Application of Charlotte Mason’s principles in many areas of life is the focus of the ADE monthly Q&A episodes. This month:  how do we manage children’s extracurricular involvements, when should we expect children to gain independence with schoolwork, and are daily scheduled timetables relevant for the homeschool as much as they are used in formal classroom settings.

Listen Now:

“Lack of proportion should be our bête noire in drawing up a curriculum, remembering that the mathematician who knows little of the history of his own country or that of any other, is sparsely educated at the best. At the same time Genius has her own rights. The born mathematician must be allowed full scope even to the omission of much else that he should know. He soon asserts himself, sees into the intricacies of a problem with half an eye, and should have scope.” (6/232)

“Let us look in at a home schoolroom managed on sound principles. In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time in not ‘as good as another’; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child’s attention to his work. Again, the lessons are short, seldom more than twenty minutes in length for children under eight; and this, for two or three reasons. The sense that there is not much time for his sums or his reading, keeps the child’s wits on the alert and helps to fix his attention.” (1/142)

“…[The] mother’s firmness as much as to her good management. In the first place, that the school tasks be done, and done well, in the assigned time, should be a most fixed law. The young people will maintain that it is impossible, but let the mother insist; she will thereby cultivate the habit of attention.” (5/195)

Letters from Mothers–submitted to the PNEU about the help received as part of that organization

Charlotte Mason’s educational method encompasses all of life. This podcast episode explores the possibilities of sharing and showing love as a family through acts of mercy and service to our neighbors near and far through an interview with friend and Mason educating mom of six, Vanessa Kijewski, who shares her experiences in training her children to give.

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“A child who is taught from the first the delights of giving and sharing, of loving and bearing, will always spend himself freely on others, will love and serve, seeking for nothing again; but the child who recognises that he is the object of constant attention, consideration, love and service, becomes self-regardful, self-seeking, selfish, almost without his fault, so strongly is he influenced by the direction his thoughts receive from those about him.” (2/288)

“The tender sympathy of the child must be allowed to flow in ways of help and kindness towards all life that anyway touches his. I knew a little girl of five, who came in from her walk under an obvious cloud of distress. ‘What is the matter, H––?’ she was asked. A quick little ‘Nothing,’ with the reticence of her family, was all that could be got out of her for some minutes; but a caress broke her down, and, in a passion of pity, she sobbed out, ‘A poor man, no home, no food, no bed to lie upon!’ Young as she was, the revelation of the common life in humanity had come upon her; she was one with the beggar and suffered with him. Children must, of course, be shielded from intense suffering, but woe to mother or nurse who would shield, by systematically hardening, the child’s heart. This little girl had the relief of helping, and then the pain of sympathy ceased to be too much for her.” (2/265)

“Love desires to give and serve; the gifts and the service vary with the age and standing of the friends; the child will bring the gift of obedience, the parent may have to offer the service of rebuke, but the thought of service is always present to Love. “Love not in word, neither in tongue,” says the Apostle, “but in deed and in truth”; that is, perhaps, “Do not rest content with the mere expression of love, whether in word or caress, but show your love in service and in confidence”; for the love that does not trust is either misplaced or unworthy. Love has other signs, no doubt, but these are true of all true love, whether between parent and child, friend and friend, married lovers, or between those who labour for the degraded and distressed and those for whom they labour. Let us notice the word degradation: it is literally to step from, to step down, and it is really a word of hope, for if it is possible to step down, it is also possible to step up again. All the great possibilities of Love are in every human heart, and to touch the spring, one must give Love.” (4/1/85)

“We owe knowledge to the ignorant, comfort to the distressed, healing to the sick, reverence, courtesy and kindness to all men, especially to those with whom we are connected by ties of family or neighbourhood; and the sense of these dues does not come by nature.” (3/85)

“Nothing is trivial that concerns a child; his foolish-seeming words and ways are pregnant with meaning for the wise. It is in the infinitely little we must study in the infinitely great; and the vast possibilities, and the right direction of education, are indicated in the open book of the little child’s thoughts.” (1/5)

Ourselves, Book I, Part III, Section II: Justice (Volume 4)

Love desires to give and serve by Vanessa Kijewski

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 2)

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 10)

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 14)

This podcast episode on Charlotte Mason’s method is the second part for discussion of paperwork and notebooks. In particular, Emily addresses all the things that help our children keep track of history chronology, and Liz and Nicole share ways they have managed the organization of papers and notebooks throughout the years.

Listen Now:

“The frame-work will prevent the events, which are given out of their historical order, from being shaken together into chaos. It requires considerable thinking power to understand time-relations in history.” (Beale, 604)

“The book should always be deeply interesting, and when the narration is over, there should be a little talk…pictures shown to illustrate the lesson, or diagrams drawn on the blackboard.” (1/233)

Home Education (Volume 1), p. 292

Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), pg. 177

Bernau’s Article on the Book of Centuries With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available

Beale’s Article on the Teaching of Chronology With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available

H.B.’s Article on the Teaching of History With much gratitude to the Charlotte Mason Institute for making this PDF available

Keeping Time: History Tools Teacher Training Video

Riverbend Press’ Streams of History Chart

Laurie Bestvater’s Book of Centuries

Another Book of Centuries from Riverbend Press

Hundred Squares Chart (Century Chart)

This Charlotte Mason education podcast focuses on the papers, the recordings, and drawings–all the reproductions of knowledge in the making. In particular, Liz, Nicole, and Emily address the explicitly described or preserved examples of various notebooks Mason’s students used from which we can glean ideas to benefit our own students today.

Listen Now:

“It is very helpful to read with a commonplace book or reading-diary, in which to put down any striking thought in your author, or your own impression of the work, or of any part of it; but not summaries of facts. Such a diary, carefully kept through life, should be exceedingly interesting as containing the intellectual history of the writer; besides, we never forget the book that we have made extracts from, and of which we have taken the trouble to write a short review.” (5/260)

“The children keep a dated record of what they see…” (3/236)

“Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasps, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragonfly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way.” (1/57)

“Let all he finds out about it be entered in his diary—by his mother, if writing be a labour to him,—where he finds it, what it is doing, or seems to him to be doing; it’s colour, shape, legs: someday he will come across the name of the creature and will recognize the description of an old friend.” (1/58)

“These note-books are a source of pride and joy, and are freely illustrated by drawings (brushwork) of twig, flower, insect, etc.,” (3/236)

“A flower and bird list should always be kept, and also any other lists which interest the individual-fungi, birds’ nests, insects, animals, fossils, etc. These lists work best kept in columns, with the name, number, and date of finding all on one line, and the next underneath and so on. Latin names, and names of families are a great help in classification and Latin names for flowers are invaluable, especially in cases where a single flower has a different name in practically every county.” (The Charm of Nature Study by G. Dowton, The Parents’ Review, Volume 41, 1930)

“In Science, or rather, nature study, we attach great importance to recognition, believing that the power to recognise and name a plant or stone or constellation involves classification and includes a good deal of knowledge. To know a plant by its gesture and habitat, its time and its way of flowering and fruiting; a bird by its flight and song and its times of coming and going; to know when, year after year, you may come upon the redstart and the pied fly-catcher, means a good deal of interested observation, and of; at any rate, the material for science.” (3/236)

“Calendars.––It is a capital plan for the children to keep a calendar––the first oak-leaf, the first tadpole, the first cowslip, the first catkin, the first ripe blackberries, where seen, and when. The next year they will know when and where to look out for their favourites, and will, every year, be in a condition to add new observations. Think of the zest and interest, the object, which such a practice will give to daily walks and little excursions. There is hardly a day when some friend may not be expected to hold a first ‘At Home.’” (1/54)

“Let him never work with figures the notation of which is beyond him, and when he comes to ‘carry’ in an addition or multiplication sum, let him not say he carries ‘two’ or ‘three,’ but ‘two tens,’ or ‘three hundreds,’ as the case may be.” (1/259)

For the Love of Physics, Walter Lewin

Emily’s Bird & Flower List Notebook

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The Charm of Nature Study, G. Dowton, The Parents’ Review, Volume 41

P.U.S. Programme 105

Nature Work at the House of Education, H.D. Geldart, The Parents’ Review, Volume 9

Some examples of HOE Nature Note-Books:

Episode 98: Drawing

Blog Post with Bird and Flower List examples

Sabbath Mood Homeschool’s Blog Post on the Science Notebook

Riverbend Press (email for notebooks)

Irene Stephens’ Article on Teaching Math

This week’s Charlotte Mason podcast episode is another Q&A session with Liz, Nicole, and Emily, notably:  is it okay to start a Mason education midyear? are the special studies books too simple and demeaning to our child’s intelligence? and what about a passage in Mason’s writings  that contradicts ideas she shares in other places?

Listen Now:

“Not what we have learned, but what we are waiting to know is the delectable part of knowledge.” (3/224)

“The real use of naturalists’ books at this stage is to give the child delightful glimpses into the world of wonders he lives in, to reveal the sorts of things to be seen by curious eyes, and fill him with desire to make discoveries for himself. There are many to be had, all pleasant reading, many of them written by scientific men, and yet requiring little or no scientific knowledge for the enjoyment.” (1/64)

“Away with books, and ‘reading to’–for the first five or six years of life. The endless succession of story-books, scenes, shifting like a panorama before the child’s vision, is a mental and moral dissipation; he gets nothing to grow upon, or is allowed no leisure to digest what he gets.” (5/216)

“The endless succession of storybooks, scenes, shifting life a panorama before the child’s vision, is a mental and moral dissipation; he gets nothing to grow upon, or is allowed no leisure to digest what he gets.” (5/217)

“They must grow up upon the best. There must never be a period in their lives when they are allowed to read or listen to twaddle or reading-made-easy. There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told…and we shall train a race of readers who will demand literature–that is, the fit and beautiful expression of inspiring ideas and pictures of life.” (2/263)

“In the first place, it is not her business to entertain the little people: there should be no storybooks, no telling of tales, as little talk as possible…” (1/45)

“The mischief begins in the nursery. No sooner can a child read at all than hosts of friendly people show their interest in him by a present of a ‘pretty book.’ A ‘pretty book’ is not necessarily a picture-book, but one in which the page is nicely broken up in talk or short paragraphs. Pretty books for the schoolroom age follow those for the nursery, and, nursery and schoolroom outgrown, we are ready for ‘Mudies’ lightest novels; the succession of ‘pretty books never fails us; we have no time for works of any intellectual fibre, and we have no more assimilating power than has the schoolgirl who feeds upon cheesecakes.” (5/214)

“Guard the nursery; let nothing in that has not the true literary flavour; let the children grow up on a few books read over and over, and let them have none, the reading of which does not cost an appreciable mental effort.” (5/215)

“‘Books for the young’ used to be few and dull; now, they are many and delightful.” (5/215)

Formation of Character (Volume 5), Part III, Chapter I

Gathering Moss

A Field Guide to Bird Songs (CD)

First Look at Books by Millicent Selsam

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Science, A Vast and Joyous Realm Teacher Training Video

A Vision for Children Teacher Training Video