Charlotte Mason (1842–1923) was born in the age of Queen Victoria and lived to witness the impact of industrialization, America’s War between the states, World War I and the flu epidemic of 1918. An educator, author, speaker and philosopher Charlotte Mason’s impact on education is now growing throughout the world because the ideas she put forward have stood the test of time, for those willing to consider them.
by Frederic Yates
Because of our modern love of catchy phrases and simplified headlines, Mason is now associated with booklists and getting children outside. Modern home educators may think that if they are reading aloud and going on nature walks their child is receiving a “Charlotte Mason Education”. However, to stop there would leave our culture, our homes and our nation sparsely tended. There is a richness and depth – a great bounty waiting to be harvested that Ms. Mason worked out over her lifetime as an educator and philosopher. Parents and educators willing to take the time to work out these ideas for themselves in their own time and place will learn how to live fully and lead their children to that fullness of life as well.
After teaching, writing and lecturing for 30 years in Bradford, Mason settled in the town of Ambleside in the Lake District in Northwest England. She bought a large home there and operated the “House of Education” from that location until her death. She named it so, she wrote, because “household life as a means of culture is much to be preferred to college life.” Already a well received author and lecturer, Mason had the means to act on her dream. She was a middle class educational entrepreneur. The local town housed a school where her students, who were women studying to be teachers and governesses, would work out the ideas and practices. Mason kept her own staff. She employed cooks, a driver, teachers and many others to help run the house. It was a labor of love and though she didn’t become wealthy by the world’s standards, at the end of her life she declared:
“I am an old woman, a very old woman, but also I believe a multi-millionaire, and, as we are beginning to understand, millionaires are people of many perplexities. It is not an easy thing to know how to make use of vast wealth. My vast wealth would amuse a rich man, for it consists of a few, a mere invigorating, exhilarating powers that have already been of some use in the world and should help to solve most of the problems which perplex the world today.
Therefore I shall do my best to put them down in “black and white.” (The Story of Charlotte Mason)
And of course, she did write down what her “vast wealth” consisted of and how we too can attain it. Her sixth volumes survive as such a guide. Toward a Philosophy of Education (volume 6) being the final and most complete of the series as far as explaining the education of philosophy she worked to grasp throughout her lifetime.
Ms. Mason was a Christian and in all of her work the presence of God and His active hand in the lives of ordinary people should be understood to be interwoven as the thread that binds it all together. You can’t have a complete education without the Knowledge of God. To remove God and call it a “Charlotte Mason Education” is to remove the foundation for which her ideas stand. It is unfortunate that today we use the term “Charlotte Mason Method” or the like since she herself was striving to understand principles outside of herself or her own creation. To say that she “discovered” the 20 Principles of Education laid out in her books, articles and speeches is more appropriate. These principles can help all educators of all time periods, backgrounds and means to understand the Natural Laws of Education (credit, In Vital Harmony, Karen Glass).
As a Christian, Mason understood mankind, as image-bearers of God were to have honor, dignity and respect. During her lifetime, the rise of machines, factories and the need for factory workers dehumanized children in particular. Very young children were often hired to do work and would spend hours inside the walls of a factory. Thus, their education became utilitarian. The need to develop good workers – those who could obey immediately and last hours on doing the same repetitive tasks became commonplace. There was hardly any consideration about what was good for the child. The goal for the economy was focused on yielding and generating the most profit. Education followed suit. The wealthy were not without their own poverty, those children were “seen and not heard.” They were physically sectioned off at the top of the home with a governess who would “bring them down” for an hour a day and “present” them to their parents.
The family also received its greatest hit with mother’s leaving the home in droves to work in factories during The Great War. On the whole, they have yet to return. Mason saw the impact of the educational trend of the day and sought to offer something better – not from the power of her own personality, but what was true for all children. She continually put forward the 20 principles. They were worked out with many children and proved to be faithful guides time and time again.
It is fruitful to study Mason’s writing and to consider her methods because she worked to discover universal truths that could be applied to all children in every place and time. We may get caught up in the particulars of how one family or school implements her ideas and say “that’s not for me.” But I hope to show that the ideas she puts forward and the principles she articulates have wisdom and truth that can be applied to all of us.
The distinctives of an education that seeks to implement the the principles that Charlotte Mason puts forward in her writing will seek to equip parents and teacher to:
- Show respect for the child.
- Trust the child and their in-born curiosity to self-educate. This includes trusting the child to learn from mistakes and failures. It may also include providing support for interests and aptitudes.
- Have confidence in the interconnectedness of life and how through these relationships, we learn and grow.
- Allow a child to receive this education primarily through books. Books should be excellent and put a child in touch with the greatest minds on each subject.
- Offer Knowledge of God: Reading the Bible and teaching theology are essential to giving
- Offer Knowledge of the Universe: Science and the study of nature will serve the child to learn about God’s world. Learning about General Revelation will allow the child to explore how vast the imagination of God is and to recognize that one lifetime isn’t enough to learn about all of His wonders. The study of mathematics and astronomy are included here.
- Offer Knowledge of Man: The study of history is taught from primary sources and well-written books – often biographies and lively stories that allow the people in them to be real to the child. This too will bring a child to see God at work in all times, people and places.
- Use Narration: The practice of telling back what one has read helps a child to process the information for themselves and tell what they know. This practice has been commonly used since Plato and helps a child make the knowledge their own.
- Care for the body: The use of physical training in the support of a whole education has also been used since antiquity. Mason used Swedish Drill in her schools. We can find ways through running, hiking, CrossFit, eating well, dancing and the like to use our whole bodies to care for them well.
- Incorporate Habit training: As any young mother will quickly learn, the use of routine will quickly help to guide a young child through a day most smoothly. So it is with all of us. The lines we lay down for ourselves will become ingrained. It is the thoughtful mother who sees a poor habit and works to correct it by setting up a new line. Habit training is intentional and thoughtful.
- Study foreign languages so as to be hospitable and sympathetic to neighbors.
- And all of this can be accomplished in one childhood because Mason utilized short lessons. Some can be 10 minutes, others 20-30 minutes. But the idea is to command full attention the first time so as to not be wasteful in the work set out for the day.
This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of the principles or practices that were used or can be used by someone seeking to implement Charlotte Mason’s principles. It is good to remember that each family in each time, place and circumstance will have their own needs, interests and ways to apply these truths in their families. There are many ways to raise a child right! My intention is to offer a taste of the reasoning that supports the practices that are spread far and wide across the Internet and, I hope, to inspire you to learn about these principles of education for yourself. It is a fruitful endeavor.