Although I’m a beginner to homeschooling ideas and styles, I think it’s fair to say that A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levinson provides a great overview to the Charlotte Mason style of education, albeit from one home educator’s perspective.
The author’s personal homeschooling style was certainly not for me, and the author’s opinions throughout the book was rather irritating. For example, it seems she was a bit extreme in censoring, such as she refused Dickens in her curriculum for years because he wrote a “ghost story” and those aren’t allowed in her house and she censored artwork by covering body parts with sticky notes.
But I’m interested in the general precepts of the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling and this book provided a nice overview. I like the emphasis on the fine arts: studying various artists by looking at their artwork, rather than reading about them, and reading classic literature rather than kid summaries of classic literature. I liked the emphasis on narration with young children, and I’ve tried to incorporate more of it in my school at home time with Raisin. (He struggles to write, so it makes perfect sense.)
I liked how A Charlotte Mason Education was so very short (less than 100 pages) and written in a personal, conversational tone. It made it a quick one-sitting read. Even though I can’t say I loved the book because of the author’s extreme personal opinions interspersed throughout it, I feel I have a nice feel for Charlotte Mason education now thanks to reading it.
I remember being irritated with this book, too; so much so that I put it down and never finished it. Sticky notes over body parts? Please. Talk about a sure-fire way to obsess over what’s under those sticky notes!
I think you’ll have better luck with A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. It’s more readable, less hysterical.
Hey there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
If you are interested in Charlotte Mason and fine arts study you might want to check http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com It is a great blog by a mom who follows CM and does a lot of her own curriculum. She has also graduated or is about to graduate her children using mainly CM I think.
Hi! I realize this is somewhat off-topic but I needed to ask. Does running a well-established website such as yours require a lot of work? I am completely new to writing a blog however I do write in my journal on a daily basis. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!