There are a variety of home schooling philosophies, ideas about educating children and thoughts about how children learn best. This month, I want to take some time to explore some varying philosophies. I firmly believe that before making a commitment to a particular curriculum, it is worth your effort to explore different philosophies and decide for yourself what will work for your children and your family.
Charlotte Mason is interesting in that she readily admitted that her philosophy continuously evolved. She never claimed to have finished writing any book and claimed that she was learning along with her students. She believed children learned best naturally, through discovery and exploration.
At the core, the Charlotte Mason method is a literature based approach to learning. It is important to give your kids lots of books on a particular subject and you will use few, if any textbooks or workbooks. She believed in using “living books”. According to her, living books were those books that were filled with ideas from great minds. Instead of presenting dry facts, they present information ideas in a conversational manner in literary language.
Another key component of the Charlotte Mason method is that it heavily relies on narration as the primary means of evaluation. A child reads or is read to, and then explains what he has learned from the passage. Narration, can take on many forms such as drawing a picture in response to the passage, or writing a paragraph or simply explaining it.
Charlotte Mason also advocated the use of nature notebooks. Nature notebooks are records of what your child observes in nature. The date, common name, scientific name, and the location where observed should all be included. The notebooks may include art work and/or written descriptions. (And of course, they should be made by your child.)
There are other details to her method, but these three things are the basic tenants of the Charlotte Mason method. The Charlotte Mason method works well for home schooling several children at one time; especially since there is virtually no paperwork. To further investigate whether or not this philosophy will work for your family, you can check out these resources:
Charlotte Mason Research & Supply Company
Ambleside Online
The ABC’s of a Charlotte Mason Education
Penny Gardner’s Website
Related Articles:
Why I Homeschool My Son with Aspergers
Teaching Your Auditory Learner