The Charlotte Mason Method
Charlotte
Mason was a formidable educator, born in England in 1842. At the age of 18 she
began teacher training and before she even finished her training was already
headmistress of a school. Her method of teaching emerged from a series of
lecture she gave to the congregation of an Anglican Church, which led to the
establishment of the Parents’ Educational Union
(PEU), a training college for teachers and a number of schools, mainly in the
north of England.
Her belief that children should not be given simplified texts or have their surroundings simplified or scaled down often leads to her being seen as the direct opposite to Maria Montessori, who believed that the young child's school environment should be scaled down to his size.
The Charlotte Mason method of education has increased massively in popularity in recent times in the USA especially, where it is especially widely used by Christian Homeschoolers.
Philosophy
Mason did not agree with the simplification of books or the reduction of ideas presented to children, coining the word 'twaddle' to describe the simplified text with which children often learn. She believed these were an insult to children, who are innately equipped to deal with complex ideas and concepts.
Being exposed to complexity awoke a child's natural desire for knowledge which in turn led to a great capacity for attentiveness and the combination of these two things were what would motivate a child to learn. She believed that external motivators such as rewards, prizes, marks, punishments and so on were detrimental and they were not used in her schools. She advocated a very broad curriculum.
Mason also believed that children "are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and evil", a not uncontroversial belief in her day, and from this flowed her emphasis on the importance of the formation of good habits from infancy.
Goals
To create individuals with both a depth and breadth of knowledge and life-long curiosity and love of learning and to establish good habits that will serve a person throughout their life.
Practical Implementation
The teaching of good habits begins before children can walk, with a structured routine of regular meals, bed and bath times and daily exercise. Once a child can walk and talk they are trained in routines and behaviours until these become habits.
As wide a range of subjects should be taught as possible, with short sessions on each subject, just 10-15 minutes long for young children, becoming longer as they mature. Since she advocates that no specially simplified children's books should be used, but rather whole texts as originally written, there are no textbooks and libraries are a wonderful resource for those using her methods.
Narration is at the core of the Mason Method, with children trained to 'narrate' or tell back what they have learned from text they read or have read to them, with the intention of teaching them to read actively and placing the emphasis on what they know rather than what they do not know. Initially the narration is oral, as children become older it is written. Narration can also be in the form of art or drama.
Children learn to read and write through regular short sessions of copying and dictation. Keeping journals is an important concept, with children encouraged to create their own books, scrapbooks and diaries on a variety of subjects and in particular about their regular nature walks and contacts with art and culture, both central to a Mason education. .
More Information
"A Charlotte Mason Education" at christianity.com has a considerable amount of background as well as information on practical implementation and the experiences of families using the method.
A free curriculum which includes booklists, schedules, printed material and online material suitable for all ages is available at a site called after Charlotte Mason's birthplace, AmbelsideOnline. The full text of Mason's 6 books on education can also be downloaded at this site free of charge.