Who is Charlotte Mason and what is her Education Philosophy?

“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” -Charlotte Mason

My idea for this series of posts is to send you to different people who are using the Charlotte Mason method in their homeschool so you can see their method in action. But I want to give you some background on what I am going to be talking about.

I first learned about Charlotte Mason when my oldest son was 2 years old; he is now 10 years old. Every year has been a progression in understanding this method. The reason I say that is because I was so excited with the ideas that I wanted to skip the why and get right to the “how to” and in doing that I was missing the whole reason why I was attracted to Charlotte Mason in the first place.

I know trying to learn the method is overwhelming at first because it is a way of life, it doesn’t fit into a block of time during your day, but it is worth it. Even if you just start with one subject or point (which you will learn soon) and gradually take on anther one or two as you become comfortable, you will see why it is worthwhile to take the time to understand the philosophy behind the method.

What have you come for?

“I have come to learn to teach.”

You have come to learn to live.

–Charlotte Mason

The first place to point you to is the source, of course. Charlotte Mason wrote a 6 book series called The Original Homeschooling Series. You can read it online here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html Notice that you can read it in the original language or our modern language, plus there are a bunch of other options.

Which has to lead into introducing the wonderful ladies at Ambleside Online http://www.amblesideonline.org/AOstory.shtml who are homeschool mothers that have volunteered their time to help each other and us learn how to use this method. Here is their introduction to Charlotte Mason: http://www.amblesideonline.org/WhatIsCM.shtml and one other page about what a Charlotte Mason education is and is not: http://www.amblesideonline.org/FAQ.shtml#aboutcm

Charlotte Mason listed 20 principles that summarize the foundation to her method: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/20Principles.html

Lindafay at Higher Up and Further In has been a huge inspiration to me and here is her explanation of why she has chosen this method. http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2006/06/why-charlotte-mason-education.html

Deborah Taylor-Hough and Catherine Levison at Charlotte Mason & Home Education give us a good summary of Charlotte Mason: http://charlottemasoneducation.wordpress.com/charlotte-mason/who-is-charlotte-mason/

Jessica at Established Works tells us How I found Charlotte Mason and Why we use it: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Creativemommy/651515/

Lynn B Hocraffer gives us her notes as she read the original Charlotte Mason Home Education Series. Here is her introduction and some history on Charlotte Mason: http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/SeriesStudy.html

Art, a homeschool Dad, reflects on how a Charlotte Mason education has affected him: http://childlightusa.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/a-dangerous-adventure-by-art-in-kenosha/ You can read more of his thoughts at Le jardin Feerique: http://lejardinfeerique.blogspot.com/

Here is a brief summary of the why and then the how of a Charlotte Mason education. It is an article by Cindy Rushton. http://www.texashomeeducators.com/acharlottemasonprimer.htm

There are many more articles I could post but this topic can be overwhelming so I will stop here. I hope this gives you a good start to understanding the big picture of what it means to use the Charlotte Mason method in your homeschool, pubic or private school.

Update 8-1-09: Here is another good resource http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/