Charlotte Mason Methods

Here are some other revolutionary concepts that Charlotte Mason recommended, which are important to incorporate in homeschool programs today. Many are concepts we use in Scrapbooking to Learn.

Narration: Narration is literally "telling back" what has been learned. Once you know you’ll be telling back you pay much better attention. This process involves sorting, sequencing, selecting, connecting, rejecting, and classifying. Narration increases the mind's ability to remember. Narration from ages four to nine should be done orally and casually by age 10 children begin to write out their narrations. The parent reads aloud from the Bible, text from a suggested resource, or content from a web site. Keep the reading about 10 to 13 minutes in length to keep their full attention on each reading. Don’t stop to explain or define words unless the child asks for a definition. The children "tell" what they have heard, either orally or in writing. Its a simple process, you read, they tell, you listen. You can also use this method after a child has read a passage. This process works well. The emphasis is placed on what they do know versus what they do not know. This training in essay-style examinations is a good preparation for college.

Copy Work: Mason taught that a child learns grammar best by copying selections from fine literature into a notebook. Have your child keep a notebook specifically for copying down noteworthy poems, prose, or quotations. Each day, choose a paragraph, sentence, or page—depending on the age of the child—and have the child practice writing it out perfectly during his copy work time. Copy work is underrated. It provides ongoing practice for handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc. as well as providing good exercises for teaching accuracy and attention to detail. Students discover things about the text they are copying that they would be unlikely to notice otherwise. Students learn correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and other language mechanics when they compare their work to the original and correct mistakes.

Dictation: In dictation the parent speaks as the student writes. As with copy work you begin by choosing a paragraph, sentence, or page—depending on the age of the child. Dictate the words to the student as the child writes. Make sure he is following punctuation and capitalization accurately. This is an excellent method for memorizing Bible passages.

Journaling: There is great value in keeping a personal journal. Encouraging the child to keep a record of activities, thoughts, feelings, favorite sayings, and favorite poems encourages self-reflection and descriptive writing.

Book of the Centuries: A “book of the centuries,” as Charlotte Mason called it, was a glorified timeline, usually a notebook consisting of one to two pages per century. As children learn historical facts, they make notes in their book on the appropriate century’s page about famous people, important events, inventions, wars, battles, and so on. Click here for Time Line Book instructions.

Art Appreciation: Children can be brought into direct contact with the best art ever created without too much difficulty. Choose one artist at a time, and six paintings per artist. Study one painting per week—even taking as little as fifteen minutes per week. Allow the child to look at the work intently for a period of time, such as five minutes, taking in every detail. Then take the picture away and have the child narrate (tell back) what he saw in the painting. It helps to have on hand a selection of prints that are copies of famous paintings.

Free-Time Handicrafts: Charlotte Mason advocated finishing all daily academics in the morning hours, allowing the afternoon hours to be free to pursue crafts, hobbies, and other activities of personal interest.

Twaddle: Twaddle is a term coined by Charlotte Mason that refers to dumbed-down literature—watered-down versions of classic works, which should be avoided at all costs. Using twaddle is like serving fast-food to your children rather than healthy balanced meals.
Living Books: Mason recommended that children learn from real books instead of dry, boring textbooks. When is the last time you curled up with a good textbook? Living books are real books that hold a child’s interest. The resources in the back of this book include hundreds of excellent living books. Most people think of historical novels, classic literature and biographies when they hear the term living books. I believe Charlotte would have included colorful information type reference books—full of great photographs and illustrations like Eyewitness, Usborne, etc.)—in her description of living books (if they had been available in her lifetime) because they also hold a child’s interest and motivate them to want to learn more.
Whole Books: Whole books are the entirety of the book that the author actually wrote. If the author wrote a book, then the entire book should be read, not just an excerpt. The usual classroom approach is to study a textbook that is essentially an anthology, including snippets from other works, such as a chapter from Dickens, another chapter from Hawthorne, etc.

Click here for book list by topic.

Short Lessons: Charlotte Mason recommended spending short, focused periods of time on a wide variety of subjects. In the early years of a child’s education, only ten to fifteen minutes should be spent on a subject at a time, which should be progressively increased as the child matures, until the lessons approximate an hour in length for high-school students.

Nature or Creation Notebooks: Mason used the term Nature notebook, I prefer using the term Creation notebook. Nature with a capital N may not have carried the same implication during Mason’s time as it does today. Using the term Creation is a constant reminder there is a Creator.

Children should keep Creation notebooks, artist sketchbooks that contain pictures they have personally drawn of plants, wildlife, or any other object found in its natural setting. Combine nature walks with field guides and creativity --include nature-related poetry, prose, detailed descriptions, weather notes, Latin terms, etc. Scrapbook kits (paper or digital) can be used to decorate students work to make a beautiful Creation Notebook.

Nature Walks: Despite the usual rainy, inclement weather in Great Britain, Charlotte Mason insisted on going out once a week for an official “nature walk,” allowing the children in her care to experience, observe and appreciate the natural environment [God’s Creation] firsthand. It is important to note, however, that these should be nature walks—allowing the child to experience nature for himself—rather than nature talks, in which the child primarily gets to listen to the teacher tell about nature. Children will discover frogs, worms, butterflies, beetles, birds, squirrels, mushrooms, berries, and much more, without any prodding from us.

Daily Walks: In addition to the weekly nature walks, Charlotte Mason also recommended that children spend large quantities of time in the outdoors each day, no matter what the weather. Take a daily walk for fun and fresh air. Said Mason, “That the child should be taken daily, if possible, to scenes—moor and meadow, park, common, or shore—where he may find new things to examine, and so observation should be directed to flower or boulder, bird or tree; that, in fact, he should be employed in gathering the common information which is the basis for scientific knowledge.”

Mason had much respect for children. She felt the need of three essential instruments explained in The Original Homeschooling Series Volume 3: