In previous posts, I and other homeschool bloggers here at families.com have discussed our experiences with charlotte mason curriculum. In my last post, I supplied Charlotte Mason Vocabulary for the letters A – B , C-E and F-H. In this installment I will discuss I-M.
Ideas: The charlotte Mason philosophy is based on ideas. To quote Charlotte Mason, “Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another. The duty of parents is to sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food.”
Journal keeping: Children are encouraged to keep a journal as soon as they are able. By the age of 10, children are required to write on a daily basis. These journals are not corrected as dictation and copy work are.
Languages: Learning foreign languages is a very important part of a Charlotte Mason Education. Language is taught incrementally by first teaching names and simple phrases and them moving on to common items, and finally phrases , scripture they are already familiar with, and vocabulary. Copy work is used in language lessons. In addition to the traditional foreign languages, sign language is also encouraged.
Mathematics: Math instructions are also taught separately of the Charlotte Mason Approach. However, Charlotte Mason had very distinct ideas as to how math should be taught. She felt math should learn concrete elements before abstract. She felt that it should be taught one step at a time. She felt that math should be taught orally, including word problems and that manipulative should also be used. The only time she felt math should be done on paper was for the purpose of testing.
Read:
A little Bit of Charlotte Mason
More Charlotte Mason: An atmosphere, a discipline, a life
Charlotte Mason: Reluctant Narrators
More on Charlotte Mason and Living Books
More on Charlotte Mason: The “Science of Relations”
Charlotte Mason: What’s the Point of Copywork?