Sell the Textbooks. Give them Away.

Sell the textbooks. Give them away. Does that sound drastic? Well, okay, maybe it is. You might want to keep them around until you're sure you aren't going to want them. They can make great reference books. And sometimes they're very helpful to make sure that nothing is slipping through the cracks.

But did you know there's another way? Beginning a few decades ago, many homeschoolers discovered that the Charlotte Mason methods of education work especially well for homeschooling. Now I've found they work well for homeschooling my child who is visually impaired, too.

What is Charlotte Mason education?

There are whole volumes of books in which Charlotte Mason herself explained her educational methods. There have been many other books written. To attempt to explain that method in a paragraph seems foolhardy and impossible. So please know that I am only giving you a few highlights:

* "Living books"
* Nature study
* Oral narration
* Copywork
* Short lessons
* Journaling
* Art Appreciation
* Book of Centuries
* Habits

You can read more about what this list means and what a Charlotte Mason education entails at this website.

Of course, a few of those things may need a little adaption for blind children, such as nature study and art appreciation. But many of the principles would apply particularly well. For example, if a child is learning Braille, he can also be listening to books that are either read to him by the mother or someone else, or played on tape. When the child is doing oral narration, it doesn't matter if his Braille writing skills or keyboarding skills are not yet equal to his thinking skills. As a matter of fact, it's a way to help him expand his thinking skills, as you can ask him questions and draw him or her out. But then there is also copywork, where you can teach the child Braille writing and keyboarding, using shorter, appropriate passages, so that as time goes on, his writing skills will catch up his thinking skills.

But wait. If a child learns with these methods, what happens when he gets to high school? Will he be able to do the work necessary to go on to college or to get a job? Since the student with whom I've tried Charlotte Mason is not quite in high school yet, I can't answer that question from person experience. However, I have watched others use Charlotte Mason methods of education with their children, and from there they go on to advanced high school programs, often studying Latin and other classical and advanced courses.