How I use the Chalotte Mason Method

A few years ago, my eyes were completely opened to what homeschool could really look like when I discovered the Charlotte Mason Method of Education. Charlotte Mason was a homeschool pioneer. She lived in the late 1800’s and revolutionized the way we look at education.

Charlotte spent her days observing children. She began to understand them and how they worked. As she taught, she began to develop a method or an approach to teaching. Her ideas were based on very specific philosophy. She believed that: “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”

How We Use Habit Training

Her methods and her way of thinking of children as whole beings just make sense. At the heart of her way of educating is habit training. We all have habits good or bad and we can be trained to have good habits. She believed that things like attention, obedience, and truthfulness were habits that could be taught with the proper guidance.

We work on habit training as a core subject in our home. Together as a family, we work on one habit at a time. Currently, it is truthfulness. Every chance I get to remind my children what complete truthfulness looks like, I do. We read books about people who were known to be extremely truthful and we study just what that means. When they are asked a question, I encourage them to tell the complete truth despite the consequences and I let them know how proud I am when they are completely truthful.

How We Use Living Books

Charlotte Mason believed in she called living books instead of textbooks. In our home, we only use living books. Living books contain ideas and not just facts. The way you know you have a living book is to open it and begin reading. If it doesn’t capture your attention and come to life, it is not. We use living books as a basis for all of our work. We read interesting biographies for history and our science text must come to life.

The texts for our spelling, grammar, and handwriting are taken from famous meaningful literature such as the Bible and quotes from famous people. Every phrase that a child reads should have meaning and sink into their heart.

How We Use Narration

Another aspect of the Charlotte Mason Approach that we use is narration. This is used in place of tests. Narration is simply telling back what you have read or learned in your own words. Once a child can retell a concept or story in their own words, it becomes relevant to them and they actually learn it. Narration can be in oral form for younger children or written form for older students.

Once we read a great passage of a history story, my boys are eager to tell me what I read. First, my second grader tells, and then my sixth grader writes a few paragraphs in his own words. This is also how we do science and reading.

How We Use Meaningful Math

Charlotte Mason believed that math should be meaningful and relevant to our daily lives. She taught that the early years of math should be entirely oral and hands-on until the child starts to understand the concepts of math. Our math is primarily mental and involves word problems from our everyday lives. We learn one concept at a time and once it is mastered we move on. Even my sixth grader uses manipulatives and visuals in his math.

How We Use Nature Study

Nature study was not something that I was familiar with before I learned about the Charlotte Mason method, but it is one of the fundamental subjects taught…and we love it! Nature study is taught to form an appreciation for the world around us and God Himself. It is one of our ever day subjects and includes animals, plants, space, weather, and everything God created except humans. It is a hands-on subject and we spend a lot of time outdoors observing and learning to “see” the world. We make collections and draw in nature journals what we see outside.

How We Use Short Lessons

The oldest child in school right now is sixth grade as my older ones have graduated. His lessons are all shorter than 40 minutes and the majority of them only take 20 minutes. My second grader has 10-15 minute lessons. This helps them form the habit of complete attention and focus as they know that they only have to pay attention to a subject for that long. It is about quality over quantity.

Our lessons are focused and are not filled with unnecessary facts and fluff but are kept interesting and to the point, although they are largely in story form.

How We Use Self-Education

Self-education is the only education.

— Charlotte Mason

While I am there to guide my children through their day, they are self-educated. They read the lesson and think about it themselves. Though they tell me what they read and learned, we don’t discuss it much because the ideas are theirs. I provide great books and help them find the answers to their questions but I never tell them the facts. I let them find out themselves. I don’t give lectures about what should be learned but I let the lessons teach and the child learn.

We should look on education as something between the child’s soul and God. Modern education tends to look on it as something between the child’s brain and the standardized test.

— Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason thought of children as whole human beings capable of understanding much more than we give them credit for. She had a great respect for children. Her philosophies are wise and deep and yet profoundly…simple.