Education is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another. The duty of parents is to sustain a child's inner life with ideas as they sustain his body with food." (Volume 2, pg. 39 of her Homeschooling Series)
I had heard of Charlotte Mason before today, although I hadn't known much about her. It was pretty much in passing that I saw the name of this philosophy anywhere. However, today while perusing Homeschooling from the Heart I happened to chance upon a couple of books alking about it. The cover of one attracted me so I chose to take a look at it. I'm in love.
This philosophy incorporates nature notebooks, narration and copywork, languages, Fine Arts, a Literature based instead of textbooks, and real-life applications. My family are voracious readers and we have as many bookshelves stuffed in as we can find room for, all of which are overflowing with books several rows deep. And books live wherever else they can find a home, such as a homemade chest made for my oldest son on the occasion of his birth by his paternal great grandfather.
I am not a huge fan of workbooks, but having been taught with them myself in a "normal" education, I find it hard to break away from them. It kind of twists the brain as I try to climb out of the box. I felt the same way about starting with cursive writing and you can find out more about that here. I believe curriculum should be directly suited to the child and his level. That's my most favorite thing about homeschool; I can teach at the levels best suited for him and not necessarily just based on his age.
The other two philosophy's that have attracted me is Montessori and Waldorf. They are both child oriented. Now I just have to figure out how to combine these there systems into one so my children can get the best education. More about this later.
This is the book that caught my attention. You can buy it here.
Learn more about Charlotte Mason
The ABC's of Charlotte Mason
Homeschool World
A to Z Home's Cool
Guide to Homeschool
Classical Education 4 Me
Curriculum
Penny Gardner
MacBeth's Opinion
Charlotte Mason Research & Supply Co.
Lynn's Very Unofficial Charlotte Mason Type Booklist
Skylark
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Posted by Anonymous 
Jan. 26, 2007 - Charlotte Mason
Kim
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