Sarah

23/08/2026

I wanted to try Charlotte Mason's handicraft idea. I read a wise tip online that it should be a useful handiwork, and since we're avid readers always in need of more bookmarks, I found our project !

I've also been thinking of ways to merge subjects, and this beautiful activity was successful in doing so - you can tell by the note my daughter wrote me at the end !

Step 1: Science - it's summer so I read out loud an excerpt about Peter Cottontail discovering a summer flower, Meadowsweet. My oldest preferred its other name *'Queen of the Meadow.'
*There are varieties of Meadowsweet with one having this nickname.

Step 2: Handicraft - I cut 2x6 bookmark shapes from watercolor paper. *After completing the watercolored bookmarks, I inserted each into protective sleeves.*

Step 3: Art - using a model photo and our reading, we painted our individual version of Meadowsweet. We did all of it on a huge sheet that I didn't mind messing.

And that's it ! The whole process probably took less than an hour, and it was easy going because each child had their own paint set and brush and was left to their own creativity. I did offer tips but kept it to a minimum. One child redid her bookmark because she didn't like her 1st version - she was quite pleased with her 2nd one ! We're all in love with our first handmade bookmarks !

Now we have an exciting desire to find American Meadowsweets in nature. Because of the individual creativity used in this activity, my children will remember what a Meadowsweet is. And this is what successful learning experiences produce - lifelong connections ! 🤗

I hope this activity inspires you ! ☺️

20/08/2026

Many of my Living Books orders arrived today, and sharing them with you seems a good way to celebrate 🥳

My children will use these books for free reads and for learning various topics. How interesting to learn through narratives and beautiful illustrations !

It's both amazing and encouraging to witness how my 6yo and 7yo are learning content and making connections from various sources because of constantly indulging in living books, beautiful movies and shows, and narrating (learning to pay attention to details) ! This stuff works !

Hope you spot some books in my haul to use ! ☺️

Source of discovery for most of the Geography books & the Science series 'Let's Read & Find Out': simplycharlottemason.com !

11/08/2026

Apart from learning to play musical instruments, I prefer my children's music education to be more experiential than rigid lessons. ✨

We use Ambleside Online's schedule for folk 
songs, hymns, and musical compositions. We then learn by using them in the background of our every day lives.

🎶 My kids usually dance to the upbeat folk songs while being dressed in various clothes and 
materials that I give them. They seem to pretend 
as if they're in Heidi's countryside or otherwheres 😀

🎶 Sometimes after their independent work,they 
sit to listen intently to compositions -enjoying them while relaxing. Sometimes, I play the recorded performances for them to see the skillful artistry of the musicians playing the arrangement of various musical instruments. It only takes about 20 minutes, 1-3 times per week, for them to appreciate how beautiful music is 
made. 

🎶 They've realized they can use upbeat 
compositions such as the Pirates of the 
Caribbean's soundtracks for dramatic play !

🎶 We sometimes play the folk songs, hymns, and
compositions while we're driving, and the kids sing along.

🎶 I rotate the music we listen to: one day it's hymns playlist, one day compositions, one day folksongs, so we're getting it all throughout the week. I give quick mentions of who the composers are to my kids.

🎶 I mostly let my kids "pick up" the lyrics 
through casual listening. They have the printed hymn lyrics, but I don't request memorization. Then a day, my oldest volunteered to sing a hymn she had independently learned the lyrics to.

🎶 And when they're just quietly playing and living - no dancing, no elaborate playacting - the 
music plays on in the background filling their 
childhood days, creating memories for adulthood. And all of this inspires them to want to create their own music !

I hope that these stress free ways of giving children a beautiful musical education will prove to be useful to you ☺️

04/08/2026

"LORD, I don't know what I don't know, so I NEED You to reveal to me what You need and want me to know ! "

That was a piece of my heartfelt prayer earlier this year as I was doubting my homeschooling.

My 7 year old was learning above grade level content, was involved in activities, etc. And my 6yo was following on the same path. I wasn't slacking on giving them an excellent education, and I thought I was doing well, until . . .

One day, I noticed online a certain homeschooler's curriculum, and upon checking it out, I felt discouraged that I wasn't giving my children a "sophisticated" education like that curriculum 😩 In fact, I had never felt the need to use a curriculum.

I'm not usually sucked into social media comparison, but this concerned my kids' education which will impact their adult futures - I didn't want to fail them.

BUT, this led to something greater!

Instead of impulsively buying the curriculum, I took my homeschooling doubts and insecurity to my Wisest Counselor. I laid bare my fears, my limitations, and my requests in what probably became my most vulnerable and heartfelt prayer thus far for God's guidance in my homeschooling journey. And He lovingly answered me.

It was but a few weeks later that He caused me to discover Ambleside's curriculum and a few of Charlotte Mason's methods which transformed our homeschooling and have brought us such joy ! We've since been indulging in beautiful resources and learning experiences !

Here's what I especially want to tell you:

This shift happened at the opportune time when we were prepared for it. We had been faithful to do what we knew to do and had built up our homeschooling muscles. My 2 oldest had compatible abilities and levels of discipline needed to thrive in our new endeavor. If I had discovered Ambleside when my kids were any younger, it would have been a burden rather than the blessing it is. Don't be anxious for anything - use what you have and do what you know, until He prompts you to change 🦋

God minutely knows what you and your children need - if you ask Him, He will show you according to James 1:5 ! He wants to timely equip you to be the wise steward of your children ! 🦋

02/08/2026

My 7 and 6 year olds are avid readers, and it started with using this book !

When I was ready to teach my oldest to read, I asked God to show me an effective method/resource I could reuse with all my children. He answered and I'm now using that same answer to teach a 3rd child to read.

STEPS to using 'Teach Your Child to Read' :

🪵 You first have to ensure that you can pronounce each of the 44 sounds correctly. The authors have a YouTube video to help with that.

🪵 Go through the 1st few lessons to acquaint yourself with what is expected of the child. It's basically:

1. Teach the child to 'sound out' the sound, e.g. "mmmmmm"

2. Teach the child to quickly say the sound, e.g. "m"

3. Teach the child to cohesively sound out multiple sounds in one word (see my video example of my 4 year old)

4. Teach the child to quickly say sounds cohesively to read words (again, see video for result 😊)

✨ After doing a few lessons and learning how it works, I started skipping over 99% of the tasks and instructions, only focusing on having my child sound out and read the individual and combination sounds in BOLD. If you feel comfortable doing this, it will save you time and effort laboring on side tasks and repeating instructions verbatim from book. I dare say it'll save you and your child frustration too 😀

And all this book requires for each lesson is a few minutes per day. I usually do multiple lessons per day with ease with my 4 year old - it's fun using this book ! ☺️

I hope that this recommendation will be a blessing to you ! 🤗

28/07/2026

This is my narration style with my 7 year old:

🌳 Multiple texts assigned weekly - each one divided into multiple days of reading & narrating to complete it.

🌳 Standard # of texts narrated per day is 3.

🌳 Read & narrate for 20 minutes (via timer) per text. Timer is paused for lengthy explanations if she needs my help. If timer goes off and we've almost completed a text, we narrate it to the end. (If continuing a former day's text, she recaps the last bit she's read before timer starts.)

🌳 She has 3 ways to end narration:

1. By saying "That's what I remember" if she thinks she's done a complete narration. We then continue, or I correct errors and narrate missing details.

2. By saying "I don't understand the rest." I then explain where needed - vocabulary, sentence structure, subject matter/context, colloquial phrases, etc.

3. By saying "I can't remember the rest." I have her reread it, if she forgot a substantial amount, and then narrate what she forgot. Or, if a minor amount, I narrate the rest for her.

🌳 I interrupt to correct (when necessary) her reading - missing words, mispronunciations, or phantom words. My interruptions do not affect her understanding and memory of what she's read when it comes time to narrate.

🌳 I interrupt her narration if she doesn't self-correct a substantial error. I correct via questioning, or having her re-read the text if she's majorly misunderstood it, or I explain it. My mild corrections do not cause her to forget the rest of her narration.

This is my narration style with my 6 year old:

🌳 Standard narration per day is 1 McGuffey lesson, unless we skip or add extra lessons. On days when we add, it's no more than 3.

🌳 No timer needed due to few and short daily McGuffey lessons.

🌳 I correct and assist her as I do with my 7yo.

🌾 This is what currently works for us and I hope that my style inspires you to find your own. Let your instincts guide you with each child and don't burden yourself with "do's and don'ts" that won't work for your family. 🌾

🧐 I had to check if "bonny" is a real word or a typo for "bony" which read oddly within the context of the excerpt, and sure enough - bonny means attractive 😀

25/07/2026

While I'm not a stickler for Charlotte Mason's methods, I have adapted some of her approaches for my homeschooling. 😀

She recommended that children start narrating at 6 years old, but I was reluctant to let my 6yo start - the reason being that I currently use Ambleside's curriculum and I felt that their year 1's texts were too challenging for her first attempts at narration at such a young age.

But then, I discovered the McGuffey Readers which were the "go-to" texts in US schools for perhaps a century, with over 100 million copies sold. The collection of Readers advance from beginner level up to college level complexity.

The 1st Reader was perfect for my 6 year old's introduction to narration because it starts with extremely simple sentences and short texts that are easy to understand and retell. She has since completed 1st Reader and is narrating 2nd Reader.

Depending on the complexity of what she's reading and her focus level, I shift between either letting her narrate only 1 sentence or multiple sentences at a time. (She doesn't look at the text during her narration - it's done from memory.)

I truly appreciate that the original McGuffey Readers have vocabulary and comprehension questions at the end of each chapter. I've found that her focused narration of the text contributes to her answering the comprehension questions well. Some of the questions are yes/no, some are text-related, and some are reflective.

Afterwards, I leave her to self-check her spelling knowledge of the vocabulary list.

By using the McGuffeys, my 6yo's narration skills have been progressing, and eventually I will start Ambleside's curriculum with her.

I wholeheartedly recommend the original McGuffey Readers to build up your young child's narration muscles and confidence ! ☺️

Source of discovery for McGuffey Readers: possibly Mom Delights on YouTube !

22/07/2026

As I did not grow up in the USA, I have little knowledge of US History. Thus, it's been a joy reading these Living Books (all shown, except for Mary of Plymouth, are from Ambleside's curriculum) with my 7 year old and learning along with her !

It's been an absolute delight reading Mary of Plymouth with my 7 year old who has been narrating a chapter daily to me ! I feel immersed in the experiences of these early pilgrims, and am beginning to understand and appreciate what it took to make the "New World" become the USA !

Living Books such as these really do cause facts to COME TO LIFE !

Mary of Plymouth is in the public domain and can therefore be found online for free reading. I bought my used hardcover from Ebay.

If you've read any of James Otis' books that you love and think would be suitable for homeschooling, do let me know ! I'm currently looking into purchasing more of his books.

Source of discovery for Mary of Plymouth: Mom Delights on YouTube !

21/07/2026

17/07/2026

I used to have my 7 year old handwrite short stories and essays, but then her hand would start to hurt after a little while, editing was not quickly accessible and required multiple drafts, and it took multiple days to complete one piece of writing ! The whole process didn't seem sustainable.

Yet, I wanted my 7yo and 6yo to have handwriting practice along with creative writing and grammar skills - and what I didn't want was for them to become dependent upon screens and to forsake handwriting. It seemed like an 'either' (handwriting) 'or' (typing) conflict 😩

Enter COPYWORK 🎉 OH YEAHH ! . . . Ok, Cat in the Hat may be stuck in my head 😬

I discovered the beautiful solution of copywork perhaps first from Amblesideonline.org along with a few Google searches about Charlotte Mason related techniques.

Copywork facilitates the development of my children's script handwriting while bringing their attention to beautiful excerpts from texts that they're copying. Additionally, they are exposed to grammar, vocabulary/spelling, and varied expressions of ideas that they can adapt to use in their own creative writing !

After adding copywork to their routine, I felt confident and excited about letting them type their stories and essays - and guess what ! They've been enthusiastically typing many pages of creative writing while still learning to handwrite beautifully in script: It's now a 'both' (handwriting) 'and' (typing) WIN WIN situation !

If you want your children to both handwrite and write well, a combination of copywork and typing may be the solution you've been needing ☺️