This Charlotte Mason podcast addresses the inclusion of the subject of Latin in the wide feast. The purpose of language study, Latin in particular, is discussed, as well as how Mason approached this traditional subject in a living way.

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“In this respect the Latin grammar is easier; a change in the form, the shape of the word, to denote case, is what a child can see with his bodily eye, and therefore is plainer to him than the abstract ideas of nominative and objective case as we have them in English.” (Vol. 1, p. 295)

“Latin is taught at the House of Education by means of narration after each section has been thoroughly studied in grammar, syntax and style. The literature studied increases in difficulty as the pupil advances in grammar, etc. Nothing but good Latin is ever narrated, so the pupil acquires style as well as structure. The substance of the passage is usually reproduced with the phraseology and style of the original and both students and children learn what is really Latin and realise that it is a language and not a mere grammar.” (Vol. 6, p. 213)

“You will see at a glance, with this Captain Idea of establishing relationships as a guide, the unwisdom of choosing or rejecting this or that subject, as being more or less useful or necessary in view of a child’s future. We decide, for example, that Tommy, who is eight, need not waste his time over the Latin Grammar. We intend him for commercial or scientific pursuits,––what good will it be to him? But we do not know how much we are shutting out from Tommy’s range of thought besides the Latin Grammar. He has to translate, for example,––’Pueri formosos equos vident.’ He is a ruminant animal, and has been told something about that strong Roman people whose speech is now brought before him. How their boys catch hold of him! How he gloats over their horses! The Latin Grammar is not mere words to Tommy, or rather Tommy knows, as we have forgotten, that the epithet ‘mere’ is the very last to apply to words. Of course it is only now and then that a notion catches the small boy, but when it does catch, it works wonders, and does more for his education than years of grind.” (Vol. 3, pp. 162-63)

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.

Home Education (Volume 1), Part V, Chapter XIX

An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Chapter X, Section II: The Knowledge of Man: Languages

Michael Faraday, Sam and Beryl Epstein

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“Why Learn Greek and Latin?” by R.L. Leighton, Parents’ Review, volume 10, 1899, p. 104

“Out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings” Parents’ Review, volume 3, 1892/93, p. 247

Charlotte Mason’s curriculum includes singing. This episode focuses on the art of singing, reasons why it should not be neglected in morning lessons, and addresses not only the why, what, and when of this subject, but gives tips on what a teacher is to do who is not personally trained or competent in leading singing.

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“With such a programme before his pupils only the uninstructed teacher will put undue emphasis upon and give undue time to arithmetic and handicrafts, singing, acting, or any of the hundred specifics which are passed off as education in its entirety.” (Vol. 6, p. 73)

“Children have ‘Art’ in them.” (Vol. 1, p. 313)

“Hymns with a story, such as: ‘A Little Ship Was on the Sea,’ ”I Think When I Read That Sweet Story of Old,’ ‘Hushed Was the Evening Hymn,’ are perhaps the best for little children.” (Vol. 3, p. 143)

“Certain subjects of peculiar educational value, music, for instance, I have said nothing about, partly for want of space, and partly because if the mother have not Sir Joshua Reynold’s ‘that!’ in her, hints from an outsider will not produce the art-feeling which is the condition of success in this sort of teaching. If possible, let the children learn from the first under artists, lovers of their work: it is a serious mistake to let the child lay the foundation of whatever he may do in the future under ill-qualified mechanical teachers, who kindle in him none of the enthusiasm which is the life of art.” (Vol. 1, p. 314)

“I should like, in connection with singing, to mention the admirable educational effects of the Tonic Sol-fa method. Children learn by it in a magical way to produce sign for sound and sound for sign, that is, they can not only read music, but can write the notes for, or make the proper hand signs for, the notes of a passage sung to them. Ear and Voice are simultaneously and equally cultivated.” (Vol. 1, pp. 314-15)

“[T]he child’s knowledge of the theory of music and his ear training keep pace with his power of execution, and seem to do away with the deadly dreariness of ‘practising.'” (Vol. 1, p. 315)

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.

Home Education (Volume 1), Part V, Chapter XXI

Ourselves (Volume 4), Book I, Part III, Chapter XI

Little Songster

Children of the Open Air

Sing Solfa

Sight Singing School

The increasing popularity of Charlotte Mason’s method of education means an increase in misconceptions and misinformation. This episode tackles some of the “myths” that have circulated, particularly regarding what makes a living book or a textbook, what books are used in the Bible lesson, and that reading and narration are the only content of a lesson.

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“Again, we need not always insist that a book should be written by the original thinker. It sometimes happens that second-rate minds have assimilated the matter in hand, and are able to give out what is their own thought (only because they have made it their own) in a form more suitable for our purpose than that of the first-hand thinkers. We cannot make any hard and fast rule––a big book or a little book, a book at first-hand or at second-hand; either may be right provided we have it in us to discern a living book, quick, and informed with the ideas proper to the subject of which it treats.” (Vol. 3, p. 178)

“For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information is to it as a meal of sawdust to the body; there are no organs for the assimilation of the one more than of the other.” (Vol. 6, p. 105)

“But we are considering, not the religious life of children, but their education by lessons; and their Bible lessons should help them to realise in early days that the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and, therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.” (Vol. 1, p. 251)

The Book of Golden Deeds

Parables From Nature

Child’s Book of Saints

Holy War

Confessions of St. Augustine

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Saviour of the World

Episode 10: Things

Sabbath Mood Homeschool’s Living Science Study Guides

This Charlotte Mason podcast addresses frequently asked questions: was Mason’s method designed first and foremost for the classroom? Is it essential to have a poetry teatime or morning time?

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“The Parents’ Union School, originally organised for the benefit of children educated at home, is worked by means of programmes followed by examination papers sent out term by term. When the same work, if not the whole of it, was taken up by Council Schools, the advantage of such an organisation was apparent, especially in that it afforded a common curriculum for children of all classes. By using this curriculum we were enabled to see that the slum child in a poor school compares quite favourably with the child of clever or opulent parents who had given heed to his education.” (Vol. 6, p. 293)

In Memoriam

Charlotte Mason died nearly a hundred years ago, but her ideas have continued to thrive. This episode addresses a few notions that exist that do not necessarily reflect hers. Based on listener questions, we address this Q&A to some of the myths that circulate.

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“Readings in literature, whether of prose or poetry, should generally illustrate the historical period studied; but selections should be avoided; children should read the whole book or the whole poem to which they are introduced.” (Vol. 6, p. 340)

“Knowledge is a state out of which people may pass and into which they may return but never a store upon which they may draw.” (In Memoriam)

Schools should only be admitted as Parents’ Review Schools if “the amount of time for each of these subjects shall not be more nor less than that stated in the Time-Table.” (“Suggestions” PNEU Pamphlet, 1906)

“There is no selection of studies, or of passages or of episodes, on the ground of interest. The best available book is chosen and is read through perhaps in the course of two or three years.” (Vol. 6, p. 7)

“We need not ask what the girl or boy likes. She very often likes the twaddle of goody-goody story books, he likes condiments, highly-spiced tales of adventure. We are all capable of liking mental food of a poor quality and a titillating nature; and possibly such food is good for us when our minds are in need of an elbow-chair; but our spiritual life is sustained on other stuff, whether we be boys or girls, men or women. By spiritual I mean that which is not corporeal; and which, for convenience sake, we call by various names––the life of thought, the life of feeling, the life of the soul.” (Vol. 3, p. 168)

The completeness with which hundreds of children reject the wrong book is a curious and instructive experience, not less so than the avidity and joy with which they drain the right book to the dregs; children’s requirements in the matter seem to be quantity, quality and variety: but the question of books is one of much delicacy and difficulty. After the experience of over a quarter of a century in selecting the lesson books proper to children of all ages, we still make mistakes, and the next examination paper discovers the error! Children cannot answer questions set on the wrong book; and the difficulty of selection is increased by the fact that what they like in books is no more a guide than what they like in food.” (Vol. 6, p. 248)

Madam How and Lady Why

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In Memoriam

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