One of the most daunting thoughts, when we are about to start educating our kids, is how am I supposed to be teaching my child? what will I teach? these and many other questions are the ones that as first-time or even season homeschool moms will drive us crazy.
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Thank God for Charlotte Mason’s teaching style! the good thing about this teaching style is that it focuses on creating habits, using your five senses to explore, outdoor play, and helps develop the spirituality of the child.
Who was Charlotte Mason?
Charlotte was a British educator in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She always respected each child as an individual person and tried to give a broad education that wasn’t limited to academics.
Charlotte invested her full life in improving the teaching quality of the children’s education system. Her approach was similar to the way children naturally learn.
The Charlotte Mason homeschooling uses rich literature and living books rather than textbooks. Instead of worksheets or answering questions of the books, the Charlotte method asks students to narrate everything they remember from the reading session.
So, she presented a generous curriculum including nature study, art, music, and handicrafts along with other academic subjects. She used the method that makes kids love learning and support good lifelong habits.
Here we discuss the most efficient way to set up a Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Schedule because
- Charlotte’s methods bring out the creativity in your child.
- This creative method introduces your kids to art, music, and other life interests, not just academics.
- Charlotte’s method helps your kid find their favorite subject and future interests. It can be art, musician, instrumentalist, dancer, philosopher, etc.
- Scheduling your homeschool days ahead will help you survive the day efficiently.
How to Set Up Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Schedule?
Making a schedule isn’t as hard as it sounds because you’ll eventually look forward to planning. We have our own Charlotte Mason homeschool Schedule planned out every day.
While I think it is necessary to have a daily schedule because we can’t seriously work without one. Setting up a daily schedule can help the flow of your homeschool day.
- Decide the subjects with your child and schedule them throughout the day.
- Choose a location that is best for a healthy teaching session.
- Include lunch breaks, tea breaks, fun breaks between your study sessions.
- Always divide your day with 50% creative studies and 50% academics.
below is a snapshot of the calendar I followed with my daughter when she was in first grade.
What does Charlotte’s Schedule Look Like?
It is a great question, but the answer is not the same for everyone. There is not a perfect or universal way to set up your schedule.
It depends on how your family functions, your interests, and what works better to determine the best procedure.
I had a good time before starting my kindergarten schedule. I wanted to include a variety of subjects in a Charlotte Mason way.
Just make sure that you’re going to create an awesome morning schedule; that is the perfect time to see nature. You can create an atmosphere to let your kids acknowledge that they can learn and do all sorts of things.
Your Charlotte’s schedule differs because:
- Every kid is different, and they will choose different subjects of their interest. Every kid will have a different priority.
- Some kids might prefer academics over creatives. On a different page, some kids might enjoy creative subjects more than academics. Also, some children might enjoy sports over everything.
- Give your kids diverse subjects to choose from and enjoy.
- Please, don’t focus on a couple of subjects of their choice. Kids are still young to decide, and their priorities keep changing. So, allow your kids to enjoy every subject equally, including academics, creatives, art, sports, etc.
How do you plan a Charlotte Mason Kindergarten schedule?
It depends; some homeschoolers start at 6 AM, while others at 9 or 10 AM. You can start with what best works for your family, and you can schedule your time accordingly.
One more thing to remember that you need to create a strong start and end to the day. This helps children get an enthusiastic start and a great endpoint of doing their work.
It also saves you from the ever-green annoying question “What’s next to do?” kids ask this question many times a day!
After setting up a time, you can now filter lessons and subjects that you will be working on. Ambleside Online is a website that has a free Charlotte Mason yearly schedule.
Here is a dinosaur unit study I have put together for my son and he loves it!
Why is it necessary to set up a daily homeschool schedule?
The biggest benefit of setting up a schedule is that it helps everyone be prepared in advance.
Many times we get frustrated and worried about our homeschooling just due to the lack of planning. Instead of waking up to find things to fill your day, you plan a curriculum for easy learning.
Just imagine waking up in the morning and already having an entire daily activity planned out and ready to go?
It alleviates a lot of stress and worries of workload. Because you have a plan to follow for the entire day that makes a world of difference, doesn’t it?
Planning and following a schedule teach your children that planning is a great way to be more productive.
When it comes to creating a schedule, including your kid’s input on what they’d like to learn and do can be a great way to collaborate and make a solid plan.
When kids tell you about their favorite subjects that they want to learn, you can easily add them to your schedule. Working together can be a fun way to create a Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Schedule.
Another post you will enjoy as a new homeschooler How to Calculate Homeschool Grades? The Easy Way
Different subjects you can add to your curriculum this year:-
1. BIBLE
It is very important to encourage children to read the Bible very early on. There are many benefits to beginning this course as soon as possible with your kids. Your children will expect that reading the Bible is part of their day.
Notre Dame Professor Christian Smith’s study explains that if children start the Bible from early on, they will continue their faith through the teen years and on. Here is a link you can buy a bible for your kids and teens.
This year I added some Bible verses and passages from the Ambleside Year 3 Bible Schedulein my child’s schedule. The Ology book by author Marty Machowski is the best to help children understand God and how children relate to him.
Please, don’t force any subject on your child. If they are not ready for the bible, better start later than let your kid despise it. Some kids might not be as religious as us, but that should be fine as well.
2. History
Make learning history lessons exciting, creative, fun, and hands-on for kids, and let them make history come alive to your homeschooling family.
History is my favorite subject because instead of just reading about history, explore it by climbing ancient ruins, exploring castles, and much more.
Learning history helps kids know where we came from and learn from human mistakes to marvel at the progress we’ve made.
3. Geography
Geography is as important as history. A lot of learning will come through reading books and watching natural documentaries about the countries. Here is a link where you can explore more books on geography in the charlotte mason method.
4. Math
No doubt mathematics is an interesting subject for everyone. Most kids enjoy solving maths sums. Below are different math manipulatives to play with and learn from:-
- Pattern blocks
- Dominoes
- Base 10 blocks
- Fat Brain Inchimals
- Countings Chips
- Unifix Cubes
The Arithmetic Primer By Frank Hall is very helpful for developing number sense. It’s not a workbook but focuses on mental math with some paper folding exercises.
5. Morning Time
One of the most beautiful parts of Charlotte Mason Homeschooling is morning time or morning basket. It is a gathering time for the family and begins with a hymn. You can start learning one hymn every month with a story behind it.
Singing poetry on tea time once a week can be a major highlight for the kids. I think it would be fun reading poems every morning. Poetry for Young People series and Poetry tea time are two different books on poetry.
6. Handicrafts
Charlotte Mason offered a list of handicrafts that are good for children under 9. Ambleside Online handicrafts are chair caning, carton-work, basket work, rug making, Japanese curtains, carving in cork, etc.
Rooted Childhood is another resource that is suitable for your kindergarten this year. They added a perfect amount of activities to do during the early years.
7. Nature Study
You can use Exploring Nature With Children for Kindergarten. I hope this would be enough for an informal Kindergarten nature lesson.
You can add a few more books to your curricula, like The Burgess Bird and The Trumpet of the Swan, as part of a bird study.
8. Art
Art is the best subject to engage kids in different artistic activities. You can look for artists for work from Leonardo da Vince and Jan Van Eyck.
9. Music
Music is the best way to connect with kids musically. You can start doing some composer study this year. You can learn with Classical Kids CDs and be confident to become a music composer for your kids.
End Point
Charlotte Mason Complete Homeschool Planner helps you to set the quarter planning pages. It gives you ideas to write book titles or things to accomplish each quarter. I hope this post helps you to set up your Charlotte Mason Kindergarten Schedule.
