I'm excited to share that I've been blessed to weave Charlotte Mason's living educational methods into my days working at our local elementary school. Here's the background story🧵 1/ After 19+ yrs, our home educating journey is at its end as our youngest has graduated from High School. 2/ In fact, I've been more of a principal this last year. My husband has taken on the responsibility of guiding our son's independent studies as I'm working away from home. I provide the materials, lessons plans, etc. My husband is the day-to-day facilitator as he works from home. 3/ In fact, 2 years ago when our eldest was a senior, I earned my K-12 substitute certificate and started subbing in the local public schooldistrict. @CMI_Alveary lessons are so well-written and organized, that my upper high school students didn't need me ALL the time. And I'm an educator at my core…  4/ So, I subbed 1-2 days a week. In addition, I wanted to experience what public school was like for both teachers & students: locally, NOW, hands-on, K-12, not just hypothetically. Half-way through the year, I was requested to take a long-term sub job as an elementary special education paraprofessional. 5/ Which turned into a full-time position. I continued merging what intervention lessons I was tasked to teach with Charlotte Mason methods and was even invited to collaborate in class with a few gen ed. teachers about artists, poetry, grammar, etc.  6/ This position was a pivot point for me: I thoroughly enjoyed inspiring struggling students to read LIVING books. I wove in strategies for comprehension and reading based on Charlotte Mason's methods and by the end of the year, two students 'exited out' of special ed because they improved by at least two grade levels in comprehension and fluency! 7/ And to add to the excitement, with my husband’s support, I enrolled in a Masters of Arts in Teaching, Special Ed. program to continue learning.  6/ I have continued in this supporting role full-time and I am experiencing where the intersection of Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy and application can impact public education. 7/ I remain an advocate for homeschooling, and alongside it, hold fast to the commitment to bring living, vibrant lessons to students in the public school I have the opportunity to guide. My MAT work is providing even more insight into current practices/instructional strategies and mindsets toward learning and students. It is quite a lot! So if it seems like I’m absent at times from X, and when I'm here there's a mix of homeschooling and public Ed considerations, it is simply because this space is now reflecting a full life happening off-line. I will continue to post considerations, images of beauty, and ideas to inspire a living education rooted in Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education!

Imagine being the generation that lost the art of reading. Resist!

Handwriting activates a broader network of cognitive brain regions compared to typing.

🤔 Some students have worse memories so we shouldn’t emphasize math fact memorization? ❌ I think that logic is wrong. It’s even more important for those students to memorize math facts so they can easily retrieve them from long term memory. And they CAN do it! If not, every math task that uses math facts places more demands on working memory, making later math even more difficult. The below argument against memorization came up in CBC’s audio documentary on math education.

ALL school districts need to embrace the one or two really nerdy teachers that read 50 educational books a year or listen to podcasts on a daily or weekly basis. The ones with really good outcomes with their students year after year. I've heard too many stories from teachers on here that they are basically deemed the "difficult" teacher or are just sidelined in their district. Not all schools/districts do this, but far too many. This is a call to admin. It is perfectly fine if a teacher knows far more than you. Listen to them. Learn from them. Appreciate them. Put them in positions to help improve your district. Admin that do this are truly the best. It is about the kids. That is what we are all here for.

Forty years ago, nobody carried water everywhere. You left the house at 8 AM with absolutely no hydration strategy whatsoever. Somehow you survived until dinner without a 40-ounce emotional-support tumbler.

In our newest podcast episode, Dr. Brennan Chandler shares six research-backed spelling routines. ow.ly/zpMJ50ZGvKT We've turned the routines into a free printable you can save and reference all year long. ow.ly/Ewr150Z6Qz6

Every once in a while, we should have a PD session where all school staff talk about teaching simply. No jargon. No acronyms. No data slides. Just an honest, human conversation about what really happens in classrooms—free from all the pedagogical clutter.