Sometimes I want to demystify the Charlotte Mason method for people who are curious! But there is so much here. How can I summarize this way of life into a short explanation?!
I can’t. It wouldn’t do it justice.
But I kind of like things like that. It reminds me of our faith. How do we summarize a God who is so profound and powerful, that He created all of THIS?
Yeah. I can’t.
So anyway…I keep wishing I had some precise way of taking you through the why and the how of a Charlotte Mason education; because I think this method is a life-saver for the Children, and worth all of the time and effort for the Mothers!
I happen to be reading For the Children’s Sake again.
Guys.
This is the book that revolutionized my parenting.
It also brought Charlotte close enough for me to grasp, and gave me the desire to dig more deeply into this method.
I think this is the best book ever written about the Charlotte Mason method, because of Susan’s love for children, her strong desire (before she even heard of Charlotte) to treat children as people, and her great love for the Lord.
Because I’ve read so many of Edith Schaeffer’s books (Susan’s mother), as well as everything that Susan has written, I realize what a priceless perspective she is writing from! This woman is someone to follow! She had a family of her own, and knows the joys and sorrows associated with raising our children. Charlotte, of course, had incredible knowledge and wisdom of children, families, and education, thanks to her voracious desire to study, learn, and lean on the Holy Spirit’s guidance. When you pair these two ladies together, something remarkable happens. This book is a gift from the Lord to us mothers (and fathers) who are looking for wisdom in how to raise children and educate them!
Maybe you’ve read this book, or maybe it’s on your shelf waiting for you. Or maybe you’re a guy…and it has a pink cover, and you’d never be caught dead reading this book!
I decided to use For the Children’s Sake as a guide to introduce this method that is deep and wide…and amazing.
As we begin this book, Susan first describes her frustration over her children’s elementary education. She was sadly watching them shrivel in their school atmosphere. That experience became the impetus to finding this method, something that would work for her children! Something that would revive a love of learning that she had witnessed in them as young children. Something that would treat them like people. She heard of a school founded on a certain Charlotte Mason’s ideas, and was impressed by what she saw. Susan and her husband began to study this method seriously! They were excited!
“The ideas made such good sense! We found that they are relevant to today’s child and today’s society. They are of such universal nature that one can apply them equally well at home, in different kinds of schools, in an orphanage in Africa, in an Indian village, in an inner-city school or day-care center.”
(And can I add that Charlotte’s ideas-her method-actually have been used in all of those settings and many more around the World. I believe this shows us that this was truly a living education-something that is not just confined to one setting, but lives and grows to support whatever setting is necessary!)
That’s it for now, next time we’ll talk about who Charlotte was, and why does it matter?!
Eventide 