Product Description

Now you can teach language arts confidently and simply!

Teaching language arts doesn’t have to be complicated. With the Charlotte Mason Method, you’ll find that language arts can be enjoyable and simple.

Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing tells you exactly what Charlotte said about good literature, vocabulary, teaching your child how to read, narration, composition, English grammar, and more. In fact, be sure to download the free sample above; it includes the entire chapter on narration!

This book will

Explain what is included in language arts.
Share the powerful—yet few—methods that Charlotte Mason used to cover all the aspects of language arts.
Simplify language arts for both the teacher and the student.
Give you confidence that you’re covering all the aspects of language arts.

Here, gathered into one easy-to-read volume, are Charlotte’s timeless methods, lesson ideas, and practical tips. As you read her sensible and simple ideas in her own words, you will gain the confidence you need to help your child communicate through hearing and reading, telling and writing. Because, really, that’s what language arts is all about.

Additional Information

Weight	1.2 lbs
Dimensions	11 × 8.5 × 0.5 in
Author	Sonya Shafer
Pages	192
Binding	E-book, Trade Paper
Grade	Parent Resource
Charter-Friendly	No

6 reviews for Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing

Amy Webb – September 5, 2010
I just read the free download! looks great! I can’t wait to implement some of these ideas more fully. Also, Sonya, I have just recently come across your website here, and it has been so encouraging, so filled with information! I really love what you’re doing here. A great many of your books are going on my Christmas wish-list!
Momof2blessings – September 20, 2010
I just ordered this book…. after looking at the free download I just had to buy. I ook forward to time well spent on this website….it is so informative and full of wonderful information on the blogs.
Thanks Sonya for all you do!
Momof2blessings – September 23, 2010
I received my copy yesterday. As of this morning I have only thumbed through but it is a great book. I plan on implementing all I can with this book. Thanks Sonya!
Alysia – March 24, 2011
This has been a great purchase! This book has helped me understand much more in depth ‘Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing’. It has also helped me be able to see how to actually apply these methods with my children in detail. I loved how each concept is explained so thouroghly. It was just what I was needing to help me feel more confident in planning and applying CM methods in our homeschool. Excellent resource Sonya, thank-you!
Melanie – April 15, 2011
I am curious why you refer to Charlotte Mason as “Charlotte” in your literature. It seems more appropriate to refer to her as “Mason.” In formal writings, authors are always referenced by their last names, so I cringe when I notice you refering to Charlotte Mason in such a familiar term. Would you please advise?
- Sonya Shafer – April 15, 2011
  I guess I don’t consider our handbooks to be formal, plus we tend to view Charlotte Mason as a wise friend, so we refer to her like we would our other friends. We certainly mean no disrespect; we just feel that we have formed a relation to her over the years and see her as a person rather than a distant source.
- Donna – April 27, 2011
  Charlotte Mason was an educator primarily and wrote to benefit others. She loved on her children and would love on us, too, if she were here with us. In our homeschool group which is based on Charlotte Mason, we refer to her as Charlotte Mason, Miss Mason, Charlotte, and sometimes mom. “Mother Mason, tell me what to do with these children!” And if you read her writings, you can hear her speaking to us through her work because she wrote to leave a legacy to those who would teach children. I find the thought of cringing at the familiar term strange as I cringe at the thought of calling her “Mason.” Although I’m sure in some circles the more formal term would be appropriate in speaking of her literary works, I believe it would be quite customary that her students, once having been raised to take a new seat next to her as educators, call her by her first name.
Susan – July 5, 2011
Would this resource be good for helping older children with writing? I have 2 middle school aged children that need more practice and I need guidance to teach them how to write well. I don’t know how to teach them about things such as outlines, story structure, etc.
- Sonya Shafer – July 5, 2011
  Hi, Susan. This book would explain to you how Charlotte Mason approached composition, but it wouldn’t tell you step by step how to teach your children to write an outline or how to teach story structure. Charlotte’s approach was more along the lines of making sure the children read a wide variety of great authors and had plenty of practice writing down their thoughts. Then she trusted that extensive good reading to help shape the child’s personal style, and she coupled that trust with fine tuning their compositions one or two points at a time as they progressed. She encouraged them to write their narrations using different types of writing (like narrative, persuasive, descriptive, etc.), but all of it was based on the good books they read. So Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing will give you ideas for encouraging, shaping, and fine tuning the children’s narrations.
  - Joy in Nepal – July 23, 2011
    This is where I’m at, too.
    Have you, or others, seen this trust in “extensive good reading” and some “fine tuning” truly produce good, thoughtful, clear writers at the high school level?
    I’m having trouble finding clear instruction of what CM expected, and how exactly that was implemented.
    Thanks for any help.
    - Sonya Shafer – July 25, 2011
      Yes, I have seen it personally and other CM moms have commented about their results in our forum discussions. I found this written narration/composition area one of the most fascinating as I was doing the research for Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing. One of the biggest ah-ha moments was when I discovered that Charlotte required the four usual types of composition as the students progressed through the grades. She encouraged Narrative and Expository compositions in the younger grades, then added Descriptive and Persuasive compositions in the older grades. But she got those types of narrations because of the way she worded the narration questions, and it made perfect sense. I don’t have room to go into all the details here, but you can see the examples and my notes in the Appendix of the book.
      - Joy in Nepal – July 29, 2011
        Thank you for your time, Sonya!
      - Missy – July 21, 2012
        Thank you! This discussion helped a great deal in deciding to purchase this e-book. I have two children in high school and one who will be in high school in another year. We have implemented a few of CM’s methods over the years, but high school level English is scary to me. It didn’t go very well last year (with textbooks) so I’m digging in this year and doing some research. I’m so thankful to have found this series of posts on Language Arts and this e-book.
        I also wanted to say I like the e-book format for a couple of reasons. I have a LaserJet printer and it is very inexpensive to print them. I print out all of the Charlotte Mason e-books that I download from the site and keep them all together in a tabbed binder, which makes a very handy reference tool. I can also read them on my NOOK if I’m unable to access my binder or PC. Thanks for offering the e-book format. I like having another choice.