Twaddle vs Living Books | Classical Charlotte Mason Homeschool | The Commonplace

[@becca.carroll]

Okay... I got here bc I listened to the end! I realized I needed to start from the beginning of The Commonplace and I am so glad I did. Thank you for heeding the encouragement of your husband and putting yourself out there! My atmosphere turned a corner last week 😂

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

I'm so happy to hear someone started from the beginning! Several of my resources build upon old ones, so thank you!

[@heidib.4089]

I’m sewing and listening and my eight year old walked in and asked if you were a homeschool mom because ‘she has a lot of books’! Of course!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

That is one way to sniff us out!

[@readwithemdivina]

I'm so thrilled to have found your channel. I'm diving into the Charlotte Mason/Classical Education world with my young children. I have been loving your content and will give your podcast a listen!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

So happy to have you here and to help open the door to the classical wardrobe!

[@FamilyStyleLearning]

"Charlotte Mason is not God" 😂👏 Finding our identity in our creator and savior vs. our homeschool method is so important and it shows in how talk and relate to others.

[@ourevergreenhome]

So well said 😊👏🏻

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Mason was a gifted educational philosophy but not inerrant. Always good to have that reminder in the back of our minds.

[@amygonzalez9169]

I just discovered your channel and I am so glad I did!!! I am a classical homeschooling mama of two kids and I love the charlotte mason way incorporated into my home.. The way you described twaddle vs living books is by far the best I have heard! I have listened to podcast after podcast and watched plenty of KZbin videos giving their explanations but I think the way you explained it and gav examples of it, has helped me the most in FINALLY understanding what a living book is!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Thank you! So happy to have you here! Ps. I had a great time diving into twaddle last season on the podcast too: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-09-twaddle-dee-and-twaddle-dum/id1568956517?i=1000539265671

[@intentionallymade]

I am LOVING your channel. Going to find your podcast now haha. We are a Christian classical homeschool and we are attending a CM fine arts co-op this coming year! Best of both worlds 😍

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Thank you! The podcast is my sweet spot, but I hope to get caught up on the videos for principles 7-10 in the next few weeks!

[@quietprofessional4557]

Great characteristics for the differences between twaddle and living books. Now I know what to look for when choosing my childrens books.

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Glad it was a help!

[@abigailmbouffard1880]

So funny you said about not raiding the bookshelves for at least a week… I happened to have it on my to-do list today to go through our books and get rid of the junk BEFORE I ever listened to your episode. I made it halfway through listening before I started my task, feeling quite inspired. I managed to get rid of a few I couldn’t stand anyway but did not massacre our growing collection. Very helpful resource for moving forward!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

When a mom hears a good, true thing, she can push full steam ahead in an alarming way. 😂 So happy to hear you were able to narrow your books down in a measured way!

[@CornerTalker]

Every garden must be weeded.

[@sgtigereye]

Very helpful, I have been trying to pick books that I would also enjoy reading over and over too.

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Honestly, that's one of the best filters to use!

[@KHomestead]

I cried when I read Miss Rumphius 😅 can't wait to read it to my baby!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Miss Rumphius is so beautiful!

[@ChantillyAlberti]

This was so helpful, Autumn! I loved watching it and really enjoyed the examples and the "rules of thumb" to think about the next time we pop over to the library! Thank you for sharing.

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Thank you, Chantilly! I hope they give you a quick way to assess the many books those kids like to throw out at the library.

[@KalleSchrader]

Thank you for this video! I’m currently going through our books with my boys right now and I’m finding that there are quite a bit of twaddle books that had been taking up space for years now, hardly ever being touched! So we’ll be donating those ☺️

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Even though I try to keep a steady eye on what comes in, sometimes that twaddle makes it through. Thankfully, a silly treat every so often does not a twaddle child make!

[@carolynrunck9118]

I was JUST sorting through a pile of books that was given to us. Dragons Love Tacos was in there and I was just wondering to myself if it was worth reading... I put it in the give away pile and then 30 minutes later saw your video! I wasn't quite confident if I was able to find which ones were the living books but now I feel I'm on the right track!

[@carolynrunck9118]

I also like what you said about treats... you can still have them, but it's not the main diet.

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

You're doing it! You're doing it! Honestly, asking yourself, "Did I like this book?" is one of the best barometers.

[@karenhastey8360]

Aaah this is refreshing, thank you!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

You're so welcome!

[@kristentrask8277]

Just wanted to pop in and comment on Dragons Love Tacos. Thank you for your comments! It is on lists for the best books, but I've never liked it. My husband is convinced the book we had was missing pages 🤣

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

YES. That's how I feel! I kept checking to see if I had two pages stuck together because-why-is-this-happening-now?

[@emilydawson2667]

“Non-sense words” I’ve ALWAYS skipped words that I don’t think make sense while reading to my kids. 💡 I used to feel a bit bad not reading them accurately, but clearly, I must find some better books! 📚

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Ah, the mom-gut strikes again!

[@EmilyAnn634571]

Lol, I actually just got rid of dragons love tacos. It was a baby shower gift and I just never liked it. What do you think about bedtime books? They don’t really have a plot, but they seem lovely. My oldest is only 20 months, youngest 4 months, and we LOVE goodnight tractor, but the plot is only kinda implied by the illustrations. The boy is playing with farm toys and then goes to sleep and dreams he’s a real farmer, saying goodnight to various things the whole way. What do you think? Does the plot need to be clear just from the words?

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Haha! Poor dragons. ;) I think little, sweet bedtime books should be beautifully illustrated and a simple storyline/progression is just fine.

[@CarolynnMarkey]

I think of it as junk food vs nourishing food. if you think of it that way, it all falls into line :)

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

That is a good one! I think a lot of moms struggle with the junk food vs “common” food part of it. We all can recognize the uncommonly great books (the greats!) but it can be harder to learn the difference between a common good book (Betsy-Tacy) and a twaddle!

[@haileydannatt9625]

If you have a big booklist somewhere, I would LOVE to peruse it!

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

There's one in Common House but I recommend the book lists from AO or John Senior's 1,000 Good Books List too!

[@susanawatts6165]

Hello! I really like your content but I was surprised to see you recommend that last book on dragons.... have you read "A Landscape with dragons" by Michael D. O'Brien ?

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Hey there! I recorded this so long ago I'm not sure which book I recommended. I know I said Dragons Love Tacos is twaddle (still think so) but I do love living stories with dragons. If you have around the CP content enough (especially the podcast), you'll hear a good bit about dragons in classic stories being Truer than True.

[@reverethepatriot1776]

Tried to join the newsletter but the page says the URL has been deleted

[@thecommonplacehomeschool]

Hey Catherine! Sorry about that; it is gone for now. I work on The CP in the margins of my time and I couldn't allot the time to it. However (!), there are still episode notes and most of my resource-sharing and resource-making happens in The CP Patreon!

[@CornerTalker]

Audrey & Don Wood