share with others.
~Julie
Thank you Julie. Looking forward to chatting with you in the comments. We seem to be doing a lot of that lately.
Our children are of the same age. We also have two boys, that love each other dearly. Lovely to find your inspiring blog.
Jeanene, thank you for visiting my blog, I love your blog too. I’ve been enjoying your nature photos and just discovered today that you do Waldorf activities, perhaps the curriculum too? We are moving in that direction and I need inspiration.
Wow we have a lot in common in our interests. Kind of scary actually. Your homeschooling sounds just like mine when my two sons were 7 and 4.
Your blog is fantastic. So great to read about a mom just a few years ahead of us, and doing what I want to be doing, too. I love Last Child in the Woods. I read it last year, and it keeps speaking to me. Looking forward to reading more.
Hi Cori,
Wanted to introduce myself here. I followed your link from your post at the Secular CM group. Looks like I’ve got a lot of reading to do here. I like your theme and I look forward to learning and being inspired by what you and your boys do and how you learn in a real and natural way. I’m the mother of one nearly 8 y.o. boy.
Kay
Christine, Driftwoods and Kay, thank you for taking the time to comment. I look forward to getting to know you as well. ~Cori
Dear Cori,
I appreciate your efforts in advocating a homeschooling atmosphere free from religious bigotry. I think Mason would agree.
My name is Benjamin Bernier,
I am a pastor, and homeschool dad of seven boys, who made his doctoral dissertation studying the religious foundation of Mason’s Philosophy.
I came across your blog looking for people interested in Charlotte Mason, to let you know about my recent publication:
Scale How ‘Meditations’ by Charlotte M. Mason,
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/scale-how-meditations/15100538#detailsSection
The meditations are a record of a series of Sunday talks delivered by Mason during the year 1898, at the House of Education, “Scale How” in Ambleside Uk, where she presents a verse by verse commentary on the first chapters of the Gospel according to St. John.
I found this collection while doing my research at the Armitt library in Ambleside.
Most people are not aware that Mason wrote these, and that they are an amazing source of devotional inspiration, a direct disclosure of Mason’s religious opinions and instructive in the art of Christian meditation.
That is why I am spreading the word so that more people may benefit from this important resource in Charlotte Mason’s studies.
Let me know if you have any question,
You may find more information at my blog:
http://educationforthekingdom.blogspot.com/
Thank you for your attention,
At your service,
Benjamin Bernier
–
“This duty of devout meditation seems to me
the most important part of the preparation
of the mother or other teacher who would
instruct children in the things of the Divine life.”
Charlotte M. Mason.
=====
The Rev. Dr. Benjamin E. Bernier
benbernier@providencerec.org
http://educationforthekingdom.blogspot.com/
=====
Hi Cori- If I comment here I think you’ll be able to see my email address? lol- My husband requested that I remove my email address from my blog post. I had it there to direct people where to email so I could share our new baby’s name. If this works, please email me so I can reply & share our names.
(I’m trying to avoid posting my address publically, per Husband’s request, sorry to be all goofy & complicated. :p )
Dear Cori,
I am Audrey from PlayMoolah, a small company founded at Stanford and based in Singapore. Our mission is to create fun games that allow children to learn about money together with their parents. We have just gone live (yay!) with our first product and we would very much like YOUR help in testing it!
Let me take a step back and tell you how Playmoolah was born. My partner Min and I were students at Stanford in 2008, and arrived in the middle of a Financial Crisis. We noticed that many people made financial decisions in a way that reflected poor understanding of money itself, and passed on this information to their children, who were almost doomed to make the same mistakes. We therefore became determined to create a fun, engaging game for kids that would educate them on how, rather than being the “root of all evil”, money was a useful tool if used wisely. As we discovered early, children love learning things for themselves, and play is a natural and essential part of learning.
This is a very exciting point in our company’s history and for myself. This PlayMoolah journey has uncovered the truth about what money is for me and I hope we can aid the children we love in living and practicing the good values of money early on.
I’m really inspired by your blog and it has been lovely reading alongside you and your child’s journey, sharing the joy and laughter you have with your little ones. Will love to introduce you to try out our tool, where you get to bond and learn with your little ones, what more inculcate in them the value of money!
You can try PlayMoolah here: http://play.playmoolah.com/parents/sign_up
Kindly let me know if you are interested, and if so, whether we could chat.
Learn more about us at: http://playmoolah.com/parents.php
Thank you for your help!
Audrey