April 2009

This is the fourth part in an ongoing series about finding the right preschool for your family; you can read the introduction here. The first posts covered Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio-Inspired schools.

And now for something a bit different: I know that many of you out there are either homeschooling or considering homeschooling your children, and while you can adopt any preschool approach and make it work for you at home (Reggio, Montessori, Waldorf, etc.), I thought I would highlight one approach that was developed specifically with homeschoolers in mind. So today, we will look at the Charlotte Mason approach to home education for preschoolers. Ready to begin?

A Day in the Life:

Nature Journal Photograph by Deborah Brackenbury

The Charlotte Mason day begins in your home. The schedule is flexible but good habits are strongly encouraged, so you start with a healthy breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting neatly dressed. After breakfast, perhaps you read a few verses from the Bible aloud, and then you and your child venture outside. You pack up a few field guides, snacks, water, extra jackets, and a small flower press, and set out for the morning.

In the meadow, you sit down to read while your child explores – running, rolling down hills, inspecting leaves and stones, and hunting for bugs. You are there to observe, and discuss whatever interests your child, but mostly this time is for free play and fresh air. After an hour or two, your child has collected a few flowers and leaves that she wants you to look at. You sit down together on a blanket and look up the leaves in your nature guide to figure out what kind of trees they came from. After pressing a few flowers, you have a snack together and then walk home.

At lunch your child helps you set the table, and you encourage good manners during the meal. Afterward, you sit down in a comfy chair to read a few stories – “living books”, as Charlotte Mason called them, not featuring cartoon characters, but written by authors who are passionate about their subject. After reading, you ask your child to tell you about what she just read – then you simply listen, and let her tell you anything she wants about the story you were just reading. You do not prod or judge her, just listen with interest and gently encourage her to continue if she likes.

Next, you put on a Bach CD – you and your daughter have been listening to a different composer each month or so, to become familiar with their work. You leave the music on softly as your daughter takes a little nap. While she is sleeping, you set up a watercolor painting activity on the dining table: you arrange a few flowers in a vase, and set some other items from nature around the table. After her nap, your daughter sits down at the table and works on a few watercolor paintings.

In the late afternoon, you head into the garden, where you do some weeding and your daughter helps water plants. You have an afternoon snack outside, and read a few more stories before calling it a day. One of the books your daughter loves  is about Monet, so you decide to plan a field trip to an art museum next week…

Curriculum:

Illustration from the Charlotte Mason & Home Education Blog

For young children, the most essential part of education in the Charlotte Mason approach is simply plenty of time spent in nature. Whether it’s taking walks in the woods, hanging out in a local park, or simply going outside into your yard, time spent in the fresh air is vital, and should form a good chunk of the daily routine.

Other subject areas typically covered in the Charlotte Mason approach include art study, composers, poetry, folk songs, and the Bible – although during the preschool years, these topics will only be touched on during very brief lessons. Early childhood is seen as a time for free play and exploration of nature.

Good behaviors are calmly repeated and reinforced until they become habits – in preschool age children, the emphasis is on learning hygiene and neatness, as well as sticking to routines for meal times and bed times.

Charlotte Mason was a strong advocate of what she called “Living Books” – i.e., books written by a single author passionate about the subject, rather than dry textbooks or books that have been dumbed-down for children. Although for young children, the Charlotte Mason approach argues that much more time should be spent in nature than in the reading of books, even good ones!

Background & Philosophy:

Illustration from Homeschool Idaho

Charlotte Mason was born in Bangor, Wales, in 1842, and was educated at home by her parents. After her parents passed away, Charlotte went to school and earned her First Class Teaching Certificate. She spent over 10 years teaching and developing her ideas on education. In 1891, Mason moved to Ambleside, England, and established her own teacher training school. She was passionate about the need for parents to take a more active role in education, and created the Parents’ National Education Union to this purpose.

A gentle, natural approach characterizes the Charlotte Mason method. Unlike the Montessori method, Charlotte Mason did not see the need for specialized materials. Instead of creating a child-sized classroom, the Charlotte Mason approach uses the natural environment of the home and the outdoors.

Learning at home is seen as more beneficial to children than being sent to school – Mason believed that children could benefit more from the positive example of adult role models and the calm, natural home environment than they could being in a large class of same-age peers.

The presentation of “Living Ideas” is key. Charlotte Mason recognized that children have an innate thirst for knowledge, and supported this by exposing them to great works of literature, poetry, art, and music. Textbooks are not used, nor are dumbed-down books for children, which she called “twaddle”. As children grow, parents are encouraged to read aloud from Shakespeare, and from the Bible – her purpose was to get children used to hearing the sounds of these older forms of English, so that in their older years they would not be so intimidated by it in their studies.

Narration is the main tool for learning and assessment of knowledge in the Charlotte Mason approach. Instead of giving tests, children are asked to narrate what they have learned or observed about a topic – in the early years, this is done verbally, and later on students are asked to do both verbal and written narrations. Charlotte Mason was very much opposed to testing, worksheets, and most typical homework.

What Charlotte Mason Does Well:

• The Charlotte Mason approach translates very easily to a homeschool curriculum – many parents are overwhelmed when starting out homeschooling, and the Charlotte Mason approach is quite relaxed and easy to adopt, particularly in the early years.
• Encourages observation skills and curiosity, which are the foundations of learning, and will serve children well throughout their education.
• Nature study! Time spent in nature is a core part of the Charlotte Mason approach, and forms the basis of more extensive nature and science studies later on.

Critiques:

• The Charlotte Mason approach for preschoolers does not typically include teaching the alphabet, and some parents do not feel comfortable with this. The focus is very much on free play and exploration.
• Fitting in the daily nature study can be difficult if you live in a very cold climate, or in a big city. You really need to make an effort to fit this in as much as possible, as it is a key part of the curriculum, and some families do not feel they can do this.

Is Charlotte Mason right for your family?

If you are thinking about homeschooling your preschooler, the Charlotte Mason approach is definitely worth looking into – the beauty of homeschooling is that you are the teacher and director of your school, so if there are things you wish to change or other methods you would like to incorporate, you can do it! You can go all-the-way Charlotte Mason, or simply take what you like. There is a large Charlotte Mason homeschooling community out there, so if you want to look into it, there is a lot of support to be found online (see some of the resources below). As this is mainly a homeschooling approach, there are very few schools out there applying Charlotte Mason methods – in fact, I only found one elementary school and no preschools. As I have mentioned, nature study is a key part of the Charlotte Mason approach, so if this does not interest you or you are really unable to spend time in nature, it may not be the right approach for your family.

Resources:

Ambleside Online – A free homeschool curriculum resource: book recommendations & weekly schedules, as well as full-text of Charlotte Mason’s original writings.

Simply Charlotte Mason – Online Charlotte Mason curriculum resource for homeschoolers, including schedules, books, tips, and helpful articles.

Charlotte Mason & Home Education – A wonderful blog & resource on applying Charlotte Mason principles to your homeschool practices.

“Nature Study – Charlotte Mason Style” – A fantastic article covering activity ideas, book recommendations, useful links, and loads of inspiration to get out into nature.

Handbook of Nature Study – A beautiful blog chronicling one family’s explorations of nature.

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