Charlotte Mason exams

As the end of our first school term approaches, I am organising myself to run exams. I. Love. Exams. 
And I'm not alone! My children love exam week! There's no stress and fear, just anticipation and excitement as we plough our way through the final, most exciting week of our term.

In the world of Charlotte Mason, exams are not the dreaded affairs that turn children to nervous wrecks! The exams are conducted in an excited way, of proudly displaying how much we have learned this term.

The children get to tell what they remember, rather than being quizzed on tidbits of information that they may have forgotten. Remember, what we are after is understanding, passion and interest, not rote learning of dot point facts!

When a child is given the opportunity, in a relaxed and positive environment, to share in narrative (story) form, what they have learned this term, it is FUN and HAPPY! What child doesn’t like to tell you everything about their lego or their favourite toy or show? We’re bringing this natural, childhood gift of narration, to exams.

Having experienced the mental strain, though, that came from trying to figure out how to run exams the Charlotte Mason way, I have put together a couple of ebooks, giving you a template of exam questions for each subject Charlotte Mason did exams on. This way you can just plug into my example questions, the topics and books you used this term and away you go! The book also includes instructions and tips on how to best manage exam week. 

I hope they bless your family as much as mine!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kids and apologies

I have been thinking lately about kids and apologies. It’s a subject I have given a lot of thought over the years. “Do we make our kids say sorry?” “How do you get a child to mean it?” etc. We had a recent event which I felt was a wonderful picture of success so I thought I might share about it in the hope that it helps some others. We have just had easter, which means the kids are rich with chocolate (for a few days!) My seven-year-old came in to my bedroom and said “Mum, three of my cream eggs are missing!” Then began the investigation into who was the thief. “Did you take the eggs?” starting from the youngest and working our way up, looking for the shifting eyes and the uneasy denial. We found the culprit. After establishing that Miss four did, indeed, take Mr. seven’s eggs, we began our now-usual, long-winded process of helping our child to own her fault, take responsibility, find empathy and create recompense and reconciliation. Because that’s what we’re after, re
Read more

Biting the bullet

My last few posts have been about gardening, but I had a bit of a revelation the other day. I’m writing about gardening not because it is my main passion (though it is definitely high on the list!) but because it feels safer than the other things I would like to blog about. Gulp. God told me at the beginning of this year that one of my words for this year was COURAGE. My awesome husband asked me a challenging question from a blog post he read. “What would you do if you were ten times bolder?” The follow-on from that was If you could answer with anything, then you are letting fear restrict your life, your destiny. My instinctive response was that I would write a blog. I love writing but have felt that insidious whisper of fear “You think you have something to offer?” “You think there isn’t already someone out there who has said it better?” “You think you know more than the people who would read it??” Oh man. Fear sucks! Seriously, doesn’t it??
Read more

Natural air conditioning unit

Image
Natural air conditioning unit Not long after we moved into our new house, we noticed something which makes us unendingly grateful during summer- a natural air conditioning system. Never heard of one? Well, that’s why I’m writing.  This fabulous aspect of our new house is both simple and ingenious. It uses no power, there are no carbon emissions; in actual fact, it draws down carbon from the atmosphere, making it beneficial to the environment, not just neutral. The set-up is this; a close planting (the branches are inter-lapping but not cramped) of deciduous trees, on the North-Eastern side of the house, right beside a window. The breeze comes from that direction, flows through the evaporative channel of the trees’ leaves, thus cooling the air even more, before it enters the house. We have noticed that even on the hottest of days, even in the heat of the day, there is only around an hour a day when the air coming in that window is not cooler than the air inside our
Read more