This week I’m featuring two families to show their ‘keeping’ practices in a Charlotte Mason education.

The first photograph below is of a Nature Display that the Ellery family have in their home. Adele has a newborn and a toddler and teaches her two older girls using the Ambleside Online curriculum, which they have used from the beginning.

Their nature notebooks below show her nearly 9 year old (left) and nearly 11 year old (right) daughters’ paintings of the Superb Fairy-wren.

A nature display cabinet/shelf/basket is a great place to keep the bits and pieces that young children, especially, like to bring home. Feathers, rocks, snake skins, shells, cicada shells and pine cones are just a few examples of nature finds to keep.

When one of my younger sons was about five, he persuaded his older sister to pick up a large dead python he saw on the edge of the road and bring it home. He wanted to bring it inside but we said it could sit out in the bush (our yard) on a rock for a little while. It was disgusting and became very bloated and smelly and my husband got rid of it before long. (Just saying, dead pythons are not a good choice for a nature display).

History Timelines

The Feldman family have used a yearly timeline as a ‘precursor’ to the Book of Centuries, which they begin in Year 7. They also use Ambleside Online where the history period is stretched out over a year.

“We only make each year’s timeline as long as the history periods covered in an AO year (sometimes two). In y7 they go onto a complete book of centuries.”

Thanks to Adele and Lucila for sharing these glimpses of how they put a Charlotte Mason Education into practice in their homes.

The next Notebook Showcase will feature Nature Notebooks and some helpful resources.