Considering how small the homeschool population is on PEI, it is surprising how many are interested in Charlotte Mason's philosophy and methods. This is due in large part to the advice and mentoring provided to new homeschoolers here by G. and A., both veteran homeschoolers and long-time admirers of Charlotte Mason's work. A. began a Charlotte Mason group in Charlottetown years ago. It met every second month, and each meeting was organized according to a theme, such as narration or nature study.
When A. decided to step away from the leadership of the group last year, I stepped up to lead the meetings in my home. As a group, we decided to study one of Charlotte Mason's own books, as very few of us had moved beyond books about Charlotte Mason. We chose Volume 6, Towards a Philosophy of Education, at the recommendation of a local Charlotte Mason homeschooler.
I'm not sure whether it was because reading Charlotte Mason's own works seemed intimidating, or whether meeting in my home was inconvenient for too many people (I live 20 minutes outside the city.), but attendance at the meetings last year was quite low, between 2-6 people each time. As far as the meetings themselves went, though, we had good discussions and the people who attended seemed to enjoy themselves. We had a steady little core group of young homeschoolers, and we were learning together and encouraging each other.
This year, rather than changing our format or location, we tried to encourage the formation of small groups like ours in other areas. A few people immediately volunteered to lead groups in their areas, and there are now three groups: our own group east of Charlottetown, another group slightly west of Charlottetown, and a third group in the Summerside area. Each group is independent and decides on its own format. We plan to continue in our studies of Volume 6, while the other two groups are doing more of an introduction to Charlotte Mason.
Because we had some interest in our meetings from new homeschoolers, we decided to start the season with an introduction to Charlotte Mason as well. We had eight people at our first meeting, including three brand-new homeschoolers. I prepared a little handout: one page with Charlotte Mason books and resources, plus an outline with quotations from Charlotte Mason to guide our meeting. (I'll copy/paste it at the bottom of this post for you.)
The leading thought for the meeting was that what you believe about children and education works itself out in your practice. Your philosophy of education will revealed by your methods. It is important to think through what it is that you believe about education. For me, Charlotte Mason provided a way for me to begin to do that. She lays out a philosophy first, and her methods flow from her philosophy.
I then pulled out a few main points from Charlotte Mason's philosophy, and we discussed them together. (Children are born persons; Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life; Education is the science of relations.) I also intended to briefly introduce some of her methods, possibly walk through one of my own school days to show what a Charlotte Mason education looks like in our own home, but we ran out of time. In our next meeting (in November...we meet every second month) we hope to jump back into Volume 6. I am a little nervous about doing that with our new homeschoolers (don't want to scare anyone off!), but we will try to be gentle about it and I will let you know how it goes.
Here is the handout for our last meeting:
Books
Charlotte Mason The Original Homeschooling Series
This six-volume series is not so much a series as a
collection of the works of Charlotte Mason. They don’t have to be read in
order. So where should you start? Volume 1 is especially helpful and practical
if you have young children under the age of 9. Volume 6 is her Philosophy of Education, a comprehensive
overview of her approach. It was written forty years after the first volume
with the benefit of her decades of experience in education. Most people leave
volume 4 for last, as it is directly addressed to children as a sort of
“character curriculum.”
You can read the entire series online for free at http://amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html.
Ambleside Online also has a Modern English version: http://amblesideonline.org/CMM/ModernEnglish.html
and a paragraph by paragraph summary: http://amblesideonline.org/CMM/Summaries.html.
Books on Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy and Method
Great for a quick introduction when a six-volume series
seems like a bit much!
Cooper, Elaine ed. When Children Love to Learn
MacAulay, Susan Schaeffer For the Children’s Sake
Andreola, Karen A Charlotte Mason Companion
Levison, Catherine A Charlotte Mason Education
Gardner, Penny Charlotte Mason Study Guide
Websites and Blogs
http://amblesideonline.org/ Ambleside Online is a
free curriculum guide based on Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and what was
actually used in PNEU schools. They also have Charlotte Mason’s books for free
online reading, as well as many articles from then and now.
https://simplycharlottemason.com/ Simply Charlotte Mason
has many resources to help homeschoolers trying to use Charlotte Mason’s
methods. I highly recommend their free
ebook Smooth and Easy Days for
parents with young children.
http://joyouslessons.blogspot.com/ Joyous Lessons is the
blog of a Charlotte Mason style homeschooler. I found it really helpful to read
through some of her archives when I was starting out. Just looking at her blog
is a very attractive picture of what a CM education can be.
http://www.afterthoughtsblog.net/ Afterthoughts is
another one of my favourite CM blogs. I highly recommend her series “31 Days of
Charlotte Mason.” She is also coming out
with a new series in October aimed at dispelling myths about a Charlotte Mason
education.
http://plouffes.blogspot.ca/ Education is a Life is
my own (mostly) CM-themed blog.
-------------------
Meeting Outline:
Children are born persons.
“If we have not proved that a child is born a person with
a mind as complete and as beautiful as his beautiful as his beautiful little
body, we can at least show that he always has all the mind he requires for his
occasions; that is, that his mind is the instrument of his education and that his education does not produce his mind.”
(Vol. 6, p. 36)
“It is not only a child’s intellect but his heart that
comes to us fully furnished. Can any of us love like a little child?”
I am, I can, I ought, I will.
Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.
“When we say that ‘education
is an atmosphere,’ we do not mean that a child should be isolated in what
may be called a ‘child-environment’ especially adapted and prepared, but that
we should take into account the educational value of his natural home
atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely
among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to
the ‘child’s’ level. “ (Principle 6 of the “20 Principles” found in the
beginning of Vol. 6)
“By ‘education is a
discipline,’ we mean the disciple of habits, formed definitely and
thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body. Physiologists tell us of the
adaptation of brain structures to habitual lines of thought, i.e., to our habits.” (Principle 7)
“We have lost sight of the fact that habit is to life
what rails are to transport cars. It follows that lines of habit must be laid
down towards given ends and after careful survey, or the joltings and delays of
life become insupportable. More, habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life
by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong
thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord.” (Vol. 6, p. 101)
“Consider how laborious life would be were its wheels not
greased by habits of cleanliness, neatness, order, courtesy; had we to make the
effort of decision about every detail of dressing and eating, coming and going,
life would not be worth living.” (Vol. 6, p. 103)
“In saying that ‘education
is a life,’ the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical
sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should
have a generous curriculum.” (Principle 8)
“Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas.
Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly
as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page,
Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child’s inner life with
ideas as we sustain his body with food.
…He is an eclectic; he may choose this or that; our business is to
supply him with due abundance and variety, and his to take what he needs.”
(Vol. 6, p. 109)
Education is the science of relations
“’Education is the
science of relations’; that is, that a child has natural relations with a
vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises,
nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know our business is not to teach him all
about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of—
‘Those first-born
affinities
That fit our new
existence to existing things.’”
(Principle 12)
