My own fascination with Charlotte Mason was awakened when I read “For the Children’s Sake” by Susan Macaulay. (I recommend this book to every beginning homeschool family. It is especially great for moms of young children!)

Miss Mason was a British educator in the late 1800s. She was a teacher and tutor for many years, then later became an educator of parents for “Home Education.”

While this isn’t something that you just order a curriculum and follow it closely, Charlote Mason begins by focuses on reading rich literature or “living books.”

Time outside is also HUGE with following the Charlote Mason style. This seems to be more important now in our day with all the distractions of technology at our finger tips. I believe that this is true for the parents as much as the kids.

Key subjects she encourages are nature study, music, art appreciation, and handicrafts.

Notice that this doesn’t include workbooks or memorizing facts. Charlotte Mason DID promote memorization, but the kids are encouraged to memorize beautiful poems, Bible verses, or Shakespeare quotes, not just facts to regurgitate onto a test, only to be forgotten about moments after the test is done.

This homeschool style also focuses on building good habits.

In my own homeschool journey, I knew building good habits was important and tried to implement it early.

For example, when my kids are preschoolers, I work with them on building the habit of obeying right away. My husband and I give them opportunities to obey and do what we asked them to all throughout the day. I will often say, “Obey, right away, with a good attitude, every day.” (Borrowed from Mystie Winckler at SimplyConvivial.com). The kids can now recite that back to me!

Then we move on to working on cleanliness and working on taking care of their bodies and their rooms like brushing their teeth every morning and evening and getting themselves dressed. We have also worked on saying kind words to others.

What I have noticed is that you think these habits would just happen naturally thorughout your school days, but I have found that it takes intentional practice. Whining and not wanting to obey right away is what comes naturally! (For us as well as the kids…)

With intentional practice, just like learning out to write letters or to play an insturment, good habits will be forged for the later years.

Interested in learning more about habit training? Watch this video here.

Lastly, in the the Charlotte Mason style you will run into these words:

• Narration- can be written or spoken, and is a summary of what the child has read, and focuses more on what they learned from what they read in a book or experienced in an activity than the actual factual info.
• Dictation- when the parent says words or sentences out loud and the child writes it down. Is used to work on spelling, grammar, memorization, and handwriting.
• Twaddle- the opposite of “living books.” Books that are dumbed down and written to a lower level, in what some adults assume is “lanuage a child can understand.” It just talks down to them and doesn’t enourage them to “feast their hearts on noble ideas.” (For more on Twaddle, check out ”A Twaddle Free Education.”

Which Charlotte Mason Book to Read First

There are a TON of resources out there to learn Charlotte Mason methods. I want to share my absolute favorites. The following are the Charlotte Mason based books I would start reading first.

For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Macaulay

If this wasn’t THE first thing I read regarding Charlotte Mason, it was definitely the most memorable! Recommended to me by a friend who had children the same age as mine (4 and 2 at the time!), I was thrilled to dive into the world of living books, narration, habits, and nature study. Susan Macaulay summarizes Charlotte’s methods very well in an easy to read treasure of a book.

MORE Charlotte Mason Topics

The next resources are meant to be a set. Deboarah Taylor-Hugh took the best of Charlotte Mason’s own volumes and put them into a great resources for new and experienced homeschool families. It’s a simple practical book to get your feet wet with habit training, living books, and outdoor life. The best thing is they are just .99 CENTS EACH FOR THE KINDLE VERSION! So, grab all three and get to reading!

Charlotte Mason Topics Book One: Habits by Deborah Taylor-Hugh

Charlotte Mason Topics Books Two: The Outdoor Life of Children

Charlotte Mason Topics Book Three: Ideas and Books

More Charlotte Mason Resources

• Character and Habit Training for Kids

• Setting an Atmosphere of Education: Charlotte Mason Homeschool Tips

  

• Laying Down the Rails: A Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook by Simply Charlotte Mason A great resource for a summary of Charlotte Mason’s teachings on habits and how to teach your own children.
• Charlotte Mason Bootcamp by Brandy Vancel
• A Summary of Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles at Ambleside Online
• An easy to read summary of ALL of Charlotte Mason’s original volumes and links to read her books for free online are right here at Ambleside Online.

To see all of the Homeschool Style posts >>> Click HERE.