Piney Woods Homeschool

When we read the Uncle Remus stories in Year 0, I pick and choose the stories we read so as to be sure to read the most familiar tales and to avoid some of the more unsettling stories.  I do like to use the original Joel Chandler Harris version, despite the dialect, because Julius Lester omits the Uncle Remus frame story in his version and I think that part of the story is important. If you are not familiar with these stories, you might want to read about why they are important . This is the list of tales I read during the preschool years: Uncle Remus Initiates the Little Boy Wonderful Tar-Baby Story Why Mr. Possum Loves Peace How Mr. Rabbit was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox Story of the Deluge Mr. Fox Tackles Old Man Tarrypin Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox Mr. Fox is Again Victimized Mr. Fox Goes a-Hunting But Mr. Rabbit Bags the Game Old Mr. Rabbit, He’s a Good Fisherman Mr. Rabbit Finds His Match at Last Mr. Rabbit Meets His Match Again Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear H...

The early years with Charlotte Mason require a bit of a different focus than most of us are used to. Instead of academic goals, we focus on the "many relations waiting to be established; relations with places far and near, with the wide universe, with the past of history, with the social economics of the present, with the earth they live on and all its delightful progeny of beast and bird, plant and tree; with the sweet human affinities they entered into at birth; with their own country and other countries, and, above all, with that most sublime of human relationships–their relation to God." (Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series, Volume 6, pp. 72-73) The rest will come! This may even sound like a huge task, but in reality we accomplish this through simple activities and interactions–no scope and sequence is necessary. The most important Year 0 goal, according to Charlotte Mason, is time spent outside. ". . .[T]he chief function of the child–his business in the...

There is an update here . The early years with Charlotte Mason require a bit of a different focus than most of us are used to.  Instead of academic goals, we focus on the "many relations waiting to be established; relations with places far and near, with the wide universe, with the past of history, with the social economics of the present, with the earth they live on and all its delightful progeny of beast and bird, plant and tree; with the sweet human affinities they entered into at birth; with their own country and other countries, and, above all, with that most sublime of human relationships–their relation to God." (Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series, Volume 6, pp. 72-73)  The rest will come!  I do know that even this sounds like a lot, but I think the key is that they will get these relations through the living books we’re reading and the time (lots and lots of time) spent outside.  We don’t have to plan out a scope and sequence! T...