Charlotte Mason was a real person

I'm looking forward to a wonderful education conference in just a few weeks on Charlotte Mason and her way of seeing life. I love how the atmosphere of the conference makes it a vibrant learning time for anyone involved in education, whether homeschoolers, teachers, or parents. The more I read in Charlotte's 'pink books'* of her thoughts and ways, the more I see that she lived in real life and understood how things work and yet was able to also see the ideal way to bring out the best in life. There may be a 100-year gap from her time to mine but the truths are timeless.

As the Childlight USA conference planners at Gardner Webb University gear up for the 7th annual Charlotte Mason Education Conference in North Carolina the blog has been rich with thoughts on Charlotte Mason and the way she has impacted the authors' educational philosophies and their lives. I just thought you might be interested in reading some of the blog entries.

*Pink covers on the reprinted 6-volume set of Charlotte Mason's writings. The original look so much nicer but they are of course more difficult to find. I've only seen one copy on someone else's bookshelf (I tried not to drool on it.) Most people read the pink ones or the free online version and I believe there may be some newer-covered versions and there's even a Kindle version.

Food, Family and Flowers

Well, if you want to see the posts I just posted....they're over here. I managed to be on our other blog instead of the regular one. And the other blog is sadly neglected so I guess it's not a bad thing to have posted over there. They (2 posts) even have photos.

What I didn't write over there is that I've managed to dodge rain drops and get half of the tomatoes planted out in the back garden. Of the 57 plants I grew from seed, I've given a dozen or so away, killed two and have plans to give a few more. The front garden is host to a beautiful crop of healthy dandelions and a few onions that got missed last year. If it stays dry for more than a day Pieman might even be able to get it tilled so that I can plant out the giant pumpkins the kids are growing. Wait. So the kids can plant out the giant pumpkins they are growing. I have a few flowers to scatter about too and more vegetables...squash, peppers, cauliflower, onions, carrots, and more lettuce and peas on a staggered schedule. My neighbour just assured me that this is a more typical weather year for around here than last year's beautifully gorgeously warm and sunny spring and summer. I'm not happy about that. But let me tell you...only 3 weeks until we reach North Carolina and please, let it be hot!