#Living and Learning
~ reflections on life and learning with 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 a thing that had never been on my radar, but I was entranced. This little gem described a life of homeschooling using Living Books and little else. The bibliophile in me was sold.
My young Elementary kids were in public school at the time, having completed Montessori the year before (an amazing way to educate but very expensive). I was fast becoming disenchanted with our public school and began to think that there had to be a better way. I ‘homeschooled’ my kids over the summer for a few hours a day and then sadly sent them back to school, by then realizing that this was not the life I wanted for them. I was still a reluctant homeschooler; however, not eager to give up my days.
I researched for a full year. This little book, Easy Homeschooling Techniques, drew me in, and gave me a vision for what education and schooling could be. I read every book available at the time on homeschooling, moving next to the now signature book on Charlotte Mason education, For the Children’s Sake, and then to Karen Andreola’s The Charlotte Mason Companion. I also read a book which changed my view of American Elementary Education forever, ironically obtained in the school library, The Homework Myth by Alfie Cohn. I read books on Classical Education, Unschooling, and everything in between. I also visited various homeschool co-schools, and realized that this could be done in community.
In the middle of all of this, we made a move, and I jumped into homeschooling. What better time, with no connections and friends drawing us back into the public school, a year’s experiment I thought. But we never looked back…
Fast forward to 10 years spent with a co-op where I found my Tribe, lifelong friends and students, all navigating this homeschooling thing as I was. It was during this time that I was working my way through Charlotte Mason’s six-volume Home Education Series (while homeschooling my children and teaching at the co-op), that I began to see with clarity the utter genius of Miss Mason and her educational philosophy built upon living books, respect for the individual child, and the child’s ability to independently discover the science of relations.
But the co-op itself was a mixed bag of homeschooling philosophy, curriculum, and execution thereof. What I discovered was that there were a lot of ‘curriculum’ providers out there calling themselves Charlotte Mason but not really practicing her philosophy. Likely most had not even read her philosophy, as much of the curriculum being published at the time was actually the antithesis of her philosophy. It was in reading Miss Mason’s essays on education, contained in her Volumes, that clarity replaced ‘curriculum’. I discovered that all the mistakes that I had made over the years (in the education of my own children and in classes I taught), along with all the successes achieved, were the result of either following or diverting from the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy.
Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.
– Charlotte Mason
It is that simple, and that profound.
So with fear and trepidation, I began a Charlotte Mason School, using her principles as our foundation and aligning ourselves with her philosophy as closely as possible. The foundational elements with which we began and continue are two-fold: Children are Born Persons and Education is the Science of Relations.
My children have now all graduated. But I remain in this homeschool world, which has irrevocably shifted since 2020. My mission, in this rapidly changing educational environment we currently find ourselves in, is to study and to fill my own hunger for wisdom and knowledge—and by the grace of God, to be able to pass a little of this on to the next generation, providing a humane educational environment where the personhood of each child is honored.
In this little blog, Living and Learning, I intend not to relate the entire Scope of Charlotte Mason. Other people have done that, far better than I. But I do intend to give little nuggets, in small bite site pieces, intended to encourage and equip new and veteran homeschoolers on this amazing journey called home education.
All of life is learning, so join us on the journey!
– Stacy Raymond
#CharlotteMasonLivingandLearning
Links to books mentioned:
Easy Homeschooling Techniques by Lorraine Curry
For the Children’s Sake, by Susan Schaeffer MacCauley
The Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola
The Homework Myth by Alfie Cohn