Shalom.  We feel deeply humbled and honored to introduce our family to TOS readers.  I

 pray that your needs are met in this magazine today from our awesome Heavenly Father through support, encouragement, guidance or just wholesome enjoyment!

            After studying hundreds of curricula, books and teaching style methods, I fell in love with the methods of a dear, 18^th Century English woman who happens to be one of the most influential and creative educators of all time - Charlotte Mason.  Her legacy has warmed our home with a lifelong journey of learning.  She rejuvenated my teaching so that it became alive, enjoyable and usable to my children, and I am so at peace with it!  We also glean from Catherine Levison, Penny Gardner and Cindy Rushton - authors who have written study guides using Miss Mason's methods.

            Because our first emphasis is daily Bible reading with the Hebraic emphasis not edited, we use The Complete Jewish Bible as well as The Narrated Bible to study the Bible chronologically.  We also use Robin Sampson's Heart of Wisdom web site and books.  

 ( www.HeartofWisdom.com) Robin co-wrote with Linda Pierce our favorite book, A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays, from which we teach year round as we follow the Biblical Holy Days.  This huge book has even revived our faith in the Messiah!  We are also learning Hebraic dancing and the Hebrew language, which we will use for our son's Bar Mitzvah.

            Keeping with Miss Mason's writing, we take regular nature walks.  Recently while we were walking, our 3-year-old daughter discovered a pine cone by the street.  She quickly showed me her prize and proclaimed, "Mommy! Let's go home and look this up in one of our books!"  I was so tickled!  Later, I suggested we put peanut butter in it and hang it up to watch the birds eat.  She then found a bottle glue "to glue the peanut butter in!"  She explained.  This love-of-nature-moment was trilling and what we are aiming to instill in our children!  We write about or draw our findings in nature journals that will make lovely heirlooms.  It also makes a very eye appealing record of our discoveries.  Some resources that will help you in this that we totally enjoy are My Nature Journal by Adrienne Olmstead (www.pajaro.com), Castle Heights Press's Field Journals and the late Anna Botsford-Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study.

            To experience history the Charlotte Mason way, we use living books - biographical books that read like stories, not books full of dry facts that tend to bore and lose my children.  When I was taught history, I cold not relate or get excited about dead people.  Now, we actually LOVE history!  We love to attend living re-enactments and ask the re-enactors a lot of questions, which is great for communication and listening skills, too.  We also enjoy Eagle's Wing's God's Awesome Acts for lots of hands-on historical fun and Kathryn Stout's Guide to History Plus, which has given us lots of ideas.  We have created time lines on the wall and time lines for our own notebooks.  Miss Mason called them "The Book of the Centuries."  You may create your own, or purchase prepared time lines that are ready for your information.  Prepared ones are available through www.tanglewoodeducation.com.  They also have beautiful Charlotte Mason record keeping books.

            Growing up with a dad who is an accomplished artist, I inherited an appreciation for the arts that I wish to pass on to my children.  Charlotte Mason felt it important to study the master artists, musicians, great literature authors, etc.  I hope our children always find art they connect with emotionally and not only appreciate it, but learn to express themselves through their creations as well.  Our favorite source (besides my dad) for art appreciation and art journaling for any age is anything from How Great Thou ART Publications by Barry Stebbing!

            Which leads to my field of expertise!  My husband and i are both professional musicians, and now our son is assisting us in leading in our weekly Shabbat worship with his multi-cultural percussion instruments.  He is learning about theory and classical music through narrated tapes.

            Science is also very hands on for us and is incorporated in the Heart of wisdom books and nature lessons.  We use The Teaching Tank for weekly experiments and exploring with telescopes and microscopes.

            For English, two of our favorite books are Charlotte Mason's Simply Grammar revised by Karen Andreola as well as The Write Source Company's Skillsbooks.  We are creating a spelling notebook of misspelled words.  For reports, our son orally explains what was read (instead of testing as this tells us what he knows), writes a report or organizes his thought webbing/mapping on paper.  We are also utilizing the copy work Miss Mason recommended.  She felt that by copying certain lines from the Bible, poetry, etc. into a notebook that one would learn proper grammar and sentence formation in the way we natural speak.

            Even our math is hands on and natural.  We like the - Key to...Series' and when we are studying angles and areas, we not only practice it in the books, but we also apply it to daily living.  My husband teaches the applications.  Together my husband and son measured a breezeway and put up plasterboard and windows according to dimensions.  They have built a small barn where they learn husbandry with sheep, geese, and ducks.  They even built a small greenhouse where we teach organic food growing, preparation and storage.  Even going to the grocery store can be very educational if we are teaching percentages off with coupons or check writing.

            We also place a high priority on being a servant and having a servent's heart.  We volunteer regularly to those in need whether by assisting in giving away clothes and household items at a local ministry, nursing home visitation, or writing letters of encouragement to people.

            One of my favorite Bible verses is Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.  I cherish the days we have with our children and family making memories in a lifestyle of a lifelong journey of learning.  We pray that our children will love God, His Word and love others as He loves and cherishes us.

-Charlene Kay Wirth is one of three Kentucky Contributors for The Old Schoolhouse     Magazine.  She is a stay at home mom of two, home educator and recording vocalist.  She and     her husband lead Messianic worship music and are available for speaking, writing, and leading    worship for events.