The Charlotte Mason Method Isn’t Just For Homeschool

The Charlotte Mason Method Isn’t Just For Homeschool

Happy New Year! We welcomed the new year just a couple of weeks ago with hope for a brighter future, as did you, no doubt.

As the pandemic fallout continues in the world of education, many parents have turned to homeschooling as a solution to the challenges. The Charlotte Mason method of education is well-known in the homeschool arena, but it has application for a much wider audience.

The BBC published an article this month about the resurgence of interest in Charlotte Mason education because of the demands placed on parents to homeschool their children during the pandemic. In it, the author credits Mason as having authored “the definitive work on home schooling” anchored in “a new way of approaching things.”

But what many don’t know is that all the benefits of the “forward-thinking” Charlotte Mason method have been realized in private school settings like ours for years. (Register here for our upcoming Kindergarten Open House to learn more.)

Benefits like a small, homelike atmosphere in which students are seen and known as individuals, in an environment of safety and respect. Our class sizes are kept intentionally small to foster individual attention for growth in knowledge and depth of character.

The article also highlights how the Charlotte Mason method utilizes children’s “natural love of learning” by feeding them the best ideas from the best minds in the best books. In our school, our selections of curriculum are guided by the knowledge that ideas inform our conscience and impact the choices that we make. We believe that great ideas emerge primarily from “living books”. These books are choice works by original thinkers that convey vital ideas. They have not been simplified or interpreted for students. Our aim is to train students to discover how to acquire knowledge for themselves and to fuel their God-given hunger for ideas.

But there is one statement the author makes in the BBC article with which we take exception.

The author quotes a museum manager who states, "She's probably not a well known character outside [the home schooling field], but she was a guiding light for education."

While she is most assuredly a guiding light in the field of education, she is known well beyond the homeschooling crowd. There are, in fact, thousands of parents across the world who send their children to schools like ours, who implement the Charlotte Mason method in private school classrooms.

There is a growing movement of parents who are looking for a better way to prepare their children for life. To learn more about this opportunity for your children, check out the upcoming events below. Many of our classrooms are nearly full, so make plans to attend and apply soon.