Below you will find helpful links to blog posts, book suggestions, and other resources that correspond to the topics covered in the Learning and Living: Homeschooling the Charlotte Mason Way video set. Click on a link in the Table of Contents to quickly go to that section of this page.

The Student Motto

The Way of the Will Charlotte Mason free habit training e-book

The Way of the Will—A free e-book that highlights Charlotte Mason’s sensible approach to understanding your child’s will and helping him learn to choose between “I want” and “I will.”

The Parent Motto

Education Is…—A free e-book that explains the basics of a Charlotte Mason education, one that includes the atmosphere of your home, the discipline of good habits, and the life-giving ideas that come from great books and methods.

Living Books

Choosing Books Like a Connoisseur—A short list of what to look for when you are book shopping.

CM Bookfinder—Thousands of CM-style books (and other resources, like audio tapes, videotapes, and CDs). Browse or search by title, subject, recommended grade levels, time period, and more to find the books you want to use.

SCM Curriculum Guide—Our free curriculum guide will give you detailed book lists and resource recommendations to enjoy a feast of Charlotte Mason-style studies. Use it as is or simply as a starting point to customize a delightful plan for your family.

Narration

Using Living Books Effectively—Six tips on how to best use living books.

5 Steps to Successful Narration—A series covering the basics of narration to help you continue to progress and experience success.

Charlotte Mason Answers Your Questions about Narration—Some common questions about narration along with their answers quoted directly from Charlotte’s original writings.

Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook—Your complete reference guide to building a Charlotte Mason language arts program. Chapter 6 is all about narration.

History

Teaching History—How to teach history in a Charlotte Mason way.

Some of our favorite history books on the free SCM Curriculum Guide listed by time period and categorized by grade level.

History/Geography/Bible lesson plan books—Our award-winning history/geography/Bible lesson plans help you teach all your children together for history, Bible, and geography! The studies detail Scripture passages, living books, Book of Centuries entries, narration ideas, geography ideas, and additional assignments for older students.

Geography

Teaching Geography—Geography is about real people and real places, not just numbers. Here’s an overview of how to teach it as a living subject with the Charlotte Mason method.

Visits to… Geography Series—Explore each region of the world through captivating photography, a traveler’s firsthand accounts, and step-by-step work with maps, plus lots of ideas for additional living books and activities. You are sure to enjoy these visits to each part of your world!

Bible

Teaching Bible—Of all the subjects we include in our children’s education, the most important should be their Bible lessons. Here’s how.

SCM Bible Studies—Several Bible studies designed to get the student into direct contact with Scripture, give him the tools he needs to observe carefully, and encourage him to form his own relations with what he has read.

Scripture Memory

Free Scripture Memory System—Discover a great system to help your family review the verses they have memorized while continuing to learn new passages. You can also download free Scripture verse cards to help you get started.

Science

Hours in the Out-of-Doors: A Charlotte Mason Nature Study Handbook—An excellent resource for anyone who wants to lead her students in nature study with confidence. This handbook explains all about nature study in Charlotte’s own words. Full of inspiring quotes and lots of practical tips!

Here’s a list of hundreds of our favorite living science books.

Teaching Science—An overview of Charlotte’s two-faceted approach to teaching science.

Nature Study series—A collection of blog posts that explore the benefits of nature study as well as practical how-to’s.

Literature

Some of our favorite family read-aloud literature books on the free SCM Curriculum Guide.

Teaching Literature—A post about not shredding literature books to bits with analyzing.

Literature, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—Some key points for covering literature, vocabulary, and reading comprehension as an integral part of your home school.

Poetry

Teaching Poetry—We are doing our children a great service when we nourish their minds and equip their hearts with good poetry. Here’s how.

Poetry—Some ways that Charlotte tucked little poetry lessons into her program.

Composition

Composition the Charlotte Mason Way—A blog post that focuses on using narration to teach composition.

Teaching Writing—How Charlotte taught composition through written narration.

Copywork

Copywork, Transcription, and Dictation—Part of a series on language arts that explores how these methods work and their natural progression.

Teaching Writing—A blog post about how Charlotte taught handwriting through the method of copywork.

Delightful Handwriting—A gentle handwriting course that allows you to progress at your child’s pace from simple strokes to letters to words to copying beautiful phrases and sentences.

A Child's Copybook Reader, Volume 1 Zaner Bloser

A Child’s Copybook Reader, Volumes 1–3—This reader and copybook in one gives your student practice in reading and review by writing. Quality selections from classic children’s poetry, Aesop’s fables, the Bible, and more! A great way to help your beginning reader gain fluency and confidence! (Grades 1–3)

Print to Cursive Proverbs copybook Zaner Bloser

Print to Cursive Proverbs—Gives your student opportunity to continue practicing printing while learning cursive—all centered around more than thirty wisdom verses from the book of Proverbs. A great way to make the transition from print to cursive gently and gradually. (Grades 2–3)

Hymns in Prose copybooks—Passages from a beautiful reader, recommended by Charlotte Mason, that encourages a love and reverence for God and His handiwork. (Grades 2–3)

Book of Mottoes

Book of Mottoes—A blog post that explains more about this personal journal.

Transcription

Copywork, Transcription, and Dictation—Part of a series on language arts that explains how these three methods work and their natural progression.

Prepared Dictation

Copywork, Transcription, and Dictation—Part of a series on language arts that explains how these three methods work and their natural progression.

Spelling Wisdom—Our CM-style spelling curriculum that teaches today’s 6,000 most frequently used words presented in the writings of great men and women of history. Available in both American and British spelling versions! (Grades 3–12)

English Grammar

A Charlotte Mason Approach to English Grammar—Part of a series on language arts that explains how Charlotte approached this subject.

Teaching Grammar—Probably the biggest difference between the way we were taught grammar and how Charlotte approached grammar is the timing. Here are more details.

Foreign Language

Some of our favorite foreign language resources on the free SCM Curriculum Guide.

Teaching Foreign Language—Charlotte believed that we should approach learning a foreign language in the same way we approach learning our mother tongue: hear it and speak it before you ever read and write it.

Picture Study

Download your own copy of the Bouquet of Daisies cards used in the video.

Picture Study FAQ—A blog post that answers frequently asked questions about picture study.

Picture Study—A series of posts that discuss why and how to do picture study.

Picture Study Portfolios—Everything you need to do art appreciation, all gathered into one beautiful package: gorgeous art prints, an artist biography, information on the pictures, and more! Choose from an ever-growing selection of artists. (Grades 1–12)

Art Instruction

Teaching Art— How Charlotte approached art in a balanced way, scheduling time for her students to both appreciate others’ art and to express their own art.

Creating a Masterpiece—Looking for a good art teacher? Check out this encouraging and professional art instruction in a wonderful series of videos, covering a wide variety of art media: watercolor, pencil drawing, pastel, sculpture, acrylic painting, ink, and more! Available in multiple levels for students of all ages and experience.

Handicrafts

Teaching Handicrafts—A blog post covering the what, how, and when of handicrafts.

Homeschool Handicrafts series—A blog series that talks about some of the benefits and addresses some of the challenges of teaching handicrafts in a home school.

Handicrafts Made Simple—With the Handicrafts Made Simple video series it’s easy to add handicrafts to your school schedule. The step-by-step demonstrations and accompanying booklet walk you and your children through interesting and useful projects using a variety of life skills and handicrafts. (Grades 1–12)

Music Study

Teaching Music—How Charlotte incorporated music into her students’ education and how you can easily enjoy it in your home school.

Singing

The book from which the video’s singing exercises were taken is One-Minute Sight Singing, Beginner/Intermediate level, Treble Clef, by Ronald Slabbinck and Holly Shaw-Slabbinck, published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company.

Math

Teaching Math—A blog post that looks at several of the methods Charlotte employed in the teaching of mathematics.

Mathematics: An Instrument for Living Teaching—Learn how Charlotte Mason taught math from beginning numbers through algebra and geometry. A ground-breaking handbook that reveals what every parent-teacher wants to know about Charlotte’s life-related approach to mathematics.

Habits

Smooth and Easy Days—A free e-book that looks at Charlotte Mason’s common-sense ideas and practical tips for cultivating good habits in your child’s life.

Laying Down the Rails: A Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook—Our bestselling book on habit training! Here, compiled into one volume, are all the habits Charlotte mentioned in her writings with her thoughts and suggestions for cultivating each one. This work also includes Charlotte’s help for breaking bad habits, hundreds of inspiring quotes, and lots of practical tips.

Laying Down the Rails for Children: A Habit-Training Companion—A habit-training companion for the whole family filled with more than 400 pages of stories, Bible passages, poems, activities, quotations—living ideas that will nestle into your children’s minds and motivate them toward the habits of good character. Corresponds to the award-winning book, Laying Down the Rails.

Planning

Download your own copy of the subject cards used in the video.

Planning series—A blog series that outlines the process of planning.

Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education Book

Planning Your Charlotte Mason Education—Take the guesswork out of planning for your Charlotte Mason homeschool. In this book and video you’ll find clear instructions and examples that walk you through five simple steps, from determining the Big Picture all the way down to planning your day.

CM Organizer—A simple yet powerful online planner designed especially for those using the Charlotte Mason method.

High School

Homeschooling through High School the Charlotte Mason Way series—A series of blog posts covering various aspects of the high school years.

Learning & Living Links and Tips