There are a few things I’ve learned in my time as a home educator. We all carry some common character traits. We are all rebels, revolution­aries, and innovators. Not one of us decided to become home educators because we were looking for the easy route. Not one of us chose home educating because we were satisfied with the status quo. What we saw available to our children was dissatisfying at best. In the spirit of every great American and every revolutionary we set out to find the best, even going as far as to create it ourselves to meet our children’s needs. This search, this longing for more is what led to my first encounter with a lady that changed the course of education in our home. Her name is Charlotte, Charlotte Mason.

I don’t remember the first time I heard her name. Maybe it was in passing or buried in the comment of a friend, but the name stuck. I kept looking and researching and soon found myself simultaneously breath­ing a sigh of relief and rejoicing that I had found the answer. You see, Charlotte was a rebel, revolutionary, and innovator as well. She saw education trends as paltry not elevating, pandering not exhorting. She was a governess and teacher who thought teach­ers needed reeducating. It doesn’t get any more revolution­ary than that. What made an even bigger impression was that her sentiments (so like the thoughts of home educators of today) and her methods were spawned in the late 19th century. Charlotte, my wise new friend, lived from 1842 to 1923.

As I delved deeper into her methods, my eyes were opened! I had always thought that a home educator was essentially the consumer of curriculum. One settled on a publisher, ordered the box set, found an umbrella school, and they were off to the races with their standardized grading sheets included in the set, a seven-hour school day, 180-day school year, achievement tests, and, if they were really overachievers, a tu­torial program for fine arts, physical education, and electives. Of course, we had the freedom to call a snow day in October or make a trip to the grocery store a combination cooking class and math lesson. I was fairly certain that home education differed from public education only in location and the ability to impart our family’s values deeply into our children’s souls. I had no idea that a Victori­an lady would upset my applecart of beliefs and redefine my job description.

Hopefully you are chomping at the bit to know what Charlotte said that so changed my point of view. Her first and foremost belief was that children are born persons! (I know, revolutionary.) They are born to learn and equipped from day one to take all we can throw at them. She detested the trend of dumbing down literature to be at a “child’s level”. Literature that insults a child’s intelligence by being overly simplis­tic is what Charlotte called “twaddle” which must be avoided because it provides no goal for a child, nothing at which to aim their efforts. Besides, who says you can’t read The Chronicles of Narnia to your preschooler? Imagine the language and creative skills that your child would get a jumpstart on.

Charlotte was an advocate of a liberal edu­cation. Having nothing to do with politics, this liberal education means a generous one where all things are open for exploration. The arts are not off limits to children and are actually preferred to things we dub as educational such as “Sesame Street”. The liberal education seeks to introduce chal­lenge beyond what we have been led to be­lieve our children are capable of. It seeks to say that spending twenty minutes studying Degas’ Ballet Dancer is as valid at the ele­mentary level as the college level. It removes the ideas we have been bound to regarding arbitrary limits.

After I discovered these basics of Charlotte’s teachings, I knew I would never look at cur­riculum the same. I found my new version of curriculum in what she called “living” books and “whole” books. “Living” books are so named because they are alive and engaging not a droning textbook or something lacking zeal and dedication. The best example of a “living” book is a journal or personal writ­ing. Modern studies have shown that when we are learning about a subject if that subject has a real person attached to it the details stick. Charlotte knew that one hundred thirty years ago. A “whole” book is exactly that – a book wholly on one subject expressed in literary lan­guage that awakens the reader. A single book about butterflies is a much better read than a small excerpt in an exhaustive volume. Gen­erally speaking whole books are living books because the writer has passion for the subject.

By now you are probably thinking that this is all well and good where subjects like history, literature, poetry, and art are concerned but wonder how this applies to the practical sub­jects such as math and science. Charlotte was not remiss where these are concerned. She emphasized the importance of practical appli­cation and manipulatives. Teaching the value of money by holding it, talking about it, and learning to spend, save, and invest it. Couple that with learning about the mathematician and his theories, the scientist and his science. If geometry is the subject read about Pythagoras to unravel a2+b2=c2, delving into Galileo will tell you why he said Saturn had ears, investi­gating Marie Curie is definitely on the agenda when you are in chemistry class. Additionally, regular nature study paved a valuable path in a Charlotte Mason science class. Time outdoors was essential to the education and the spirit of the child, so important in fact that she was the first to see the value of scouting as an educa­tional tool. Robert Baden-Powell credits this endorsement, among others, with the growth of the Scouting movement and his book, Scouting for Boys.

So deep are her ideas that Charlotte wrote six volumes that have received widespread appreci­ation in the home education movement. Many books have been written about her books. I am certain many more are yet to be written. Her methods are distinct. She is peculiar among teachers who wish to group everyone into the same age bracket expecting them all to learn from the same dry material. I know that our home school shall never be the same. I will continue to learn about her, explore all that I can in the realm of tangible learning, and raise my children outside someone else’s restraints. If you are so driven as to learn more (because this is just the tip of the iceberg) I encour­age you to read all you can about her. Her six volumes can easily be found at online auction sites, online bookstores, and used bookstores. I highly recommend A Charlotte Mason Edu­cation, More Charlotte Mason Education, and A Literary Education all by Catherine Levison. If you have the opportunity to visit a conven­tion or fair with a seminar on Ms. Mason, don’t miss it! If now you are feeling somewhat over­whelmed, repeat to yourself Charlotte’s own motto for her students,  “I am, I can, I ought, I will.”