1. It's a natural way of learning--The whole family can develop the interests that are already there within them, some that aren't and have fun doing it. My children and I learn all kinds of interesting things. We grab our binoculars to identify birds as they come to our backyard feeders in the Winter. We grow milkweed and watch the Monarch butterflies come to feast on the flowers and leave their eggs. We take walks or ride bikes and try to identify the flowers that we see.
2. It encourages interest in various subjects--If one child has an interest in airplanes, we find books on different kinds, biographies on people like the Wright brothers, build models of airplanes and make lots and lots of paper airplanes. We have read all kinds of biographies. Trailblazer and YWAM books on Missionaries, The Sower series about various famous people and there is a series of famous childhood books we've read also. My children liked the movie Homeward Bound. Did you know it's based on the book The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford? When the Lord of the Rings movie came out last year, my daughter started reading the books. I have had them for yeats, just waiting for the right timing. She is almost through the last book and the 2 boys are getting there. This is the most my 13 year old son has ever read at one time. Sometimes it takes a little time for the seeds we've planted to start bearing fruit, but when they do the 'little plants' take off!
3. It uses 'real' interesting books--We read what I call 'real' books for all of our school subjects, except math.(But we can read biographies about mathematicians.) I can share all those wonderful books that I have always wanted to read as a child and so many more that I have found along the way. Right now, my 13 year old has started the Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin. It follows the re-creation of a voyage by St. Brendan to see if he could have reached N. America before Columbus. Miss Mason said the child "must discover with the explorer", "journey with the traveler" using books written by the original person who experienced these things. When my daughter went through her Worldview course in High School, she read He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer. One book that I had never read was Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. That was a wonderful book! There is nothing like experiencing a good book. Shakespeare has opened up new worlds for us! Poetry is one thing that I integrate into as many subjects as I can. History is perfect for including poetry. Poets wrote about many historical events and they all lived at one time or another. Of course, you can include it just for fun.
4. Art and Music are a normal everday part of life--There is nothing like having a colorful piece of artwork hanging on the wall or in a frame by the computer to brighten my day. I love color! If you want to brighten your day try it. I keep calendars with a different art print for each month hanging on the wall and I use spiral bound art calendars for my daily planner. My 10 year old has always wanted an Audubon Birds calendar. This year I found one for him at half-price. We can keep the pictures, just like I have always kept all my other calendar pictures since about 1991. We even have art bookmarks. If you need something to change your mood and lift your spirits, try putting on a classical CD. It works wonders! My day can start out bad or just not so good, and after listening to my favorite Bach pieces, I've forgotten all about it. We started our music education listening to narrated tapes on composers lives. We also listened to tapes of the sounds of instruments. We have correlated the music with a time period in history also. We listened to a tape of songs popular during Laura Ingalls Wilder's time when we worked our way through eight Little House books. The Gift of Music is a good Christian based book on composers, read it aloud though, because Mom will have to edit occasionally. I read the Annotated Mona Lisa aloud alongside our history. As we read about each artist, I showed the children several examples of their work out of our art books or prints we already have.
5. Short Lessons--Lessons are intentionally kept short. The children don't tire out and so many different things can be fit into a day. Charlotte Mason says that we should offer our children a "full and generous curriculum". Following this advice keeps the days interesting. There is always something new to learn. It allows for a 'well-rounded' education. One of the goals I have for my children is to develop all types of interests in all kinds of things.
6. Language Arts can be covered with just a few methods and NO workbooks--When my children were young, I would read them short stories like Aesop's Fables and after the reading they would tell me the story back. This is called narration. It is more than just repeating the story back like a parrot. It takes a lot of thought process to remember details from a story, form the words into sentences and get them in the right order. Try it yourself sometime, after church on Sunday, perhaps. Children are born with this unique ability and we can find ourselves getting tired because they're constantly telling us of everything they see or hear or do. We should instead try to encourage this in them. When they stop telling us everything like this, that's when we should worry. They have lost their interest and curiosity!
Young children start with copywork. This gives them a model of letter formation, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. They are learning spelling, grammar and practicing handwriting all at one time! As they get older copywork moves into dictation, then oral narration moves into written narration, in other words, reports. My daughter once told me that copywork helped her to remember Bible verses that she read. She also loved to copy poetry.
7. Spiritual matters should be a natural part of schooling--One of the goals for my children's education is to be able to gauge everything against scripture. Miss Mason believed that the Holy Spirit is our guide in all things secular as well as sacred. That is my belief also. God is the one who has given everyone the talents they have, He is the author of everything! By providing all kinds of opportunities and information in all kinds of subjects, my children's God-given talents can have a chance to take root. There may be ideas planted from a book they've read that none of us have ever dreamed about that they may take hold of!
Our family has been homeschooling for 15 years now, using Charlotte Mason's methods for 14 of those. I have searched many magazines and read many books before settling on these ideas. Charlotte Mason's methods have been the perfect fit for us. It is so enjoyable! Looking back now, I wouldn't change a thing. I used to shy away from telling people about the way we school because they didn't understand. I think a Homeschool should be more than just 'school' at home. Homeschooling is a lifestyle that should be woven into the fabric of everyday living and family relationships. I think this is one of the secrets to many happy years at Home, schooling