Teaching Grammar the Charlotte Mason Way

In a Charlotte Mason Education, grammar program starts at age 10. Children learn more quickly and efficiently if one waits until the child is a bit older. According to Charlotte Mason, the children will pick up grammar concepts without years and years of formal training if they read books. As they get exposed to books, they are seeing the correct formation of sentences in English, a sense for good style, and proper grammar.

This gave me great relief when we started our CM journey. It only means I need not hurry and push myself to teach him grammar yet. Sometimes, grammar sounds intimidating to me, hehe! We devoted ourselves to reading, listening and narrating from well-written books. The truth is, there is more to be learned from reading. Besides, we are doing copywork and (now) dictation which is also part of Language Skills.

Since we are now on AO Year 4 and my son is now 11 yo. We are trying to cover some basic punctuation and gently introducing parts of speech. The upper years will be more on giving "names and terms and formal concepts to things they should already have used without realizing". So, it's like giving him a bigger picture first.

We are currently using the  First Grammar Lessons and hopefully in the future, transition to KISS Grammar. These are both free and available online.

Here are some of his sample work:

Make ten sentences with nouns that are the names of things you can hear for the subject:

Underlined in red had corrections

Make ten sentences with nouns that are the names of things you can only think of for the subject.

I am not a grammar expert but I am happy with my son's progress so far. Reading from books gives him opportunities to use the language for himself giving him a good foundation. I know we are not yet there but as I compared it to his previous work (before the big transition to CM), I'm so impressed! Also, as far as I can remember when I was at his age, I don't compose sentences like these, so it's another win for us!

Teaching Grammar the Charlotte Mason Way

In a Charlotte Mason Education, grammar program starts at age 10. Children learn more quickly and efficiently if one waits until the child is a bit older. According to Charlotte Mason, the children will pick up grammar concepts without years and years of formal training if they read books. As they get exposed to books, they are seeing the correct formation of sentences in English, a sense for good style, and proper grammar.

This gave me great relief when we started our CM journey. It only means I need not hurry and push myself to teach him grammar yet. Sometimes, grammar sounds intimidating to me, hehe! We devoted ourselves to reading, listening and narrating from well-written books. The truth is, there is more to be learned from reading. Besides, we are doing copywork and (now) dictation which is also part of Language Skills.

Since we are now on AO Year 4 and my son is now 11 yo. We are trying to cover some basic punctuation and gently introducing parts of speech. The upper years will be more on giving "names and terms and formal concepts to things they should already have used without realizing". So, it's like giving him a bigger picture first.

We are currently using the  First Grammar Lessons and hopefully in the future, transition to KISS Grammar. These are both free and available online.

Here are some of his sample work:

Make ten sentences with nouns that are the names of things you can hear for the subject:

Underlined in red had corrections

Make ten sentences with nouns that are the names of things you can only think of for the subject.

I am not a grammar expert but I am happy with my son's progress so far. Reading from books gives him opportunities to use the language for himself giving him a good foundation. I know we are not yet there but as I compared it to his previous work (before the big transition to CM), I'm so impressed! Also, as far as I can remember when I was at his age, I don't compose sentences like these, so it's another win for us!

Teaching Grammar the Charlotte Mason Way

In a Charlotte Mason Education, grammar program starts at age 10. Children learn more quickly and efficiently if one waits until the child is a bit older. According to Charlotte Mason, the children will pick up grammar concepts without years and years of formal training if they read books. As they get exposed to books, they are seeing the correct formation of sentences in English, a sense for good style, and proper grammar.

Kids Kitchen Camp: Bloggers' Kids Series by San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center

Last May 3, 2019, at the 28th floor Kitchen Studio of the Makati Diamond Residences (MDR), little chefs-in-the-making of different Mommy Bloggers got their hands busy at the Kids Kitchen Camp organized by the San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center in collaboration with Makati Diamond Residences.

On its 24th year, the annual activity of SMPF Culinary Center aims to instill love and appreciation for food and cooking while introducing various SMPF products that can help in preparation ease and enhance skills of young budding cooking enthusiasts. "If kids are much more involved in food preparation, they will truly get encouraged to eat more, which promotes good nutrition, plus they learn cooking early, a very important life skill," says Llena Tan-Arcenas, the Culinary Services Manager of San Miguel Pure Foods.

At home, we want our kids to be comfortable working in the kitchen and that cooking is one of the life skills they will master. We made sure they have a part in the kitchen. My eldest is usually assigned for easy-to-cook meals. At times, we would allow him to explore and try new dishes on his own by following recipes from the internet.

Our kids were divided into 5 groups. Each group was overseen by fun and talented chefs of SMPF Culinary Center under the supervision of Pamela "chef Pam" Obieta. They had a demo first before the kids can try the recipes on their own. They were taught how to prepare 5 scrumptious yet kid-friendly recipes:

1. Nachos Afritada using Pure Foods Chicken Arfitada and Magnolia Cheddar Cheese.

2. Pulled Pork Tacos using Purefoods Pulled Pork BBQ Pinoy Style and Magnolia Cheezee Squeeze.

3. Quick Meaty Spaghetti using Dari Creme, Monterrey Ground Pork, Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs Jumbo and Magnolia Cheezee.

4.Flower Pot Cakes made from Magnolia Devil's Food Cake, La Pacita Graham Crackers, Magnolia Cream Cheese and Magnolia All Purpose Cream.

5. Classic Chicken Tinola simplified by using  Magnolia 3-way Chicken Ginger-Based.

They got to taste and enjoy their own creations and shared it to us. We all enjoyed the food they made!

At the end of the event, they were given a Certificate of Completion. My son, Gabi enjoyed the activity and we went home with some goodies from San Miguel Pure Foods.

We are so grateful for this fun food and kitchen experience and we are so thrilled to try these at home!

Kids Kitchen Camp: Bloggers' Kids Series by San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center

Last May 3, 2019, at the 28th floor Kitchen Studio of the Makati Diamond Residences (MDR), little chefs-in-the-making of different Mommy Bloggers got their hands busy at the Kids Kitchen Camp organized by the San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center in collaboration with Makati Diamond Residences.

On its 24th year, the annual activity of SMPF Culinary Center aims to instill love and appreciation for food and cooking while introducing various SMPF products that can help in preparation ease and enhance skills of young budding cooking enthusiasts. "If kids are much more involved in food preparation, they will truly get encouraged to eat more, which promotes good nutrition, plus they learn cooking early, a very important life skill," says Llena Tan-Arcenas, the Culinary Services Manager of San Miguel Pure Foods.

At home, we want our kids to be comfortable working in the kitchen and that cooking is one of the life skills they will master. We made sure they have a part in the kitchen. My eldest is usually assigned for easy-to-cook meals. At times, we would allow him to explore and try new dishes on his own by following recipes from the internet.

Our kids were divided into 5 groups. Each group was overseen by fun and talented chefs of SMPF Culinary Center under the supervision of Pamela "chef Pam" Obieta. They had a demo first before the kids can try the recipes on their own. They were taught how to prepare 5 scrumptious yet kid-friendly recipes:

1. Nachos Afritada using Pure Foods Chicken Arfitada and Magnolia Cheddar Cheese.

2. Pulled Pork Tacos using Purefoods Pulled Pork BBQ Pinoy Style and Magnolia Cheezee Squeeze.

3. Quick Meaty Spaghetti using Dari Creme, Monterrey Ground Pork, Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs Jumbo and Magnolia Cheezee.

4.Flower Pot Cakes made from Magnolia Devil's Food Cake, La Pacita Graham Crackers, Magnolia Cream Cheese and Magnolia All Purpose Cream.

5. Classic Chicken Tinola simplified by using  Magnolia 3-way Chicken Ginger-Based.

They got to taste and enjoy their own creations and shared it to us. We all enjoyed the food they made!

At the end of the event, they were given a Certificate of Completion. My son, Gabi enjoyed the activity and we went home with some goodies from San Miguel Pure Foods.

We are so grateful for this fun food and kitchen experience and we are so thrilled to try these at home!

Kids Kitchen Camp: Bloggers' Kids Series by San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center

Last May 3, 2019, at the 28th floor Kitchen Studio of the Makati Diamond Residences (MDR), little chefs-in-the-making of different Mommy Bloggers got their hands busy at the Kids Kitchen Camp organized by the San Miguel Pure Foods (SMPF) Culinary Center in collaboration with Makati Diamond Residences.