Charlotte Mason Exams

We just finished exams last week!! These were the first I've ever given in our 3 years of homeschooling and boy, oh boy! were they telling. I don't mind though, I certainly need an external way to hold myself accountable and these exams certainly fit the bill.

In order to prepare for exams I went back and listened to A Delectable Education's podcast number 64. Then I went on the hunt looking for exam questions to use as samples for my own. I also dug around the Ambleside Online site to see what they had to offer up. Some of the ones at Ambleside though didn't seem as "general" as the ones from PNEU. Ambleside Online is a great jumping off point, I just wouldn't want to use their questions verbatim. Oh! Ambleside did offer exam questions for Plutarch! Big plus there!!

The best source is the PNEUs Programmes with the examination questions behind them. I found a lot of Form I programs, and one Form II. I haven't dug much further than that to see what else is out there but I will provide links to what I found. I'm not quite proficient at searching the Charlotte Mason Digital Collection (CMDC) but they have a lot in there!

When I modeled the outline and questions that were in the Examination Programme I realized there were things I wasn't staying on top of. (ouch!) As we covered the questions during exams I definitely identified where I wasn't having them narrate like I should or when I wasn't scaffolding a lesson. Term 2 is going to be a game changer for us and I'm already excited about next terms exams just to see how we improved!

I found 39 exams HERE in the Internet Archive. I'm not sure if this archive is a duplicate of the individual 39 but there are10 volumes of PNEU Teaching Programmes and Examination, 1921-1968 at this link. 

Once I had all our exam questions typed out and organized I set it aside and gave myself a break. The kids were nervous because the only exams they had ever taken were through the public school system. After our first few questions though they weren't so nervous. They realized they were basically narrating like usual. They sure had a lot to say!! I typed nearly 5000 words that week! I kept our schedule the same and just asked each child their particular question in their timeslot. They had the same amount of time to answer their question as they would have for class. It took three days to answer 3 Bible questions, one question per day, per subject. It worked well for us.

I tried to type exactly what they were saying. I typed their errors and left questions blank that they couldn't begin to answer. I didn't "grade" our exams and I don't think the ADE ladies or Charlotte even recommend keeping them. But I'm going to file them away. I like keeping that stuff as mementos to smile over later in life.

Now we're on a week long break. We start back up next with refreshed minds and heart! My view is clear and motivation encouraged! Yes, definitely looking forward to next terms exams!!

Charlotte Mason Grammar & Composition

Most times, when something isn't working in our home its because the directions weren't followed. The same holds true for following Charlotte Mason. I'm constantly fighting my tendencies to return to and follow a system. Most recently I caught myself panicking about my daughters lack of composition skills. Her lack wasn't because of Charlotte's method though! It was my misunderstanding, my lack of knowledge, in how to implement language arts according to her method.

After digging in I've realized not only have I not been consistent in some important areas, I've also not been doing them correctly!! Here's my plan to correctly implement Miss Mason's method.  

As my daughter is in Form II, we will continue with her copywork, oral narrations after every reading, short grammar lessons, and more frequent written narrations. 

Oral narration teaches her to order her thoughts. It's basically a retelling of what she has read. She does this after all her readings. 

Copywork and dictation teaches spelling in context and sentence structure. We haven't done well in either of these areas. For copywork, I've always handed her the book and told her to copy a particular passage. She would look back and forth copying the passage down. That is not Charlotte Mason's idea of copywork! 

We are to train our children to look at the whole word or passage (depending on age and skill) and then practice viewing it with the minds eye (eyes shut). Once the child can visualize the word or passage, they write it in their copywork notebook from memory. This takes practice and should progress slowly beginning with words and building up to phrases. 

Dictation is the next step and usually started in Form II. I usually let my daughter pick the passage from one of her current lesson books, study it for punctuation and words she might misspell. When she felt ready I would select a sentence from the passage and dictate it. Again, not exactly what Charlotte had in mind. 

Liz, in the ADE podcast, suggested choosing a book that is below the child's ability to read for dictation. We will choose one that she is familiar with from a previous year. We will start over and begin with sentences, moving on to small paragraphs. Then multiple paragraphs and eventually selecting pages for dictation will happen in later years. 

We haven't been practicing visualization so we will start that training and I will have my daughter study the passage for punctuation and spelling issues. When she is ready, all study helps are put away and I will dictate the selection phrase by phrase, a few words at a time. We mustn't repeat and if there are three errors we will stop the dictation. Charlotte tells us not to allow the child to see the misspelled words. So I will turn the paper over and provide the correct spellings. Most importantly, I will let her know that dictation is not a test. 

Written narration is supposed to start around the same time as dictation. I recently found out that its in written narration she finds her own voice and learns the mechanics of composition. More on written narration in an upcoming post!

This entire process is a relaxed and natural progression. It has an end in sight. This is a part of Charlotte Mason's method of education.

Here, is a great visual video chart from Sonya Schafer that sums up and walks you through the way Charlotte Mason taught language arts as a natural progression.

I have found A Delectable Education's advice to be very true to Charlotte Mason's writings. They have a few podcasts that address Language Arts and I've found this one most helpful  Episode 48, "Writing: Copywork, Dictation & Written Narration".