Charlotte Mason in a Nutshell

By Deborah Taylor-Hough
Discover an education revolutionary who loved God and children.

taken from a web page called A Charlotte Mason Education

A Charlotte Mason Education -
Charlotte Mason was a big thinker who had a very high view of children. So let me start out by saying that I don't believe anyone could ever fit Charlotte Mason's ideas, methods and philosophies into an actual nutshell (I just thought it made a good title for this article). Miss Mason's ideas were so broad and far reaching, it took six large volumes to contain her writings on just the topic of education. With that said, here's a very brief overview of a handful of Charlotte Mason's most familiar ideas.

TWADDLE:
Twaddle is what parents and educators today might call "dumbed down" literature. It is serving your children intellectual happy meals, rather than healthy, substantive mind- and soul-building foods. Charlotte Mason advocated avoiding twaddle and feasting children's hearts and minds on the best literary works available.

LIVING BOOKS:
Living books are the opposite of dull, dry textbooks. The people, places and events come alive as you read a living book. The stories touch your mind and heart. They are timeless.

WHOLE BOOKS:
Whole books are the entirety of the books the author actually wrote. If the author wrote a book, read the whole book. The opposite of this would be anthologies that include only snippets from other works—maybe a chapter from Dickens, a couple of paragraphs from Tolstoy, etc.

NARRATION:
Narration is the process of telling back what has been learned or read. Narrations are usually done orally, but as the child grows older (around age 12) and his writing skills increase, the narrations can be written as well. Narration can also be accomplished creatively: painting, drawing, sculpting, play-acting, etc.

SHORT LESSONS:
Charlotte Mason recommended spending short, focused periods of time on a wide variety of subjects. Lessons in the early years are only 10-15 minutes in length, but get progressively longer as the children mature. (Lessons increase closer to an hour per subject for high school students.)

NATURE WALKS:
In spite of often rainy, inclement weather, Charlotte Mason insisted on going out once-a-week for an official Nature Walk, allowing the children to experience and observe the natural environment firsthand. These excursions should be nature walks, not nature talks.

DAILY WALKS:
In addition to the weekly Nature Walks, Mason also recommended children spend large quantities of time outside each day, no matter what the weather. Take a daily walk for fun and fresh air.

NATURE NOTEBOOKS:
Nature Notebooks are artist sketchbooks containing pictures the children have personally drawn of plants, wildlife or any other natural object found in its natural setting. These nature journals can also include nature-related poetry, prose, detailed descriptions, weather notes, Latin names, etc.

ART APPRECIATION/PICTURE STUDY:
Bring the child into direct contact with the best art. Choose one artist at a time; six paintings per artist; study one painting per week (maybe 15 minutes per week). Allow the child to look at the work of art intently for a period of time (maybe five minutes). Have him take in every detail. Then take the picture away and have him narrate (tell back) what he's seen in the picture. Excellent prints can be viewed and purchased from the National Gallery of Art.

JOURNALING:
There's great value in keeping a personal journal, encouraging reflection and descriptive writing. Record activities, thoughts and feelings, favorite sayings, personal mottoes, favorite poems, etc.

COPYWORK:
Daily copywork provides on-going practice for handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc. Keep a notebook specifically for copying noteworthy poems, prose, quotes, etc.

DICTATION:
Each day choose a paragraph, or sentence, or page (depending on the age of child). Have the child practice writing it perfectly during his copywork time. Have them look carefully at all punctuation, capital letters, etc. When the child knows the passage well, dictate the passage to the child for him to recreate the passage.

BOOK OF THE CENTURIES:
A Book of the Centuries is a glorified homemade timeline; usually a notebook containing one or 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, etc.

FREE-TIME HANDICRAFTS:
Charlotte Mason's schools finished daily academics in the morning, allowing the afternoon hours for free time to pursue crafts and other leisure activities or areas of personal interest.

HABITS:
Charlotte Mason had much to say on establishing good habits in children. Habits (good or bad) are like the ruts in a path from a wheelbarrow going down the same trail again and again. As time goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to run the wheelbarrow outside the rut, but the wheel will always run smoothly down the well-worn rut in the path. By training children in good habits, the school day (and home life in general) goes more smoothly. Focus on one habit at a time for 4-6 weeks rather than attempting to implement a long list of new habits all at once.

Deborah Taylor-Hough is a wife and mother of three as well as a freelance writer, the editor of the Simple Times Newsletter and the author of the bestselling book Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month; and the new release A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs

We have been listening to different classical music almost every week, but most of our focus has been on Ludwig Van Beethoven. I happened on this terrific movie at the library about the little boy in whose house Beethoven rented a room as he wrote his ninth symphony. It not only gave us some insight into Beethoven’s life and personality, but it put the master’s most famous work in a context that the kids could relate to and understand. Ardara was in tears as we watched the last scene, where Beethoven is conducting the symphony and he can’t hear the audience right behind him giving a standing ovation, so someone from the orchestra has to physically turn him around to see that the symphony was a success.
Along with the video was an interactive DVD-Rom that had games teaching notes, games teaching music dynamics such as piano, staccato, forte and so forth. The kids loved it. I knew it had really taken root when Ardara was using Jarnli’s computer on Christmas with Jake DeWester and the Disney page they were on started playing Moonlight Sonata. Ardara called out from the other room “Mom! This is Beethoven!” How many six-year-olds recognize Beethoven without prompting?

The Number Cup

The Number Cup is part of the children’s introduction to Math. Each week we learn a new number and practice writing it. One day each week, they take turns drawing a number from the number cup. Next, they take the corresponding number of beans out of the bottom of the cup. They write down the number on their page and then draw the correct number of objects. Every week they each draw two numbers to practice this way.

The Legend of the Three Trees

A story of Sacrifice

G is for Goat

Our section on domesticated animals started off with goats. We looked at information about different breeds of goats and the useful ways that people use goats. We tried goats milk (the boys liked it, but Ardara and I thought it tasted too musky) and we used soap made from goat’s milk. We learned about cashmere and angora and kid leather. We did puppet shows of “Old MacDonald’s Farm” for each other, made a matching game with baby animals and their mothers, and even played Simon says with farm animal sounds.
The parallel lesson from the Bible was looking at sacrifice. We learned about the temple sacrifices of the Old Testament, and how Jesus’ perfect sacrifice replaced those imperfect symbols. We learned what “sacrifice” means, and discussed why sacrifice is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. We realized together how much Jesus must love us to make such a huge sacrifice for us. Our words to remember were “Jesus died for my sins”.
It was really special that this chapter came right before Christmas. We watched a little video called “The Legend of the Three Trees” which went along nicely, and we also read a story called “The Trees of the Dancing Goats” about a Jewish family during the scarlet fever epidemic, who sacrificed their special Hannukah toys to make pretty Christmas trees for all their sick Christian neighbors.

Ant City (1949)

A good video about how ants live. Better than an ant farm (but we will still make an ant farm this spring)!

I is for Insect

Our week on insects was a little disappointing. We were supposed to make an ant farm, and I had the idea that I wanted to make our own and not buy one. I didn’t realize that we would be on this chapter in December. There aren’t any ants anywhere! Luckily, we were still able to “Learn a lesson from the ants, you sluggard!” as commanded in Proverbs 6:6-9, by looking on Youtube.com at an old movie from 1949 called Ant City. It was very informative. We also read all about ants and how they live.
We used one day to study ladybugs, where our story “The Grouchy Ladybug” taught us to tell time as well as sequencing from smallest to biggest.
Another day was devoted to bees. We got a real honeycomb and examined it to see what the hard work of the bees can result in. Then we read a book about a diligent bear and a lazy bunny who both plant gardens. One works hard and enjoys the fruit of his labors and the other barely even tries and wonders why he gets no produce. Then we read 2 Thess. 3:10 that says “Whoever will not work, should not get any food.”
Our last day, we caught a moth to observe and identify body parts on (the only live insect we could find) and we read a book about an inch worm and did some measuring.
Obviously, our lesson learned from insects was that we should work hard. This lesson couldn’t have come at a better time, when the kids have been doing a lot of whining and complaining about their chores. It seemed to turn a few lights on that hopefully won’t burn out soon!

Water, Water Everywhere! by Sally Cheney

Guinevere lay on her tummy on the pool side lounge, her chin resting on her hands at the foot end, and her legs bent to rest up against the back. She was concentrating on a puddle of water flowing slowly from under the lounge toward the edge of the pool, coloring the grey tile of the pool deck a darker shade of grey as it flowed along. The puddle, she knew, was from water dripping off her body. She had been playing in the pool, practicing swimming underwater, and was proud to have been able to make it all the way across the pool to the other side without having to come up for a breath. But it had taken many tries before she succeeded, and now she was tired. The sun felt so warm and nice on her back as she rested on the lounge!
Guinevere and her brothers, Lance and Arthur, were visiting at Aunt Katie and Uncle Ted’s home in Florida for Christmas. It was going to be a very different Christmas from what they were used to back in the West, where sometimes it snowed on Christmas. At least there was cold, frosty weather back home, even if it didn’t always snow. What would it be like to sing Christmas carols wearing shorts, on a balmy evening? Guinevere was hoping it would still be Christmas-y, but she wasn’t sure it could be!
Suddenly a yell of “Wahoo!” shattered her thoughts and the silence, as Arthur cannon-balled off the edge of the pool right next to her lounge, and sent a shower of chilly water over her! Guinevere sighed at the interruption and rolled onto her back. She could hear Aunt Katie’s sprinkler hissing among the flowers nearby and turned her head to watch the sun sparkle on the spraying droplets. As she watched, the shining droplets became dull as a shadow passed in front of the sun. Guinevere looked up to see a big black rain cloud darkening the sky! “Bang!” went a thunderclap! Guinevere sat up quickly and called to Arthur and Lance, “Get out of the pool! There’s a storm coming! There might be lightning!” Just then “Crack!” went a flash of lightning! She saw Lance grab Arthur’s arm and both boys flew up the steps out of the pool and raced into the house, grabbing their towels on the way.
They stood drying off by the big patio windows, watching as huge raindrops quickly painted polka dots all over the pool deck, and then the entire patio was awash with rain. “Wow! That sure happened fast!” exclaimed Lance, a look of amazement on his face. “How could it be so warm and sunny one minute, and pouring rain the next? This doesn’t happen in Arizona!”
“Welcome to Florida!” sang Aunt Katie. “Get dressed and we’ll play Scrabble for awhile.”
Guinevere stood under a hot shower rinsing off the chlorine from the pool, shampooing her hair, watching the sudsy water circle around and around as it went down the tub drain. “Water to swim in, water to grow flowers, water raining down on us, water to wash in,” she whispered to herself. “What would we do without water? It’s everywhere!”
As they gathered around the Scrabble board, Arthur wrinkled his nose and said, “What’s that yukky smell?”
“Oh my gosh! The potatoes!” cried Aunt Katie, jumping up and running to the kitchen. “Oh no! They’ve run out of water and now they’re burned! Guess we’ll be having macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight!”
“So that’s what happens without water!” thought Guinevere with a smile. “Dinner burns!” And she added “Water to cook with” to her mental list of uses for water.

The next day was December 24. Christmas Eve! Guinevere always got excited as Christmas morning neared, as she wondered what presents she would get for Christmas. She got out of bed and went to sit in front of the little nativity that Aunt Katie had arranged on the coffee table. She picked up the tiny figure of Baby Jesus from his little straw-filled bed. “I know Christmas is all about you,” she whispered, “but its fun to think about presents, too! And you are still the best present of all.” She kissed the tiny forehead and placed the Baby back in his bed. Then she moved Mary and Joseph a little closer to their Holy Child. She missed her own parents. They had decided to celebrate their wedding anniversary this December by going on a special Christmas cruise. That’s why Guinevere, Lance, and Arthur were staying with Aunt Katie and Uncle Ted. The cruise ship sailed from Florida to some tropical islands, and while Guinevere was happy that her parents were able to go on such a nice vacation, she missed them. What would Christmas be like without her parents? As she pictured her parents happily sailing out over the ocean, Guinevere realized here was another use for water: sailing cruise ships! As she thought about Christmas morning without her parents, tears began to slide down her face. “Oh great” she thought, sadly, as she wiped away the tears. “More water!”
Uncle Ted came into the room in his robe and slippers. When he saw Katie looking a little forlorn, he sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Feeling a little lonely, Sweetie?” he asked as he hugged her close. “Maybe missing your folks just a little bit?”
“Yes”, Katie replied as she lay her head against Uncle Ted’s shoulder. “But I’m glad they got to go on the cruise. They’ve been talking about it for a long time.”
“Well, don’t you worry, we’re going to have a great Christmas ourselves! Your Aunt Katie and I learned long ago that Christmas may not be the same in Florida as it was in Arizona where we grew up, but people manage to make a happy Christmas wherever they are!”
“Make a Christmas?” Guinevere asked. “What do you mean make a Christmas?”
“I’ll show you! Come in the kitchen!”
“Back home in Arizona your family makes Christmas by doing the things that you all love to do every year, like putting up the tree, opening the little doors of the Advent Calendar, bundling up and going caroling, going to the church party. All those things are how you make Christmas with your family. Today Katie and I will show you how we make Christmas here at our home, in Florida!”
Uncle Ted opened the freezer and got out a can of frozen cranberry juice. Then, from the refrigerator he brought out a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and some yogurt. “We’ll start with our favorite Christmas breakfast!” he smiled. Grabbing the blender, he scooped in some yogurt, some cranberry juice concentrate, and some cranberry sauce. At the sound of the blender whirring, Lance and Arthur came running down the stairs.
“Katie!” called Uncle Ted. “Better get down here! The troops are starving, and you’re the Christmas waffle expert!”
There were a few moments of hustle and bustle as Katie arrived and started mixing something in a big bowl, Lance and Arthur set the table, and Guinevere was put to work chopping up fresh cranberries, oranges, and sugar in a big bowl. Finally everyone sat down at the table and bowed their heads as Uncle Ted thanked the Lord for His love that they were all feeling around them. He asked that Guinevere, Lance and Arthur’s parents be blessed with a wonderful, happy time together on their cruise. And he thanked the Lord that he and Katie could have “three wonderful children to bless our Christmas this year!” It was then that Guinevere realized that since Uncle Ted and Aunt Katie had never had children of their own, this was a special Christmas for them! In fact, much to her embarrassment, as soon as the “amen” was said, Arthur exclaimed, “Hey, how come you guys don’t have kids?” Something told Guinevere this was not something one should ask someone, even if one was curious to know! But Arthur was too young to realize that!
Aunt Katie and Uncle Ted didn’t seem to mind the question though, and Ted replied, “Well Arthur, the Lord hasn’t seen fit to bless us with children, for reasons of His own. That’s why we are so happy to have you three here with us this Christmas! Christmas is so much more fun when we can watch children enjoy it!”
Just then Katie brought to the table a big platter of RED and GREEN waffles! “Merry Christmas, everybody!” she laughed as she set the platter down in the middle of the table. Putting a green waffle on Arthur’s plate, she scooped up a big scoop of the sauce Guinevere had made, and plopped it on the waffle, topping it with whipped topping, and then, she even sprinkled the whipped topping with green and red sugar sprinkles! Uncle Ted filled each person’s glass with the cranberry smoothy mixture, and stuck a sprig of mint on top.
“Wow!” said Lance, as he took a sip, leaving a foamy mustache on his upper lip.
“Whoopee!” said Arthur, as he dug into his green waffle.
Guinevere glanced at Uncle Ted and he winked at her and smiled.

That night they all piled in the van and headed to the beach. Uncle Ted had promised a surprise. The children couldn’t imagine what could take place at the beach on Christmas Eve, especially in the dark. Lots of people had gathered to sit on blankets, glowing lanterns casting a pretty glow. Children were running around with Glo-sticks, laughing and playing. Suddenly a loudspeaker started playing Christmas carols out over the beach, filling the air with music. Everyone seemed to turn their heads at once, looking down the beach. Out on the water there was a beautiful sight making its way in the direction of the spectators. “It’s a fire engine! A fire engine in the water!” shouted Arthur, jumping up and down with excitement. “No, wait! It’s a fire boat!” he shouted. “Look! It’s spraying its hoses straight up in the air like a fountain!” It was true! The fountains of water sprayed high up from the sides of the fire boat, and the spray was lit up by green and red lights shining up from the deck. The fire boat tooted its horn and sounded its siren and everyone cheered. Behind the fireboat came dozens of wave runners, decorated with lights, looping and swerving and sending up their own sheets of spray! Behind the wave runners came small boats of all kinds with lights all over them. It was a glorious sight, as the colored lights reflected on the water! Guinevere had never seen a Christmas parade like this one! And then, at the end of the parade of boats came a big yacht, all covered in beautiful lights. And there was Santa Clause, sitting right on the bow, waving at the boys and girls on the beach! Suddenly beautiful fireworks filled the sky and “Jingle Bells” came over the loud speaker. Families joined hands and danced together on the sand as they laughed and sang with the music!
Gradually, the crowd became quiet, and Guinevere could see one more light coming across the water. A beautiful star appeared, formed of white lights. It was supported on a simple flat barge, towed by a little boat without any decorations. The lighted boats had all gone on and disappeared, and the only light left was the beautiful star. In the reverent silence, a voice came gently over the loud speaker: “As we travel to our homes tonight, let’s remember what Christmas is really about.” A lovely choir was heard, singing “Silent Night” as the star passed slowly by.
Later, after getting into their pajamas, everyone gathered in the living room. Uncle Ted asked Guinevere to light a little candle in front of the nativity. She guessed that Daddy had told Uncle Ted that this was a special tradition the children were used to, at home each Christmas Eve. Then the children snuggled up next to Uncle Ted and Aunt Katie, just the way they did with their parents every Christmas Eve, and watched the light of the little candle flicker on the nativity scene while Uncle Ted read the Christmas Story from the Bible, just the way Daddy did every Christmas Eve. It wasn’t exactly the same as home, but Guinevere knew Aunt Katie and Uncle Ted were trying to make it feel familiar for the children. And she knew her parents, far away on the cruise ship, were hoping their children were having a happy Christmas without them. Guinevere could feel the love her parents had for her and the boys.
As Uncle Ted tucked Guinevere into bed that night, he asked, “Well, Honey, how do you like the way we make Christmas around here?”
“It’s beautiful!” smiled Guinevere. “Thank you, Uncle Ted! Merry Christmas!”
As Guinevere lay in bed remembering all the fun of Christmas in Florida, she thought to herself, “I never would’ve guessed that with all the things we use water for, we could use it for making Christmas, too!”

W is for Water

December began with a study on water. We talked about how much of the earth’s surface is made up of water and all the forms that water is found in, from seas and lakes to glaciers to rain, snow and dew. We learned that water is necessary for all known life forms to survive.
We took a day to examine the properties of liquid. We poured water from one container to a differently shaped container and observed how it changes its shape to fit whatever container it is in.
Another day was spent examining solids. We found out that the freezing point for water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We put an ice cube in a glass in the window sill and one in a glass in the fridge and compared how quickly they melted back into liquid.
Thursday we learned about vapor or gas. We learned that the boiling point of water depends on the altitude. It is a higher temperature the lower you go. We read about the first hot air balloon and how the idea was conceived. Did you know that the inventor actually thought it was the smoke that was causing it to rise? Later it was discovered that hot air is lighter than cold air and that is why it rises.
On Friday we made a chart of Liquid/Solid/Gas and drew pictures of items that belonged in the various categories. We also had fun experimenting with what things would dissolve in water.
Our Biblical parallel this week was from John chapters 4 and 7 where Jesus tells us that anyone who asks will receive Living Water for their spirits. We talked about how our spirit can thirst for God and that Jesus gives our spirit the only thing that will quench that thirst—the Holy Spirit.


Thank you to Grammie Sally for writing us another awesome story, called “Water, water everywhere” for our week on water! Anyone who wants to read it, see the next post!