Charlotte Mason's approach

Charlotte Mason was a famous British teacher who dedicated her life to improving the quality of children's education. The philosophy of this approach is based on the principle that the child is a whole person from birth. The approach is therefore imbued with respect for the child, while promoting discipline. It affirms that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

For Charlotte Mason, children are not receptacles to be filled, but rather beings who hunger for discovery, and what they learn is just as important as how they do it.

If you like to browse the great writings of famous writers, great musicians and famous painters, to get to know their home countries, the life paths that shaped their destiny, as well as the Bible, scouting, and deep learning through diverse subjects, the Charlotte Mason approach provides an ideal curriculum.

Academic progression

Children must be able to reinvest their knowledge through writing, speaking or any other means so that they can achieve a synthesis to be able to appropriate the material and explain it in their own words. Here, we take the time to assimilate the knowledge and explain it orally before moving on to writing.

In this approach, an emphasis is placed on the child's behaviour. They must learn to control their behaviour in order to become and remain balanced with respect to their values and abilities. As the child grows, the lessons will increase in duration, diversity and depth.

Spelling and grammar are studied with literary texts and not word lists. First of all, once again, they are learned orally. Writing is done by copying sentences from a literary text. The child writes only one sentence a day, but in their most beautiful calligraphy. This should be conducive to concentration and not discourage them from the task given the short duration of this learning experience.

Art plays an enormous role in this educational approach. The stories of the great creators are recounted by the child and then they slowly move towards creation of their own. Moreover, according to Charlotte Mason, narration plays an important role in the child's ability to share their knowledge after having studied key notions, for all subjects and concepts. Even dictation should be done orally and corrected immediately in order to validate knowledge immediately and not over a longer period.

Listening to music by famous great musicians is also very important.

For nature observation, a drawing book is recommended to document discoveries. This is how scientific research begins.

Poetry also has a special place here! Not to be taught, but rather to be shared and recognized as an important imprint of the past. Shakespeare thus appears regularly in the educational curriculum. The Bible is also important.

Geography and history are taught in such a way as to know not only the places but also the human beings who participated in it. It is emphasized that the life course and destiny of the famous people studied were shaped by the places they lived in, in early life and thereafter.

Moreover, scouting is very important in this educational approach. In fact, Charlotte Mason incorporated it into the compulsory educational curriculum in 1905!

Material

The most important contribution of this educational approach is its use of so-called "living" books instead of school material, which is described as rigid.

It is considered important to use such books in all subjects of study, or at least in as many as possible, to provide the child with an education that does not infantilize them and that provides them with rich and varied knowledge.

Searching for material and books that are alive

Living books means literary books and not learning manuals, unless the latter are clearly superior in providing knowledge;
Be prepared to buy, or borrow from the library, a wide variety of books in order to promote a variety and multitude of learning opportunities for the child;
Visit websites on this educational method in order to understand the extent and variety of the program to follow, consult forums, etc.

Charlotte Mason's method is often associated with Montessori and Waldorf because they share many points of similarity and some of the material used is common across the three approaches.

Rhythm

Educational planning

It is essential to plan for the time and energy to be invested.

Plan to explore a diversity of subjects and set aside time for oral feedback on each notion learned;
Plan a schedule with short lessons and activities to foster the child's attention and motivation;
The curriculum favours oral knowledge at the beginning with a shift towards writing later;
The number of subjects and the notions to be covered is greater than in a traditional curriculum. They are also studied more thoroughly, so time and duration should be considered in your planning.

Schedule

As the curriculum, while flexible, is more diversified and concentrated in content than the so-called more traditional method, you will have to plan to explore a variety of knowledge and concepts;
Activities and lessons are short, so they should be planned accordingly;
Signing up for scouting could be an interesting addition and free up a few hours in your schedule while forming an integral part of the educational curriculum.

Benefits

A varied curriculum, rich in knowledge, that does not infantilize your child, but teaches them things effectively and concretely. The knowledge is transmitted in short lessons in order to foster attentiveness and a diversity of knowledge.
Are the Bible, music, art and its famous creators, as well as learning geography from a completely different angle, important elements for you? Do you think that your child could benefit from a richer and more diversified education? In that case, look no further!
This approach will give your child more time to acquire oral knowledge before easing into writing. Writing is introduced gradually so each word and each notion can be memorized, to promote solid foundations as opposed to accumulating information without making any connections.
One sentence a day, handwritten in your child's most beautiful calligraphy? Isn't that fantastic for your child who doesn't seem to be as strongly interested in writing as would normally be expected for their age in the current education system?
If scouting also seems an important dimension for you and your child, this approach could fulfill all the aspects of your expectations from an educational program.

Disadvantages

This approach offers a different way of educating children and may require significant adaptation on your part. It may seem to you that the curriculum is too heavy and too diverse for you and your child.
The Bible, scouting, music, art, and geography are subjects that this curriculum covers in depth. This takes more time and energy because it is not really possible to do an overview.
Using a number of diverse and in-depth books can signify higher costs. If literature is not one of your strengths, you will have to spend more time on it, because it is essentially the starting point for this educational approach.
You will need to be available to receive your child's oral feedback on their learning and to continuously support and accompany them through a wide variety of short workshops.
This approach advocates not infantilizing children. It may be that your perception of what and how things should be taught is not consistent with what is proposed by this method.

Resources

Books

Andreola, Karen, “A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning”. ISBN # 9781889209029.

Cooper, Elaine, “When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application Of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy For Today”. ISBN # 9781581342598.

Mason, Charlotte, “Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series”. ISBN # 9781889209005.

Thanks to : Annie Shirley Horne, Anik Lambert, Geneviève Côté, Suzanne Lagacé, Eva Ketelsen and Patrick Riley.