Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival 3-30-10 Edition

Wow! This is an incredible edition for me this month. They are always good but this one has really touched on things I'm thinking about.

Here it is at Jimmie's Collage.

God is a Sanctuary

"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come." Ezekiel 11:16

Banished from the public means of grace, we are not removed from the grace of means. The Lord who places His people where they feel as exiles will Himself be with them and be to them all that they could have had at home, in the place of their solemn assemblies. Take this to yourselves, O ye who are called to wander!

God is to His people a place of refuge. They find sanctuary with Him from every adversary, He is their place of worship, too. He is with them as with Jacob when he slept in the open filed, and rising, said, "Surely God was in this place," To them also He will be a sanctuary of quiet, like the Holy of Hollies, which was the noiseless abode of the Eternal. They shall be quiet from fear of evil.

God Himself, in Christ Jesus, is the sanctuary of mercy. The Ark of the Covenant is the Lord Jesus, and Aron's rod, the pot of manna, the tables of the law, all a re in Christ our sanctuary. In God we find the shrine of holiness and of communion. what more do we need? O Lord, fulfill this promise and be ever to us as a little sanctuary!

C.H Spurgeon

Read A Daily dose of Spurgeon

Interesting Thoughs on The Wind and the Willows

"One can argue over the merits of most books, and in arguing understand the point of view of one's opponent. One may even come to the conclusion that possibly he is right after all. One does not argue about The Wind in the Willows.
The young man gives it to the girl with whom he is in love, and if she does not like it, asks her to return his letters. The older man tries it on his nephew, and alters his will accordingly. The book is a test of character. We can't criticize it, because it is criticizing us.
It is a household book; a book which everybody in the household loves, and quotes continually; a book which is read aloud to every new guest and is regarded as the touchstone of his worth.
But I must give you one word of warning. When you sit down to it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgement on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame. You are merely sitting in judgment on yourself...it is you who are on trial."
A.A. Milne

Read it online here for free: The Wind in the Willows and listen for free here at LibriVox. This movie has been recommended to me but we haven't seen it yet: The PBS/Masterpiece Theatre version.

Evolution in Education and the News

Saturday, March 6, 2010 this was in the news: Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin, evolution.

Two responses on Monday, March 8th: Apologia and Creation Based Science Curriculum, who were included in the article, and Darwin Has A Pity Party by a homeschool mother.

If you are interested in this further you could look into the Origin of Species project at The Way of the Master or check out Apologia's Science Curriculum.

Vote at MSNBC Newsvine.com.

Update: A second response from Apologia.

Scripture Memory System

I recently went to a homeschool workshop put on by Sonya Shafer from Simply Charlotte Mason. During the workshop Discipleship Is... she explained her Scripture Memory System which we have already started and I LOVE! It is a gentle, enjoyable and effective way to successfully memorize scripture. My purpose in this post is to give you some visuals and mention a few tips that Sonya pointed out.

I have taken pictures of the four steps you will do once you have established your routine, whether you do this once a day or at each meal or whenever.

Step One: The 1 Daily tab, read this every time.





Step Two: The 2 Odd/Even Tabs, read from a card behind one of these two tabs depending on the day, since today is Jan. 30th we will read the card behind the even tab. Read this after you read the Daily verse.





Step Three: The 7 Days of the Week Tabs, you pick the card behind whatever day of the week it is. since today is Saturday I chose the card behind the Sat. tab. Read this after you read the Odd/Even verse.

Step Four: The 31 Dates in the Month Tabs, you pick the card behind the tab of that particular date, today is the 30th so I pulled the card out from behind tab number 30. Read this after you read the day of the week verse.

And that is it. It shouldn't take more than 5 - 10 minutes. One of the things that Sonya mentioned was to take turns reading the cards. For example there are 4 of us using this system, today ds2 reads the cards, tomorrow ds 3 will read, Monday ds1 will read, Tuesday I will read and then we start over again. The person reading the cards states the reference of the verse by himself, then everyone reads the reference again with him, then we all recite the verse, then the reference again, for a total of three times saying the reference. Do not spend time trying to learn the first sentence or first few words of a verse, say the whole verse(s) every time.

Think of the way you read these verses. Quote beautiful words in beautiful ways.

Lastly she advises that this is a spiritual discipline, don't force it. You can always keep practicing if, for whatever reason or another, they aren't.

I hope this encourages you to be diligent with your scripture memorization and I also hope that you will enjoy it as we are.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12