The homeschool movement is gaining momentum all over the world, and many home educators are looking back to the ideas of Charlotte Mason as a compass for teaching their own children.
Charlotte Mason was an educator who lived in England from 1841-1923. She established schools to train governesses and parents how to teach their children at home. Her ideas were at the time quite revolutionary. She considered children to be people who were capable of studying advanced topics in science, math, literature, art, and music, even at very young ages. She also had a passion for nature and beauty which is evident in her writings.
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Articles About CM Philosophy
for a quick read
- Charlotte Mason in a Nutshell
- This is a great two page overview of practical implementation of CM philosophy into a homeschool setting. This is great place to start! It's also a great review or check-up for those of us who already consider ourselves CM educators.
- Charlotte Mason in a Nutshell PDF
- The same article as above but in PDF format for easy printing or sharing.
- A Charlotte Mason Handbook
- This is an excellent PDF synopsis of CM ideas written by Michele M. Quigley. (Catholic perspective)
- The ABC's of CM
- A nice summary of CM ideas, organized in ABC order!
- What Makes the Charlotte Mason Method Distinctive
- Another concise article outlining some of the main tenets of CM thinking.
- Ambleside Online Blogring
- If you're looking for blogs written by CM homeschool moms, look at some of the over 100 choices on this blogring!
Books that Explain CM Philosophy
for a bit longer read
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $8.75
Charlotte Mason Study Guide
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $34.57
When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy for Today
Amazon Price: $10.87 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $8.24
A Charlotte Mason Education
Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $3.75
More Charlotte Mason Education
Amazon Price: $11.86 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $4.25
Online Forums
- Simply Charlotte Mason Community Forum
- Post your questions, offer advice, or just lurk about. Topics include everything related to a CM homeschool -- math, science, writing, scheduling, and much more!
More Books About CM
For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School (Child-Life Book) (Child-Life Book)
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $0.99
For the Love of Learning: Information and Resources for combining Charlotte Mason & Classical Education
Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $5.50
An Overview of the Charlotte Mason Method
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $184.13
Charlotte Mason's Works Online Links
online for FREE
Follow the links below to read Miss Mason's original Homeschooling Series, or a version in modern English, or read chapter summaries -- all online for FREE.
- The Original Homeschooling Series
- Miss Mason's original writing.
- Modern English Version
- Miss Mason's works, rewritten for modern readers.
- Summaries of Miss Mason's Six Volumes
- Summaries of each volume for a quick read.
- Twenty Principles
- For an even quicker overview, see this list of Miss Mason's twenty principles.
Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series
Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series
Amazon Price: $37.14 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $30.91
Living Books
literature based learning
Charlotte Mason loved reading great literature! She was adamantly opposed to letting children read "twaddle." Instead, she recommended children read "living books."Twaddle--Inferior books without any depth of thought. They have been dumbed down supposedly to suit the child's level. They have no real merit other than possibly a moment's of entertainment, but the brain and the imagination are not exercised in reading these books.
Living Books --Books that are so engaging you don't want to put them down. Your children will beg for "just one more chapter." And you, the adult, even enjoy living books. They are classic. When the book ends, you feel sorry that there is not more. These books engage your thoughts and imagination with the vivid narrative and realistically portrayed characters.
What about textbooks? What are they? They may or may not be twaddle, but they generally do not qualify as living books.
Great Quotes From Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason saw a direct connection between living books and the imagination. Read what she says in Home Education about the value of imaginative literature over more realistic works.
Stories, again, of the Christmas holidays, of George and Lucy, of the amusements, foibles, and virtues of children in their own condition of life, leave nothing to the imagination. The children know all about everything so well that it never occurs to them to play at the situations in any one of these tales, or even to read it twice over. But let them have tales of the imagination, scenes laid in other lands and other times, heroic adventures, hairbreadth escapes, delicious fairy tales in which they are never roughly pulled up by the impossible--even where all is impossible, and they know it, and yet believe.(vol 1 pg 152)
Wow! Tales of imagination in other lands. That sounds like a good book of history, adventure, fantasy, or biography!
And another quote about the imagination:
Now imagination does not descend, full grown, to take possession of an empty house; like every other power of the mind, it is the merest germ of a power to begin with, and grows by what it gets; and childhood, the age of faith, is the time for its nourishing. The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times--a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books. Their lessons, too, history and geography, should cultivate their conceptive powers. If the child do not live in the times of his history lesson, be not at home in the climes of his geography book describes, why, these lessons will fail of their purpose. But let lessons do their best, and the picture gallery of the imagination is poorly hung if the child have not found his way into the realms of fancy. (vol 1 pg 153)
The books we offer our children should take them away to fantastic lands of imagination!
Living Book Links
- Penny Gardner's Living Books
- This page is jam-packed with lists and links that will help you select living books for your homeschool.
- Home Hearts Living Books
- This is both an article and a link list in one! Living books and twaddle are defined. Also multiple links to LONG book lists are offered. A great site!
- What Should I Read Next?
- This is a fun tool. Just enter a book title that you enjoyed reading, and this program will give you suggestions for similar books that you will probably also like. Neat!
- Lilac Library
- This blog is exclusively devoted to providing book reviews of excellent living books -- picture books to novels.
- What is a Living Book?
- This is a GREAT article from The Thinking Mother blog explaining more about what is and is not a living book. A great read for any CM educator!
- Shakespeare for Children
- Ideas, links, and books for teaching young children the classic works of Shakespeare.
- What's So Great About Great Books?
- Classical educators call good books Great Books rather than living books. The concept is very similar. Read this article for more insight.
The Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival
- Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival
- From this main link you can access all the CM Blog Carnivals from the most recent to the very first one.
Narration
telling back
Narration is a foundation within the CM philosophy.Narration simply means that the child narrates or tells back what was just read. If a young child is listening to mother read, when the section or chapter is over, he tells back what he heard in the chapter. If a bit older child is reading aloud, when she has come to the end of a section or chapter, she tells back what she just read. For children who are reading silently, they still tell back what they have read.
Narration can be done orally at all ages. But once a child is 11 or 12, he can begin to write his narrations. The habit of doing it orally will help him be able to it in writing when the time comes.
Narration Starters to ask your child
--Tell me all you remember about the passage.
--Explain how ______.
--Tell me five things you learned from these two pages.
--So, what happened in this chapter?
No workbooks or worksheets are needed. Nothing to buy; no preparation is needed! Just the child and parent, discussing what was read. What could be simpler and easier than that!
Narration can also be done in creative ways -- drawings, dioramas, acting out dramas, lapbooks, or notebooking.
Why is Narration So Important?
a quote from Charlotte Mason
Narration causes the child to think. She must think as she is reading (or listening to you read), and she must think as she is narrating. I love this quote by Miss Mason about thinking from Home Education .
Thinking comes by Practice. . . .thinking, like writing or skating, comes by practice. The child who has never thought, never does think, and probably never will think; (vol 1 pg 153)
So use narration in your homeschool experience! It will give your children the opportunity to practice thinking.
Links to Read More About Narration
Personally it took me many months before narration became natural in our homeschool. Reading articles like these below will help you deliberately incorporate it into your daily routine.- Narration Beats Tests
- This is an excellent, concise explanation of the benefits of narration. Karen Andrelola also gives practical tips for implementing it in your homeschool.
- Narration: Tapping Into the 'Talking Resource'
- Another article by Karen Andreola that will give you some practical applications of CM's ideas. This article is decorated with lovely images as well! It is a joy to read!
- Narration and Composition
- These are blog entries from Higher Up and Further In. Lindafay is an excellent CM educator! This link will take you to all her blog entries dealing with narration and composition. Excellent reading!
- Narration Practical How-to's
- Catherine Levison, a CM expert, wrote this short article about how to use narration in your homeschool.
- Narration Tips
- Another article by Catherine Levison. She answers a question -- how can you deal with children narrating the same passage at the same time when reading to the kids all together?
- Charlotte Mason Language Arts
- This article explains not only narration but also dictation and copywork.
- More Notes on Narration
- A CM blogger who shares her thought on narration after reading When Children Love to Learn. Practical tips here.
- When Narration is Difficult
- The same CM blogger shares her revelation about narration. Her left-brained daughter was struggling with narration because she was thinking in LISTS rather than IMAGES. A great read!
- Narration
- Another blogging mom has been inspired by the book When Children Love to Learn, and has shared her insights about narration.
Recitation
Recitation is memorizing quotes, scriptures, or poems and performing them for an audience. CM recommends that the passage chosen for memorization be one the child can fully comprehend so that the recitation will be natural and with feeling.I have found that letting my child choose her own passage for memorization is far more motivating than my choosing one. Pull a beloved poetry book off the shelf, and let your child choose one to memorize this week. At the end of the week, he can stand up at the dinner table and perform it for the entire family. He will beam with pride!
Links to Read More About Recitation
- Recitation/Memory Work
- More blog entries from Lindafay at Higher Up and Further In. This link will take you to all her blog entries dealing with recitation and memory work. You will gain a lot from her insights!
- Walls of Books - Poetry Memorization List
- Angela, a homeschooling mom, shares her list of poetry that she plans on having her children memorize. The best thing about this list is that it's already linked to online texts of each poem!
- Walls of Books - Bible Memory List
- Here is Angela's list of Bible verses to memorize.
- Stepping Heavenward
- This homeschooling mom has listed her year's poetry memorization for her son. These are great examples of what you may want to incorporate into your own homeschool.
Books of Poetry for Memorization and Recitation
The Real Mother Goose
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $0.06
The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury (Treasured Gifts for the Holidays)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $6.92
Poetry Speaks to Children (Book & CD) (Read & Hear)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $2.99
Committed to Memory: 100 Best Poems to Memorize
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $0.20
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
Amazon Price: $15.63 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $5.95
Copywork
also called Transcription
Copywork is a whole language approach to spelling and grammar. By seeing and copying the words, the child learns how to spell. Grammar is also learned in this indirect way.Choose passages worthy of meditation that stimulate the mind of the student but are not beyond his comprehension. Discuss the passage and have the child copy it in his best handwriting. Passages can be hymns, Scriptures, poems, quotations, or exerpts from living books.
Links to Read More About Copywork
- Copywork and Handwriting
- Lindafay shares her way of teaching copywork and handwriting in her very CM homeschool.
- Copywork
- This is a nice article about the history of copywork as an educational method. Did you know it predates Charlotte Mason by hundreds of years?
The author gives practical suggestions for how to implement copywork and lists of possible passages. - Copywork at The Duncan Yo-Yo's
- Heather's way of doing copywork is by a different subject per day. Read this entry; you may just want to try her method.
- Manuscript Copywork
- This site has FREE PDF copywork files. Just print out and hand to your children! Choices include Hymns, Scripture, and Poetry.
- Writing Tools
- Choose the link to Online Sources for Copying and Dictation.
- Copywork & Handwriting
- This mom's suggestions are especially applicable to those with young children, just learning how to form letters and begin their copywork.
- Bare Books
- These blank books are perfect for copywork. The blank or outline covers can be decorated!
- How I Choose Sentences for Copywork
- Headmistress, zookeeper shares how she selects sentences from her children's readers to serve as copywork. In this blog entry, she lists examples from Five Little Peppers.
- What is Copywork
- An article from Notebooking Pages that explains what copywork is and how it can be integrated into notebooking.
Blank Books
Chose one of these themed after great living books from their earlier years.
J2 - Wild Thing Blank Journal
Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 07/26/2008)
J13 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar Blank Journal
Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 07/26/2008)
J3 - Curious George Blank Journal
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 07/26/2008)
J23 - Frog & Toad Blank Journal
Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Dictation
Dictation is not the same as copywork. Dictation is written without looking at the passage. The sentence or passage may be studied first and discussed thoroughly. Any strange spellings, any aspects of punctuation should be pointed out. Then take away the original, speak the passage out loud at a normal pace, and have the child write the passage. The same passage can be used all week if necessary for mastery. Links to Read More About Dictation
- Dictation and Spelling
- Can you tell that I love this blog? Higher Up and Further In is a great resource for CM homeschool moms! These are her entries dealing with dictation and spelling.
- Dictation at Living, Loving and Learning
- This is a great concise blog entry telling the steps to go through each day for a dictation exercise.
Even More Elements of CM Education
I have created two separate pages devoted to Charlotte Mason styled Artist Study and Nature Study.
Please visit those pages and see if you'd like to incorporate those aspects into your homeschool. Many moms find them an incredibly fun way to begin to implement CM ideas. Charlotte Mason Style Curricula
- Ambleside Online
- Ambleside offers a FREE curriculum plan modeled closely according to CM ideas. To use Ambleside Online's plan is very affordable; you only need to buy the living books recommended in the program. And many of those books can be found for free on the Internet. AO gives links to those online books.
- Living Books Curriculum
- This curriculum calls itself, "a Charlotte Mason education for the 21st century." It's a more modern interpretation of what Ambleside has done. In contrast to Ambleside which relies on free online texts or visits to the library, Living Books offers complete book kits you can purchase. Very convenient!
- Tanglewood Education
- Tanglewood combines both Classical Education and the Charlotte Mason philosophy in a flexible plan you can modify to fit your homeschool situation. Since they don't actually sell living books, you have to buy the books from their booklists on your own (or use the library). They do sell PDF downloads of their Corebook, Book of Centuries, and Nature Notebook.
- Mater Amabilis
- This is a free, online CM curriculum plan especially for Catholic homeschoolers. The plan also has book options for British families. The books must be purchased on your own.
- Queen Homeschool
- Look for "Easy Charlotte Mason Method Packs" in the sidebar. Queen Homeschool is currently offering 10 packs of living books that match CM philosophy.
Literature Based Curricula
- Beautiful Feet Books
- This is a convenient way to buy your curriculum -- Study Guides (for the teacher) complete with a whole set of living books. Topics include American History, Ancient History, History of the Horse, Geography, History of Classical Music, Character, and Medieval Ages.
They also offer timelines and additional living books. - Winter Promise
- This curricula offers complete kits as well. WP even has language arts programs to complement their history themes. They have the standard American History and Middle Ages themes, but also some really interesting themes such as Children Around the World, Adventures in Sea and Sky, Animals and the Worlds, Journeys of Imagination, Quest for Royals and Revolutions. This curricula is unique in that the lower level programs have an additional advanced materials kit that can be used with any older siblings. In this way, the entire family can be studying the same theme.
- Sonlight
- Almost every homeschooling family has heard of Sonlight. Their core programs include Bible, History, and Read Alouds. SL also offers language arts and science programs.
- Noeo Science
- This is a unique science curriculum! It's literature based! Use real books to learn these science topics -- Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, each at 2 levels for a total of 6 choices.
Guestbook
I welcome you to leave me a note, a question, or a suggestion.
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kellywissink
Hi Jimmie! Posted April 28, 2008 |
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amandaquerque
Interesting information on a subject matter I am not familiar with! I love to learn new things. This has made an excellent addition to the BIG LENSES Group! Posted April 03, 2008 |
www.bixbyblabs.blogspot.com
Thank you for putting this all together. This is EXTREMELY helpful to those just starting out.
God bless...Angela
Posted March 23, 2008
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KarenHS2
Someone justr asked about Charlotte Mason on my homeschool list. I can't wait to give her this link! Posted February 24, 2008 |
As a principal of a Charlotte Mason school, I have found that students need instruction in how write narrations. After much searching for an instructional resource on this topic, I discovered nothing. Because I am a writer, I decided to write a book called "My Little Handbook of Written Narrations" for CM students in grades 4-8. Go to Lulu.com to find out more. Just type the name of the book in the search area. I think your child will appreciate the help.
Posted February 21, 2008
Jimmie, Why am I just now finding this??!! Awesome resource. I'll be adding it to my blog links soon. Thanks for all your hard work!!
Cindy
www.homeschoolblogger.com/westward
Posted January 01, 2008
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groovyoldlady
Stellar again. You are amazing! Posted September 10, 2007 |
I have bookmarked this little gem to come back to over and over again. Thanks again for including me as well.
Heather D.
Posted August 11, 2007
Wow Jimmie! This is a really neat page! Thanks for including me. Off to explore all of your links.... :-)
~Heather
Posted August 08, 2007
