Michele Quigley

Some of us local moms are doing a book study.  It’s pretty informal, as in come when you can, but we had a really good time tonight.  The group is wonderful and I’m so glad to a part of it.  I love these women.  Some of them have been my friends for many years and they are all beautiful sisters in Christ who bless me greatly.

We’re reading For the Children’s Sake, which is the first “homeschool” book I ever read.  I’m really glad we started with this book because it’s really lovely and it’s both fun and interesting to me to read it now some 14 years later with different eyes (literally since I now have bifocals —which is another story. . .).    So much of what I know and understand about the Charlotte Mason method has changed and developed over the years.  Truthfully I don’t even like using the term “Charlotte Mason method” because I somehow think Miss Mason herself would not lay claim to it. Discovering it yes, but inventing it, no.

No matter, it’s just always where we seem to end up.  We’ve gone all over the place from school in a box to cyber school to unschooling and yet it’s here that we find the best fit for our family, the way that seems to work the best and bear the most fruit.  It’s not easy (so many of the best things aren’t) and I know well the temptation to see workbook pages and finished lessons as tangible proof that children are learning.  These things aren’t bad but they aren’t proof of an education either.

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay speaks so accurately when she says

“Our generation is prone to amuse ourselves with fragmentary information and resources.  We flip on the TV for brief programs, and then we think we know about the subjects they dealt with.  A few paragraphs in a magazine, and we think we’ve formed an opinion.  What is happening so often is that we are merely forming a habit of amusing our interest, and then forgetting the fragments.  This is not education.”

I know I am guilty of this myself and I wonder too if it can even be said for those voracious readers who devour book after book.  I did that as a child and I have to admit it was mostly, if not completely, for entertainment.  Sure I could read well, but my choices weren’t always the best and at the speed I read some books (especially in my early twenties) it really was about entertainment.

A Charlotte Mason education is primarily book oriented but it’s different in that the readings are slow and varied.  Over the course of a term (12 weeks) children educated this way would read 1000 to 3000 pages (according to their age and what level [form] they were at) in a large number of books.  Because there were so many subjects time constraints meant each lesson could allow only one reading (that was to be “tested” by narration).

But let me back up a minute and share a few salient points that Charlotte Mason herself put forth.  Points which differ from general theory and practice —at least in her day.

(a) The children, not the teachers, are the responsible persons; they do the work by self-effort.

This means the onus of learning is on the student and not the teacher.  You can a lead a horse to water. . .
No grand lesson plans, no jumping through hoops —just good materials, a good atmosphere and the habit of discipline.

(b) The teachers give sympathy and occasionally elucidate, sum up or enlarge, but the actual work is done by the scholars.

Encourage, help and explain as needed but let them do it.  Trust that they can.

(c) These read in a term one, or two, or three thousand pages, according to their age, school and Form, in a large number of set books. The quantity set for each lesson allows of only a single reading; but the reading is tested by narration, or by writing on a test passage. When the terminal examination is at hand so much ground has been covered that revision is out of the question; what the children have read they know, and write on any part of it with ease and fluency, in vigorous English; they usually spell well.

I mentioned this above.  Yes it’s a lot of material but because of the pace it’s totally doable in small chunks.

(d) There is no selection of studies, or of passages or of episodes, on the ground of interest. The best available book is chosen and is read through perhaps in the course of two or three years.

It’s not delight directed.  The very best books available are used (and let me just point out here that CM always looked to what was new and used it if it was good) and read through consecutively, sometimes over the course of two or three years.  (FWIW, I’m not saying delight directed learning is wrong, I am just saying it’s not CM or rather she said it.)

(e) The children study many books on many subjects, but exhibit no confusion of thought, and ‘howlers’ are almost unknown.

By “howlers” she means big mistakes.  Most children will make small mistakes but large mistakes —those most specifically dealing with comprehension— just aren’t there.

(f) They find that, in Bacon’s phrase, “Studies serve for delight”; this delight being not in the lessons or the personality of the teacher, but purely in their ‘lovely books,’ ‘glorious books.’

It’s not about how interesting or entertaining the teacher is.  How nice she might be or how fun she makes the lesson, the delight is in the material.

(g) The books used are, whenever possible, literary in style.

The best books in the best style whenever possible.  We live in an age when this is more possible than ever.

(h) Marks, prizes, places, rewards, punishments, praise, blame, or other inducements are not necessary to secure attention, which is voluntary, immediate and surprisingly perfect.

No grades as a means of motivation or punishment.  Does that mean never any grades?  No, there’s correction where needed and appropriate praise for a job well done but it’s not about getting through the material to get a good grade.  It’s about really knowing the material.  This is where the habit of attention is crucial.

(i) The success of the scholars in what may be called disciplinary subjects, such as Mathematics and Grammar, depends largely on the power of the teacher, though the pupils’ habit of attention is of use in these too.

Math and grammar need teaching.  The better the teacher the better they will learn.  Some children have a natural aptitude for these subjects but still need a teacher in order to progress beyond where they cannot go further alone.  There are lots of good teaching materials out there.  If this isn’t your strength find a friend or tutor to help.

(j) No stray lessons are given on interesting subjects; the knowledge the children get is consecutive.

Rabbit trails are not followed so as to capitalize on the child’s interest.  A child can certainly pursue them on his own but they don’t become the lesson. (And again, I’m not saying rabbit trails learning is wrong, just not CM.)

Whew!  OK that’s enough for now as it’s quite late.  These are the things I am thinking about and studying right now.

Copyright © 2008 Michele Quigley All Rights Reserved.