Learning about the Charlotte Mason method

I had stumbled on the name ‘Charlotte Mason’ a few times in the early years of my homeschooling journey. I never paid any attention because I was dealing with the fact that my first child was pre-verbal. I believed, albeit wrongly that my first step should be to help him talk and choose a homeschool program/curriculum that was 100% hands- on.

3 years later, I stumbled on some blogpost about the Charlotte Mason method. It was implied that narration works for every child and I decided to prove the statement wrong. I attempted to get my seven year old (at the time) to narrate, and he couldn’t remember anything. I think we were on the sixth chapter of the book,” Mr . Poppers Penguins” before he could narrate. I was pleasantly surprised. It was at this point that I decided to read as much as I could about Charlotte Mason principles.

Now, life got in the way and I decided to buy some Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum — ROOKIE MISTAKE ONE.

Even as a newbie, I could tell that there was nothing remotely Charlotte Mason inspired about that book. I hated it and my son hated it.

I’m still studying Charlotte’s Volumes. She was truly brilliant.I found amusing her disdain for another educationist’s methods. It appears that they had similar ideas about Mathematics but the jury is not out on that yet.

I think one of the most profound statements that Charlotte made is:

Having found the right book, let the master give the book the lead and be content himself with a second place.

As Margaret Mead said,

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”

It’s my goal that my children will love to learn, learn to think and care about their world.

and of course, LOVE books.