The early years with each of my children has been delightful. We spend lots of time outside, read great books, and I simply follow my child's lead when it comes to academics. This laid-back approach to the early years is the reason that I think people confuse Charlotte Mason homeschooling as unschooling. During the early years, there ARE some similarities, but when a child turns six, the two paths diverge like that famous one in a snowy wood. 

So, let's take a look into how Charlotte Mason homeschooling and unschooling are not the same. 

Related: The Complete Charlotte Mason Preschool Guide

What is Charlotte Mason Homeschooling?

In case you're new around here, let's take a moment to talk about Charlotte Mason homeschooling. This is a homeschool philosophy that was assembled by British educator, Charlotte Mason, in the late 1800's/early 1900's. Mason dedicated her life to studying philosophy, psychology, and Christianity. In turn, her philosophy combines all three.  The cornerstone of her ideas is that children are born persons, meaning that they are inherently people from the start, not waiting to become them at some point in time. Because children are inherently persons, this changes the way we educate them. 

• We don't try to stuff them with facts or dumb down knowledge for them, because they are capable learners
• We use beautifully written, inspiring books to educate them, rather than worksheets or lectures because they desire knowledge
• We trust that a child can make sense of what they've read, and require them to narrate what they've listened to or read in order to help them process it
• We view a child as a spiritual being, and therefore should be in touch with God and His creation
• We think that living books and ideas represent education as a life, but Charlotte Mason said that education is a discipline (habit training) and an atmosphere (the daily happenings that educate)

Related: Education is a Life Course from Thinking Love Podcast

While this is a quick overview, you can find lots more resources on my site. The bottom line, and most important purpose of this post, is that Charlotte Mason's philosophy is intentional. She gives examples of rigorous curricula and sets high standards for children's learning, experiences, and habits. 

What is Unschooling? 

I recruited my friend Katrina from Rule this Roost to come share a little about unschooling with us, since I'm no expert! 

Unschooling is a homeschooling approach that doesn’t lend itself to any single curriculum, however that’s not to say that it doesn’t have structure or goals. In unschooling, the child chooses what areas he or she wants to pursue and the parent provides resources and guidance while the child dives into the topic.

 There is no time limit on how long a child can spend learning about a certain topic and there isn’t a test or exam when that topic has been exhausted. If a child loves learning about outer space and wants to learn about the planets, the parent might take him the library for books on the topic, buy a beginner telescope or find documentaries on the subject. The parents’ job is very important for successful unschooling. Unschooling is more of a way of life than anything and will look very different in each family.

 Unschooling.org gives some principles that I'm paraphrasing for you here: 

• Children are naturally learners
• Interest drives learning
• Learning is a by-product of play and pursuing passions
• A parent's role is not to teach, but to connect with their child

Comparing Charlotte Mason and Unschoooling

These two philosophies both revolve around the fact that children are capable and interested learners. Both methods don't try to stuff a child full of knowledge but either offer up the knowledge, or help them explore it themselves.

This is really where the similarities stop, though. In the early years and during free time, a child is encouraged to follow their interests, but the ideas behind how and why a child learn are different. 

Related: Children are Born Persons

Contrasting Charlotte Mason and Unschooling

Teacher led vs. child led- While unschooling is child led, Charlotte Mason is teacher led. A set curriculum is laid out before the child, and books are chosen to be read out loud or by the child alone. Since unschooling relies on a child's interests, the child chooses the books, or the family relies on a method called "strewing," in which books are casually left around the home and children can pick them up when they wish. 

Formal learning vs play- In the early years, Charlotte Mason's philosophy relies on play and exploration, but during formal lessons, which begin at six, play is not the sole means of learning. With unschooling, however, learning happens because of play, and this extends beyond the early years. 

Narration vs. no assignments- In Charlotte Mason's method, narration is used to solidify what a child learned from a book, and also to quickly assess if a child understands. In unschooling, when children read a book, they are trusted to make meaning from it on their own, and any follow-ups regarding the book are child-led vs. parent-assigned. 

Schedule vs. no schedule- Depending on how devoted you are to following Ms. Mason's ways, a Charlotte Mason education uses a schedule to guide homeschool lessons. There are pages and pages of schedules that Charlotte Mason used which many people follow or use as a guideline! In contrast, unschooling doesn't use a strict schedule and often counts on the child to manage their time or guide their days. 

Choosing a homeschool philosophy that's right for your family is important, so I thought clarifying the differences between these two popular methods would be helpful.  If you're interested in learning more about Charlotte Mason's philosophy, join the Thinking Love Podcast in their Education is a Life course for practical and philosophical applications of this method of education. 

Sign up below to get a free Charlotte Mason scheduling pack sent to your inbox! 

Morning time is our favorite time of the homeschool day. We meet together every morning and read the Bible, a devotional, picture books, poetry, and more. As you can probably tell based off of that abundant description, keeping everything organized can be a challenge. I had a chance to try out a new, heavy-duty tote by Mollie Ollie and it has been perfect for our morning time!

Related: Morning Time with 1Thrive Wall Organizers

The Problem With a Morning Basket

We have a beautiful basket that we use to store morning time supplies, but I noticed that our books were getting damaged. Every time I put them in the basket, they would bump up against each other, and corner of a cover here or a page there would get dented or ripped. This is hard for any book lover to handle. 

My husband installed some front facing shelves for us in our morning time space, giving us a little more storage. But I realized that I don't reach for those books as often, partly because they look so pretty arranged just so, and also because it's a bit out of my reach from where I sit at morning time. 

So again, our morning time storage problems were 1) the books were getting damaged and 2) they weren't super accessible. 

Mollie Ollie Storage Tote

We were gifted Mollie Ollie's storage tote, and it solves both of our big morning time problems, and more!

This tote is made of heavy-duty felt, so it's really durable, but also looks nice in our morning time area. The inside of the tote is a great size! We could use it with or without the organizing insert, but using the insert gives us three compartments for our books. This makes the books easier to find because I can see them from the top, and reach them easily without dinging any corners or pages. 

On the outside, there are little pockets and zipper pockets that hold our smaller morning time items like pens, crayons, and scissors. This is so helpful because we can never find these when we need them!

Other Uses

When I shared this tote on Instagram, people chimed in with their great ideas for using this tote. It could be used for Mom's books and projects, and be taken with her on the go. It would be great for schooling in the summer, to take books outside or on a road trip. And of course, it could be used in the homeschool room or a child's room. 

I am not an affiliate, but wanted to share this great product with you! You can find it here.

I've shared my Amazon Affiliate store with you in this post. You can learn more about affiliate links in my policies.

Let's Clarify Assessment

An assessment might conjure up images of a half-sheet of wide-ruled paper passed out before a spelling test. Sure, that's one form of assessment, but  assessments aren't necessarily tests. An assessment can be anything that gives you an idea of your child's understanding.

In public schools, I often did quick little assessments on a scrap of paper, asking students to tell me what they learned in a lesson, or by asking them to put their heads down to measure their understanding based on the number of fingers they held up. These are non-traditional assessments, and that's the category that will be perfect for your homeschool.

Related: You Don't Have to be a Teacher to Homeschool

Non-Traditional Ways to Measure Homeschool Growth

Having a system of tracking progress, even in a Charlotte Mason education that avoids traditional grades, is a great way to avoid the end-of-the-year panic. You can make little investments throughout the year that will help you keep track of your child's progress.

If your state requires  reporting for homeschooling, you might be doing some of these already. And if you aren't sure what to report to the state because a Charlotte Mason education doesn't involve busy work, then read on!

1. Keep lists, lists, and more lists

This is a relatively simple way to track homeschool growth. We think we'll remember things like what books our children were reading independently at the beginning of second grade, but with a packed calendar and daily to-do's, your chances of forgetting are high. 

What books your child reads, (and what books you read to them), is just one option for list-keeping. Other possibilities are: 

• science experiments
• field trips
• nature hikes or observations
• recipes made
• songs mastered on a musical instrument
• community service projects completed
• library programs attended

When you revisit your list in the future, you are bound to see growth in the depth and richness of how you spent your time. Additionally, this makes a good option to turn into your state, depending on state requirements. 

2. Keep anecdotal notes

Anecdotal notes are little snapshots of your days. My planner has space for notes on the side of each week. I use that space to write down what we did, interesting or thoughtful comments my children made, or anything else that I think will be helpful to know in the future. This also is great for writing homeschool milestones, like "Read Frog and Toad by herself" or "Finished level 1 math today." As a bonus to tracking progress, you'll get to keep some precious memories from your homeschooling days. 

Related: Year 1 Curriculum from Home Education 

3. Narration

Charlotte Mason's idea of narration is actually a great tool for tracking our children's progress. Through it, we can tell if they're understanding and attending to the stories they read or listen to, are growing in vocabulary, and have connected with the ideas in a story. There are several ways to track narration as an assessment tool: 

• Video record narrations using a device
• Audio record narrations
• Transcribe a young child's narration
• Younger children can draw a picture for narration
• Have an older child write a narration in a copybook

4. Portfolio or Notebooks

We keep both portfolios and notebooks in different forms.  Since we don't have a lot of loose pieces of paper, we don't keep portfolios for school work, but for artwork. I bought three big portfolios, one for each of my children, on Amazon several years ago. Anytime we finish a project, or my son brings something home from Mother's Day Out, it goes into the portfolio. 

For schoolwork, I prefer to keep it all in notebooks. This gives us somewhere to write, draw pictures, or, for my son, to transcribe what he tells me. We use the notebooks from School Nest. These are colorful and laid out well, so that we can use one per subject and keep our work organized. 

5. Charlotte Mason Exams

Charlotte Mason exams are not the same as stressful, high-stake tests. It's basically an opportunity for students to share what they've learned from the books that they've read. The questions guide a student towards narration, but are a little more specific than just asking a child to narrate. An example Old Testament Bible question might be something like, "Describe how Joseph saved his family from famine." For non-narration subjects, you might have your student do a few math problems or do a science demonstration. However you choose to do exams, record everything you can either on video or on paper. 

Related: 2021 Charlotte Mason Curriculum Choices

6. Self-assessments

Sometimes I ask my children quick questions like, "What was the most interesting thing you learned today," or "What was the best part of our day?" Writing down the answers to these questions is a great way not only to track what your child has learned, but to get a glimpse into their hearts and interests. 

Do you have any assessments that work well for your family? 

Free Schedule Planning Pack

This is a sponsored post, paid for by Mr D Math. I wasn't required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own. Check out my policies section for more information on sponsored posts.

"A class? .....How?..."  Was my overwhelmed reply. I had no idea how to go about finding a sign language class, and we didn't have a lot of free time in our days to commit to one. 

When we had a chance to try Mr. D Math's American Sign Language online course, I knew that this was a solution that would make a certain 9-year-old very happy, and fit seamlessly with our schedule. 

Related: Learning a Foreign Language Like a Native 

Elementary ASL 1

Mr. D Math has quite a few sign language course options, but for Hadley, the perfect fit was Elementary ASL 1. This worked out well because I knew none of the content would be over her head since it is geared towards children her age. 

It was easy to get signed-up and started, and after some practice, she can get logged in really easily. She knows to first watch for any announcements on her course page, and then go right into the next lesson. 

Each lesson has a video component, so she can see how to correctly complete each sign. It's usually just a few minutes long and goes over a specific topic to sign. After she's done with the video lesson, she looks to see what additional practice there is. Sometimes there are printable worksheets or coloring sheets, quizzes, and even little homework assignments. These are all optional, but she finds them enjoyable. 

Our Experience Learning ASL 

Hadley is 33% through this course, and I can see that she is grasping so much, and enjoying what she's learning. When she sits down to do her ASL lessons, she often brings a little notepad to take notes. I just love that she finds so much joy in learning through this course!

Some of the optional assignments entail making videos, and sending them to the instructor for feedback. Hadley has done this and loved the sense of importance that it gave her. She adorably and nervously waited for the teacher's feedback, and was just thrilled to learn that she "passed" the (optional) assignment!

Each module has a quiz, and this is a new concept for her. She's learning to slow down and really try to find the right answer rather than just rushing through it all. 

Related: Charlotte Mason Foreign Language Lessons for the Early Years

Why This Works for Us

Having a self-paced online class is extremely helpful. Miss H can work on it when we have a lull in her lessons, or in the afternoon when there is free time. She doesn't feel pressure to complete each module, she WANTS to. For me, seeing her learn something that she has wanted to learn for a long time has been so rewarding. 

Learn more about Mr. Dr Math ASL Elementary and other courses through the button below.

Once, when this blog was new and I had a preschooler, toddler, and newborn, another mom asked me how I managed it all. Not one to try to keep up appearances, I said, "Well first of all, my house is a mess..." 

This story makes me smile because I've grown a lot since then (and obviously, so have my children). While my house was not a top priority at that point, it has crept into at least the top five more recently. More specifically, when we moved and renovated, I decided that I would need to better my habits so that we could be good stewards of our home and share it with others openly without being terribly embarrassed by the dried spaghetti noodles stuck to the floor. 

I am not one of those “naturally organized” people whom you'd think would be giving you any sort of advice on this topic. No, I'm an outside-the-box 30-something who never quite acquired those good housekeeping skills that I probably should have decades ago. But, maybe hearing from someone who was a hot mess and now does significantly better in this department will be helpful. So here it goes-

How I Improved Managing My Home While Homeschooling

I've used some affiliate links in this post to share a few of our favorite items with you. You can read about them in our policies section. 

1. Paying for a meal planning service.

I'm going to start with this one because feeding our families is something that we as moms and homeschoolers have to do pretty much all day every day. But this is something that used to send me into a panic at about 4:00 when I realized I didn't know what to make for dinner. Even if I did have a plan, I would still panic at 4:00 because "I could have sworn that I had ___________ in the pantry." 

About two years ago, I started using free meal plans to help me plan out our menus. I mainly used the plans from Tastes Better From Scratch, but would search out different plans when I needed to switch it up. When we figured out that our daughter needed to eat gluten free, we decided to buy a one-year subscription to eMeals, something that we had done earlier in our marriage. We get weekly menus and meals plans, and make 4 or 5 out of the 7 meals each week, subbing some nights for leftovers, dinners out, or old favorite recipes. This has been so helpful, especially while homeschooling, because I buy all the ingredients at the beginning of the week and know what I'm going to make ever day. There are different plans available based on dietary needs, so when we had a big lifestyle change, this was a lifesaver. 

Related: A Year of Positive Habits for Moms

2. Viewing Housekeeping Skills as Habits

As a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, habits are integral to what we do everyday. I didn't see why this shouldn't be the case with homemaking. While we were in the process of renovating, I read How To Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind by Dana K. White. When we moved in, I worked hard to adopt the habits of homemaking, like doing laundry and washing dishes. One of the hardest parts was accepting that these things were my responsibility, whether or not I wanted to do them, whether or not the kids destroyed the shiny, newly-mopped floor in just a few minutes. These habits have taken a long time to develop, and I'm clearly not all there yet, but I'm not sure I will ever be "all there." My family is my top priority, and chasing them around to make sure they keep the house clean replaces spending actual quality time with them. 

3. Figuring Out The Never Ending Laundry Piles

Our laundry basket feels a little bit like Mary Poppin's purse: just when I think I've tackled it all, more and more keeps flowing out in what seems like an impossible, never-ending supply. When I started viewing housekeeping as habits, I designated one day a week for laundry. My goal was to get all the laundry done in that day. This worked for a little while, but soon we got busier outside the home and I just didn't have a whole day to devote to washing, drying, and folding. 

Recently, I switched to the "one load a day" method. This works great with my approach of housekeeping-as-habits. A daily load of laundry has become a habit. I don't feel overwhelmed by putting away one load of laundry, and no matter what we have going on during the day, I can usually make time for it (popping a load in each morning and making sure it is put away by evening). 

4. Delegating

Delegating is easier said than done for many of us, especially when our kids are young and we're not sure what they're doing will get done, ahem, right.  But I've had to decide that being done at all is better than not. So, now my kids each put their laundry away, and even though it's mostly crammed in their drawers, this is hugely helpful. 

My husband also gifted me once a month house cleaning for Christmas, something I never thought we'd do. Having the house clean all at once is motivation to keep it clean. 

There are other ways to delegate, too. We have a Roomba vacuum that sweeps the floor while we put the kids to bed. 

5. Not Going to Bed Until The Kitchen Is Clean

Letting the kitchen get messy during a busy day of homeschooling and then failing to clean it up after dinner was my biggest housekeeping mistake.  Waking up to a messy kitchen in the morning filled me with a sense of dread, and then I felt overwhelmed by the thought of having to get it clean at some point and would procrastinate. Spending 20 minutes or so at the end of the day making sure everything is put away and the counters are all wiped down has made a huge difference. I also treat running the dishwasher like a daily habit, running it at night and unloading it the next morning- almost every day. 

6. Manage the Clutter

Decluttering goes in cycles for me. I get on a big kick, declutter well, and then feel like I'm done, giving up the task and giving into my shopping habits. Then, I hit panic mode when it feels like I can never get my house clean, and know I have to start over again. Some days, all of us tackle a room together, making decisions about what stays and what goes. Other times, I just have to declutter as I live my life, finding something I don't need in a space and getting rid of it. 

But clutter isn't always excess things that need to be purged, sometimes it's just the things that are in the wrong place, and my over-burdened brain doesn't think to put it back immediately. From Dana K White's book, I learned that it's helpful to put something back where it belongs right away, rather than letting things pile up on the stairs, in laundry baskets, and more importantly, as a stressful, looming task in my brain. 

Related: How Clutter Can Sabotage the Learning Environment

I hope this encourages you that little by little, you can improve in this area.