What Homeschool Styles and Philosophies do we use as Eclectic Homeschoolers?- Part One: Charlotte Mason

 

This week is all about homeschool styles, and how we pick and choose, as well as WHAT we pick and choose from the different homeschool philosophies.

Aren’t familiar with homeschool philosophies? Head to our FREE Homeschool Help page and see what philosophies resonate with you!

 

We pick and choose from a few different styles:

Charlotte Mason (You’re already here!)

Montessori- Read that here

Unit Studies, Unschooling, and General Life Skills- Read that here

 

What is the Charlotte Mason Philosophy?

Charlotte Mason was an educator that lived in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Her philosophy, her namesake, is based upon several principles. The first being that the child is a whole person, and should be educated as such!

“A child is a person in whom all possibilities are present – present now at this very moment – not to be reduced after many years and efforts manifold on the part of the educator” – Charlotte Mason

A few other key parts of a Charlotte Mason Education are:

1. Living books
2. Short, quality lessons
3. Oral narration
4. Nature study
5. Habits
6. Free afternoons

 

If you are interested in learning more about her philosophy, I would recommend the following books:

 

The 3 principles we use the most, and that I will talk about today are: Living books, Short quality lessons, and Free afternoons.

 

Living Books: What is a living book, and how do we use them?

With this foundation, the Charlotte Mason method uses rich literature, or “living books,” in place of the dry facts found in textbooks, or the “dumbed-down” version of books written down to children. What Is a Living Book? A living book is a book written by a passionate and undisputed expert on a subject. (Tck Publishing)

To put it simply: If a book is interesting, teaches something, and is of good nature- it is living. Living books are MOST OFTEN by one author, but not always. And they provide the material in a story type text, rather than a dry, textbook format.

How do we use living books?

We base most of our learning around books, and a day of ours typically looks like this:

1. Devotional from the bible, often using stories (Living books)
2. A read aloud with accompanying writing and activities, usually used as our main study. See below for some of our favorite books and accompanying studies.
3. The kids have Yoto players, to listen to more engaging stories, again mostly living books.
4. Before bed we read 1-2 chapters of a book! And I choose these, so they are again, mostly living books!

 

Reading is a huge deal in our house, whether it be audiobooks or actual reading. Both are good, and both are invited!!

 

Some of our favorite living books and accompanying studies are:

The Ultimate Unit Study: Gardenschooling, Based off of The Secret Garden

 

The Ultimate Unit Study: Farmschooling, Based off of Charlotte’s Web

 

See other studies here: Theultimateunitstudy.com

 

 

Why we use short, quality homeschool lessons

Another principle that Charlotte Mason was fond of was the use of short, quality homeschool lessons- usually done in the morning. We have been doing lessons like this since before I even knew about Charlotte Mason!!

With a 6 and 8 year old, our structured homeschool lessons usually last 1-2 hours at most.

If you want a detailed video of one of our days, you can see the highlight “DITL in September” below!

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17940277121179031/

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A post shared by Sarah | Hands on Homeschool Advice & Resources (@loveathomeed)

 

And we have FREE afternoons!

The thing I loved the most about Charlotte Mason’s teachings, was the principle that children are persons that are well rounded. They need structured time, but they need FREE play. (This is one of the main things that crosses over with Montessori)

All intellectual work is done in the hours of morning school, and the afternoons are given to field nature studies, drawing, handicrafts, etc. (From Vol 6 page 9) 

Outside time is so valuable, and so is freedom. Not every moment of your child’s time needs to be structured or planned!!

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A post shared by Sarah | Hands on Homeschool Advice & Resources (@loveathomeed)