This week we are looking at the Charlotte Mason method.
“Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.” - a quote from Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) was a British educator who also was a lecturer at Bishop Otter Teacher Training College in Chichester, England, wrote many books and pamphlets, started a training school for governesses which became Charlotte Mason College, became a popular public lecturer, established the Parents National Education Union (PNEU), and was Editor of it’s magazine, “Parent’s Review”. Charlotte Mason also taught parents, held retreats and classes on building the family, and believed that all would benefit from a rich education and life.
“Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another. The duty of parents is to sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food.” (Volume 2, pg. 39)
Charlotte Mason curriculum is very adaptable and easy to follow. It involves a lot of writing and copying. There is an emphasis on penmanship, starting with learning to write the letters up to words and sentences. The copywork gradually moves into narration and creative writing. Books are also very important in Charlotte Mason. Rarely, if ever, are workbooks or textbook used for learning. Instead children read, read, read; reading as much literature as is needed to cover what is being taught. English is not taught as a subject but instead incorporated into the other subjects being taught. Literature and history are usually put together by reading plays, novels, poems, and collections pertaining to the point in history you are studying. Nature is important with Charlotte Mason as well. Nature walks and keeping a nature journal are a regular part of studies. Children are encouraged to draw, write about, and study everything they find in nature. There is no set curriculum or set of books required, which makes this very adaptable for parents and children. Charlotte Mason is more a philosophy than a set of rules.
A-Z Homeschooling : Charlotte Mason
Simply Charlotte Mason
Ambleside Online
Charlotte Mason for Special Needs Students
Charlotte Mason for the Early Years
Charlotte Mason Study Loop
Charlotte Mason, homeschool, homeschooling, curriculum, Method Madness Monday
