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Country Hills Academy
| My Charlotte Mason Cliff Notes |
Charlotte Mason was a 19th century British educator who positively influenced many families to employ her
early education and child training methods in their own homes.
Her motto was "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." Education is an atmosphere - that is, the
child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents, that of the ideas which rule their own lives.
Education is a discipline - that is, the discipline of good habits in which the child is trained. Education is a life
nourished upon ideas.
Charlotte saw children as thinking, feeling human beings, as spirits to be kindled - not as vessels to be filled.
She believed that and wanted children to be motivated by admiration, faith, and love - not artificial stimulants
such as stickers, prizes, or even grades. Rather than forcing a child's soul into the "system" mentality - "study
what you must to pass the test and get good grades" - she firmly believed in enabling the child to truly attain
knowledge. Education must be looked upon as a relationship between God and the child's soul.
Living Books - Charlotte believed every child should use and be read to from whole books. Whole books are
living books in the sense that they are written by one author who shares personally his favorite subject with
us, and we pick up on that enthusiasm. Text books, on the other hand, tend to be written by a group of
people, often times cramming in dates and facts needed to pass those tests. This makes for boring and dry
reading.
Narration - Charlotte believed - better than tests to guage a child's knowledge and understanding - narration is
the way to go. A child gains knowledge through his own effort. He tells the reading - whether read to him or
by him - back in his own words. The child learns new vocabulary and the descriptive power of good writers
as he "tells" his own version of the passage. By doing so, he "owns" the knowledge (see Teaching
Composition later)
No Homework - Charlotte believed that if children were educated using her pilosophy, there was no need for
homework in the elementary years because a child shows his mastering of knowledge during the time of
narration during the school hours. Studies have proven homework to be less effective than this form of
reinforcement.
No Grades - Using Charlotte's methods, students retained their inborn curiosity and developed love of
knowledge that they maintained all through their lives. Her students took exams/tests by narrating orally or in
writing from those whole books they had read - they either knew it or they didn't!
early education and child training methods in their own homes.
Her motto was "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life." Education is an atmosphere - that is, the
child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents, that of the ideas which rule their own lives.
Education is a discipline - that is, the discipline of good habits in which the child is trained. Education is a life
nourished upon ideas.
Charlotte saw children as thinking, feeling human beings, as spirits to be kindled - not as vessels to be filled.
She believed that and wanted children to be motivated by admiration, faith, and love - not artificial stimulants
such as stickers, prizes, or even grades. Rather than forcing a child's soul into the "system" mentality - "study
what you must to pass the test and get good grades" - she firmly believed in enabling the child to truly attain
knowledge. Education must be looked upon as a relationship between God and the child's soul.
Living Books - Charlotte believed every child should use and be read to from whole books. Whole books are
living books in the sense that they are written by one author who shares personally his favorite subject with
us, and we pick up on that enthusiasm. Text books, on the other hand, tend to be written by a group of
people, often times cramming in dates and facts needed to pass those tests. This makes for boring and dry
reading.
Narration - Charlotte believed - better than tests to guage a child's knowledge and understanding - narration is
the way to go. A child gains knowledge through his own effort. He tells the reading - whether read to him or
by him - back in his own words. The child learns new vocabulary and the descriptive power of good writers
as he "tells" his own version of the passage. By doing so, he "owns" the knowledge (see Teaching
Composition later)
No Homework - Charlotte believed that if children were educated using her pilosophy, there was no need for
homework in the elementary years because a child shows his mastering of knowledge during the time of
narration during the school hours. Studies have proven homework to be less effective than this form of
reinforcement.
No Grades - Using Charlotte's methods, students retained their inborn curiosity and developed love of
knowledge that they maintained all through their lives. Her students took exams/tests by narrating orally or in
writing from those whole books they had read - they either knew it or they didn't!
I am in awe of Charlotte Mason. She was a wonderfully gifted and talented
teacher who understood how children think and learn. I could read material by her
and about her and STILL learn new things. My notes here are only a brief
introduction to give you a taste of what her metholodology is about, and I strongly
encourage you to read up on her. I have some recommendations here.
teacher who understood how children think and learn. I could read material by her
and about her and STILL learn new things. My notes here are only a brief
introduction to give you a taste of what her metholodology is about, and I strongly
encourage you to read up on her. I have some recommendations here.
Short Lessons - Charlotte believed in short subject lessons - 15-20 minutes per subject for children in
elementary school; 30 minutes for children in junior high; 45 minutes for high school. She believed that short
lessons helped maintain attention, discourage dawdling, and encouraged the child to concentrate and put forth
his best effort. If the child gets frustrasted or silly over a lesson, it's time to put it away. It's better to go
back to it later with freshened wits to his unfinished task.
Free Afternoons - Using the Charlotte Mason method, formal lessons are done in the mornings and end at
1pm or earlier for younger children (high schoolers will likely need some afternoon study time). Overall, the
afternoons are left for the children to delve into whatever interests them - playing, reading, drawing, enjoying
the outdoors, etc. Structured mornings are followed by unstructured afternoons in which the children are
free to be children and follow their own interests.
Habit for Learning - The formation of good habits is one of the foundational teachings of Charlotte Mason.
According to Charlotte, children must make their own choice to do their work without dawdling. Children
must be taught good habits and that there is satisfaction to do the day's work in the morning, and be free to
enjoy the afternoon's leisure. Charlotte said "The mother needs to acquire her own habit of training her
children so that,by and by, it is not troublesome to her, but a pleasure. She devotes herself to the formation
of one habit in her children at a time, doing no more than watch over those already formed."
The Atmosphere of Home - There is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and
lasting effect as the atmostphere of home. Charlotte said, "Ideas are held in that thought environment which
surrounds the child as an atmosphere, in which he breathes in unconcious ideas of right living emanating from
his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every work of kindness and act of help, passes
into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things,
may neer think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency [relationship] towards something
out of which most of his actions spring."
Good manners and true politeness simply consist of treating others must as you like to be treated yourself.
This polite treatment comes from a little direct teaching but is also the result of a caring home atmosphere
where a child will acquire a servant's heart.
How much influence the world has over our children really depends on what standards we set at home - the
standards by which the children are accustomed to measure things - and the strength of the family ties.
According to Queen Victoria, the greatest axium of all is that children should be brought up as simply and in
as domestic a way as possible, and that (not interfering with their lessons) they should be as much as possible
with their parents, and learn to place the greatest confidence in them and in all things.
elementary school; 30 minutes for children in junior high; 45 minutes for high school. She believed that short
lessons helped maintain attention, discourage dawdling, and encouraged the child to concentrate and put forth
his best effort. If the child gets frustrasted or silly over a lesson, it's time to put it away. It's better to go
back to it later with freshened wits to his unfinished task.
Free Afternoons - Using the Charlotte Mason method, formal lessons are done in the mornings and end at
1pm or earlier for younger children (high schoolers will likely need some afternoon study time). Overall, the
afternoons are left for the children to delve into whatever interests them - playing, reading, drawing, enjoying
the outdoors, etc. Structured mornings are followed by unstructured afternoons in which the children are
free to be children and follow their own interests.
Habit for Learning - The formation of good habits is one of the foundational teachings of Charlotte Mason.
According to Charlotte, children must make their own choice to do their work without dawdling. Children
must be taught good habits and that there is satisfaction to do the day's work in the morning, and be free to
enjoy the afternoon's leisure. Charlotte said "The mother needs to acquire her own habit of training her
children so that,by and by, it is not troublesome to her, but a pleasure. She devotes herself to the formation
of one habit in her children at a time, doing no more than watch over those already formed."
The Atmosphere of Home - There is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and
lasting effect as the atmostphere of home. Charlotte said, "Ideas are held in that thought environment which
surrounds the child as an atmosphere, in which he breathes in unconcious ideas of right living emanating from
his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every work of kindness and act of help, passes
into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things,
may neer think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency [relationship] towards something
out of which most of his actions spring."
Good manners and true politeness simply consist of treating others must as you like to be treated yourself.
This polite treatment comes from a little direct teaching but is also the result of a caring home atmosphere
where a child will acquire a servant's heart.
How much influence the world has over our children really depends on what standards we set at home - the
standards by which the children are accustomed to measure things - and the strength of the family ties.
According to Queen Victoria, the greatest axium of all is that children should be brought up as simply and in
as domestic a way as possible, and that (not interfering with their lessons) they should be as much as possible
with their parents, and learn to place the greatest confidence in them and in all things.
Education is a Way of Life - Karen Andreola said that homeschooling is really all about living the educational
life with our children.
Self-education is not dependent upon a system of artificial rewards, prizes, and grade scores, because it is not
bound to a "system" of education, but a method of learning. A system and a method are two different things.
A system depends on a cycle of tedium: read the textbook chapter, answer the questions at the end of the
chapter, take the test, get the grade, move on. A system makes the process more important than either the
information or the learner. On the other hand, a method emphasizes the process by which the goal is attained.
If the goal is an education child, a variety of means will best achieve it.
In Charlotte's schools, self-education was achieved by a steady diet of the best books combined with the use
of narration to develop retention and understanding of what was read.
Charlotte said that we can only assert that knowledge is that which we know, and the learner knows only by a
definite act of knowing which he performs by himself. We want a child's own mind to act on the text so that
he knows it - it becomes his own possession.
Charlotte said that ideas must reach us directly from the mind of the thinker, and it is chiefly by means of the
books they have written that we get in touch with the best minds.
We as teacher parents need to let our children get at the books themselves, and not let them be flooded by
diluted talk from us. Children must be allowed to ruminate, must be left alone with their own thoughts.
When children are guided to seek after something to think about during their home life, they will continue this
habit throughout their lives.
We can't teach our children everything, but we can expand their horizons with a wide range of interests and
then practice the fine art of education - that art of standing aside to let the child develop the relations proper to
him.
Charlotte said "We endeavor that he shall have relations of pleasure and intimacy established with as many as
possible of the interests proper to him; not learning a slight or incomplete smattering about this or that, but
plunging into vital knowledge..."
Charlotte's method of education teaches children to care. They go beyond just becoming interested in
someone or something. They develop a deeper understanding - a greater appreciation - when relations are
formed.
life with our children.
Self-education is not dependent upon a system of artificial rewards, prizes, and grade scores, because it is not
bound to a "system" of education, but a method of learning. A system and a method are two different things.
A system depends on a cycle of tedium: read the textbook chapter, answer the questions at the end of the
chapter, take the test, get the grade, move on. A system makes the process more important than either the
information or the learner. On the other hand, a method emphasizes the process by which the goal is attained.
If the goal is an education child, a variety of means will best achieve it.
In Charlotte's schools, self-education was achieved by a steady diet of the best books combined with the use
of narration to develop retention and understanding of what was read.
Charlotte said that we can only assert that knowledge is that which we know, and the learner knows only by a
definite act of knowing which he performs by himself. We want a child's own mind to act on the text so that
he knows it - it becomes his own possession.
Charlotte said that ideas must reach us directly from the mind of the thinker, and it is chiefly by means of the
books they have written that we get in touch with the best minds.
We as teacher parents need to let our children get at the books themselves, and not let them be flooded by
diluted talk from us. Children must be allowed to ruminate, must be left alone with their own thoughts.
When children are guided to seek after something to think about during their home life, they will continue this
habit throughout their lives.
We can't teach our children everything, but we can expand their horizons with a wide range of interests and
then practice the fine art of education - that art of standing aside to let the child develop the relations proper to
him.
Charlotte said "We endeavor that he shall have relations of pleasure and intimacy established with as many as
possible of the interests proper to him; not learning a slight or incomplete smattering about this or that, but
plunging into vital knowledge..."
Charlotte's method of education teaches children to care. They go beyond just becoming interested in
someone or something. They develop a deeper understanding - a greater appreciation - when relations are
formed.
