Welcome to the Official Website of
Catherine Levison
Homeschooling and parenting are intertwined in such a way that
they can hardly be seen as separate concepts and each of them bring
fulfillment and enriching experiences. Both endeavors contain much responsibility;
one in the area of academics and the other in raising a child from youth into
adulthood. As one overlaps with the other we find that all parents are home
educators to some degree.
When I was new to homeschooling I did not have the time for
gimmicks and empty promises. My first attempts to duplicate school at home
were not successful and left me feeling that my children were not going to be
well equipped for life. There was also the boredom, the tedious sameness to
each day, followed by early onset burn-out. This led to frustration which
nearly ended my homeschooling experience after only one year. More on this in
the article entitled, “Introduction to Practical
Charlotte Mason.”
I owe much to the Charlotte Mason method for bringing life and
variety into my home. Her approach augmented my own education and made the
process and the days enjoyable. I searched through her out-of-print articles
available at that time through the Library of Congress. There were ample
practical solutions to my educational questions. At times I was skeptical,
however I kept on reading and trying the new techniques with my children and
to my constant surprise they worked. We added art appreciation, poetry,
classic literature, nature sketching, and knowledge to our lives. The content
was great but there was even more to it than that. Mason knew how children
learned and had countless ideas on how to create a love for learning itself.
I learned from her how to allow my children to be children, how to motivate
them and how to arrive at retained knowledge, which was not simply filling
out meaningless pages in a workbook.
I quickly changed into a well-adjusted homeschooling parent
and I was so excited by my little triumphs that I wanted to share these
techniques and practical methods with my fellow homeschoolers. The name
Charlotte Mason was beginning to have some acclaim as a philosophy, but for
many that was the extent of it. I made every attempt to bring this method
into people’s lives in a practical way that could be done easily and with the
first attempt.
Many of the articles you will find here are filled with these
practical aspects and for that reason I am pleased to provide this
multifunctional website dedicated to the Charlotte Mason approach to
education. My intention is to help you in your homeschooling by providing
many helpful resources. Having homeschooled since the 1980s I have learned
much through practice and studying the written works of Charlotte Mason. My
years have also taught me the need to be both practical and realistic as an
author and educator.
In part I have launched this site to commemorate the tenth
anniversary of the publishing of A Charlotte Mason Education (1996)
and my intention is to have friendly place for you to read articles, check
for speaking dates and participate with others on the message board titled
forum on the tool bar. New articles will be published from time to time so
feel free to stop by often and read or even re-read articles as they are intended
to inspire and help.
May you and your children enjoy all of your homeschooling
days,
Catherine
Levison
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