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Betsy
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2012 Child Light USA Charlotte Mason Education Conference in Review
Preface: I wanted to just begin by giving a few disclaimers. I am Catholic. Most of the other presenters and participants are wonderful and faithful Protestants. Every year I pray for each members conversion to the One True Faith, yet, I find that the Holy Spirit is so alive in each and every one of these people that my faith is richly deepened being in their presence. It is wonderful to be with a large group of people that are passionate about CM and their Faith!!!! I have attended this conference three times and each time I attend I grow in my Faith and in deeper understanding of what God is calling me to do to educate my children. (ETA: this is not a “religious” conference, you can’t separate CM’s keen understanding of the Child and the Holy Spirit! You would be hard pressed to discuss her work with no religious mention, which I think it why so many Faithful Christians connect with these truths.)
The plenary meetings are attended by everyone and you are able to choice between a few options for the workshops. The workshops listed are only those that I attended. The book discussions are completely optional, and there were others that overlapped in time that I didn’t attend.
Overview: In the past when I attended the CM Conference I felt like I got a better understanding of the methods of CM. This year was different. I learned about CM the person. I feel like I had a weekend conference with CM herself! The presentations by Mrs. Margaret Coombs and Dr. Deani Van Pelt were very cutting edge information about CM! There was a wealth of new information that has enrich my complete understand of her and her methods!
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Plenary 1: Charlotte Mason and Her Hidden Quaker Heritage by Mrs. Margaret Coombs
This talk was riveting from the moment that Margaret Coombs began speaking. I have to admit, I was very skeptical of this talk, based on the title, but boy was I wrong!!!!
In a nutshell Margaret has decided to write a new biography of Charlotte Mason. When she began her work she began to doubt some of the previous information that had been included in CM’s previous biography by Essex Cholmondley. I can’t go into all the details of the talk but basically Margaret doubted the statement that CM was and only child of only child parents to be true. What she found was that CM’s father was a devout Quaker that was widowed by two previous wife’s and had 12 children with these wives. CM’s mother was his third wife and was a very young Catholic woman. There is a great deal of mystery with the rest of the details but it appears that CM was conceived before marriage and her parents were not married until after CM’s birth. Of note, was that later in CM’s career she actually changed the year of her birth until after her parent marriage...so questions remain of how much she knew of this until then. It also appears that CM’s parents didn’t live together. Her father was much, much older than her mother. It was recored that CM’s mother died at the age of 40 when CM was about 20 and she received the last rites and died is the churches good graces. However, there was no record of CM’s baptism...there is a long story her that I can’t recall well enough to explain, but Margaret seems to think that CM’s mother must have just baptized CM herself because she didn’t have access to a Priest at the time and CM’s father was in Australia when she was born. (Personally, I find this to be a bit of a stretch, but I am not sure. ) CM’s father died at the age of 75 (I think) a few years later and was buried in a quaker cemetery.
NOTE: Margaret Combs is the process of writing a book that she hopes to have finished and published in a year. Let’s all offer up a prayer that this becomes a reality!
A few things that I found interesting were:
::CM was very private about her life and family and never wanted a biography written. Margaret suggested that she didn’t want her work to be underscored by some of the “scandal” in her life: conceived out of wedlock and poverty.
::As I pondered this presentation it was interesting to me that CM could keep this all a secret. People close to her never asked, she never told. Isn’t that amazing in our instant information era of knowing everything about everyone!!!!
::I have alway felt that much of what CM taught about the personhood of a child was very Catholic. Now I know that she was raised by or at least influenced by her Catholic mother.
Plenary 2: L’umile Pianta by Dr. Deani Van Pelt and Meghan Van Pelt
This talk was equally as riveting as the first plenary! Dr. Deani Van Pelt of Redeemer University and the force behind the Digital Archives of Charlotte Mason’s work was amazing. Basically, she had ignored the L’umile Pianta magazine based on information that their wasn’t much in there. Recently, she and her daughter had been digitizing the magazine during the years CM was alive (1896-1923) and were amazed at the richness offered in them. She pointed out the 19 original articles included by CM. The one that stuck me the most was a letter written to her former students that mentioned that they often needed to come back to the source of the stream at the top of the mountain. She went on to say that as we travel down the stream we pick up other ideas and baggage (my poor words) that is typical of water flowing down stream. As I read these words I felt as if CM was writing it also to me!
If you take nothing away from this talk, I invite you to take a look at the Digital Archives and immerse yourself in all of the riches they hold!
She also talked about the name of the magazine: L’umile Planta which was named by CM’s former students. The name means Humble Plant. There was also a medal created in conjunction with the magazine as a form of solidarity with CM and former students. Here is a picture. Each of the parts has meaning!
Mac Users: I have had trouble using the arcives. When I contacted Redeemer they told me that Preview can’t read their PDF’s, so Adobe Reader needs to be downloaded. This worked, but I was having some issues with Reader and Printing. I am going to try to go to Apple store this week to see if the Genius Bar can help me get this configured right!
http://www.redeemer.ca/charlotte-mason
Personal notes:
::I feel like this Child Light Cm Conference feeds my soul. Just has CM was talking to her former students to come of the source of the stream to get refreshed, I feel that this does this for me.
::I have a whole new set of reading material for summer. It is my desire (anyone want to join me) to read through the L’umile Pianta, especially, the 19 letters by CM to draw myself closer to the source of the stream and to strength me through the year.
::It is my goal to try to recreate this medal for further distribution. I would love any feed back on this endeavor! :)
Plenary 3 Eve Anderson Nature Study Lecture: An Introduction to Birding and How to share the passion with your students by Mrs. Tina Thomas
This was a very nice talk by a local (to Boiling Springs) woman that shared her love of birding and how to help children get involved. Her enthusiasm was contagious! Her explanation of binoculars and how to properly use them was enlightening, and the information that if you find a nest use a different way to leave the nest and in a zig-zag pattern to prevent leading predators to it.
Also at this time was a very beautiful “tea” with wonderfully scrumptious food and live music. As it turns out two couples were getting married this summer that met at the conference. These, now engaged couples, attended the conference with their mothers or families! One of these couples is very musically gifted and treated us to a live performance! It made me tear up in so many ways!
So, I have some boys in my family I would like to encourage to meet some good Catholic CMers in a few years. Any want to play the dating game with me?? :)
Plenary 4: Culture Care: Creating a Cultural Ecosystem for the thriving of art, culture and humanity by Mr. Makoto Fujimura
I will own up to my bias here, I am an artist at heart and I love to get to know other artist and see how they work. However, what made Mako so awesome was his unabashed love of the Lord and uniting he work with faith that made this a rare, special treat for me and all in the audience!
He began his talk by stating that you can not be an atheist to create and that you have to have Faith to build. (I couldn’t agree with this point more. I think this is why you often see artist as “spiritual” people. They sense that to create anything is to work with God, but they often don’t understand where the power is coming from, qwim?)
Mako continued his talk focusing on his coined term: Culture Care. This means to care for our culture as much as we have learned to cafe for our environment.
We need to use the Good, True and Beautiful to Re-humanize!
Art is a language to do this. The Arts give us a language for empathy.
Quote from Dana Gioia, “The goal of arts education is not to create more artists, although that is a fine by-product: The goal of arts education is to create better doctors, engineers, politicians, teachers, fathers and mothers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eeGbVXM4fY
http://www.makotofujimura.com/
Personal Notes:
::Mako’s talk was very inspirational as an artist. But, it also really inspired my Faith and the truth in the Catholic Faith. For years I have struggled attending Mass at newer churches. Now, I am not talking the few “space ship” churches that I have been at that don’t ever appear Catholic. Instead I am talking about the simple, undecorated modern churches that have made me uneasy. Before this talk I never could understand why I didn’t like these churches. But, then I realized that they lacked ART. Authentic, Catholic art is very much a part of the liturgy. When it is missing, for me, something is lacking.
::Mako wrote the book, Refractions. It is really a great book for inspiration as an artist. It would also be a great book to study a modern artist!
Plenary 5: Mason’s Theology--Orthodoxy or Innovation? by Art Middlekauff
Okay, I took really bad notes in the talk. From the title I didn’t quite know where the speaker was going to go with this. What I ended up taking from his talk was the CM was not really an innovator, she studied the past and good sources for her foundation.
Interestingly he concluded that CM’s ideas on person were founded in the Catholic understand of personhood! (I think that many in the room were VERY uncomfortable with this connection)
Plenary 6: Sabbath of Education by Dr. Carroll Smith
Dr. Carroll Smith gave a great presentation on time! Dr. Smith often gives very philosophical talks dealing with current world views and CM’s answers to them.
“When things come at your very fast, naturally, you lose touch with your self” Thomas Merton
He talked of the prevalence of materialism in our society.
The problems with current education is the “filler-up” model and constructivism
The solution is the importance of time!
He quoted from Herchel (sp?) on the Sabbath. We need “time” which transcends man, not space which is technology and power (more prevalent)
He also quoted from Moltmann (sp?) that the sabbath is completion---not something trite but an actually reflection in all of the creation on the previous 6 days. Also we need time to rest.
Personal Notes:
As I listened to this refreshing view on time I desperately wanted to as this faithful Protestant his view on the Catholic church and the understand of the Sabbath.
The Church is so wise in these matters. She understand that we NEED a Sabbath. The Church is often crucified for it’s rules, but these rules provide true freedom. The Church gives us a rule/law to attend mass on Sunday because she knows we NEED a SABATH. Time to slow down and reflect on the previous 6 days of creation. Also, the Church in it’s wisdom provides many other opportunities for time to reflect throughout the year: Holy Days of Obligation, Feasts, Ember Days. How wise is our Church! This concept seems very opposed to the idea of the Protestant Work Ethic.
Workshop: Commonplace Books: Their History and Mason’s Use of Them by Dr. David Parker and Kerri Forney
David Parker, a professor at Garner-Webb University gave a very interesting talk about the Tudor Common Place Books (CPB) in use during the 1500-1600’s.
Dr. Parkers work with CPB’s have focused on Richard Hill’s actual book that is in Oxford, UK. It was very interesting to see is research and really learn about who Richard Hill was looking at his book.
Kerri Forney followed up this talk with CM’s understanding of a CPB. Kerri gave many CM quotes, and promised to make her notes available, but I don’t have them at the moment. What she found about this notebook is:
::CPB should be used with older children around 15-16 years old.
::The student would included IDEAS from authors thoughts and words (quotes) in the book. This is the reason is was only used with an older child. The child needs to be able to read material and process the ideas from the material.
::Unlike a Tutor CPB, there would be no original thoughts or interesting information included--that would be more appropriate for a personal journal.
Workshop: Writing Examination Questions by Kerri Forney and Dr. Carroll Smith
In this workshop we got to look at some of the original questions that were used in the PNEU school and sent in to be looked at. The main points that were to be made was that an exam was NOT to be scored. Words like Good, Very Good were to be used. The “best paper” didn’t necessarily get the “best comment”, the comments were to represent if the child had done their best work and improved from last exams.
The exams were also to be used as tools by the teachers to understand what books were working and to find the child's strengths.
The question was raised if exams are valuable to homeschoolers. I think there is a bit of gray area here, because in homeschool there is so much 1 on 1 time with the teacher that the above objective of exams if fleshed out on a daily basis. However, other mothers commented on the sense of accomplishment and closure to the term was very worth while to their family. Teachers that taught at CM schools said that this was a great way to evaluate students and that once parents understand how it works they love it.
Workshop: Charlotte mason’t Early Experiences with Education by Margaret Coombs
This talk was very interesting as well. Basically she read a “chapter” of her book that dealt with CM’s early life. I am not sure I can recreate all of the information but I will try to hit on the high point.
::Because CM was lower class she became a Student Teacher at age of 13. This was for the best students chosen between the ages of 13-18.
::Unsure where CM lived during this time.
::When she was student teaching she worked in the infant school (2-7 year olds)
::When CM was done student teaching she went to University at Home & Colonial or the “Ho&Co” as refereed by CM
::At the university their was little free time and many exams and evaluations.
:: CM’s mysterious illness began here--but no more information than that.
::CM did poorly on the peer evaluations--insight into her philosophy on no exams??
::At Ho&Co used principals from Pestalozzi---Very similar to CM’s method!
::Originally Pestalozzi and other was credited with influence, but as the PNEU published CM’s ideas they need the work to be only credited to her.
Personal Notes:
::As I have struggled in my own HS I have often wondered what a single lady knew about kids! I feel assured that she spend a lot of time with young children due to her early Student Teaching.
::I thought that it was interesting, as well as the others in the room, that CM’s philosophies mirrored many of Pestalozzi’s. The philosopher had a great influence on CM!!!!
::To me it seems that CM perfected what she had learned at University and her endless hours with small children, versus coming up with everything from scratch.
Workshop: Self-Made Writer: Writing Development Without Writing Instruction int he CM Model by Dr. Jennifer Spencer
Dr. Spencer basically gave her recently finished thesis! She looked at the CM method of teach writing versus modern methods. Her researched centered around a student educated in the CM method from 1-12, and when on to College to study writing. She also interview the mother for her research.
She found research that supported CM’s findings. Vygotsky’s found that their was a lag between oral and written language by 6 years!
Jennifer presented many of the discussions with the student on how he learned. It was interesting to here his perspective on the CM things that he did. Many of the learning was tasset learning (under the surface learning) with the CM style.
This mother had three boys and only this boy had a great interest in writing and is doing is professionally. She felt that all of her boys were good writers, but the FREE reading each of her boys did really influenced each of their writing the most! This boy did a lot of free reading.
He said he learned from the masters, like Tolken, etc.
Personal Note:
I came away from this talk feeling more confident in where my kids are. I felt more confident that we will achieve very good writing for their needs, but because my kids are more interested in Math and Science they may not achieve the pinnacle of writing. Which is okay!
Workshop: The Well-Balanced Mind: The Imagination Factor by Nancy Kelly
::Reason and Imagination go hand in hand.
::Based her talk on the Parents Reviews article, “Imagination as a l...ful Factor” You can read at Ambleside Online.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED the book, “10 Way’s to destroy the imagination of the Child” (Thanks to JennGM this book is already on my to read list!)
Book Discussion: Desiring the Kingdom by James K.A. Smith
I did not read this book but I attended the discussion. From what I gathered the author made the claim that the heart is how you win people to the Faith, not by facts. Unfortunately there were many Anti-Catholic sediments that came up in this discussion that I didn’t have opportunity to debunk. I wanted to stand on my chair and shout how the Church understand the heart better than any. It was also sad that the “heart” to many of these people was putting coffee machines in churches....in contrast to the Catholic understand of heart and devotions to the Sacred Heart or Mary’s Motherly Love.
Book Discussion: Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Our Minds, Morals, and Meaning by Nancy Pearcey
This is a wonderful book that I have only started. It really traces how art has changed over the year and how art reflect what is the culture of society. In essence modern art lacks hope, which is why it is so “offensive” or “shocking” to people of hope!
I think that this would be a great High School Art History book to understand how culture is reflected in art. When I get a few moments alone at my ds’s baseball practice this is going to get finished!
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Betsy
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I would love to discuss any or all of the topic of the Childlight Conference. If it would be appropriate we could even start a new discussion of some of the large topics!
This was such a wonderful conference I wish that everyone of you could have been there. But since you weren't, I would love to pass on all of the new things that I learned. 
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lapazfarm
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Thanks for sharing that thorough and interesting review, Betsy! It sure sounds as if it was a wonderful, uplifting experience for you!
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Awesome notes...printing and reading in bed...will come back later. Thanks so much! 
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Amber-v
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Wonderful notes, thank you so much!! I have often wondered what it would be like to be Catholic at that conference. I recently listened to one of the recorded talks on their website (Integrating the Curriculum with History as the Pivot and Living Books as the Medium (2008) ) which was quite biased in places (although there was a Catholic in the audience who tried to add some balancing details right at the end... any chance that was you, Betsy?)
I daydream about going to this conference. But since I live in California, the distance is quite prohibitive! I also daydream about putting together some sort of West Coast CM conference/retreat. Both fanciful dreams at this point, but fun to think about!
I would have loved to hear Fujimura's talk. I was unfamiliar with him until I saw the announcement on the Childlight USA blog that he would be the keynote speaker but I am so impressed with his art. It is so different from anything I am used to admiring, but yet I find it fascinating - it lingers in my mind. I feel like I lack the vocabulary to even begin to discuss it, but yet I can see the luminosity and beauty of it.
I was quite interested to read your notes about the emphasis this year on CM as a person. On one hand, studying who a person is certainly is quite important - after all, isn't that why we read so many biographies in our history studies (not to mention music, literature, and art studies...) but yet I also feel a little abashed at focusing on her life, fearing that I might be doing so at the risk of neglecting her ever so important body of work. I can see that knowing more about her as a person could enhance our understanding of her work, but it also seems to be a potential distraction as well. By focusing on her as a person I wonder if I might find myself wandering about, asking myself "What would Charlotte do" about every little thing!  (Although a WWCMD? bumper sticker would be fun...  ) rather than letting her body of work infuse my thoughts. Not that it has to be an either/or situation, of course!
The exams talk is one that sounds quite useful. I'm planning on implementing exams in my homeschool this upcoming school year. I think an additional benefit for exams is for the child - it can help him to realize all that he has covered and what he is retaining (or not! ) I think it will be helpful and enlightening for my children to have that step back so that they can realize what they are doing and learning.
And I will have to dig into the CM Digital Collection. I knew it was there, but I haven't taken the time to look at it at all. I will definitely do so!
Thanks again for sharing all this. I hope they are able to get some of these talks up on their website soon! It sounds like wonderful food for the mind and soul!!
Amber
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Betsy
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Amber-v wrote:
I daydream about going to this conference. But since I live in California, the distance is quite prohibitive!
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I understand the distance, but to tell you the truth there are people from all over the US and Canada that fly in for the conference. I have often told my friend that I have always attended with, I would have never tought of flying to this conference before I went, but know that I know how wonderful it is I would be saving all of my pennies to try to make it!
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Betsy
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Amber-v wrote:
I was quite interested to read your notes about the emphasis this year on CM as a person. On one hand, studying who a person is certainly is quite important - after all, isn't that why we read so many biographies in our history studies (not to mention music, literature, and art studies...) but yet I also feel a little abashed at focusing on her life, fearing that I might be doing so at the risk of neglecting her ever so important body of work. I can see that knowing more about her as a person could enhance our understanding of her work, but it also seems to be a potential distraction as well. By focusing on her as a person I wonder if I might find myself wandering about, asking myself "What would Charlotte do" about every little thing! (Although a WWCMD? bumper sticker would be fun... ) rather than letting her body of work infuse my thoughts. Not that it has to be an either/or situation, of course!
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One of the things that I love about Childlight USA is that they are very conscious of never romanticizing CM and putting her in a Saint Like bubble. Which is really important, I think, in studying her brilliant work.
On the flip side, I do believe that keeping down some of the real facts of CM's life was done to keep this perfect image alive by her friends after her death.
Maybe I am different in this manor, but I like to see the humanity in people. When I see the humanity it helps me realize the strength of character they had to overcome their natural flaws or tendencies. Instead of thinking less of them I often am much more in awe of what they accomplished. And, that is exactly how this information made me think of CM!
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Mackfam
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I really enjoyed reading your notes, Betsy!!! Thank you so much for narrating for us!
The idea about CM's parents is very intriguing to me. I have to admit my skepticism after reading a few snippets here and there from Mrs. Coombs' talk before you gave your lovely summary, but your synopsis fills in a little more for me. The idea intrigues me and I am really interested in learning more about it in the future! I would agree with many of your own conclusions, and have long thought that CM's idea of personhood was so Catholic, both in philosophy and in the way she conveys the idea.
Thanks to your fabulous narrations, I'm really interested in finding the audio of two talks: Self Made Writer and Writing Examination Questions! Those sound so interesting to me! I'm also really interested in the Commonplace Book talk!
I really enjoy looking through the digital archives, and I'm so glad you mentioned some of the issues mac users might have!
Betsy wrote:
| Mac Users: I have had trouble using the arcives. When I contacted Redeemer they told me that Preview can’t read their PDF’s, so Adobe Reader needs to be downloaded. This worked, but I was having some issues with Reader and Printing. I am going to try to go to Apple store this week to see if the Genius Bar can help me get this configured right! |
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Please do post again if this works! I use Adobe, but have trouble printing. I have found the archives difficult to navigate in the past - I just had to stumble around, clicking and clicking until I found something of interest. Any pointers, Betsy?
This conference is on my radar for next year! I am definitely game for flying in!!!! It has been tempting to me for a couple of years now, but knowing that you regularly attend Betsy, and that a few of us could possibly meet up....I'd LOVE to make plans!!! Maybe we could hold our own informal break-out session with an emphasis on supporting each other as Catholic CMers! 
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Amber-v
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Betsy wrote:
I understand the distance, but to tell you the truth there are people from all over the US and Canada that fly in for the conference. I have often told my friend that I have always attended with, I would have never tought of flying to this conference before I went, but know that I know how wonderful it is I would be saving all of my pennies to try to make it!
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You know, it isn't so much the money - the conference and lodgings are so reasonably priced and I think I could save for it - but the whole hassle of it all. This year I would have had to go with a 9 month old baby (which I think is allowed, although I can't find where I saw that) which would have made the travel and trying to listen and pay attention to the talks rather difficult.
Which reminds me, I wanted to ask if many women bring infants with them? (provided that is allowed, of course!)
Next year I'll have a toddler who will be too old to bring, but too young for me to feel comfortable leaving behind. And then there's the fact that we live two+ hours from the airport and we only have one car and I'd have to figure out what to do with my other children while I was gone... but still, I definitely think it would be worth going, even with the distance! Maybe I'll get to go in 2014!
Amber
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Betsy
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Amber,
Infants are definitely allowed and there are alway a 5-10 women that attend with their infants. I agree, though, it is much harder to listen and be respectful to the other. But, it can be done! :)
The first year I went it was two weeks before my baby was born....I started having contractions on the last day and a few people were concerned that I was going to have the baby there. So, from experience, I wouldn't recommend cutting it that close with a baby! 
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kristinannie
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Now I am wishing I would have gone to the conference. I listened to the sample podcasts and found a couple of them to be extremely Protestant. Thanks so much for your notes.
I have to say that I have read Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child and it is an excellent book. It is affordable in Kindle format.
Thanks again for the post. I will have to try and go next year!
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Betsy
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Mackfam wrote:
This conference is on my radar for next year! I am definitely game for flying in!!!! It has been tempting to me for a couple of years now, but knowing that you regularly attend Betsy, and that a few of us could possibly meet up....I'd LOVE to make plans!!! Maybe we could hold our own informal break-out session with an emphasis on supporting each other as Catholic CMers! |
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I hope you can make it. I would love to meet you in person and have a Catholic CM Breakout session.
I hope that many people consider going. It really is a special conference!
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Lauri B
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| Posted: July 04 2012 at 10:15pm | IP Logged
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Thank you so much for your notes and your thoughts! They are wonderful!
I wonder if I can offer some thoughts of my own regarding whether a single woman might really be able to have insights about child rearing. I was very young when I became a mother (just 21). I came from a very toxic family upbringing, and I have the distinct memory throughout my childhood and teens, of wanting to remember what it really was like to be a child (or teen) so that I could *understand* my own children one day. I know that's a funny thing for a child to do, but that is exactly what I did. I recall deeply fixing this into my subconscious as a child and teen -- not just the memory of what it was like -- but also the *feeling* of being a child and a teen. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, but I was able to do this. I suspect it was because of my upbringing and not ever knowing unconditional love that I fixed this desire in my heart. So I do believe that a single woman can remember so much what it was like to be a child, and to remember what a child needs and what a child feels, to be able to meet that child where she/he is. Not only with what the child feels he needs, but with the wisdom of an adult who can *know* what a child would need at that time. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense! :) So... that's just my thoughts. Thank you for your notes! Thank you for taking the time to share! :)
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4 lads mom
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WOW!! Betsy, I am so glad I checked this thread, how wonderful!! Your notes are great...and I am thinking next year might be the year I come on down there to that conference! Jen, are you serious about that meeting up?? I might start planning and saving my pennies now!
I am off to look at the website for the conference...I saw there were some talk handouts.
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Mackfam
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4 lads mom wrote:
| Jen, are you serious about that meeting up?? |
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Absolutely!!
This conference is certainly on my radar for next year!
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Jen Mackintosh
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4 lads mom
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Lauri B wrote:
Thank you so much for your notes and your thoughts! They are wonderful!
I wonder if I can offer some thoughts of my own regarding whether a single woman might really be able to have insights about child rearing. I was very young when I became a mother (just 21). I came from a very toxic family upbringing, and I have the distinct memory throughout my childhood and teens, of wanting to remember what it really was like to be a child (or teen) so that I could *understand* my own children one day. I know that's a funny thing for a child to do, but that is exactly what I did. I recall deeply fixing this into my subconscious as a child and teen -- not just the memory of what it was like -- but also the *feeling* of being a child and a teen. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, but I was able to do this. I suspect it was because of my upbringing and not ever knowing unconditional love that I fixed this desire in my heart. So I do believe that a single woman can remember so much what it was like to be a child, and to remember what a child needs and what a child feels, to be able to meet that child where she/he is. Not only with what the child feels he needs, but with the wisdom of an adult who can *know* what a child would need at that time. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense! :) So... that's just my thoughts. Thank you for your notes! Thank you for taking the time to share! :) |
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Lauri, I totally get it. Grace is behind all that is good. Look at who Our Lady of Fatima chose for her messages...children, not theologians....so yes, it makes sense to me that a single woman is able to stand back and really observe what works and what doesn’t. I think CM would agree that we take what works for our particular needs and use that within our families driven by the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
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4 lads mom
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Mackfam wrote:
4 lads mom wrote:
| Jen, are you serious about that meeting up?? |
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Absolutely!!
This conference is certainly on my radar for next year! |
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Okay, then!! I’m going to keep it on my radar as well!! Let’s keep in touch as the year moves on....
Betsy, will you be returning again next year?? You and I can sit and knit!! (or is that frowned upon during talks??  )
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BecK
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Wow, Betsy, that was a great synopsis. I have wanted to go to the childlight conference for several years, since I first heard about it after going to the southern MN Living Education Retreat. It just seems so cost prohibitive, but as I read your post, I thought, maybe I can make this work for next year. My youngest will be done nursing, and my husband is home in the summers. I'm going to keep it in the back of my head and talk to my husband. If I end up going and some of you go, I would love to meet up with you!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: 2012 Childlight CM Conference: REVIEW
