Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. It's an exciting time in a Charlotte Mason home school when your child turns six years old and you're ready to start doing set formal lessons. But how do you begin? You might be able to just jump in and do a full schedule of lessons right from the start,

but sometimes you or maybe your child might not be ready to go full out from the first day.

So today I want to share some ideas on how you can ease into that first year of formal lessons.

Now, first let me share three things to keep in mind,

and then we'll talk through the practical how-toes. Keep in mind that you're entering a season of change, and seasons of change have to do with both outward and inward changes.

Yes, you'll be changing your daily routine, and I'll walk you through how to do that,

but you will also be walking your child through some internal transitions.

You see, up until this point, during the preschool years, if you've been following Charlotte

Mason's methods, you've been doing informal learning activities with your child. That means

that you've offered a learning activity, but if your child didn't want to do it, you

didn't push, you just set it aside. You let the child lead the way.

And that's as it should be during those early years. But now you will be encouraging your child

to take another step of growth in this habit of self-discipline, of doing something when she knows she ought to, whether

she feels like it or not.

You know from your own experience, growing in that habit can be hard work sometimes.

It's not always easy.

Yes, you'll try to smooth the path as much as you can by keeping the lessons short and varied

and interesting, but they will still require effort as your child grows in the habit of

self-discipline, as well as the habits of attention and best effort.

So just be aware of what's happening on the inside as well

as on the outside as you make this change. Use what Charlotte called Almighty

gentleness as you help your child walk through the outward changes and the inward

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