60-day returns • free shipping on USA orders $129+
Design and fashion are not my strong suit, so I like to learn more about those areas just for my own personal growth. And looking back, I’ve seen growth over the years. For example, I used to purchase complete outfits exactly like the model in the store: the same blouse, the same pants, the same jewelry—everything. But as I’ve learned more and assimilated some ideas, I’ve discovered that I don’t have to replicate the model exactly. There are principles at play in each outfit, and as long as I adhere to the principles, I have freedom to make changes.
I can look at a model outfit and recognize principles of proportion, of color interaction, of fit; and if I keep those principles in mind, I don’t have to stick with the exact same white blouse or that particular brand of jeans that is on the model. I can use the principles to create something similar that works for me.
And it’s the same with the Charlotte Mason Method. Too often we get hung up on trying to replicate exactly what Charlotte did in her programmes and schools, when the method encourages us to have freedom. As long as we adhere to the main principles, we can create something similar that works for us.
I have recognized that idea threaded throughout her writings over the years, but I was excited to see it even more clearly stated when I recently read two letters that she wrote. I think you’ll find them interesting and liberating.
The first letter was a reply to some suggestions from teachers who had been using Charlotte’s programmes in their school for many years. They loved her methods and had seen wonderful growth in their students. But they had some ideas for how the programmes might be made even better. One of their suggestions was to change the history curriculum so that all of the students would be studying the same history time period across all of the grades each year. That way they would all work through history consecutively no matter what grade level they were in. It’s the same idea that we use in the Simply Charlotte Mason curriculum: all of the grade levels studying the same history time period each year.
Here’s what the teachers sent to Charlotte:
“In History the programme, has been of great assistance. The books used, when the programme started, were almost a discovery. They have been well graded and the whole well worked out. But there is one very important improvement which I should like to see and that is that the periods studied should be the same throughout the school. [Forms] IA and IB could take the period in Our Island Story. [Forms] II and III in Arnold Foster and so on. In this way children would learn consecutive history and as they pass up from one class to another there would be no hiatus in their knowledge.”
(taken from Mary Hickson’s talk given at a teacher’s conference in January 1919 and sent in print to Charlotte Mason)
How do you think Charlotte responded? Keep in mind that this suggestion was made in January 1919, after Charlotte had been using a different arrangement for many years, with each grade level studying a different time period. In her reply letter, she touched briefly on each of the teachers’ ideas and questions, and when she got to her response on their history suggestion, here’s what she wrote:
“History: there is much to be said for the suggestions of the same period throughout the school, but the difficulties are great. I shall keep the matter in mind.”
She was right. It would have been a great difficulty to change everything then. She was nearing 80 years old, and it would have taken a lot of work to change over all of the programmes. As it was, she didn’t choose to invest her remaining energy and time into making that switch, but notice that she was not opposed to it. In fact, she thought there was “much to be said” for that idea.
Freedom within the principles. As long as they adhered to the principles and philosophy, they were free to make changes that would work for their situation.
I found the same mindset in a letter that she wrote three years later, just a couple of months before she died. Students and schools in America were starting to use her programmes, and she was discussing with a trusted friend the question of whether America needed a separate, different curriculum from the one they had designed for British students. It was an interesting discussion, and she came to the conclusion that she did not need to make a curriculum for American students because
“After a few years working on our scheme America would be able to make her own.”
(letter to Horace Household, November 6, 1922)
Again, freedom within the principles. They would take a few years to learn Charlotte’s philosophy and principles, and then they could create their own programmes and schedules.
What are the principles that Charlotte set forth? There are 20, and you can learn about them in the series called Core Values of Charlotte Mason.
Personally, I found those comments in the letters to be quite affirming and liberating. Charlotte never intended us to replicate exactly what she did in her programmes and schedules. She carefully and intentionally laid out the core principles and trusted us to adhere to those principles as we design a curriculum that works best for our situations. We don’t have to use the same books that she did. We don’t have to structure our studies or our schedule exactly as she structured hers. As long as we adhere to her philosophy and principles, we have freedom to choose the books and schedule and structure that will fit our students best.
We recently celebrated the 100-year anniversary of this wonderfully-freeing legacy that Charlotte left. Let me share one more little gem that I found tucked into that same letter about America’s curriculum. This sentence reveals Charlotte’s hope for all that she was doing.
She wrote,
“Our materials and methods are fragments of a philosophy which will I hope alter many things a hundred years hence!”
(letter to Horace Household, November 6, 1922)
Well, here we are “a hundred years hence,” and I’m thrilled at all of the things that have been altered in our children’s educations because of Charlotte Mason and the freedom that we have to teach each child, firm on the solid foundation of her principles and philosophy.
Embrace that freedom. Get to know the principles well, then feel free to make changes within the guidelines of those principles in order to teach each child best. That’s a Charlotte Mason education.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast (podcastv): Play in new window | Download