Author Archives: Admin

Episode 230: Education Is…

Charlotte Mason made several statements that began, “Education is…” This episode teases out many of her definitions of education. Emily, Nicole, and Liz discuss her perspective on education and how it applies to us today.

Listen Now:

“It is the old story; utilitarian education is profoundly immoral, in that it defrauds a child of the associations which should give him intellectual atmosphere.” (5/313)

“The earlier reformers, notably Pestalozzi and Froebel, divide the faculties up with something of the precision of a phrenologist, and a chief business of education is, according to them, ‘to develop the faculties.’ … There is a certain pleasing neatness in this idea which is very attractive. We want to know, definitely, what we have to do. Why, develop the perceptive faculties here, with the conceptive there, the judgment in this lesson, the affections in the other, until you have covered the whole ground, giving each so-called faculty its due share of developmental exercise!” In case CM sarcasm eludes you, she was saying no to all of that. Instead she said, “The mind, like Wordsworth’s cloud, moves altogether when it moves at all.” (3/92)

“[W]e perceive that the great work of education is to inspire children with vitalising ideas as to every relation of life, every department of knowledge, every subject of thought; and to give deliberate care to the formation of those habits of the good life which are the outcome of vitalising ideas. In this great work we seek and assuredly find the co-operation of the Divine Spirit, whom we recognise, in a sense rather new to modern thought, as the supreme Educator of mankind in things that have been called secular, fully as much as in those that have been called sacred.” (3/173)

“But these principles are obvious and simple enough, and, when we consider that at present education is chaotic for want of a unifying theory, and that there happens to be no other comprehensive theory in the field which is in line with modern thought and fits every occasion, might it not be well to try one which is immediately practicable and always pleasant and has proved itself by producing many capable, serviceable, dutiful men and women of sound judgment and willing mind? (6/32)

“You perceive the point of view is shifted, and is no longer subjective, but objective as regards the child.” (3/186)

“There are good and evil tendencies in body and min, heart and soul; and the hope set before us is that we can foster the good so as to attenuate the evil; that is, on condition that we put Education in her true place as the handmaid of Religion.” (6/I/46)

Even Better than Eden, Nancy Guthrie

(Contains affiliate links)

Episode 10: Things, The Materials of Education

Episode 4: Three Tools of Education

Episode 202: Short Synopsis Points 5-8

Episode 3: The Role of the Teacher

Episode 210: Short Synopsis Point 20

Episode 229: Exams

Term examinations in Charlotte Mason’s schools were mandatory. This podcast explores the purpose of examinations, what was covered, and how we evaluate our child’s performance.

Listen Now:

“The children write with perfect understanding as far as they go and there is rarely a ‘howler’ in hundreds of sets of papers. They have an enviable power of getting at the gist of a book or subject. Sometimes they are asked to write verses about a personage or an event; the result is not remarkable by way of poetry, but sums up a good deal of thoughtful reading in a delightful way…” (Vol. 6, p. 242)

“During the examinations, which last a week, the children cover say from twenty to sixty sheets of Cambridge paper, according to age and class; but if ten times as many questions were set on the work studied most likely they would cover ten times as much paper.” (Vol. 6, p. 241)

“The terminal examinations are of great importance. They are not merely and chiefly tests of knowledge but records which are likely to be permanent.” (Vol. 6, p. 272)

If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent’s Review articles that would be helpful for this episode’s topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy.

School Education, Appendix II

Teacher Helps–on sale Black Friday through Cyber Monday, 2021 with code “IDEAS20”

Bestowing the Brush

Sample PNEU Examinations from Programme 93

Sample PNEU Examinations from Programme 95 (click each link to see full Programme and Examination for each Form)

ADE’s Exam Planner

Examinations and the P.N.E.U. Pamphlet

ADE at HOME Registration Now Open

**Learn more here**

Episode 228: Mastery Before Moving On

Did Charlotte Mason advocate the common notion of “mastery before moving on?” Liz, Emily, and Nicole discuss this popular idea and, based on Miss Mason’s principles, the cases when moving on with or without mastery of a subject are beneficial for the student.

Listen Now:

“Besides, though this physical culture of the brain may be only the groundwork of education, the method of it indicates what should be the method of all education; that is, orderly, regulated progress under the guidance of Law.” (1/37-38)

“Almost as bad is the way the child’s intellectual life may be wrecked at its outset by a round of dreary, dawdling lessons in which definite progress is the last thing made or expected, and which, so far from educating in any true sense, stultify his wits in a way he never gets over.” (1/16)

“But the subject of our relations with each other as human beings is inexhaustible, and I can do no more than indicate a point here and there, and state again my conviction that a system of education should have for its aim, not the mastery of certain ‘subjects,’ but the establishment of these relations in as many directions as circumstances will allow.” (3/88)

Waiting on the Word, Malcolm Guite

Let’s Play Math, Denise Gaskins

(Contains affiliate links)

Episode 227: Writing–Transcription & Dictation

A Charlotte Mason education is grounded in principles of teaching, not just products. This is critical in the area of writing, whether handwriting or written composition. Since writing is essential, enjoy this re-release of our original show with some new preliminary comments.

Listen Now:

“I can only offer a few hints on the teaching of writing, though much might be said. First, let the child accomplish something perfectly in every lesson–a stroke, a pothook, a letter. Let the writing lesson be short; it should not last more than five or ten minutes. Ease in writing comes by practice; but that must be secured later. In the meantime, the thing to be avoided is the habit of careless work.” (Vol. 1, pp. 233-34)

“[T]here is no part of a child’s work at school which some philosophic principle does not underlie.” (Vol. 1, p. 240)

“The gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to ‘take’ (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first.” (Vol. 1, p. 241)