Children are Born Persons

“Children are born persons” is the first of Charlotte Mason’s Principles of Education and the foundation on which all the other principles lie. Susan Schaffer Macaulay states that “it is not some minor element of a greater truth. It is a central truth in its own right.” The idea of a child as a born person is that we are… Read more →

Student Writing Feature!

Who Was Helen of Troy? I truly never tire of reading student writing. It is always original, always thoughtful, always interesting, if not always perfectly written. As we studied Ancient Greece this year, we read ‘The Iliad’ and learned about the gods and legends of Ancient Greece. Helen of Tory was likely a real person (or an amalgamation of a… Read more →

What is a Living Book?

We hear a lot today, at least in homeschool circles, about ‘living books’. So, one might wonder, what is a living book anyway? The term ‘living book’ was first coined by educator Charlotte Mason. Charlotte’s guidelines to a living book emphasized that books must be “warm to the imagination, nurture thinking, and communicate knowledge mind-to mind.” She believed that children… Read more →

Charlotte Mason for Today

Charlotte Mason was a woman before her time. A British educator during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she dedicated her life to the education of children, and to the training and education of parents and teachers. She developed a Philosophy of Education over a 30-year period which was radically different from the educational model of her time. Charlotte… Read more →

My Journey to Charlotte Mason

I was introduced to Charlotte Mason the way I am typically introduced to all great ideas- in a bookstore. It was a little coffee shop and sofa type of bookstore, where they placed the front of books toward you instead of the spine. This book, Easy Homeschooling Techniques by Lorraine Curry, jumped out at me, calling my name. Homeschooling was… Read more →