Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission from the purchase of these geography books and resources, at no additional cost to you! Thank you for your support!
What Is Geography?
Geography (the study of the world) is so much more than textbooks flung open to the geopolitical maps of our present year. It’s more than a brief summary of a group of people in a faraway land.
Geography, the study of the world, is a voyage to a person. It’s an adventure to a place. Surely we cannot get there by plane, car, or boat every single time. So, how do we visit the plethora of places we could explore on our planet?
We get there through books.
How might you record your journey into a new place? Why, the commonplace book is our haven for recording thoughts, quotes, proverbs as we interact with what we read, right?
How about having a way to process the visits we take to a foreign land? Well, if you take a literal trip or vacation, then I have just the thing for you! This Travel Four Square is a parent’s dream because kids stay engaged with what they are learning as they visit a new place. (It does not have to be a foreign land! It can be a day trip.)
If you’re looking for a way to work geography into your homeschool’s fabric, then I have a few ideas that might help jumpstart your imagination!
Since studying geography oftentimes gets us out of doors, I wanted to make sure you don’t miss my Year of Nature Study unit. Geography and nature study can be easily integrated, too.
Tip #1: Start Small: Your Home
Charlotte Mason said to start small. Beginning with basic directions (left vs. right, behind vs. in front of), and moving towards larger, abstract map concepts is the way to begin your geography teaching at home.
Books highlighting people from around the world: have you checked out the ones below?
Question: If you took a flight to x location from y location, heading east, over which oceans would you fly? Over which continents? Over which countries?
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from the purchase of these books, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!
I prefer the non-spooky costumes to the spooky ones.
Even better, why not dress up to portray a favorite character from a book? In our homeschool, we have read most of the books listed below. Do you need some inspiration? Take these ideas, plus a quick search on Pinterest, and you should be good to go!
What are some of your favorite book characters? If you could dress up as one, which one would you be?
It’s been a while since I’ve introduced myself on the world wide web. I’m Holly, a homeschool mom of three under the age of nine. My husband, kids and I live in a big town/small city in eastern NC. If you haven’t already visited my website, I’d be happy to have you at www.mylittlebrickschoolhouse.com! My Little Brick Schoolhouse was initially a creative outlet for me. It has evolved into (I hope) a service for you.
My mission is four-fold:
Deliver resources to allow families the chance to read living books together.
Create content that fosters engaging narration and discussion about living books.
I started homeschooling back in 2018. Ask me anything, yet I am still roughly new to this. I have so much I’m learning, and today, I’d like to share with you some things I took away from the Classical Conversations Area Practicum I attended this weekend, in addition to some of my own thoughts.
Justin Nale delivered the excellent presentation at practicum.
First of all, before I even talk about the practicum, I want to acknowledge a huge problem we have in society today.
Usborne Books and More cites that interest in reading a book outside of school drops from 100% in kindergarten to 54% in fourth grade. What happened between K and 4th grade? Parents. You guys need to know the reason. Did you know that reading aloud to your children builds their “want” to read?
So, what happened? Parents stopped reading to their kids. This is a crisis.
What has replaced books in the home? It’s the elephant in the room, guys. Screens. Oh, don’t get me started there. Too much time spent with screen media is associated with: childhood obesity, sleep disturbances, attention span issues… oh and I am sure there are emotional implications, too. Adults are not immune to these effects, either!
Oh, and since we’re talking about time, where does your child spend the most time annually? AT HOME. You have him for 7,800 hours. School: 900 hours. Which teacher is more influential?
That’s why I have created some resources for you to use on my website: booklists, free resources, and unit studies. We all should be reading with our kids. It’s about binding hearts together in the family, not about leaving the kids.
All Parents Homeschool
If you have breath in your lungs and also have offspring, you are a homeschool parent. Since birth, you’ve been teaching your child. Did you teach him to feed himself? How about to put on his clothes? Have you been speaking to your child since she was born? You get the picture. You are your child’s first teacher, and you have a tremendous impact. Each day, we have so many things we are learning together alongside our children, if we are spending time with them. Homeschooling is nothing new!
Now, I’m not advocating homeschool for everyone because you have to do what God is calling you to do for your family. Seasons of life, full-time ministry jobs, and other situations could preclude homeschool from being a good, God-glorifying option for your family.
That said, there is so much to unpack. Where do we begin?
Classical Education is where my family’s journey began.
Well, since our family is a part of a Classical Conversations community, I’m talking from my unique perspective. Classical education can be characterized in various ways, but I’ve heard two distinct lists.
One list goes like this:
1) classical education pursues virtue
2) uses tools to learn in layers (knowledge, understanding, then wisdom)
3) celebrates the integration of knowledge
Another list goes like this:
1)follows the pattern of the trivium
2) is language-focused rather than image-focused
3) is centered around the story of history
Define the terms: TRIVIUM
The trivium is a three-part pattern: the mind must first be supplied with facts and images. This is called the grammar stage.
Next, the mind must be given the logical tools for organizing those facts and images, called the dialectic stage or logic stage.
Finally, the mind must be equipped to express conclusions. This is called the rhetoric stage. Each stage correlates with an age range.
Grammar Stage: Kindergarten through fourth grade
Logic Stage: Fifth grade through eighth grade
Rhetoric Stage: Ninth grade through twelfth grade
Now that we’ve defined trivium, does it make some sense? You probably have some questions. Do all children in any given stage fit nicely into that box and never utilize thinking skills outside of their prescribed stage? No. When you think about it, we adults go through the entire trivium any time we are learning something new, from start to finish. Take baking cookies, for example. I must learn the correct grammar (terminology) for the ingredients, tools, methods I will be using. Next, I move on to the logic stage when I realize that one of the ingredients, say, baking soda, can be increased to make my cookies more fluffy. I am starting to understand the way the process works. Then, if I decide to tweak a recipe and rewrite it to reflect my preference for chocolate chip cookies, I am in the rhetoric stage.
Okay, now that you know the trivium, those of you who are new to classical education, let me give you three things to take away.
Education is not the same as training.
I was a lifeguard in high school during the summer. We know that when you apply for a lifeguarding job, they have you watch training videos, complete worksheets, practice saving people in the pool. I even remember swimming to the bottom of the pool to pick up bricks, delivering them safely to the surface! You are training for a job. You are learning specific skills, for a certain future. I was going to lifeguard that summer. I needed to learn x, y, and z.
Now, education, that is different. You educate for an uncertain future. What does your future hold? If you have lived, you know that it will at some point hold suffering. Is training about shaping the soul, and giving kids tools they’ll need across callings? No. It’s specific and very finite. Education is for life. It’s a good distinction to keep in mind.
Teaching character is paramount to academics.
I have said this before. I ask you, is the most important thing in a childhood academics? Think. You remember what your childhood was like.
How about this? How will you be in old age? Grumpy and discontent, or joyful and full of life? How are these two types of old people so distinct? Habits. Character. When were their character habits developed? Early in life. So think about that and how you will train your children. Character is paramount.
Lastly, this is my own musing. I am noticing the shift in our culture, aren’t you? I am specifically talking about interconnectedness, globalization and technology. Has social media and AI technology made us better as individuals? How about smarter? First of all, the constant bombardment of images has wreaked havoc on our attention spans. Next, do you realize how various tech companies use people like you and me to perfect their algorithms and tap into the human mind, making us no higher than dehumanized objects? We are their product. We help other companies sell their products because our behavior is being heavily monitored and analyzed constantly. Okay, so what does this have to do with classical education?
Charlotte Mason, have you ever heard of her? She was a British education reformer from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was heavily influenced by classical thought. Many people who love her methods love classical education. Charlotte Mason defined students as persons. A person has a soul, a will, and possibilities for good and for evil. A person is more than a mind. We do not fall into the ditch of intellectualism. No, we are not just teaching a mind, disconnected from a heart. We are teaching a whole person. We also do not fall into the ditch of emotionalism, where everything is about the heart of a child, and we forget reason. These are two ditches to avoid. We are to teach the whole person. And persons are people of words. Our world deals in words. Not images. As much as Instagram would like you to think image is everything, and look how dumb we are becoming in the process, we must go back to being people of words. We have a language to be used for God’s glory. May we learn to communicate well with our words to bring him honor and to help others.
Classical education points to the study of this world, and how it is all connected to God. Just like we cannot dissect a person into mind versus heart, we cannot separate the unity of truth that is God’s truth. All truth is connected. We are also people of words. Technology can be used for great things for God’s glory, but let us be wary.
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission from the purchase of these materials, at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support.
Encouragement
There is nothing quite like that feeling when you get some unexpected encouragement from a trusted source.
It was December 2020. I had just gotten off the phone with a far-from-trusted-source: a vanity publisher. Mr. Salesman was trying his very hardest to pull out all the stops and sell me a book deal that I would have to pay for up-front! Thankfully, my husband and I talked about it and decided this kind of thing would be more of a sham or scam (you decide) than anything else.
But I was longing so badly to get my book published. I had a manuscript that I could not wait to share with someone with trained eyes and a vision like mine.
Not only did Karen Andreola take the time to listen to me and see that I had a vision to deliver a living story to the people who would embrace it; she also took the time for a phone call. She listened to what I had to say about the book. After hearing me out, she gave me her own wise take on the modern publishing industry. She reflected on my work, and gave me great words of encouragement. I left that conversation feeling refreshed and understood. I will never forget her generosity. Fun fact: Karen Andreola’s son Nigel is an illustrator and has his own business.
Karen Andreola has not only encouraged me in conversation, but also in her written words.
Book Club
Our book club is comprised of about four to five mothers of elementary aged children. We are all fairly familiar with Charlotte Mason homeschooling, but this was not the case two years ago.
In July 2020, I attended a Charlotte Mason conference in Georgia where I met a friend who would become a founding member of our book club here in North Carolina. Kate was passionate about growing and learning more about Charlotte Mason’s methods, even though her wisdom far surpassed my own. She and I met at a Panera Bread that same year, in August, to discuss what we wanted to read. We both knew that Karen Andreola’sA Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning was to be our first book club pick for its format (short, easy-to-read narratives), its candid and lovely tone, and its practical application of Mason’s philosophy.
So, we began our monthly meetings in October 2020 on my friend Joy’s screened-in porch, adjacent to her lovely backyard garden.
I have thoroughly enjoyed our readings and discussion. We have not rushed our book study, as we are just now about to wrap up A Charlotte Mason Companion two years (24 meetings) later!
Wisdom
I have grown and gathered wisdom from reading this gem. One of the first aphorisms I jotted down to remember in my homeschool was:
Be sure that your children each day have:
Something or someone to love
Something (worthwhile) to do
Something to think about
Andreola’s book encourages self-reflection and group discussion by asking questions at the end of many chapters. As I look back on my written reflections about the nature of education in response to her questions at the end of chapter three, What Is Education?, I see these notes:
“When I hear the word ‘education’ my first impression is that education used to mean more of a system-based idea. I always believed in educating the whole person, but the methods in place were insufficient, leaving me baffled.”
What is meant by we are “educated by our intimacies”?
“The things we love and hold dear to our minds will make us who we are.”
What opportunities for loving can your home provide?
“We can practice the habit of encouragement.”
Name some worthwhile things to do at home or for others outside the home.
“Visiting lonely neighbors, building LEGO creations and imagining, writing thank you notes and encouraging notes to family.”
Have you heard it wisely put, “You are what you eat?” In what way do we become what we read (with discernment and discretion)?
“The ideas of our culture’s best thinkers will shape our own ideas.”
What are three simple things to remember about educating – whatever curriculum you choose?
“Give the children something or someone to love, something to think about, and something worthwhile to do (daily).”
My dear Charlotte Mason Companion will become one of my staple reference books on my bookshelf. I plan to pull it down and find that chapter on narration or vocabulary or nature study to refresh my approach and keep the methods consistent with a living education.
I will seek fresh ideas on how to enliven our afternoons through outdoor group games by turning to her chapter Ready, Set, Go! Believe it or not, I have made a more intentional habit of taking the kids out to the front yard lately to play some of the favorites: Mr. Fox, What Time is It?; Red Light, Green Light; Duck, Duck, Goose, and more.
I will go back to the first few chapters of the book: A Living God for a Living Education, What is Education, and Education is a Science of Relations when I need to get back to the basic fundamentals of why I home educate the way I do.
Andreola’s book is marked up with my notes and underlined passages. There is so much to tuck away into my memory. Are you yearning for a group with whom to discuss Charlotte Mason’s principles? Are you looking for practical ideas of ways to enjoy homeschooling with your children? I bet you could garner a lot of interest in this book should you choose to begin a book club.
Karen Andreola, author of A Charlotte Mason Companion and Mother Culture, makes Charlotte Mason’s ideas attainable, more amplified. Miss Mason’s original volumes are referenced throughout her works. If you find that reading the original volumes seems daunting, then try Andreola’s companion first. Her encouragement will go with you throughout your reading journey.
Karen Andreola Biography:
Karen Andreola is best known for her groundbreaking book, A Charlotte Mason Companion. She home educated her children K-12. Way back in 1989, Karen and her husband Dean fueled the revival of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education in the homeschool when they republished Miss Mason’s writings in America. Mother Cultureis her newest book helping mothers prevent burn-out. Unique to the homeschool world, Karen also writes fiction to offer mothers a peek at a gentle and happy home life.
C.S. Lewis once said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” I have a new book list I am dying to share with you.
I am so thankful for the Internet, aren’t you?! It allows us to find books within seconds and either check them out at our local libraries, or use our devices to get them delivered brand new to our doorsteps! Oh, technology surely has its pitfalls, but I do love that we can do some things so much easier in this day and age.
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I can recommend these books to you, and might receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Our homeschool has seen the accumulation of these beloved books over time. I cannot say that I’m ashamed to admit that I still have to read a handful of the more “adult” books I ordered for myself, because… you know what? The picture books get my attention first.
C.S. Lewis once said, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”
Do you agree?
I sure do! That’s why I picked out the books on this list to reflect my hunger for living books. These books give us the noble ideas, the virtues and the facts about a person, place, time or process in the world. Some of these stories are fiction; many are nonfiction.
Please take some time to study this list. They span subjects of history, literature, science, math and I threw in some fun book basket ideas and summer read alouds, for good measure. I cannot wait to share these titles with you! You might get some ideas for future reading in your upcoming school year, or you might find something to enjoy before the school year begins. We have either read, or will read, every one of these books listed in our own homeschool.
We will be studying middle ages history this upcoming year, and I could not be more excited! The cross-section castle book looks amazing. I also cannot wait to read authors with whom I have not become familiar. They will become dear friends, I am sure, just like A.A. Milne and C.S. Lewis were for us this past school year.
As this new school year begins, I thank you so much for supporting me and my mission to recommend quality, living books to families who love to read with their children.
In addition to these wonderful books, when you get the chance to sit down and think about what poetry you might read next year, you might consider Robert Louis Stevenson. I have a freebie I will send you that includes: 3 summer poems, copy work, an interactive 4-square template, and project ideas to introduce you to his work before you dive in and get his poetry collection. If you love his poetry already and are searching for a sweet, illustrated collection of “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, I am happy to share my recommendation with you here:
One of my favorite homeschool memories of all time was when we read Aliki’s A Medieval Feast and later held our own very special medieval feast, complete with cornish hens and “blackbird pie”, medieval tarts, and of course, “ale”. Where would we have gotten that inspiration if it had not been for that picture book?
Grow with us as we learn about Charlotte Mason and learn from each other!
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission from the purchase of some of these great resources, at no additional cost to you. Thank you, friends!
Where are you on your homeschooling journey? If you are just starting out, perhaps researching different philosophies of education and methods is where you are camping out this summer. Maybe you have already found a couple ideologies that work well for your family and you want to explore one further. When I first set out researching this homeschool thing about five years ago, I was barely thirty years old, with just two little ones. Now, I am officially in my mid-to-late thirties…and am very tired… with three young children. I don’t know about you, but I do not often find the time to extensively research something. Then, there is something called “decision fatigue”. To reduce decision fatigue, I gladly took a well-crafted quiz to determine where I lean on the educational ideological spectrum back in 2017. If you already own Cathy Duffy’s 102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum (2014), go ahead and open it and take the quiz where you find out which educational approach resonates most with you. She gives you a comprehensive explanation about different educational methods. I can say that taking the quiz confirmed some paths for me.
If you do have an idea about Charlotte Mason and her methods, then you might appreciate going deeper by reading about these women below. I will call them my “team of pundits”- those to whom I look for good discussion, implementation and modeling of the lifestyle I want to incorporate into our family culture. Each one has either directly or indirectly impacted me. Each woman comes from a different background, but all have chosen a similar way for their families, in terms of motherhood and education.
If you have a chance to read over their bios and click on their resources, you will most likely find some kindred spirits and learn more along the way.
Let’s get to know some of these authors, speakers, bloggers, and dedicated homeschool moms:
1. Karen Glass
“Karen Glass is the mother of four children, all graduated, and a veteran Charlotte Mason homeschooler who lived in Krakow, Poland for 25 years before recently relocating to the United States. She has immersed herself in the philosophy of Charlotte Mason and is passionate about bringing her life-giving ideas to contemporary educators. She is one of the creators of the AmblesideOnline curriculum, and has been writing and speaking for many years. She is the author of several books based on those educational ideas, including Consider This, Know and Tell, and In Vital Harmony.”
“Sonya Shafer is a popular homeschool speaker and writer, specializing in the Charlotte Mason Method. She has been on an adventure for more than 20 years studying, researching, practicing, and teaching Charlotte’s gentle and effective methods of education. Her passion for homeschooling her own four daughters grew into helping others and then into Simply Charlotte Mason, which publishes her many books and provides a place of practical encouragement to homeschoolers at simplycharlottemason.com.”
In recent years, I have been blessed to attend the Charlotte Mason Together Retreat in Stone Mountain Park, Georgia! It has been an honor to see Sonya in her element and to just “hang” with other Charlotte Mason moms.
3. Amy Bodkin
“Amy Bodkin is an Autistc Adult, School Psychologist, and Homeschool Mom to her two Autistic kids. She consults primarily with homeschool families as the Special Needs Consultant at A Charlotte Mason Plenary. She works with families who have experienced chronic health conditions, disabilities, trauma, asynchronous development, etc. Her practice is guided by Charlotte Mason’s idea that “Children are born persons” and she makes it her goal to see each child as an individual, not a diagnosis.
Amy has recently started a new venture at amybodkin.com to provide a home to her advocacy work and her new podcast Special Needs Kids are People Too!“
Amber O’Neal Johnston (Heritage Mom Blog) gave me the great idea to feature Amy on this list. Her experience is multifaceted and she offers great insight.
4. Cindy Rollins
“Cindy Rollins homeschooled her nine children for over 30 years using Charlotte Mason’s timeless ideas. She is the author of Mere Motherhood: Morning Time, Nursery Rhymes, and My Journey Toward Sanctification, The Mere Motherhood Newsletters, Hallelujah, Cultivating Advent Traditions with Handel’s Messiah and the Morning Time: A Liturgy of Love. She co-hosts The Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks and The New Mason Jar Podcast. She is also the owner of the Mere Motherhood Facebook group and runs an active moms’ discipleship group on patreon.com/cindyrollins. Her heart’s desire is to encourage moms and go to baseball games. She lives in her sometimes empty nest in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband Tim and dog Max.”
You can find Cindy at:
morningtimeformoms.com where she publishes her newsletter Over the Back Fence
I have also really enjoyed using Cindy’s Commonplace Book this year to improve my personal reading life.
5. Amber O’Neal Johnston
“Amber O’Neal Johnston is an author, speaker, and worldschooling mama who blends life-giving books and a culturally rich environment for her four children and others seeking to do the same. She recommends we offer children opportunities to see themselves and others reflected in their lessons, especially throughout their books, and she’s known for sharing literary “mirrors and windows” on HeritageMom.com. She is the author of A Place to Belong, a guide for families of all backgrounds to celebrate cultural heritage, diversity, and kinship while embracing inclusivity in the home and beyond.”
I had the chance to meet Amber at the 2021 Charlotte Mason Together Retreat! She is a wonderful resource on worldschooling, among her resources on teaching children to be secure in their personhood and culture.
6. Min Jung Hwang
“Min awakes with joyful anticipation of what God will do as she cooperates with Him in home-educating her 4 creative children, as well as her friend’s precious two children. She delights in sharing the Gospel-grounded Charlotte Mason philosophy and methods with every family and church.
Over a decade ago, having become convinced of the life-giving paradigm the Charlotte Mason philosophy brings, she has embraced Miss Mason’s principles, allowing them to inform her ministry with moms, college students, and children.
If you were having tea with her, she would tell you God doesn’t waste anything; she can testify to how her varied background in Nursing, law, and nonprofit work establishing safehomes for sexually exploited, pregnant mothers, has helped equip her for her current vocation.
Min is a wife of more than 20 years to her best friend, Young. They have the blessing of pastoring a beautiful, ethnically diverse church in New Jersey. In addition to serving as Pastor’s Wife, the Children’s Ministry Director, an artist, and home-educator, you’ll find her loving on mothers at Life-givingMotherhood.com – a worldwide community of mothers desiring to grow in their spiritual disciplines and life-giving habits – and podcasting at Charlotte Mason For All and Charlotte Mason’s Volumes.“
“Erika Alicea is a former public school teacher turned homeschooling mama to one amazing young lady. Born and raised in NYC, Erika helps her husband, Efrain, pastor their church in the Bronx.
When Erika was first introduced to Miss Mason’s educational philosophy through God-sent friends, who are now her co-hosts on the Charlotte Mason for All Podcast, it was an answer to many of her prayers. As she began to learn about all the beauty a Charlotte Mason education offers, Erika had to be creative in implementing Miss Mason’s methods in the context of city life and as a family of color.
As a firm believer in a multicultural education for all children through the use of diverse, living books, Erika uses her website Charlotte Mason City Living as a resource to help educators diversify their instruction. It’s her prayer that it serves as an encouragement to all families, especially those who feel Miss Mason’s philosophy may not be inclusive enough or even possible for multicultural or urban families.
On any given day, you can catch Erika taking pictures of nature treasures in the city that often go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of urban life. You can also find Erika at The Art of Color as co-creator of these carefully crafted and curated CM-inspired Art Appreciation resources showcasing artists of color.”
“Originally from Southern Brazil, Mariana is a mom of two boys, who has been home educating them since the beginning of their schooling in 2016.
She lives in Westchester, NY, and can be found daily with a delicious cup of black coffee paired with a good book. She enjoys serving her Catholic Church alongside her family, taking family hikes and soaking in the beauty of God’s creation at the seashore.
On her home educating journey, Mariana found a great friend in Miss Mason. This friendship has yielded precious fruit not only in her homeschool, but in the atmosphere of her home and her life.
She’s active in the CM Brazilian community co-hosting a podcast and online community in Portuguese: Descobrindo Charlotte Mason and founding a publishing company, Editora Ideias Vivas, that publishes living books for all ages. In addition, Mariana co-hosts the podcast Charlotte Mason for All, alongside Erika Alicea and Min Hwang. She also serves as a COO at the Life-Giving Motherhood Membership.”
“Leah Boden is wife to Dave, mother to four children, a long-time home educator, and student of Charlotte Mason.
With over two decades of experience in church leadership, Leah’s working background also features many years in youth, children’s, and family work within the church and for the local education authority. Leah speaks, writes, hosts podcasts and coaching sessions, and runs workshops sharing the beauty of a Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, motherhood, and education.
Leah is the author of the upcoming book Modern Miss Mason (Tyndale Publishing, Jan 23)
She and her family live in the West Midlands, England.”
I personally cannot wait to read this book. Leah resides in a beautiful area of England, not too far from Ambleside, Charlotte Mason’s home after she taught for 30 years.
I personally have had the joy of speaking with Karen Andreola and have truly enjoyed the time I have had to dive deeply into the application of Charlotte Mason methods through study of her book, A Charlotte Mason Companion. My book club and I have been reading and discussing it since October 2020! We are still going strong, as we meet monthly and discuss about three chapters at a time!
Shopping for Homeschool
My friend from Humility and Doxology, Amy Sloan, writes about homeschooling from the perspective of a second generation homeschooler. Interviewer, podcaster, blogger, content creator, teacher, wife and mother, she has a lot of great experience with classical Christian homeschooling and parenthood. Her Amazon store is pretty awesome.
Other Charlotte Mason-inspired resources in Brick Schoolhouse Etsy Shop:
The Big Maine Basket – This is a Charlotte Mason and classical education-inspired narration tool. In this Maine-themed “basket”, you will find two book recommendations, narration instructions, a narration template for use over the course of two days, coloring pages, and EXTENSION ACTIVITIES! Spend time in good, living books. Read to your children, and have them narrate part way through the reading using this template. This narration tool is designed for multiple developmental levels, is good for keeping record of narrations, and utilizes Charlotte Mason and classical methodologies. It would also pair well with any MORNING TIME, CHARLOTTE MASON, or CLASSICAL CURRICULUM.
I was tired of not having a plan, but every time I tried to set out to make goals for our upcoming year, I would get stuck! I started curating some wisdom from various women who have walked the walk. Lara Casey, Charlotte Mason (Sonya Shafer at Simply Charlotte Mason), and my own experience have helped me develop this tool you might find as a breath of fresh air to help you organize your thoughts about uncovering what matters, as well as implement habits to change the atmosphere of your home! This is my process. I hope it blesses you in some way.
This resource includes:
-workbook-style planning pages
-notetaking templates
-habit tracker on calendar
-checklist templates
What Works for Your Family Is Truly Best
I remember how overwhelming it can be to research all the methods and practices. Keep in mind your own home atmosphere and what you envision for your own family. I hope you have found this brief directory of sorts helpful in seizing your [own] self-education in the methods of Charlotte Mason. I cannot claim to be a “purist” in the sense that we follow Charlotte Mason “by the book”. I doubt many of us are. However, I do believe that exposure to people in your “camp” can be edifying and inspiring.
I am thoroughly enjoying this season of life, as it relates to read-alouds. Plopping myself down with a good picture book, I announce that it is time to read. Within a second, I have the bees buzzing up to the hive and all is well.
In fact, I cannot tell you how much I relish this time. Two or three kids surround me; their sweet heads rest inside the crooks of my elbows.
What’s on the menu today? I pull out a hardcover book with whimsical and detailed illustrations on its cover. In an instant, my daughter recognizes the work of the illustrator.
“This is a John Hendrix book!”
It sure is.
(Even if you only have one or two good picture books in your stash, that’s a win.)
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission from the purchase of some of these living biography picture books, at no additional cost to you. I thank you for your support!
I am thoroughly enjoying this season of life, as it relates to read-alouds. Plopping myself down with a good picture book, I announce that it is time to read. Within a second, I have the bees buzzing up to the hive and all is well.
In fact, I cannot tell you how much I relish this time. Two or three kids surround me; their sweet heads rest inside the crooks of my elbows.
What’s on the menu today? I pull out a hardcover book with whimsical and detailed illustrations on its cover. In an instant, my daughter recognizes the work of the illustrator.
“This is a John Hendrix book!”
It sure is.
I mention the title: A Boy Called Dickens (by Deborah Hopkinson). I crack it open and we are immediately taken on a flyover chase around London’s (almost) Victorian-era streets. The year is, well, long ago. We can see that. It would be helpful if the author gave an exact year, but in reading the author’s note, we can find out that British novelist Charles Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870. This dreamlike picture book brings the reader in touch with the life of London’s poor youth.
The chase-like scene sucks the reader in. Where did Dickens go? Oh, there he is!
As the family gathers round for this reading, we learn that Charles Dickens had a dream to write stories, and was quite adept at telling them. However, he had to overcome a major obstacle to realize his dream of becoming a true writer.
I will not spoil it for you, but will point out that this book is one of a few that I would deem “living”.
One hallmark of a Charlotte Mason education is the reading of good, living books.
“Our business is to give him mind-stuff, and both quality and quantity are essential. Naturally, each of us possesses this mind-stuff only in limited measure, but we know where to procure it; for the best thought the world possesses is stored in books; we must open books to children, the best books; our own concern is abundant provision and orderly serving.”
Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education
What, you might ask, is a living picture book?
Living books, generally speaking, have a few common elements (paraphrased from Simply Charlotte Mason website):
They are written in narrative form, by an author who is passionate about the subject on which he/she is writing.
They are well-written and include a lot of description.
They feed the imagination and ignite the emotions.
They contain living ideas, which spur the reader on to beauty, truth, awe, joy, confidence, compassion, etc. “Ideas are sparks of truth passed on from a greater thinker to another mind” (https://www.amblesideonline.org/art-definition)
We read these 3 while on our trip to the mountains Memorial Day Weekend.
How does one detect a good, living book?
Usually, it only takes me a minute or two. I read the book’s first page. I skim the middle of the book. I flip through the artwork on each page. Oftentimes, a good illustrator will accompany a well-written book ( but not always). I take into account how the author presents the material, and how engaging the story is for children and adults alike. Sometimes, I read the author’s note at the end of the book. I skim to ensure there are not any hidden agendas or glaringly inappropriate themes. These actions are what make up my quick “test”.
Let’s take a look at an example of a living picture book “opener”. The first page of A Boy Called Dickens beckons me to plunge into its setting. (As a side note, I would say this book is written for anyone about seven years old and up.)
“This is old London, on a winter morning long ago. Come along, now. We are here to search for a boy called Dickens. He won’t be easy to find. The fog has crept in, silent as a ghost, to fold the city in cold, gray arms.
Maybe the boy is down by the river – the thick, black Thames. There are ragged children here, to be sure, scrambling for bits of copper and wood to sell.”
What did you learn from reading the first page?
I learned that the setting is London, a long time ago. Foggy London is by the River Thames, and at that time there are many children on the streets who are trying to sell what they can find to make a little money. I am still left wondering what year we are in, but that is not a deal-breaker, I suppose.
The first page is an excellent way to draw the reader in. Throughout the book, Deborah Hopkinson uses vivid description, quotations, and clear transitions between time periods. She weaves living ideas of perseverance and motivation into the story, as well as includes important facts. Exposing children to biographical history in this way is more enjoyable than reading an encyclopedia article on the life of Charles Dickens, in my opinion.
I stand up and grab another living biography off the bookshelf (or out of the book basket, in our case).
Maybe the kids will find this one endearing, I think to myself.
The title is Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle: Pandemonium and Patience in the President’s House. Written by Beth Anderson, it paints the picture of a loving and patient Lincoln with his impulsive, yet loveable son, Tad. You might know the Lincolns’ story. After losing a child, they have Tad: a vivacious, benevolent child, who is hard to understand when he opens his mouth, but has a heart to serve others. This book is also pretty captivating, at first glance. While it does show the everyday concerns of the president amid war, it does more than that. It highlights the uncertainty and trials of war, while also emphasizing the importance of charity and familial understanding. Beth Anderson paints a picture of a winsome and sincere boy: Tad Lincoln. The opening page is quite simple, but accomplishes its purpose:
“Thomas Lincoln wriggled from the moment he was born. Like a tadpole, thought Abraham, and he called his son ‘Tad’. The name stuck. So did the wriggle.”
I believe the reader could learn something about the demands of daily presidential life after reading this book, but even more, the reader is acquainted with the humanity of a presidential family. A very nice author’s note is included in the back, with photographs of the Lincolns.
Now, for the book that surely engages children’s minds in more ways than just the historical: the engineering and innovative nature of Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis and illustrated by Gilbert Ford will hook young engineers’ brains. Themes of dreaming big and tenacity to persevere in the midst of criticism are central here. Mr. George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. was the mastermind behind the unlikely monument that would become a landmark and mainstay of modernity: the ferris wheel. Learn about the process, from design to implementation. Read about the ferris wheel’s debut at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
The first page test results in an easy decision to take the book home:
“It was only ten months until the next World’s Fair. But everyone was still talking about the star attraction of the last World’s Fair. At eighty-one stories, France’s Eiffel Tower was the world’s tallest building. Its pointy iron and air tower soared so high that visitors to the top could see Paris in one breathtaking sweep.”
How does this page make you feel? What does the page paint in your mind?
I think you will find that the pages in Mr. Ferris and His Wheel are packed with facts, ideas, and artistic depictions of an era in time that showed our world was surely changing, with innovation and new technology at the forefront of science.
What should the result be, for our children, after reading living books? Delight and wonder are two things that should arise. “This delight will arise from the experience of receiving those sparks of truth from the author” (https://www.amblesideonline.org/art-definition).
How about you, Mom or Dad? Shouldn’t you also experience delight in reading living books, too? I think so.
After evaluating my selection of books today, I must ask myself, “Why do I love the mid-to-late 1800s so much?”
Maybe you’ll find a time period that draws you in. Or perhaps you will be drawn to a particular group of people – inventors, artists, politicians, writers, explorers – and will want your children to take hold of the living ideas written about the lives of such notable women and men. Flawed humans, yes, but significant to history.
Think about what you want to read with your children this summer, “Mom” or “Dad”.
I hope your summer is filled with picture books that tell stories about people who accomplished great feats, lived lives that are different from your own, and most assuredly, were real humans who have a lot in common with you, too.
I designed a narration resource back in June and wanted to give it a little facelift for you. I am linking it below. Narration is the “art of knowing” and retelling what you have learned after reading something. You can retell a reading in spoken words, in written words, or in another creative way. My aim in designing this matrix is to give you ideas in the case of brain cramp. We all get those at the most convenient moments, don’t we?
I want to bless you with three years’ worth of book recommendations. Each selection is carefully chosen based on the criteria for a living book.
A living book:
is written in narrative form by someone who is passionate about his or her subject
fires the emotions
ignites the imagination
is well-written
is written more like a chat with an expert in her field of expertise!
*90% of the books on my lists are living books. I denote the books that do not meet living book status, because there are some. I think you’ll love all of them, though. You can use them in any way you’d like. The content areas for the three Classical Conversations Cycles are present here in every book list. Enjoy, friends!
Make sure you don’t miss out on MORE resources and booklists! Sign up to be a part of our email community. It’s one way I encourage and show support to my most engaged audience.
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I might earn a small portion from the purchase of some of these LEGO books, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
I am so thankful to my email community.
People I personally know have shown me support and have spread the word. Thank you, dear friends!
I am also humbled in seeing how my community has grown over the past month. I cannot think that the only people interested in my content are those who know me personally. I have met kindred spirits, near and far! Thank you!
I want to invite you to join my email community. I am regularly designing exclusive, free content for my inbox buddies. I love doing this. So, if you are not already a member of our email community, please sign up.
Each Living Project includes:
links to engaging educational videos that serve to enrich thematic content
read aloud suggestions
narration ideas
family discussion questions
enrichment or extension projects that align with Classical Conversations content
Another perk I have created for my email community is the booklists I make each week. Are you ready to see Week 15?
Here is the Week 15 booklist, aligned with Classical Conversations Cycle 1, Week 15. I try my best to curate quality, living books. This list has some lovely books.
Last but certainly NOT least, did you know that TOMORROW, January 28, 2022 is LEGO BUILD DAY?
If you homeschool, you have probably heard of the name “Charlotte Mason”. Prior to homeschooling my oldest, I was researching educational philosophies. Five years ago, if you had asked me about Charlotte Mason, I would have said that she is a contemporary, 21st century education guru who loves being out in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. Clearly, I had some reading to catch up on!
Disclosure: As an Amazon associate, I may earn from the purchase of qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
If you homeschool, you have probably heard of the name “Charlotte Mason”. Prior to homeschooling my oldest, I was researching educational philosophies. Five years ago, if you had asked me about Charlotte Mason, I would have said that she is a contemporary, 21st century education guru who loves being out in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. Clearly, I had some reading to catch up on!
Circa 2017, before I really knew much about Charlotte Mason.
Charlotte Marie Shaw Mason was born January 1, 1842. She was a pioneer in education for her time.
Miss Mason had been home educated, was an only child, and never married. After losing both of her parents at age sixteen, she enrolled in the Home and Colonial Society for the training of teachers and earned a First Class Certificate (Simply Charlotte Mason). She became a teacher and incorporated into her philosophy of education that children, no matter social class, should be offered a wide, generous, and liberal education.
Now, Charlotte Mason’s name resounds throughout the halls of many a homeschool.
Going against the mainstream thought of her time, Charlotte Mason believed education should involve the whole child – the academic, emotional, and spiritual – not just the mind.
I am learning a lot about Charlotte Mason’s principles and life as I apply her methods. I do not want to just execute the methods; I want to know the reason behind the application.
Over the course of my time learning, I am compelled to share a few things you may not know about this British educator.
A favorite book.
1. Miss Mason and the principles she ‘discovered’ do not belong to one era.
Charlotte Mason made assumptions about her readers and her culture that do not apply to twenty-first-century Americans or Canadians. How many of us are intimately familiar with the writings of H.G. Wells, or would be able to understand any reference made about a minor character in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House? I am ignorant about these things myself (although I own a couple of H.G. Wells’ works). It’s when I start to read and listen to the ideas and references Charlotte Mason communicates to her own culture and time that I realize just how very little I know, period.
I first need to understand the mere references Charlotte Mason makes about her own time and people before I can begin to understand her principles that agree with the classical thinkers…right?
Wrong.
Miss Mason read a lot. Furthermore, she read a lot of the classical and modern thinkers and philosophers, from Plato to Locke to Ruskin. In Karen Glass’s work Consider This we learn that “her books contain references to such thinkers as Plato, Plutarch, Erasmus, Comenius, Milton, Montaigne, Rousseau, Spenser, Locke, Herbart, Pestalozzi, Arnold, Ruskin, James, and dozens more by name…” (2014, p. 8). Maybe I recognize half of the names on that list. Glass again writes in her In Vital Harmony that Miss Mason’s audience was comprised of “wordy Victorians and their successors – the Edwardians,” (2019, p. 1).
Back up, I need another history lesson. Who were the Edwardians?
Here’s the good news, for me:
While knowing who the Edwardians were is surely relevant to Charlotte Mason’s use of certain analogies and references, I do not think that knowing them any consequence for the utility of her principles. I say “her” principles, but she discovered them from people who lived long before she did. “She herself said that she and her colleagues had ‘discovered’ them, because they represent universal truths about education that have their roots in the classical world,” (Glass, 2014, p. 9). Her principles are transcendent of time. Her principles are as useful to us as they were to Charlotte Mason and to the people who lived during Plato’s time.
Principles do not change. The way we talk about the principles might change a bit from generation to generation. Therefore, “the essential principles of education are exactly as they have always been, but they remain living and do not become stale when they are turned around and examined afresh in light of current thought,” (Glass, 2019, p. 2). Cultural context may alter what we emphasize about a principle, but that does not negate the fact that it is still a principle, which by nature, is constant.
2. Miss Mason didn’t write her well-known books until she was in her forties. She cofounded the Parents’ Educational Union at age forty-five.
I think that people might assume Charlotte Mason had her writing career well underway by the time she was in her early thirties, but this was not so. Between ages thirty-eight and fifty, Miss Mason wrote a popular series called the Ambleside Geography Books (Wikipedia.org). This series would begin her ample literary contribution to education. What did she do before age thirty-eight? After earning her teaching certificate, Miss Mason taught at the Davison School in Worthing, England for over ten years.
Soon after, she was invited to lecture and teach at Bishop Otter Teacher Training College in Chichester, England, where she stayed for more than five years (Simply Charlotte Mason). From her experience there, Charlotte developed a series of lectures aimed at helping parents understand basic principles about bringing up children. These lectures were later published as Home Education and were widely received. Charlotte cofounded the Parents’ Educational Union (PEU) in 1887 in Yorkshire (Wikipedia.org). This organization would provide resources and support to educators and homeschool parents in the United Kingdom. The periodical created for keeping up with PEU members was entitled “Parents’ Review”.
3. Miss Mason was an upstanding member of the Anglican church but was not a proponent of Sunday schools.
Why does it seem that Charlotte Mason sometimes gets overlooked in Christian circles? She was Anglican and believed that much of the discipleship of children is the responsibility of the parents. She therefore did not spend a lot of time discussing education in the local church. She was not a big proponent of Sunday schools because they took away the parent’s duty and placed it into the hands of another source. Charlotte Mason said this about Sunday school in her Parents and Children(1904/1989):
…that is, the Sunday School is, at present, a necessary evil, an acknowledgment that there are parents so hard pressed that they are unable for their first duty. Here we have the theory of the Sunday School––the parents who can, teach their children at home on Sunday, and substitutes step in to act for those who can not.
Miss Mason was, however, a proponent of the unity of knowledge as it relates to all truth being God’s. There was no dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. Her belief that all knowledge is connected because it springs from a single source, the source being God, is referred to as the “Great Recognition”. (Glass, 2019, p. 32).
4. Miss Mason was trying to dispel commonly held beliefs of her time regarding children.
In Charlotte’s time, evolution was a new theory. In effect this science impacted the way people thought about children. “First, it was widely disseminated that at birth children were less than persons – akin to oysters – and not yet capable of thoughts and feelings that belong to a person,” (Glass, 2014, p. 13). The evolutionary thought perceived a baby to not be a fully developed human. Sad, isn’t it?
Charlotte Mason did not agree that children were less evolved or without mental capacity. Therefore her principle, “Children are born persons” is so consequential for her time. In addition, her time was rife with the idea that a person was either born good or born bad, and that education could not change his or her nature. Charlotte rejected this idea, too. If a child was born “bad” and you cannot do a thing about it, not matter what, then what good will an education do? “You might very well leave him alone to reap the consequences as they come, and the sooner he is out of the way the better,” (Glass, 2014, p. 16). Taking Charlotte’s view that all possibilities are present with a child, laying down a foundation of good habits and principles can effect change in a child’s character. Helping the child to see faults in his character acknowledges the possibilities for change.
Wisdom and virtue are necessary, because we are all flawed, but have potential for good. (Charlotte Mason was not making a statement regarding man’s original sin or total depravity but was taking an opposite stance to Darwinism. She did believe in the doctrines of original sin and total depravity, but that is not the point she is alluding to when she describes children as “not born either good or bad”.)
I love this quote of Charlotte’s, which exudes her respect for children, made in God’s image, albeit fallen in their humanity:
We must reverence or despise children; and while we regard them as incomplete and undeveloped beings who will one day arrive at the completeness of man, rather than as weak and ignorant persons, whose ignorance we must inform and whose weakness we must support, but whose potentialities are as great as our own, we cannot do otherwise than despise children, however kindly and even tenderly we commit the offence.
How should this reality impact us, as teachers of our children? We are given quite a task, to nurture and lay the foundation for virtue in these souls of our children, but we have the help of the Lord. Their souls are worth it. Souls are redeemed by Christ alone. Souls are nurtured and cared for by loving, Christian parents that God purposes to carry out His divine providence, the training up of a child. Common grace is a thing, too. The souls of children who are not yet saved are still able to experience common grace. My point is, Charlotte Mason recognized the need to educate all children’s souls because she regarded them as persons, with possibilities for good and for evil. They are not ALL good, and they are not ALL evil, without hope of doing any good.
5. In addition to a geography series and her six volumes on education, Mason wrote and published a six-volume work called The Saviour of the World, a study in verse of the life and teaching of Jesus, between 1908 and 1914.
While Charlotte Mason wrote from an educator’s and not a theologian’s perspective, she did state that, “education is the handmaid of religion”. Charlotte writes:
There are good and evil tendencies in body and mind, heart and soul; and the hope set before us is that we can foster the good so as to attenuate the evil; that is, on condition that we put Education in her true place as the handmaid of Religion.
(taken from Philosophy of Education, p. 46, qtd. in Karen Glass-Author)
This quote is another interesting one, and I am not sure I completely agree that if we foster good the evil will be mitigated, but we can hope so! Trusting in God’s sovereign power through prayer is imperative here, but also realizing that God does use people (like Christian parents) to carry out his sovereign will be also key. All debate and speculation aside, I think it is remarkable that Charlotte Mason devoted six years of her life to studying the life and teaching of Jesus, writing down her meditations on the gospels in verse (poetry). How lovely. Did you know this work (all six volumes, plus an unpublished seventh) can be found online here? The published volumes are entitled: The Holy Infancy (V. 1), His Dominion (V. 2), The Kingdom of Heaven (V. 3), The Bread of Life (V. 4), The Great Controversy (V. 5), and the Training of the Disciples (V. 6) (Charlotte Mason Poetry). Now I would like to spend some time sitting with these poetic works!
In conclusion, it might be tempting to put Charlotte Mason in a box, but if you haven’t read about her life or her works, thought about her famous principles, and discussed many of her quotes, it would be easy to stereotype her and the people who practice her principles. I understand that not everyone who incorporates a Charlotte Mason education in the homeschool follows every one of her principles or has read one of her original works (guilty). I can attest that good works written by the author Karen Glass – In Vital Harmony (2019) and Consider This (2014) – were transformative for me. If you want to begin somewhere and need to know where to start, they are two books I can recommend. A Delectable Education podcast is also very informative regarding a more orthodox approach to implementing Charlotte Mason’s suggested scope and sequence in a full education (Grades 1 through 12). Have fun learning alongside me about this pioneer whose “conception of education transcends the prominent minds of her time and endures to inspire future generations of teachers and parents” (Glass, 2014, p. 7).
If you are like me, you are on a journey of self-education. Together, we can learn more about the life and work of Charlotte Mason. If you are interested in receiving quotes like the one above on a regular basis, you can get them delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribing to my email community takes ten seconds.
My Little Brick Schoolhouse 