is anyone else using a Charlotte Mason approach to home education?
or interest in the method?
“Charlotte Mason in a Nutshellâ€
Here’s a very brief overview of a handful of Charlotte Mason’s most familiar ideas.
TWADDLE:
Twaddle is what parents and educators today might call “dumbed down†literature. It is serving your children intellectual happy meals, rather than healthy, substantive mind- and soul-building foods. Charlotte Mason advocated avoiding twaddle and feasting children’s hearts and minds on the best literary works available.
LIVING BOOKS:
Living books are the opposite of dull, dry textbooks. The people, places and events come alive as you read a living book. The stories touch your mind and heart. They are timeless.
WHOLE BOOKS:
Whole books are the entirety of the books the author actually wrote. If the author wrote a book, read the whole book. The opposite of this would be anthologies that include only snippets from other works—maybe a chapter from Dickens, a couple of paragraphs from Tolstoy, etc.
NARRATION:
Narration is the process of telling back what has been learned or read. Narrations are usually done orally, but as the child grows older (around age 12) and his writing skills increase, the narrations can be written as well. Narration can also be accomplished creatively: painting, drawing, sculpting, play-acting, etc.
SHORT LESSONS:
Charlotte Mason recommended spending short, focused periods of time on a wide variety of subjects. Lessons in the early years are only 10-15 minutes in length, but get progressively longer as the children mature. (Lessons increase closer to an hour per subject for high school students.)
NATURE WALKS:
In spite of often rainy, inclement weather, Charlotte Mason insisted on going out once-a-week for an official Nature Walk, allowing the children to experience and observe the natural environment firsthand. These excursions should be nature walks, not nature talks.
DAILY WALKS:
In addition to the weekly Nature Walks, Mason also recommended children spend large quantities of time outside each day, no matter what the weather. Take a daily walk for fun and fresh air.
NATURE NOTEBOOKS:
Nature Notebooks are artist sketchbooks containing pictures the children have personally drawn of plants, wildlife or any other natural object found in its natural setting. These nature journals can also include nature-related poetry, prose, detailed descriptions, weather notes, Latin names, etc.
ART APPRECIATION/PICTURE STUDY:
Bring the child into direct contact with the best art. Choose one artist at a time; six paintings per artist; study one painting per week (maybe 15 minutes per week). Allow the child to look at the work of art intently for a period of time (maybe five minutes). Have him take in every detail. Then take the picture away and have him narrate (tell back) what he’s seen in the picture.
JOURNALING:
There’s great value in keeping a personal journal, encouraging reflection and descriptive writing. Record activities, thoughts and feelings, favorite sayings, personal mottoes, favorite poems, etc.
COPYWORK:
Daily copywork provides on-going practice for handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc. Keep a notebook specifically for copying noteworthy poems, prose, quotes, etc.
DICTATION:
Each day choose a paragraph, or sentence, or page (depending on the age of child). Have the child practice writing it perfectly during his copywork time. Have them look carefully at all punctuation, capital letters, etc. When the child knows the passage well, dictate the passage to the child for him to recreate the passage.
BOOK OF THE CENTURIES:
A Book of the Centuries is a glorified homemade timeline; usually a notebook containing one or two pages per century. As children learn historical facts, they make notes in their book on the appropriate century’s page about famous people, important events, inventions, wars, battles, etc.
HANDICRAFTS:
Charlotte Mason’s schools finished daily academics in the morning, allowing the afternoon hours for free time to pursue crafts and other leisure activities or areas of personal interest.
HABITS:
Charlotte Mason had much to say on establishing good habits in children. Habits (good or bad) are like the ruts in a path from a wheelbarrow going down the same trail again and again. As time goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to run the wheelbarrow outside the rut, but the wheel will always run smoothly down the well-worn rut in the path. By training children in good habits, the school day (and home life in general) goes more smoothly. Focus on one habit at a time for 4-6 weeks rather than attempting to implement a long list of new habits all at once.
Hi
Thanks for bringing up this? I had seen afew blogs using this method on their children? How do I start? Thanks!
i am looking at it and learning for my 4 years old . i first did a very successful doman program with my brain injured child . when i had my well baby i couldn’t wait to start the reading program i had the book how smart is your baby , but i started to modify many of the programs because i learned so much in my journey with my hurt daughter that i disagree on many of their programs . i was more drawn to montessori by than , i did show dots , reading words couplets , EK , on and off but was very hands on with montessori home environemnt and lots of montessori activities . by three my daughter had wonderful auditory skills , excellent memory , could repeat anything she hears once , but still couldn’t recognize any word , not even letters . than i switched to montessori reading program , and she is now reading phonetically almost everything , loves books , long chapter books , is a story teller , i set up a very nice montessori classroom for her and made most of the 2 to 6 age group activities . i really see her liking more montessori thee part cards that she can manipulate over BOI that are just flashed to her . three part cards brings boi to life , almost very similar principle but smaller and instead of flashing you use three step lesson and you introduce your child to many categories to learn from .
now i still didn’t give up completel on doman , and i am using brilbaby with her baby brother now 22 months old , he loves it , picked on letter sounds from his sister , when she is sounding a word he is nursing on my lap looks at her finger under the word and continue with her . he still didn’t read any word , i never test , but he is no way like many of your kids reading at 17 months .
my kids are very physical and our weather allows that , they are out all day long and only stop when tired than they reach for a book . we listen to lots of music , and my kids are so cute humming a tune or swaying with the music .
when i see some of your kids reading so early i wonder if i did anything wrong , my brain injured could read at one . but than when i read about charlotte mason approach that kids shouldn’t be brought in before six and made to sit and learn , hey should be learning outdoors while crawling jumping and running , from how i see my kids , i really don’t make lots of effort or prepare a lot and yes they cannot recite or recognize famous people or all countries on maps … but they recognize many musical pieces we listened to and danced on , and many composers . they recognize and enjoy information related to their living , so they would learn all the above but not yet . i love montessori aproach to study geography , i have huge felt wall continent map , and you set up continent boxes filled with things from the continent you study , pictures of animals of the continent , plants , food , souvenirs . kids get to hold them place them on the map , much more interesting than flashing bits , and you know what the kids learn them the same .
are you interested in the charlotte mason approach ?? would love to talk more about it , and other aspects of homeschooling and maybe share resources , and photos of our home environment
love
viv
bella
thanks for telling your story
it reminded me a lot of our own learning journey
your children sound like auditory learners
auditory learners don’t do very well with flash cards
instead learn best with lots of music, dancing, stories and phonics
at least my little auditory learner did
i’ve been studying charlotte mason for two years now
and love her methods
i don’t follow them all completely (we still do reading and math earlier then she recommends)
but i think her philosophy of education is brilliant
and it changed the way i think of education completely
i would love to learn more about montessori thee part cards
how are they different then Bits?
i like a lot of montessori activities
but the supplies are so expensive
did you buy most of yours or did you make them yourself?
anyway i would love to share resources
best wishes
tatianna
I’m leaning towards the Charlotte Mason approach for Zed. It has everything we’re looking for: it’s intense, diverse and yet still leaves a lot of room for physical activity and getting out in the world in general. I’ve been reading the curriculum on Ambleside Online (http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml) and the only part I disagree with is how late Mason proposes one start educating a child. She recommends waiting until the child is 6 or older.
Based on his current development, Zed will be 4 at the latest when he’s ready for year 1. And that assumes he starts developing at a slightly below average rate, rather than continuing at his current rate. If he starts reading earlier, we may start very young, but we’re likely going to start year 0 the January after he turns 3.
As with most curricula, this one is not year-round. It is 36 weeks divided into trimesters. We plan on taking a week off after every trimester, and an extra week between years. Hopefully this isn’t too rigorous. It means that we can send him to “real school” (like his grandmothers would like) for grades 9-12 after completing 11 or 12 years of homeschooling. In advanced placement or IB classes likely.
This is a very interesting topic for me, I have a 2.5 years old and I have been using Montessori Method since she was 12 months old, also I follow some ideas inspired in Waldorf education to improve creativity in childhood.
I got some Montessori supplies homemade and also I have bought some of them in second hand stores.
Well I believe that children learn by using senses but I also belive that they should be stimulated at a very early age since they have been conceived.
My daughter since she was a baby showed a lot of interest in books and letters that is why I did with her Doman, YBCR,BK and your child can read. She loves them!!! She loves reading her books as much as she loves making Montessori shapes and building teh pink tower.
I also believe that you need to follow your child interests that what I have done!
I have started blogging two months ago, inspired in homeschooling my daughter.
http://olivesandpickles.blogspot.com/
Good luck
hi bella I really love this idea of teaching children geography
you wrote : i love montessori aproach to study geography , i have huge felt wall continent map , and you set up continent boxes filled with things from the continent you study , pictures of animals of the continent , plants , food , souvenirs . kids get to hold them place them on the map , much more interesting than flashing bits , and you know what the kids learn them the same .
could you please attach some pictures of the map and boxes, please???