This week I’m writing + filming about a hallmark This week I’m writing + filming about a hallmark of the Charlotte Mason method: narration. Have you ever heard of it? What would you like to know? 

I’m focusing heavily on how we use narration in our homeschool, but if you have specific questions about it, I would love for you to 1. Take the poll in my stories, and 2. Ask any questions you may have about narration in the comments so that I can answer them in my video! ❤️
Happy Mother’s Day! I especially want to encoura Happy Mother’s Day! I especially want to encourage those who are intentionally making a better life for their children than what they may have experienced as kids. It is not easy to change the cycle, but it’s well worth the effort. 

In the words of Louisa May Alcott, “A woman's happiest kingdom is home, her highest honor is the art of ruling it not as a queen, but a wise wife and mother."
📚 We are moving right along with term three of 📚 We are moving right along with term three of our school year. Slow but steady, we will finish up mid June and I’ll begin prepping for next school year in July and August! 📚

Here’s some of my random old and new tips + what I’ve been doing to help keep organized with the CMEC. 

01. Keep a regular day for nature outings or field trips. We have two days a week where I intentionally plan a hike or museum visit, etc. One is usually at the middle of the week and the other is at the end. It offers great variety to our weeks.

02. Notebook! I have had the girls consistently notebook this year, and it’s been such a delight to go back and see my form 1b student’s progress! I have a video coming out about how we notebook and why you should try it very soon! 

03. To stay on track with our morning timetable I’ve been writing the time we end each lesson in my logbook. It’s really changed how productive I am in making sure we get everything on our timetable done for the day. (I have a video on my logbook if you’re interested in learning more about that!)

04. And 05. Popsicle sticks! Friends, if you’re already a CMEC family, use these to help you choose which activities you review! I have on these for old singing games, French songs, folk dances or Swedish drill routines. I’ll share more on what I have on ours, specifically, but it’s fun because the girls and I get to be surprised rather than me choosing what we review!

06. Art instruction. Originally I had us doing three art lessons per week in the afternoon, but it didn’t allow for enough free choice, so we’ve reduced it down to one formal lesson a week for six weeks, then we change the method. So right now we are in week two of our chalkdrawing lessons. After six weeks we will switch to brush drawing instruction for the remainder of the term! As Charlotte Mason recommends, we draw from memory, model, and from imagination. 🌞

I hope this was helpful to you! So many of you guys are using @the.cmec next year! I am SO excited to see all of you at the online form meetings this coming year! 👏🏻 #thecmec #thecmecform1 #charlottemason
Do you keep your spices in a cabinet, on a shelf o Do you keep your spices in a cabinet, on a shelf or in a drawer? This drawer is right next to my stove and it’s my favorite way to store my spices! I reuse these little jars and fill them every couple of weeks with my bulk @azurestandard spices. 🧂
Are you planting a garden this year? What are you Are you planting a garden this year? What are you growing? Containers and raised beds? Or in ground? What do you plan to grow? Veggies? Flowers? We are doing a little bit of everything. 😍

It’s my third year growing food. (And ironically, our third house 😅) We just got our @greenstalkgarden planter, several @smartpots, and six raised beds that are ready to be filled next weekend. Really looking forward to this gardening season! 🥕🥬🥦🌽🌶🫑🫐🍓🥔
“Let them once get in touch with nature and a ha “Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life.” -Charlotte Mason 

My kiddo had a birthday this past weekend. We do one main gift and a couple of small gifts; typically they’re  things they can use outdoors. Bikes have been a popular birthday item around here! My eldest wanted an apple tree last year. ☺️ But this year we got N a mud kitchen! Some friends of ours had one they built, and it inspired us. My kiddos have been playing on the forest floor in the mud for years now, but it’s exciting for them to have a little space in our garden for mud play. 🌳 What are some fun outdoorsy gifts you’ve purchased for your kids?
📚 When should I teach my child to read? How sho 📚 When should I teach my child to read? How should I teach my child to read? What does Charlotte Mason say about reading lessons? How did she teach children how to read? What curriculum do you use to teach your child how to read? 📚
These are all questions I answered in my blog post and video, “teaching reading the Charlotte Mason way” 📚 you can also swipe over to see some of my favorite CM quotes on teaching reading! 📚

I also shared what I do with my 3-year-old (which is very minimal) if you have younger children. You can view the post at the link in my profile! Are you up children school-aged? What do you use to teach reading?
I needed to accomplish a lot today. There was more I needed to accomplish a lot today. There was more unpacking and organizing to be done, pictures to be framed, meal planning to do, laundry that needed folding, bike rides to be had, meals to be prepared, sourdough to be prepped and lesson planning + pre-reading to do. Oh and dishes. So many dishes. 😅

I do essentially all of the inside housework aside from taking out the trash + recycle, but for a season my husband helped out while N was small by doing dinner dishes and sometimes even preparing dinner so I could nurse her after we ate. But as of late, I’m trying something new where I don’t ask my husband to clean up after dinner and instead I do it myself. I don’t mind it, and since my girls are old enough to get their own pj’s on now, I’ve been doing dinner clean-up (as well as lunch and breakfast clean-up and prep!) before I head upstairs to tuck them in, read them a story and sit with them while they fall asleep. Call me old fashioned, but I’m happy to do it, and I delight in my husband being able to enjoy some time with the girls after dinner instead of clean up a mess after a long day of working.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post - I’ve felt pulled in so many directions today and it’s something I feel often, (and I’m sure so many of you can relate) but after five months without a home to care for and nurture I simply can’t feel frustrated or annoyed at my list of 10,000 things I need to do. Instead I pray my way through each task. I sip tea in between. I light a candle and wear my great-grandmother’s apron as I work. I read notes like the one my six-year-old left for me this morning and I weep tears of gratitude and joy. Happy Sunday, my friends. ❤️ 
.
(swipe to read her note 🥰 + a transcription in the comments!)
Remember that word we heard so often when we were Remember that word we heard so often when we were parenting infants? Attachment.  What comes to mind? Breastfeeding on demand. Co-sleeping. Babywearing. All of those things that come pretty natural to us when taking care of a baby. But did you know that attachment doesn’t just end when your child gets bigger? Attachment is actually necessary THROUGH adolescence. 😳

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté is a brilliant book that stopped me in my tracks. The book addresses the severe lack of attachment to parents that is incidentally replaced by an attachment to peers. I wrote all about it on my blog, but if you swipe over you can see a few passages that I underlined, highlighted, and wrote down in my notebook. 

Peer culture is more prevalent than ever. Not only because our society now prefers it that way, but because of social media’s ability to unite our youth in an unprecedented way. What we need is a shift in how we pass down culture to our kids from a horizontal attachment (peer to peer) back to a vertical attachment (family to child). I’ve often felt this long before I read this book, but we prioritize our Children’s friendships and relationships with others before we prioritize their relationships with us. We don’t value the family unit the way we used to decades ago, and it’s to the detriment of our children. 

I will gift this book to every new parent I meet from now on because of the wisdom the authors share. I wish all parents would read it so we could be on the same page as a society and those of us who choose to hold on to our kids wouldn’t be going against the grain. So this is my plea to you. If anything I’ve said piqued your interest, or struck a chord, please read Hold On To Your Kids! ✨

(For those of you who have read it! Share your thoughts with us! Help me convince everyone to read it! 👏🏻)
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Family Activities, Homemaking, Motherhood, Postpartum, Pregnancy, Screen-Free Parenting, Simple Living • January 11, 2020

Tips for New Stay-At-Home Moms

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for almost five years. I never intended on staying home, actually. I’ve been working since I was fifteen years old, and I intended to work after having my kids. But that quickly changed when I finally met my first child face-to-face. Staying home with children is not a ‘job’ but it’s still work. It’s arguably the most important work we will every do. Therefore, mama, your sanity, mental health, and happiness are extremely important. I recently sat down to write a post on how to help new moms, and this all just came pouring out of me. So it’s safe to say, it needed to be put out into the universe. Here you go. Here are my top tips for new stay-at-home moms.

Tips For New Stay-At-Home Moms

Remember, everyone’s motherhood experience is different, so if something you read here doesn’t resonate with you, that’s okay! This is very much a generalization and written from my personal experience as a stay-at-home mom of five years. Nevertheless, I hope something you read here today will feel useful to you. Here are my tried and true tips for new stay-at-home moms.

01. Play music in the background.

Okay, so this one seems silly, but it truly helps lighten my mood. When my eldest daughter was a baby, I used to keep our television on in the background, just for noise, but as she got older, I knew that needed to change! Since we’ve cut our screen-time out almost completely, I now rely heavily on music for that background ambience.

To be completely honest, I’m a creature of habit. My music throughout the day helps move along our natural rhythms. I have my morning playlist (usually something folky – I like the Cabin in the Mountains playlist on Spotify) that I play while I make my coffee and make our breakfast. Then I have our homeschool Classical Music playlist. We studied Bach this past term, and now we’ve moved onto Mozart. I have some of their works on a short, eight song playlist, so we play that during morning time. I also put this on when my girls do art, just to keep the experience rich. My 4.5 year old, now says to me, out of habit: “Mama, can we listen to our Classical Music?”

Then during lunchtime, instead of music, sometimes I’ll play an audiobook for my daughter. We read very often, and I prefer reading to her directly to foster connection. However, an audiobook during lunch, so I can eat too, has been a very useful tool! If we don’t have an audiobook we’re listening to, I’ll play the Charlotte’s Web movie soundtrack, or another soundtrack she likes. She’s very into The Sound of Music right now. I never thought I’d say that about my 4.5 year old. 😉 But during this time my 19 month old is napping, and I try to let my big girl pick our songs. It’s her special time that she knows she gets to choose our playlist!

Then, I almost always play music while I prepare dinner. This can be something fun and upbeat, like Vampire Weekend, or sometimes I like to play oldies, like The Beach Boys. These songs help me feel vibrant and upbeat when I’m really tired at the end of the day. My girls and I will sometimes dance while we wait for things to boil, or heat up. It helps give us a strong end to our exhaustingly wonderful days together.

I’m going to be honest. Until I typed this all out, I didn’t even realize how much having music on during the day did for me. It’s pretty incredible. Try it out!

02. Establish a weekly routine.

When I say “routine” don’t mistake that for “busy”. I don’t think you should over book yourself to the point that you’re never home. But I do think it’s good to get out of the house! I would take my baby for a walk every day in the afternoon, just for fresh air. She and I slowly started to look forward to that time each day, and it’s still part of our routine now that she’s almost 4.5.

Your weekly routine will look different depending on what phase of motherhood you’re in. When my firstborn was an infant, we didn’t do a lot outside of our house, but we still had a flow to our day and our weeks! I usually had one day a week set aside for grocery shopping. (I still do even though my girls are 4 and 19 months. Because shopping for groceries on the weekend is so crowded!) I also had a day set aside for our MOPS group. (See the next tip for more info on that.) And sometimes we had a ballet or swim class to attend. So we spent a lot of time at home, except for a few select hours a week.

It does help me, especially now, two kids later, to know what my week will look like. Right now, I have a set grocery day, a set library day (this is soooo crucial in those early years, friends!), and a set day to meet-up with friends. The rest is pretty fluid.

Find some ways to create a flow for your week! It will help those five days of taking care of little ones feel less ominous.

03. Push yourself out of your comfort zone.

I like to think that all of these points are pretty important, but this one is especially. I’ll never forget the very first mom group I attended. My first baby was around four months old. I’d spent four months sitting alone in my house, frantically looking up developmental milestones and tirelessly researching food ingredients. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute, but I really needed to talk to someone. No, not my husband, who didn’t stay home with his child all day, and didn’t really understand. No, not my grandma (who hadn’t raised kids in like 30 years). Someone who was going through what I was going through.

I went online, and found a local new mom group (otherwise known as MOPS – Mothers of Preschoolers”). I signed up, but felt nervous because I didn’t know anyone else. I almost didn’t go.

The day came to attend, and I was so unsure. It felt like the first day of school all over again. I breastfed my first baby for three years, so at four months, she was nursing pretty heavily… I knew I’d have to keep her with me, and that made it all even scarier. The other moms had their kids in childcare, but I kept G with me and hoped she wouldn’t make a noise during the quietness of listening to the speakers for the full two hours.

I walked in and felt so out of place. I could tell many of the moms already knew each other, and it made me feel even more uncomfortable. Still everyone seemed welcoming. I sat at a table, and after we listened to the speakers, we got our group assignments. It was then that I met who I now consider my best friend, E. She was honestly such an angel who appeared in my life, at a time where I felt very alone. She was in my group, and in her warm, rich, South African accent, she asked me how old my daughter was. She said hers was the exact same age.

We didn’t stop talking after that. I walked with her after the meet-up ended to pick up her daughter so G and I could meet her. We exchanged numbers, and set up a time to meet-up for a playdate. And just like that, I’d met a lifelong friend. Our families became very close. We did everything together. Attended our first ballet classes, first mommy & me music classes, we both had new babies, we struggled over heartaches. For almost three years. We truly had such a wonderful connection, and we got to raise our children together. It’s something I wouldn’t have, to this day, had I not taken that giant leap of faith and attended that new mom group all those years ago.

My point to this story is to push yourself out of your comfort zone. If a friend of a friend invites you over for a play date, do it! If you want to take a Mommy & Me yoga class, do it! If you want to join a mom group. Make it happen. It will be uncomfortable. But remember comfort = growth. Sit in that for a moment.

04. Have some “quiet time” to yourself each day.

This has been hard for me, in this season, where my 4.5 year old doesn’t nap, and my 19 month old takes one very short nap in the middle of the day, but it’s something I insist helps keep me sane. Even if it’s just ten minutes, I’ll grab some art supplies, or a toy they haven’t played with in awhile, and I’ll sit down next to them and read or drink my coffee and think about nothing. I caution you to pick up your phone during this time, only because it will make you compare your day, your house, your clothes, and everything else about yourself with the people you see on your phone. Save the screen time for bedtime if you can and just take those quiet time moments to be present with yourself! It will change your whole outlook and ground you instead of make you angry or feel like you aren’t enough.

If your children do nap at the same time – you are so lucky! Utilize that time wisely, mama!

05. Read with your kids.

My favorite thing to do in the middle of the afternoon, when the day feels like it’s dragging, or I just need to sit down for a minute, is read with my kids. We snuggle up on our couch with a cozy blanket, pick a few books from our basket, (pro tip: Keep a basket of books in each room of the house), and start reading. I’ll ready 3-4 books in one sitting if my 19 month old allows it. My 4.5 year old could listen to whole chapter books at once, ha, she loves hearing stories!

Anyway, the point is, make time to read with your kids. The benefits are abundant. Not only are you exposing your children to stories, vocabulary, language syntax and diction, but you’re also connecting with them. You’re spending TIME with them. This doesn’t take a lot of effort, but the fruit you’ll get from this practice is plenty.

 

It’s important to take care of yourself in these ways to keep your cup full so you are able to pour into your children each day. Being a mom is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, but it doesn’t come without rough days, so don’t forget… nothing will be perfect all of the time. The best thing you can do is cherish the moments you have together, even amidst the chaos.

I hope these tips for new stay-at-home moms were helpful to you! Thank you so much for reading!

Filed Under: Family Activities, Homemaking, Motherhood, Postpartum, Pregnancy, Screen-Free Parenting, Simple Living

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Comments

  1. Nini says

    January 12, 2020 at 2:15 am

    This is very encouraging. It is exactly one year since I became a stay at home mom with 3 kiddos. It is rough and the past few months since baby #3 been born… it’s been more rough. This post came right on time as my cup was pretty empty. Thank you, always enjoy your posts.

    Reply
    • Living in Color says

      January 12, 2020 at 4:15 am

      Aw this makes me so happy to hear it encouraged you at a rough time, mama! Hope you’re doing okay! All my best. xo.

      Reply
  2. Kimberly says

    January 20, 2020 at 3:33 pm

    My baby girl is 9 months old and I also became a stay at home mom when she was born. I am 25 years old and I have never felt more alone. I have been considering joining a mom group but had all the same fears that you described and felt like it was just too much for me to handle. Reading your post has been so encouraging and made me feel so understood. Thank you for putting this out there! It may seem small but it made me feel a little less alone today. Huge fan of your blog! <3

    Reply
    • Living in Color says

      January 21, 2020 at 5:59 am

      Aw, thank you for reading this post! I truly hope you’re able to find a community, mama. I was 25 when I had my first baby and when I experienced my first mom group. You’re going to be okay. Promise. <3 xo.

      Reply

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I'm Larissa. A mama to daughters and wife to my college sweetheart. I am passionate about sustainable fashion, whole foods recipes, and Charlotte Mason home education. I also love being outdoors with my family. You can usually find me sporting a wide-brimmed hat, with a baby on my back.

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This week I’m writing + filming about a hallmark This week I’m writing + filming about a hallmark of the Charlotte Mason method: narration. Have you ever heard of it? What would you like to know? 

I’m focusing heavily on how we use narration in our homeschool, but if you have specific questions about it, I would love for you to 1. Take the poll in my stories, and 2. Ask any questions you may have about narration in the comments so that I can answer them in my video! ❤️
Happy Mother’s Day! I especially want to encoura Happy Mother’s Day! I especially want to encourage those who are intentionally making a better life for their children than what they may have experienced as kids. It is not easy to change the cycle, but it’s well worth the effort. 

In the words of Louisa May Alcott, “A woman's happiest kingdom is home, her highest honor is the art of ruling it not as a queen, but a wise wife and mother."
📚 We are moving right along with term three of 📚 We are moving right along with term three of our school year. Slow but steady, we will finish up mid June and I’ll begin prepping for next school year in July and August! 📚

Here’s some of my random old and new tips + what I’ve been doing to help keep organized with the CMEC. 

01. Keep a regular day for nature outings or field trips. We have two days a week where I intentionally plan a hike or museum visit, etc. One is usually at the middle of the week and the other is at the end. It offers great variety to our weeks.

02. Notebook! I have had the girls consistently notebook this year, and it’s been such a delight to go back and see my form 1b student’s progress! I have a video coming out about how we notebook and why you should try it very soon! 

03. To stay on track with our morning timetable I’ve been writing the time we end each lesson in my logbook. It’s really changed how productive I am in making sure we get everything on our timetable done for the day. (I have a video on my logbook if you’re interested in learning more about that!)

04. And 05. Popsicle sticks! Friends, if you’re already a CMEC family, use these to help you choose which activities you review! I have on these for old singing games, French songs, folk dances or Swedish drill routines. I’ll share more on what I have on ours, specifically, but it’s fun because the girls and I get to be surprised rather than me choosing what we review!

06. Art instruction. Originally I had us doing three art lessons per week in the afternoon, but it didn’t allow for enough free choice, so we’ve reduced it down to one formal lesson a week for six weeks, then we change the method. So right now we are in week two of our chalkdrawing lessons. After six weeks we will switch to brush drawing instruction for the remainder of the term! As Charlotte Mason recommends, we draw from memory, model, and from imagination. 🌞

I hope this was helpful to you! So many of you guys are using @the.cmec next year! I am SO excited to see all of you at the online form meetings this coming year! 👏🏻 #thecmec #thecmecform1 #charlottemason
Do you keep your spices in a cabinet, on a shelf o Do you keep your spices in a cabinet, on a shelf or in a drawer? This drawer is right next to my stove and it’s my favorite way to store my spices! I reuse these little jars and fill them every couple of weeks with my bulk @azurestandard spices. 🧂
Are you planting a garden this year? What are you Are you planting a garden this year? What are you growing? Containers and raised beds? Or in ground? What do you plan to grow? Veggies? Flowers? We are doing a little bit of everything. 😍

It’s my third year growing food. (And ironically, our third house 😅) We just got our @greenstalkgarden planter, several @smartpots, and six raised beds that are ready to be filled next weekend. Really looking forward to this gardening season! 🥕🥬🥦🌽🌶🫑🫐🍓🥔
“Let them once get in touch with nature and a ha “Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life.” -Charlotte Mason 

My kiddo had a birthday this past weekend. We do one main gift and a couple of small gifts; typically they’re  things they can use outdoors. Bikes have been a popular birthday item around here! My eldest wanted an apple tree last year. ☺️ But this year we got N a mud kitchen! Some friends of ours had one they built, and it inspired us. My kiddos have been playing on the forest floor in the mud for years now, but it’s exciting for them to have a little space in our garden for mud play. 🌳 What are some fun outdoorsy gifts you’ve purchased for your kids?
📚 When should I teach my child to read? How sho 📚 When should I teach my child to read? How should I teach my child to read? What does Charlotte Mason say about reading lessons? How did she teach children how to read? What curriculum do you use to teach your child how to read? 📚
These are all questions I answered in my blog post and video, “teaching reading the Charlotte Mason way” 📚 you can also swipe over to see some of my favorite CM quotes on teaching reading! 📚

I also shared what I do with my 3-year-old (which is very minimal) if you have younger children. You can view the post at the link in my profile! Are you up children school-aged? What do you use to teach reading?
I needed to accomplish a lot today. There was more I needed to accomplish a lot today. There was more unpacking and organizing to be done, pictures to be framed, meal planning to do, laundry that needed folding, bike rides to be had, meals to be prepared, sourdough to be prepped and lesson planning + pre-reading to do. Oh and dishes. So many dishes. 😅

I do essentially all of the inside housework aside from taking out the trash + recycle, but for a season my husband helped out while N was small by doing dinner dishes and sometimes even preparing dinner so I could nurse her after we ate. But as of late, I’m trying something new where I don’t ask my husband to clean up after dinner and instead I do it myself. I don’t mind it, and since my girls are old enough to get their own pj’s on now, I’ve been doing dinner clean-up (as well as lunch and breakfast clean-up and prep!) before I head upstairs to tuck them in, read them a story and sit with them while they fall asleep. Call me old fashioned, but I’m happy to do it, and I delight in my husband being able to enjoy some time with the girls after dinner instead of clean up a mess after a long day of working.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this post - I’ve felt pulled in so many directions today and it’s something I feel often, (and I’m sure so many of you can relate) but after five months without a home to care for and nurture I simply can’t feel frustrated or annoyed at my list of 10,000 things I need to do. Instead I pray my way through each task. I sip tea in between. I light a candle and wear my great-grandmother’s apron as I work. I read notes like the one my six-year-old left for me this morning and I weep tears of gratitude and joy. Happy Sunday, my friends. ❤️ 
.
(swipe to read her note 🥰 + a transcription in the comments!)
Remember that word we heard so often when we were Remember that word we heard so often when we were parenting infants? Attachment.  What comes to mind? Breastfeeding on demand. Co-sleeping. Babywearing. All of those things that come pretty natural to us when taking care of a baby. But did you know that attachment doesn’t just end when your child gets bigger? Attachment is actually necessary THROUGH adolescence. 😳

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté is a brilliant book that stopped me in my tracks. The book addresses the severe lack of attachment to parents that is incidentally replaced by an attachment to peers. I wrote all about it on my blog, but if you swipe over you can see a few passages that I underlined, highlighted, and wrote down in my notebook. 

Peer culture is more prevalent than ever. Not only because our society now prefers it that way, but because of social media’s ability to unite our youth in an unprecedented way. What we need is a shift in how we pass down culture to our kids from a horizontal attachment (peer to peer) back to a vertical attachment (family to child). I’ve often felt this long before I read this book, but we prioritize our Children’s friendships and relationships with others before we prioritize their relationships with us. We don’t value the family unit the way we used to decades ago, and it’s to the detriment of our children. 

I will gift this book to every new parent I meet from now on because of the wisdom the authors share. I wish all parents would read it so we could be on the same page as a society and those of us who choose to hold on to our kids wouldn’t be going against the grain. So this is my plea to you. If anything I’ve said piqued your interest, or struck a chord, please read Hold On To Your Kids! ✨

(For those of you who have read it! Share your thoughts with us! Help me convince everyone to read it! 👏🏻)
I promised I would share how I teach foreign langu I promised I would share how I teach foreign language the Mason way✨

When my oldest (now 6) was younger we loved and used @theculturedkid but since beginning formal lessons we’ve switched to this wonderful book by @cherrydalepress. 

Mason recommends that students learn 5-6 new French words a day and that they use them frequently. She writes in Home Education, “…children should learn French orally, by listening to and repeating French words and phrases; that they should begin so early that the difference of the accent does not strike them, but they repeat the French word all the same as if it were English, and use it freely…” (p. 80) she then writes about how important it is to employ the use of French vocabulary words during time out-of-doors. My kids and I have taken this to heart, because it isn’t uncommon for us all to be walking along the hiking trail, singing our French folk songs together. It’s something I’ll remember that we do together for many years. 

The Cherrydale Press program allows the child to learn common phrases, orally, a bit at a time. Along the way, they learn common verbs and vocabulary. 

Each “series” lasts about 2 weeks.
So here is the process we go through in that time:

01. We practice and memorize the English phrases. 
Here’s an example: 
I take the book.
I open the book.
I close the book.
So we say the phrases as we ACT THEM OUT, which is crucial to this method of learning French and retaining it! It’s helped me tremendously as a non-native speaker.

02. We then learn the French verbs from those phrases in French: je prends, j’ouvre, and je ferme. We memorize how to say them and act them out!

03. We learn the whole thing in French as we act it out. 
Je prends le livre.
j’ouvre le livre.
je ferme le livre.

After my daughter can say/act them without error, on her own, we move on to the next series!

Thanks to The Living Page, I keep a French notebook where I record the phrases or words we learn! (That’s what I shared in my stories the other day!)

In addition to this program, we have two French folk songs, one French vocabulary song per term (we sing daily) and a story we listen to in French, thanks to @the.cmec and their support!

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