I love CM because it allows children to be completely immersed in God’s beautiful creation while learning useful skills needed to be a productive and well-rounded adult. It fosters a love for the wilderness while nurturing a love for simple learning. –Kerstin (HS Mom)
The Charlotte Mason philosophy on home schooling has revolutionized not only our home school, but the way we parent. –Melanie (HS Mom)
Who was Charlotte Mason and what is her method of homeschooling?
Charlotte Mason lived in England in the 1800′s. [see photos of the Ambleside area where she lived and worked here.] Orphaned at age 16 and never married, she devoted her life to children and their education. Her ideas were ahead of her time – while others thought that children were no more than empty slates to be filled with information, she believed that they were already real people capable of independent, intelligent thought and that they needed vital ideas, rather than dry facts, to feed their growing minds. The students in the schools she founded read and discussed living books written by excellent authors on various subjects, took daily nature walks and recorded their observations in notebooks, enjoyed art and music, cultivated and maintained good personal habits such as attention to detail, focused attention and consideration to others, and learned foreign languages. And, by using short lessons, they accomplished all of this (and more) by lunchtime so that they had their afternoons free for their own individual worthy pursuits. The Charlotte Mason method uses living books with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity, narration instead of comprehension exercises or composition, copywork for handwriting, spelling and grammar modeling, nature observation as the primary means of early science, and literature, poetry, art and music to give children’s minds beautiful ideas to feed on.
CM is a timeless method that fits into any Christian family life style. –Melody (HS Mom)
Its fun Mom!–Selena (HS’er)
Charlotte Mason Home School Method (Links)
- Charlotte Mason (Blog Carnival)
- Charlotte Mason Help (Information about CM and a Free Curriculum Plan)
- Charlotte Mason’s Own Words (The books she wrote)
- The Charlotte Mason Series in Modern English Arranged Topically
- Intro to Ambleside Online (Free CM Curriculum Plan),
- Intro to Charlotte Mason (Info on CM from Ambleside On-Line
- Simply Charlotte Mason (Curriculum Plan, Resources and more)
I remember the first time I read about CM about five years ago, this method just made sense to me. It also sounded more interesting than what I experienced during my school days. I felt like I could give my children a very solid education without it breaking the bank. I truly believe that coming across CM when I did was an answer to prayer!! (Read more HERE) –Angie (HS Mom and author of this blog)
Books about the Charlotte Mason Method
- Charlotte Mason’s Own Words (The books she wrote)
- A Charlotte Mason Education (** Great book to start with**)
- Education is…………. (Free E-Book)
- More Charlotte Mason Education
- A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
- For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School
- When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today
- A Charlotte Mason Study Guide
- Charlotte Mason Summaries
It allows me to expose my children to a variety of subjects in short chunks of time. I LOVE the flexibility it gives me with having little ones! All I need is 15-20 minutes at a time and can rearrange my schedule as needed. This is my first year doing CM, and we LOVE it!!”–April (HS Mom)
CM Resources by Subject
- Habit Training: Free E-Book-Smooth and Easy Days
- Habit Training: Laying Down the Rails (Book and DVD)
- Spelling: Spelling Wisdom (includes: Dictation,Grammar and Handwriting)
- Math: ( Your Business Math: Your Business Math Series is a fun and “living math” kit that reinforces math skills for ages 8–12! Your student uses his math knowledge to keep his very own store running and, hopefully, make a profit. But there are also some surprises along the way!
- Natural History, Biblical History, Nature Study, Science: 106 Days of Creation
- Natural History, Nature Study, Outdoor Time: Hours in the Out-of-Doors
- Grammar: Simply Grammar-Designed for home study for children, 4th through 8th grade, the book is the revised and expanded version of Charlotte Mason’s First Grammar Lessons.
- Nature Study: Handbook of Nature Study Blog
- Living Books: Charlotte Mason Living Books List
- Geography: A Child’s Geography
- Science: Exploring Creation with……………Astronomy, Botany, Zoology, etc
- Language Arts: Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook
~~For other subject resource ideas check these website links above: A Charlotte Mason Help, Simply Charlotte Mason and Ambleside On-Line. ~~I have not used all these resources but I am using some of them and I do plan to use the others!!
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This is a great , thorough post for those wanting to implement the CM philosophy!
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