Ms. Mason’s approach to education involves more than a curriculum. Her method of teaching children involved a few guiding principles.

• Close up observation and study of God’s creation to the benefit of the mind, body, and soul
• Ideas over facts
• Quality over quantity
• Habit training for both parents and children
• Meeting children where they are
• Challenging children to excellence
• Letting children engage directly with information as soon as they are ready
• Words, words, words

Implementing the Charlotte Mason Method

Because the Charlotte Mason method is more of an approach,  focused on ideas rather than facts, it can be difficult for today’s homeschoolers to blend modern curricula with Charlotte Mason’s methods. This difficulty is especially evident in elementary and middle school.

 

For example, most modern curricula designed for elementary students ask them to write sentences about imaginary events or about their experiences. While these programs can be helpful, they don’t allow students to identify the areas in which they need to grow. Why?

WITH MODERN WRITING PROGRAMS,
CHILDREN’S WEAKNESSES OFTEN OVERSHADOW THEIR STRENGTHS!

• Some children have more difficulty with spelling.
• Some children have more difficulty with grammar.
• Some children have more difficulty with recalling information.
• Some children may have difficulty with the physical act of writing.

 

Focusing on Reading, Writing, and ‘Rithmetic

 

Remember the old saying–reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic? During the elementary years, the skills of learning the 3 R’s should be the primary focus of a child’s education.

While modern government schools are centering their students’ education on test taking, a Charlotte Mason approach focuses on allowing children to master the skills of learning before forcing them to deal with facts. And because the approach allows them to deal with real world ideas, children learn to grapple with these ideas in an age appropriate manner, teaching them to reason and think while they develop the academic skills they need for high learning.

Why is Teaching Writing So Hard?

One of the most difficult challenges that educators face is teaching students to write.  The reason is that the study of writing involves multiple steps that children are expected to grasp simultaneously–at least with curricula based on modern techniques.

Math is automatically broken down into topics–addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. Reading is also broken down into natural topics segments–vowels, consonants, syllables, phonics, etc. Writing, on the other hand, involves a sequence of steps that many modern educators fail to realize.

 

The Writing Steps that
Modern Educators Have Forgotten

Learning to write is a multi-step process for everyone. Learning to write involves:

• Having ideas to write about
• Knowing how to convey those ideas in words
• Knowing how to physically form the letters that make up the words that convey the ideas
• Knowing how to properly punctuate those ideas so that others read what you meant

To successfully teach children how to master the above steps, Ms. Mason developed a 3 step process to teach writing.

Step 1: Narration–having ideas to write about and knowing how to convey those ideas in words

The fundamental principle upon which the Charlotte Mason method of instruction is built upon is narration. Narration is the act of retelling. Children learn to write by retelling narratives that they read in history, science, and literature, preferably from reading selections which are thought provoking, enlightening, and engaging.

Step 2: Copywork–learning how to physically form the letters that make up the words that convey the ideas

Ms. Mason taught children to write via copywork. Her primary objective was to teach the children proper penmanship. But over the years, the benefits of copywork have proven to be far greater than simply handwriting exercises. By engaging in copywork, children digest the style of more seasoned, talented writers, and by doing so, they learn to create complex sentences.

Step 3: Dictation–knowing how to properly punctuate those ideas so that others read what you meant

A primary component of the Charlotte Mason Method of instruction is studied dictation. Studied dictation is different from traditional dictation because students actually study the models before they write them from dictation. This process has many benefits for younger students.

• It teaches them to identify words they don’t know how to spell.

• It teaches them to learn how to self-edit. Over time they will begin to know their weaknesses and work on ameliorating them before they write.

• It teaches them to actively study punctuation as part of the writing process rather than as a separate topic.

The Writing Through History series encourages and demonstrates studied dictation. Students needing more practice may use their copywork models for studied dictation. For more advanced students, a separate selection of dictation models are included in the appendix.

A Charlotte Mason Writing Curriculum

Writing from History