Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Holidays, vol. 1

Our reading assignments came from Volume 5 and the Parents Review, but in contrarian fashion I'm drawing inspiration from the end of Volume 2:

"The old, old story has all its first freshness as we tell it to the eager listeners; as we listen to it ourselves with their vivid interest it becomes as real and fresh to us as it is to them. Hard thoughts drop away like scales from our eyes; we are young once more with the children's young life, which, we are mysteriously made aware, is the life eternal. What a mystery it is! Does not every mother, made wise unto salvation, who holds a babe in her arms, feel with tremulous awe that, that deep saying is true for her also, 'The same is my mother'?"    Volume 2, p. 281

Our piney woods, in a rare snowy moment.

Holidays provide an opportunity to rethink our treasured values and beliefs as we help our children experience them through family and community observances.  We also have the opportunity to encourage true humility as we focus on ideas larger than ourselves.

"Humility does not think much or little of itself; it does not think of itself at all. It is a negative rather than a positive quality, being an absence of self-consciousness rather than the presence of any distinctive virtue. The person who is unaware of himself is capable of all lowly service, of all suffering for others, of bright cheerfulness under all the small crosses and worries of everyday life. This is the quality that makes heroes, and this is the quality that makes saints."   Volume 2, p. 284

 May we all seek and receive God's grace in this endeavor!


Our topic today is holidays, and as a bevy of holidays approaches, we certainly benefit from wise inspiration.  So, onward!


Preparing

nak explains Time Value , helping us to see how we really *can* fit everything in to the time available.

Ritsumei, in Thought Breeds Thought, beautifully visualizes the wonder of great ideas.

amy in peru also reminds us to think about the ideas behind the holidays in Unwrapping the Holidays .

Laura reminds us They Would Sell Their Souls for Love; we must not lose sight of their needs in the busyness.

Penney Douglas includes ideas for celebrating in Holidays Charlotte Mason - Style , but she also reminds us to remember our children's needs as we prepare.

Celebrating

Friederike exhorts us:  "I love the Christmas time and advent when we get ready for it w/ baking cookies, singing and playing Christmas Carols, practicing Christmas play, decorating just to celebrate our saviors birth"

Alisha mulls gift giving in Three Gifts For Christmas.

Angie shares Holiday Activities for the Coming Months.

Adding to The Beauty shares a Poetry Study ~ November 2011 ~ Thanksgiving.

Blossom reminds us to focus On Holiday- the Charlotte Mason Way {maybe} .

Janelle Cole shares some Christmas Traditions.

Phyllis Hunsucker thinks about Advent already? .

Your lovely blog hostess (that's me) has last year's plan for Advent (which will be this year's plan as well) and also a look at the end result of our Jesse Tree observance from a prior year.

Coping

Lanaya advises on Staving Off Impishness During Time Off of School.

Gladys Schaeffer sends Greetings and Salutations with a reminder to keep our priorities in line.


Educating

Laura Grace Weldon presents Mentor: Fancy Name For Grown-Ups Kids Need.

Lisa presents How We Implemented the Charlotte Mason Method.

Barb presents Four Fabulous Fauvist Paintings to Study  .

Denise presents An Ancient Mathematical Crisis « Let's Play Math!

Nature study has our focus:

Bethany presents Chestnut Trees.

Pamela Jorrick presents Lassen, saying, "Living in Northern California, we have abundant resources for nature studies right out our back doors. This week, we visited a volcano to go along with our geology studies."


Next Time

A list of upcoming Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival topics is available here.

Next up:  Music Appreciation & Composer Study on December 6.

CM Series:
vol 4 pg 30-32 - Music, the Great Joy we owe to Hearing.
vol 6 pg 217-218 - Musical Appreciation

PR Articles:
Art and Literature in the Parents' Union School
Music and Art in PNEU Schools 


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