I usually describe our family’s homeschool approach as “classically eclectic with a little twist of Charlotte Mason.” I recently described our more eclectic qualities, so I thought it might be time to share our Charlotte Mason twist.
Charlotte Mason believed in the educational benefits of things like copywork, narration, nature study, poetry, the Bible, art, free afternoons to explore and much more. She believed that children learn about the world by becoming a part of it through “first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas.” (Ambleside Online)
Our primary method of learning about most subjects is through books. Not dry textbooks full of names and dates to be memorized, but what Charlotte Mason called “living books” — biographies and historical fiction being some of our favorites. I probably choose more “twaddle” type books than Ms. Mason would have chosen, but, hey, we just have a “twist” of Charlotte Mason.
The idea for our Scripture Memory Box came from the Simply Charlotte Mason website. We use the box every day and I have been pleasantly surprised at how many Scripture verses the kids (and I!) have learned over the last couple of years. We’ve also tried Pet Shop Math from the Simply Charlotte Mason website. My older daughter enjoyed that and I thought it was a great resource for realistic consumer math.
We’re big fans of copywork and dictation here, thought I don’t use narration as often as I should. For us, copywork and dictation have served as (or a supplement to) our “curriculum” for spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, vocabulary and handwriting, just to name a few.
We always try to include some type of study of the fine arts, such as music and art classes. This year, we’ve also added an informal co-op with friends, which covers art instruction, an artist and composer study and “tea time.” Additionally, we’re trying really hard to be consistent with our nature study, which, in addition to giving us a better understanding of the world around us, can help us to better understand the God who created it.
As you can see, the Charlotte Mason principals that we embrace as part of our homeschooling style don’t really put us firmly in the CM camp, but the “twist” definitely enhances our education.
Does your family add a little twist of CM to your days?
Kris is the classically eclectic, slightly Charlotte Mason mom to her Three Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.
photo by busymommy
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