Today Kathy continues relating her family's story of their journey to a Charlotte Mason approach to education. I'm sure many of you have had similar journeys and would love to hear about them in the comments below! Enjoy!
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought,
into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.”
-Napoleon
Hill
While I was pregnant with our daughter, my husband I began
to talk about the subject of education. Looking at it from the logical
perspective, we had three options: public school, private school or home
school. The public schools in our geographical area were teaching topics which
were counterculture to our Christian beliefs. The private schools included the
Christian faith in their curricula, but were too expensive. The final
alternative was the words “home school” sitting on the table before us. As the
old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” so I began to research
the topic of homeschooling. I remember leaving our local public library six
months pregnant with a stack of approximately twenty books on the topic of home
schooling. After sifting through the stack, I narrowed it down to three: The Well Trained Mind, A Charlotte Mason Companion and Dr. Beechick’s Homeschool Answer Book. I
began reading voraciously.
The Well Trained Mind
was reminiscent of the way I had been educated. Dr. Beechick’s Homeschool Answer Book provided answers to the
questions swirling around in my mind; however it was the last book that truly
caught my attention, A Charlotte Mason
Companion. Knowing the background of my maternal grandmother’s education
helped direct me towards this particular book. I had “seen the proof of the
pudding” in her life and this was the educational experience I wanted for our
child. Eagerly, I shared my discovery with my husband and began filing away
mental notes for the future.
Fast forward three months. Our daughter was born at the end
of August and immediately we began implementing Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education via “living books.” Living books are defined as “books written by authors who have a particular fondness for their subject.” They are books which are well written, make the subject come alive and “get in touch with great ideas from great men”. I perused our book shelves, as well as the public libraries. Goodnight Moon, Blueberries for Sal, Winnie the Pooh, and Little House in the Big Woods are a few
examples of the living books I selected to begin reading to our daughter
during feeding time.
As the preschool years came and went, we began to think more
seriously about homeschooling. My husband and I had defined our goals and
objectives for education:
~Create and foster a lifelong love of learning.
~Provide a solid academic foundation that will last a
lifetime.
~Equip and prepare our daughter to be a leader, not a
follower, in the 21st Century.
So with these goals in mind, we were faced with the question of how do we go about executing our
educational philosophy? Initially, we settled for a pre-packaged curriculum
that billed itself as “literature based.” In reality it led our child to information overload and her burning out on education. I retrieved my copy
of A Charlotte Mason Home Companion
and began to read again. On paper it looked so simple but in reality it seemed to be a
daunting task. Where in the world could I find a curriculum that fit the
Charlotte Mason philosophy? I remember reaching my wits end and praying for
guidance one morning after my devotional time. After I prayed, I remember a
friend asking me if I had ever read Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book, For the Children’s Sake. Within minutes
I was online placing a hold for the book at our local public library. Once I
began to read For the Children’s Sake
I could not stop. Then one day while I was reading, the light
bulb finally went on in my brain. Charlotte Mason isn't about using a
particular curriculum it is about implementing
the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education using "living books." God
spoke to me through Susan's writing and I finally got it! Hooray! No more
searching and looking for the perfect curriculum because now I understood what
it was all about.
After the "light bulb moment" I got to thinking
"How did my great grandmother implement the Charlotte Mason philosophy of
education in her homeschool?" I remember my grandmother saying she only
had Home Education and Comstock's Book of Nature at the
beginning. From there she added books which met Charlotte's standards and
ordered them from Sears and Roebuck or J.C. Penney and the Wells Fargo man
would deliver them. From what I had gleaned from my grandmother’s experience
and readings, Charlotte Mason is all about the implementation of the
“philosophy of education" and how we apply it in our homeschools. I am so
thankful God led me to Susan's book. I felt like a tremendous burden had been
lifted from my shoulders and now our family could truly experience the truth
that “the life of the mind is sustained upon ideas.”
Thank you so much for sharing Kathy! If any of you have similar lightbulb moments, we'd love to hear about them! And if you want to know more about the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, check out the links below. You may also want to invest in a copy of For the Children's Sake. It's an excellent, inspiring resource you will turn to again and again.
Learn more about Charlotte Mason and our philosophy at BFB at the following links:
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