Secular Charlotte Mason

My son and I just finished watching a documentary on Constantinoble, or maybe I should say he finished watching it because I couldn't help myself and kept falling asleep.  So picture this scene,  it's about 4 pm on Sunday which is nap time for me, and we put in this DVD.  I can't even remember the name of the DVD, but it was made in the late 1990 (1997?).  So there wasn't a bunch of special effects or cool music, just the basic narrator and modern scenes of Istanbul.   The narrator is touring Istanbul talking about it's history.  I'm dozing off and keep getting awaken by my son ooohing and aaaahing over the architecture and mosiacs.  At one point he forcefully wakes me up saying "you have got to see this" as scenes from a famous cathedral are on.  (I can't even remember the cathedrals name so it shows you that I really was dozing!).  My son was totally engaged.

What struck me was this is just another validation of the CM process.   Just put the material in front of them and they learn and appreciate it.  I don't ever remember a formal discussion on architecture.  Just touring downtown, or when we studied the Greeks/Romans.  He did some mosiac art a while back in the coop.  But here he put it all together and you could really tell he appreciated what he was seeing.   I love it!  Makes me feel good that I'm doing something right!

I love when this happens. Great connections have been happening a lot lately for us with nature studies.  Now that it is summer we are finding many of things we've read about.  It's very exciting, even for me.  A water boatman made us very late to playdate the other day.  I didn't tell my friend WHY we were late.  She's not a CM homeschooler so she wouldn't have understood...LOL

Anna,

I can just picture him lol!  I bet it was the Hagia Sophia he woke you up for.  He should ask my kids about the Istanbul, Not Constantinople song lol.  It was on the top 40 when we were studying Turkey & Constantinople and it was hilarious because everytime someone said Istanbul or Constantinople the girls would break out into song lol. 

Cori, 

Don't feel bad, we're often late because of something cool the kids have discovered (or loose chickens but that's another story lol). 

Love those connections!!!! (and independent learning!)