What to Look for in a Charlotte Mason Curriculum

What to Look for in a Charlotte Mason Curriculum

Charlotte Mason said education was an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. She believed children are born with ideas and knowledge, and they are not empty sacks to be filled with useless information. A Charlotte Mason education is priceless! If taught properly, children become lifelong learners, lovers of excellent books and ideas, eloquent speakers and writers, outdoor Creation and nature enthusiasts, and responsible citizens who gravitate toward Christlike, noble, and excellent ideals.

Children educated in a Charlotte Mason-style stand out. They look deeper, and they recognize the basis of true knowledge rests in the wonder of learning from the best – the best writers, the best artists, the best books, the best hymn writers, composers, poets, scientists, speakers, and the best Author of all time – the Lord Himself.

A Charlotte Mason education is worth pursuing for our children! It seems like a tall order; however, thanks to the outstanding Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum available today, it is well within each homeschool family’s reach. So, what should we look for if we long to homeschool our children with a Charlotte Mason curriculum?

Living Books and Authors

Living books are a Charlotte Mason staple. Charlotte Mason had a passion for living books being at the heart and center of a child’s education! Why? Well, simply put, “living” books make learning ‘come alive.’ They pull you into a subject and make you want to read more. Think about some of the books that have impacted you the most. These books spoke to you for one reason or another, and they stayed with you long after the last page was read. Living books do that.

Dry textbooks with encyclopedia-like writing do the opposite. In fact, instead of making learning ‘come alive,’ they seem to put us to sleep. Very few textbooks, if any, make their way onto our “favorite books” list. Living books are often written by authors that are passionate about one thing, and that one thing is the topic of their beloved book(s). The author passionate about what he/she writes produces a far different book than a group of people mass writing a textbook together. An education with living books is a lasting education, because what is read is remembered.

Look for living books and authors passionate about the topic they are writing about. Any excellent Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum should be known for its books and authors. If you see only textbooks, encyclopedia-like books, or books mass written and produced by groups of people – look further. You have not found a Charlotte Mason curriculum.

Oral and Written Narrations

Narration is a way of life! When children narrate, they tell back in their own words what they have just read or heard. It allows them to share their own version of the passage with accuracy, individual personality, spirit, and originality. Narrating is an essential skill in life. To be able to give an opinion of a book, relay a telephone message, summarize a letter, give driving directions, write an article, or share a doctor’s instructions – are all examples of practical applications of narration skills. Narrating is an important skill to learn.

Oral narrations and written narrations are the backbone assessment of a Charlotte Mason education. However, most of us who are homeschool teachers did not grow up narrating ourselves. Some guidance is appreciated and necessary!

Look for oral narrations starting to be assigned around the ages of five or six, and look for written narrations starting to be assigned around the ages of eight to ten. Also look for some guidelines for homeschool parents’ and children’s roles in both oral and written narrations, including how to approach editing written narrations. Any excellent Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum should include narrations and support for both parents and children.

Chronological History and Geography

The Charlotte-Mason style of learning is based on getting to know people and/or events in history. This is accomplished through the sharing of interesting stories of people’s lives or interesting anecdotes. Often times, these stories or anecdotes stay with a child over time. This Charlotte Mason approach to history allows children to make connections between people and events over time, rather than having us as parents make the connections for them.

Look for history to be taught chronologically with living books, and look for geography study to be connected to the history, especially as children grow and mature. If history is taught with a textbook or two, if history is not taught chronologically, and if geography is not taught at all, look again. You have not found a Charlotte Mason curriculum.

Study Method of Dictation and Copywork

Charlotte Mason’s style of studied dictation emphasized studying the passage in order to fix it within one’s mind. In essence, students practice the habit of making a mental or a photographic image of the text. They pay special attention to how the words are spelled, where the capital letters are found, which punctuation marks are used, and where the punctuation marks are in the sentence. Then, Ms. Mason had the parent/teacher dictate the passage phrase by phrase, had the children repeat the phrase, and had the children write it. This was all done from a single reading, without repetition. She then had children immediately fix any errors, using the passage that was studied for help.

Charlotte Mason believed the initial step to becoming a good writer was to first copy passages of excellent worth. Rather than encouraging creative writing with inventive spelling, Charlotte encouraged quite the opposite. In contrast, Charlotte had children copy meaningful passages of literary worth, line by line while looking at a model. Then, after children had mastered the art of copying neatly and accurately, Charlotte introduced them to creative writing.

Look for the study method of dictation and copywork to be part of the plans – any academically sound Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum will include these staples.

Short Lessons for Younger Children

Charlotte Mason advocated keeping lessons short for younger children. In Charlotte Mason’s words… “The power of reading with perfect attention will not be gained by the child who is allowed to moon over his lessons. For this reason, reading lessons must be short; ten minutes or a quarter of an hour of fixed attention is enough for children of the ages we have in view, and a lesson of this length will enable a child to cover two or three pages of his book. The same rule as to the length of a lesson applies to children whose lessons are read to them because they are not yet able to read for themselves.” 

Look for homeschool curriculum that uses a short lesson format in the early elementary education years. If one subject (i.e. reading, math, etc.) takes a much longer time proportionately to other subjects (i.e. Bible, science, etc.), seek out a Charlotte Mason curriculum that keeps lessons short in the younger years.

Timeline and Book of Centuries Entries

Charlotte Mason believed in children keeping timelines. In her own words… “Children will need to have the sense that what they’re reading has a specific time when it happened before their collection of knowledge gets too vast. To do this, make a century table, something like a timeline chart only longer. To make one, divide a long sheet of heavy paper into twenty columns. Put the first century in the center and let the rest of the columns represent a century, either B.C. or A.D. Let the child write the names of people he reads about in the the century they belong to. At this point, children don’t need to focus on exact dates, but this simple table of the centuries will give the child a graphic memory of when things happened. He will have a panorama of events pictured in his mind in the correct order.” 

Look for homeschool curriculum that includes children keeping a chronological timeline coordinated with the history they are studying. They will forever remember the order of history and the importance of placing historical events and people properly within that order!

Independent Reading 

Charlotte Mason said children ages 9 and on up, who were able to read their own books, should do so. She recognized not all 9 year-old children would be ready to read their own material. However, if they were able, she also recognized the importance of them doing so.

This doesn’t mean you should never read aloud to children past the age of 9! It does mean that for subjects where the child is reading to “know,” the child should be doing the reading if he/she is able.

Look for homeschool curriculum that includes appropriate reading levels and books for children to read independently at about the age of 9.

Knowledge of God and Science

Charlotte Mason believed the knowledge of God, as found in the Bible, is the primary knowledge and the most important. A few of my favorite Charlotte Mason quotes on this topic are… “The knowledge of God is the principal knowledge” and “The indwelling of Christ is a thought particularly fit for children because their large faith does not stumble at the mystery, their imagination leaps readily to the marvel, that the king himself should inhabit a little child’s heart.”

Charlotte Mason connected nature to God in countless ways and quotes. According to Ambleside online, “Science in the early years emphasizes nature study with an emphasis on close, focused observation of creation as a means to knowledge of God. Charlotte Mason was very excited about science. She felt that all the new things people were discovering in her lifetime were part of God’s revelation, including the theory of evolution which was accepted by many Christians at the time. Christians using her methods now can still identify with her emphasis on nurturing curiosity and a sense of wonder, although most will teach that from a creationist viewpoint rather than an evolutionary one.”

Look for a science to be taught with a living books approach in a God-honoring way. Look for a curriculum that matches your faith and beliefs! In homeschooling my own three sons this past 20+ years, I have chosen Heart of Dakota for many reasons, but one of the most resounding reasons has been the way it teaches science (and everything else) in a Christ-centered way!

Habit Training and Teacher-Directed Schooling

Charlotte Mason believed in including a healthy dose of habit training within education. According to Charlotte Mason…

“Consider how laborious life would be were its wheels not greased by habits of cleanliness, neatness, order, courtesy; had we to make the effort of decision about every detail of dressing and eating, coming and going, life would not be worth living. Every cottage mother knows that she must train her child in habits of decency, and a whole code of habits of propriety get themselves formed just because a breach in any such habit causes a shock to others which few children have courage to face. Physical fitness, morals and manners, are very largely the outcome of habit; and not only so, but the habits of the religious life also become fixed and delightful and give us due support in the effort to live a godly, righteous and sober life.”

So, how do you look for a curriculum that encourages the development of good habits? Well, you look for a curriculum that includes a healthy balance of time (i.e. no one subject takes too much time), a routine way of doing things (i.e. subjects are taught in a routine way), and a guide with plans that give clear instructions (i.e. for both parents and students). Any good Charlotte Mason curriculum will make clear the roles of all involved. But ultimately, it will recognize that schooling is teacher-led, not child-led. It does not leave education up to chance or to the flitting feeling or interest of the day.

Memorization and Recitation

Charlotte Mason encouraged recitation of beautiful poems, scripture, and hymns throughout a child’s learning. For twenty minutes each day, Charlotte’s schools planned for ‘Repetition.’ During ‘Repetition’ time, children would alternate between poetry, Bible, and hymns. Younger children recited a poem of their choice, a hymn, a Psalm, and several passages each six verses in length per term. Older children recited several longer Bible passages each about 20 verses in length, as well as three poems each term. Children also practiced hymns. As children matured, they memorized lengthier Bible passages and poems, and they added more hymns to their repertoire.

Just as Charlotte Mason’s living books differ from dry textbooks, Charlotte Mason’s recitation differs from rote memorization of dry facts. Just as Charlotte Mason lovingly and carefully selected living books, she also lovingly and carefully selected recitation sources. Poetry, scripture, hymns – one can see the line of thinking Charlotte had about what was worthy of recitation. Recitation is often thought to be synonymous with memorization, but Charlotte differentiated between the two.

Look for a Charlotte Mason Curriculum that includes memorization and recitation from excellent resources – such as the Bible, hymns, and poetry.

Additional Charlotte Mason Areas of Interest

A Charlotte Mason education is rich and full of depth. It includes many additional areas of study than the average education includes. Some additional Charlotte Mason areas of interest that come to mind are the following…

• Picture Study
• Poetry Study
• Composer Study/Classical Music
• Hymn Study
• Nature Journaling
• Common Place Books
• Shakespeare Study
• Foreign Language Study

All of these areas of interest should be addressed at some point. However, it is not feasible to address them every single day, every single year of homeschooling.

So, look for a Charlotte Mason curriculum that includes these areas of interest in a rotational, doable sort of way!

Finally, look to Heart of Dakota as your go-to Charlotte Mason curriculum! Heart of Dakota is a complete, Christ-centered, Charlotte Mason-inspired, literature-based homeschool curriculum that includes every single thing addressed in this blog post (as evidenced by the ample clickable links I included for each topic). Reach out with your questions – at Heart of Dakota we love Charlotte Mason, and we love to hear from homeschool families who love her too!

In Christ,
Julie