Volume 5

 

As we gathered for our Volume 5 study we decided to add in the reading of Atomic Habits. We also discovered the blog series by Karen Glass! It was perfect timing for our group study. Below you'll find how we broke up our readings, and links to the Karen Glass blog series!

Month 1 - Atomic Habits chapter 1/Vol 5 to page 48

• James Clear has a great e-mail list! Sign up for his resources here: https://jamesclear.com/newsletter
• Karen Glass/Ann White introduction
• Karen Glass forming habits (older children)
• Some notes from my reading in this section is to review "Self Pity" from Volume 4. Power of attention and changing thought patterns is a common theme in the volumes!

Month 2 - Atomic Habits chapters 2+3/Vol 5 pg 48-97

• You can watch this video of James Clear discussing the 4 Laws of Behavior Change
• Karen Glass (focusing on pages 70-71
• Charlotte Mason on authority is a great subject to dive into. There are places throughout all her volumes that guide parents on principles. Here's a blog post from Brandy Vencel: https://afterthoughtsblog.net/2010/07/at-school-with-charlotte-beginning-with.html/

Month 3 - Atomic Habits chapters 4+5/Vol 5 pg 98-144

• Habits Scorecard
• Habit stacking video
• Pages 98-108 was interesting - I think modern medicine has advanced that some of these examples aren't correct.
• The sections after 108 are great reminders to moms that we need to play with our children! If you aren't following the Wild + Free homeschool communities I encourage you to seek out the books and resources. Connection over Perfection is a statement made many times!
• Ann White (focusing on pages 116-117)
• Ann White overview of Part 2
• Pages 131-135 were some of my favorite quotes from the book. If you are in Tennessee, grab a State Park Passport and start digging into the history of our state through the TN History For Kids website! https://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/
• Ann White (focusing on pages 137-139)

Month 4 - Atomic Habits chapters 6+7/Vol 5 pg 145-175

• James Clear on willpower
• Karen Glass chapter 4
• Karen Glass (pages 149-150)
• I loved on page 154 about education and character. The chapter that assumes what 1990 must be like was interesting! What's sad is that so many of the educational flaws that were known in 1890 are still present today.

Month 5 - Atomic Habits chapters 8+9+10/Vol 5 pg 176-236

• James Clear bonus materials for the 2nd Law
• Karen Glass intro to Part 3
• Karen Glass (pages 205-207)
• In our discussions we talked about "positive peer pressure" and our experiences with it. I can't find any Charlotte Mason bloggers talking about it, but this whole section does have applicable wisdom in both home situations and among peers. I'm very thankful for the friendships my children have that encourage them to develop character. It's something I continue to pray for and monitor!
• The sections on books, reading, and read alouds is so close to my heart! For more modern resources on book lists and read alouds check out Sarah McKenzie's website: https://readaloudrevival.com/

Month 6 - Atomic Habits chapters 11+12/Vol 5 pg 237-298

• James Clear making habits easy
• Ann White (Young Maidens at Home)
• Ann White (pages 266-267)
• I need to continue to come back to this as my children get older! So much wisdom! Pages 254-258 remind me of what I have read in the book "The Lively Art of Writing" and helping the older child begin to develop opinions. As parents, we should be involved in this process of their growing minds!

Month 7 - Atomic Habits chapters 13+14/Vol 5 pg 299-364

• James Clear how to automate a habit
• Karen Glass on Part IV
• Throughout this whole volume many of us felt unread. References to literature that we did not grow up reading were lost on us! If you want to preread books that are mentioned in this section, here is a link to Pendennis by Thackeray. Here is a link to Goethe's work Wilhelm Meister.
• Ann White about Pendennis

Month 8 - Atomic Habits chapters 15+16+17/Vol 5 pg 365-388

• James Clear Habit Tracker
• James Clear paper clip strategy
• Ann White on pages 365-366
• Karen Glass on pages 380-382
• I'm surprised that Karen didn't really talk about her book Consider This in her blog post for this section! Analytic and Synthetic questioning is all through her book Consider This and a wonderful read! I highly recommend! The last section of this reading is also one of my favorites from the book.

Month 9 - Atomic Habits chapters 18+19+20/Vol 5 pg 389-429

• James Clear the Goldilocks rule
• Ann White on pages 427-428
• Final chat with Karen and Ann
• This final reading had so many wonderful sections. Especially when discussing the kinds of books we SHOULD be using in education! I also wonder how many times Charlotte Mason families fail because they think one family's "should" is standard and ought to be used in their family as well. Reading pages 392-393 should clear that up! And one of my favorite quotes: "As it is, the best children pay attention probably for about one-third of a given lesson; for the rest of the time they are at the mercy of volatile thoughts, and at the end they are fagged, not so much by the lesson as by the throng of vagrant fancies which has played upon their inattentive minds. How, if we tried the same quantity of work in one-third of the time with the interest which induces fixed attention? This would enable us to reduce working-hours by one-third, and at the same time to get in a good many more subjects, having regard to a child's real need for knowledge of many kinds: the children would not be bored, they would discover the delightfulness of knowledge, and we should all benefit, for we might hope that, instead of shutting up our books when we leave school or college, each of us, under ninety say, would have his days varied and the springs of life renewed by periods of definite study: we should all be students, the working-man as well as the man of leisure....Continuation and progression must mark every study, so that each day we go on from where we left off, and know that we are covering fresh ground. Perhaps some day we shall come to perceive that moral and spiritual progression are also for us, not by way of distinction, but for us in common with all men, and because we are human beings."

I hope this study guide was helpful as you read through Volume 5! I look forward to returning to it again as I continue my own education in raising my children!

For all the other posts about our Charlotte Mason reading schedules click here!