Are you searching for a teaching method for your child’s education? With so many options, it may be hard to choose just want to teach your child. The Charlotte Mason method is a great method of teaching that involves understanding your child as a person. It is based on Charlotte Mason’s belief that your child is a whole person, not just a mind to be educated. Her education is three-pronged incorporating the atmosphere, discipline, and life.
Here are 5 things you need to know about the Charlotte Mason Method:
The Mason Method Uses Living Books: Charlotte Mason believes in using books that are interesting to children instead of giving them raw, boring facts. She calls these books living books because a topic comes alive. For example, geography isn’t the most fun topic to learn, but when you take the setting of a real person in a living book and discover their location on a map, it brings geography to life and makes it more fun to learn.
The Mason Method develops good habits: Charlotte Mason believes that in order for children to prosper and become good citizens in society, they must learn discipline. She specifically addresses habits of the character using living books cultivating good habits in reading, learning and growing.
The Mason Method cultivates Knowledge learned in the environment: Did you know that what a child learns at home makes up 1 third of their total learning? Children absorb a lot from the environment, from their parents, and from doing. Therefore, she believes lessons should offer a quality time that you spend with your child each day cultivating those skills through communication and activity.
It is a completely applicable Curriculum: Because she focuses on living books, her curriculum is applicable to all areas of study. She brings math, science, social studies, and writing to life through stories and hands-on approaches. For example, math is done with all manipulative. Depending on the lesson for the day, you read a book about math such as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and use the concepts of counting throughout the day instead of one lesson. You would count your raisins at lunchtime, count your French fries at dinner, and count your cars as you play.
There is not a lot of Worksheets: With the Charlotte Mason method, you will spend less time teaching worksheets and more time reading, exploring the outdoors, and spending quality time with your child. Children learn through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Instead of fill in the blank type questions, your children are prompted to write thought-provoking answers to questions.
If you are looking for a hands-on, literature-based homeschool curriculum, Charlotte Mason has it all. Check out this book “A Charlotte Mason Education: A Homeschool How-To Manual” for more ideas! What else have you used from using the Charlotte Mason Method?
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- Different Types Of Homeschool Methods
- 6 Things About The Montessori Method
- How To Create A Homeschool Curriculum
