My Little Robins

Loving and Learning in the Nest

Picture and Composer Study in Home Education

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For the past several years, in our Charlotte Mason preschool at home, art and music have come by-the-way. I've tried to incorporate them into our home to create an atmosphere where beautiful music and art are normal, everyday things to be enjoyed. But, aside from having a deBussy station playing on Pandora over and over again, we are seriously lacking in this area. 

I'm looking forward to our first year of formal lessons, so that these areas become a regular part of our days. And, I'm especially excited that my younger sons will get to experience these things as an atmospheric bonus. 

For our first year of official homeschooling, I planned out our curriculum based solely on Charlotte Mason's first volume, Home Education. Although this doesn't take into account all of the recommendations that she made in 30+ years of sharing her philosophy, it simplified things for me, and overall, it feels like a rich and thorough feast. You can see the rest of the posts in this series here.

Charlotte Mason Picture Study

"The six-year-old should begin both to express himself and to appreciate, and his appreciation should be well in advance of his power to express what he sees or imagines." Home Education, page 307

"When children have begun regular lessons, (that is, as soon as they are six), this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of the term." Home Education, pages 308-309

In this part of Home Education, Charlotte Mason described these intentional picture study lessons. The child is presented with a reproduction of the art, and then looks at it intently. He then tells back, or narrates, what he sees. But, Charlotte Mason said that the ability to narrate is not the important part. The picture can make an impression on his sense of beauty whether or not he's able to communicate it. 

In the time I've spent planning our curriculum, my plan for art has changed. I was hoping to study Mary Cassatt and Benjamin West using beautiful books that I tracked down, and printing off pictures from the Internet. But, I changed artists, and my approach. 

Picture Study Curriculum

I've used affiliate links to share our curriculum choices with you. You can read more about them in my policies. 

As much as I wanted to study Benjamin West (because he painted Benjamin Franklin, whom we are also studying, and because of the amazing book Benjamin West and his Cat Grimalkin that I can't wait to read with Miss H), but I decided to move him out of the way in order to study Monet. This seems a little more disjointed, but there is going to be a Monet exhibit at our local museum in the fall. I would love to take my children there and let them have some understanding of his art!

To simplify, I decided to use Simply Charlotte Mason's art portfolios. I had the opportunity to see SCM's resources at a homeschool convention recently, and I realized that they would be perfect for us as we piece together our own curriculum. The art portfolios have beautiful prints inside, as well as an artist biography and "leading thoughts" about each painting. 

Mary Cassat portfolio

Monet portfolio

Composer Study

In Home Education, Charlotte Mason didn't mention composer study. She talked about helping children form the habit of music, by constantly hearing and producing it, But, I wanted to incorporate some kind of composer study, so I chose The Story of the Orchestra to introduce my children to genres, composers, and pieces. This is a beautiful book that Miss H is very excited about. She has pulled it off of the shelf a couple of times already, but we're both practicing self-control by saving it for the fall. 

In the future, I'll officially do composer study as Charlotte Mason recommended in other works, but at this point, I am content with simplifying one more thing in our days together. 

This brings me to the end of my series on a curriculum pulled straight from Home Education. Once I pace it all out, and inevitably have some changes to make, I'll share another post. 

Geography- Discovering the World, Not Memorizing Facts

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Geography, as it is traditionally taught, can be a cringe-worthy subject! The memorization of states and regions, facts and facts, can drain the joy out of learning faster than an eight-year-old can spell M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. But, after going through Home Education again, to understand Charlotte Mason's recommendations from this volume, the idea that geography doesn't have to be tedious and boring was reinforced in my mind. 

A few months ago, I wrote about what Charlotte Mason's suggested for playful, outdoor-based geography. We will continue to do that next year, But, we'll also follow her recommendations found later in Home Education. 

Like I've mentioned before, I'm choosing to hone in only on the recommendations from her first volume to create our curriculum for our first year of homeschooling. I did this for simplicity's sake. I don't think Charlotte Mason intended for her philosophy to be a set of rules, and that the fact that there are additional recommendations make these less worthy. You can read the rest of my posts in this series here.

Geography

"We begin to see the lines we must go upon in teaching geography: for educative purposes, the child must learn such geography, and in such a way, that his mind shall thereby be stored with ideas, his imagination with images; for practical purposes he must learn such geography only as, the nature of his mind considered, he will be able to remember; in other words, he must learn what interests him." Home Education, page 273

Geography is not an area that I feel fondly towards, although I love exploring different countries, learning different languages, and reading books about foreign lands. Thankfully, the recommendations in Home Education for geography appeal to my favorite things about foreign lands, and steer away from the memorization of states, regions, etc. 

What she did recommend in this volume is: 

Reading several well-written travel guides-"Supposing that between the child's sixth and his ninth year half a dozen well-chosen standard books of travel have been read with him in this way, he has gained distinct ideas of the contours, the productions, and the manners of the people, of every great region of the world; has laid up a store of reliable, valuable knowledge, that will last his lifetime; and besides, has done something to acquire a taste for books and the habit of reading." Home Education, page 276

Maps- "Maps must be carefully used in this type of work,--a sketch-map following the traveler's progress, to be compared finally with a complete map of the region; and the teacher will exact a description of such and such a town, and such and such a district, marked on the map, by way of testing and confirming the child's exact knowledge..." Home Education, page 275

"The child who gets no ideas from considering the map, say of Italy or of Russia, has no knowledge of geography, however many facts about places he may be able to produce. " Home Education, page 278

Read books that feed their imagination-  "I know of nothing so good as the old-fashioned World at Home by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby for children between six and seven. As they hear, they wonder, admire, imagine, and can even 'play at' a hundred situations." Home Education, page 276

Observation- "But definitions should come in the way of recording his experiences. Before he is taught what a river is, he must have watched a stream and observed that it flows; and so on with the rest." Home Education, page 277

​

Geography Curriculum Choices

I've used affiliate links to share these books with you. You can read more about them in my policies.

One thing that Charlotte Mason mentioned that stood out to me is that we have the freedom to skip passages and pages that don't interest young children, or that aren't appropriate for them. She called this "judicious skipping." In this way, books that are geared towards adults aren't "too much" for young children. 

These are the travel guides I've chosen:

Baedeker's Travel Guide, China (with judicious skipping) 

Baedeker's Travel Guide, France

French at A Glance (Phrase book and Traveler's Aid)

Literature Tie-in

Like I mentioned in our literature selections, we are reading

Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Latimore (set in China)

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (set in France) 

I'm looking forward to learning about these countries right next to my daughter!

Charlotte Mason History: A Simple Approach

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You know those surprises I've mentioned as I've dug into Charlotte Mason's volume, Home Education? Surprises like science instruction? Nothing shocked me more than Charlotte Mason's advice on teaching history. 

The ongoing debate (in America, anyways) is whether we should start with the relatively recent history of America, or go back further into the history of the countries from which America took root. 

But, this is not Charlotte Mason's focus in Home Education. Instead, she said to not worry so much about teaching an entire history, at least until our children are nine, but to thoroughly develop an understanding of certain historical figures, a single person, until the time period is understood. 

Doesn't this sound sweet and simple? Let me clarify that I did not simplify this, but this is what Charlotte Mason recommended in Home Education. You can find my other posts in this series here.

History

"The fatal mistake is in the notion that he must learn 'outlines,' or a baby edition of the whole history of England, or of Rome, just as he must cover the geography of all the world. Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period. " Home Education, page 280

Related: Phonics, Whole Language, and Charlotte Mason Reading Lessons

Instead of reading outlines are books filled with exhausting dates, she recommended reading biographies about or autobiographies from famous people.  These books should be, if possible-

  1. Old. "The early history of a nation is far better fitted than its later records for the study of children, because the story moves on a few broad, simple lines..." Home Education, page 281-282
  2. Not specifically for children. "For the matter for this intelligent teaching of history, eschew, in the first place, nearly all history books written expressly for children." Home Education, page 281
  3. First-hand sources, when possible. "...let them get the spirit of history into them by reading, at least, one old chronicle written by a man who saw and knew something of what he wrote about, and did not get it at second-hand." Home Education, page 282
  4. Include myths. "But every nation has its heroic age before authentic history begins: there were giants in the land in those days, and the child wants to know about them." Home Education, pages 280-281 
  5. Read Plutarch's Lives. "In the same way, readings from Plutarch's Lives will afford the best preparation for the study of Grecian or of Roman history.." 
  6. Read Shakespeare. "Let him spend a year of happy intimacy with Alfred, 'the truth-teller,' with the Conqueror, with Richard and Saladin, or with Henry V --Shakespeare's Henry V -- and is victorious army. " Home Education, pages 280-281

Home Education Curriculum: History

This section contains affiliate links as I share with you our curriculum picks. You can read more about this in my policies. 

I'm not extremely eager to read Plutarch's Lives, but I did try to keep these recommendations in mind as I created our curriculum. One thing I noticed (that I mentioned in the introduction to this series,) is that the subjects aren't as isolated as they sometimes appear to be. Shakespeare isn't its own subject, it's a means for literature and for history. Myths don't need to be isolated to history. American myths look like folk tales, and I imagine we'll read some of those in literature. 

With the previously mentioned things in mind, this is what I'm choosing for history during our first official year of homeschooling:

Native Americans- I chose to study Native Americans to approach early American history. While not all older books are culturally sensitive, I will use what Charlotte Mason referred to as "judicious skipping" and cut out any parts that are inaccurate or unfair. 

The Book of Indians by Holling C Hollings- I made sure to buy a classic version of this book, as it looks like some reprints were copied incorrectly which make them impossible to read. 

Pocahontas by Ingri and Edgar D'aulaire

Benjamin Franklin- I wanted to choose an early American figure, and frankly, I think Benjamin Franklin is just fascinating! 

Benjamin Franklin by Ingry and Edgar D'aulaire

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I will also consider reading Sacagawea by Joseph Bruchac, but I will need to pre-read it first. 

A friend asked me why I didn't coordinate the history time period with the art work (I sort of did) and the literature I chose. For two reasons: Charlotte Mason didn't say to do that in this volume, and also, since we are studying people and not necessarily time periods, it doesn't seem completely necessary.  


Charlotte Mason Math From Home Education

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Math is an area that is all abuzz in the Charlotte Mason community. To tell you the truth, I chose our math curriculum before digging into Home Education again. I picked the curriculum that I used as a teacher. Our situation is somewhat unique, because I would love to send my children to the school where I once taught. If that happens, I would like my children to have experience with the curriculum they use. 

If anything, reading about math in Home Education assured me that Charlotte Mason's recommendations aren't there to be followed as a recipe. This idea stood out to me because after she gave her recommendations for teaching math, she recommended a math curriculum that looked very, very different than what she said. So, as you choose a math curriculum, know that we can have grace for ourselves, as Charlotte Mason had grace. 

You can see the rest of this series, which outlines a curriculum based solely off of Home Education, here.

Math

"The chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics, lies in the training it affords the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness, accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders. " Home Education, page 254

I've used affiliate links in this section to share some resources with you. You can learn more about these links in my policies. 

Math instruction, according to this volume, begins with simple math problems that children can do on their own. Charlotte Mason said that these problems are within a child's grasp. These lessons serve as a little warm up to get ideas moving, yet they don't focus on merely sums. They set up a story problem that will require a child to think through it. 

After this opportunity to complete a problem, the skill is demonstrated using what are now called math manipulatives. Charlotte Mason recommended beans, but there are now so many options. I like Unifix cubes, although so do my toddlers, and they end up all over the house. 

We can demonstrate the skills before introducing more challenging problems. Here is an example: 

"A boy had twice ten apples; how many heaps of 4 could he make?' He will be able to work with promiscuous numbers, as 7+5-3. If he must use beans to get his answer, let him; but encourage him to work with imaginary beans, as a step towards working with abstract numbers. Carefully graduated teaching and daily mental effort on the child's part at this early stage may be the means of developing real mathematical power, and will certainly promote the habits of concentration and effort of mind." Home Education, page 257

Charlotte Mason continued to describe learning about money, and weight and measurement. 

The modern-day curriculum that she mentioned was ABC Arithmetic, which seems to appear under the name The Science and Art of Arithmetic (perhaps Charlotte Mason mentioned the teacher version, and now only the students' version is available.) If you take a look at the book, you'll see why it doesn't seem to exactly follow Charlotte Mason's recommendations. It begins with Roman numerals, and then is off into different forms of notation, that as well as being mostly unnecessary today, would be very confusing to teach a young child who does not yet understand counting, let alone multiplication. Saying, 1 is 10 and 3 is 11 would most likely do nothing more than confuse a child who is still developing number sense. 

Home Education Curriculum: Math 

Singapore Math- Similar to Charlotte Mason's approach, this math program moves from a problem demonstrated in a concrete way, to a pictorial representation, then moves to the standard notation. Some say that this curriculum "is not Charlotte Mason," but those statements are always subjective. Charlotte Mason wanted US to decide whether something fit into her principles or not, which is why she gave us Four Tests for Lessons. 

Other Math Options:

MEP- This is a free, online math curriculum that many people think highly of. It seems to do a good job of establishing number sense for young children. The lesson guide is also free, so you really only need to print it out. 

I hesitate to recommend other math curricula that I haven't personally looked at. There are several more that I've used and have seen as a teacher, but that I wouldn't necessarily recommend. 


Charlotte Mason math, from Home Education

Home Education: Reading Lessons and Resources

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This post contains affiliate links. If you’re curious as to how these work, you can read more about them in my policies.

The first, and probably most exciting thing when beginning formal lessons, is, for many, reading instruction. In Home Education, as Charlotte Mason lays out her approach to education for 0-9, she also gives a complete, sufficient method for reading. I have written about this approach before, and how it compares to two modern approaches, phonics and whole language, but today I’ll focus solely on the method that she suggested for a child of six or seven. Since many Charlotte Mason families I know teach the alphabet and some beginning phonics through play during the early years, I’ll skip right to the first reading lesson and give you lots of resources for teaching your child.

In this series of posts, I’m digging into Charlotte Mason’s volume, Home Education, to explain how she urged us to teach each subject. It looks much different than many other Charlotte Mason curricula, but I trust that this volume was Holy Spirit inspired, and this curriculum will suffice for my six-year-old. This felt like a lot to me, especially in a season where I will teach a six-year-old and have two very young children to tend to. I’ve put together a booklist that we’re using, which you can download.

My well-loved copy of Home Education.

Reading Words


"But example is better than precept, and more convincing than the soundest reasoning. This is the sort of reading lesson we have in view. Tommy knows his letters by name and sound, but he knows no more. To-day he is to be launched into the very middle of reading, without any 'steps' at all, because reading is neither an art nor a science, and has, probably, no beginning." Home Education, page 217 

Charlotte Mason beautifully described the process, not steps, of reading lessons using a nursery rhyme that had been cut up word by word. You can do this easily with a computer and a printer. Just type out a rhyme, print it, and cut out each word. I've done this for you, as well as wrote out specific lessons, in my reading printable packs. 

An interesting word from the poem is introduced, and the child's interest is sparked. The word is familiar and he wants to know more about it. The parent then instructs the child to write out the word with his set of letters (I prefer wooden letters!) and then identify the word from the little cut-up rhyme. This is repeated with a clause until the child knows several words, sometimes over the course of a few lessons.

Instead of just identifying and building each word, the child is encouraged to really keep the picture in his mind. Allow him some time to concentrate on the shapes and order of the letters. 

Read Home Education, pages 214-218

Reading Sentences

Using the same words from the reading lesson, your child can rearrange them into new sentences. Charlotte Mason used the example: 

I like little *kitty,

Her coat is so warm. 

The child starts by putting a sentence together, finding one word at a time as it is told to him. 

I like little kitty. 

Now he can read a sentence! Then, he can make different sentences based on the words he has recently learned-

Warm little kitty. 

I like her coat. 

Kitty is little. 

*I used a modern word instead of the original. 

The words can also be arranged in columns, so your child can practice reading them at random. 

Read Home Education, pages 218-219

Word Building Lesson

Now that the child can read words as a whole, he can experiment with the smaller sounds. Today, this is often called word building. Using the wooden letters, he can spell a word in the rhyme, such as coat. 

By changing the first letter, he can make several other words. 

Moat

Boat

Float

Read Home Education, pages 219-220


Rhyming Words

After learning so many new words, your child actually knows more than he thinks. On a chalk board or white board, he can write rhyming words that he knows. 

Little

Brittle

Spittle


Reading for Older Children

Once your child has learned how to read, he or she should have practice reading aloud.

"He should have practice, too, in reading aloud, for the most part, in the books he is using for his term's work. These should include a good deal of poetry, to accustom him to the delicate rendering of shades of meaning, and especially to make him aware that words are beautiful in themselves, that they are a source of pleasure, and are worthy of our honour; and that a beautiful word deserves to be beautifully said, with a certain roundness of tone and precision of utterance." Home Education

Therefore, the selection of their first lesson-books is a matter of grave importance, because it rests with these to give children that knowledge is supremely attractive and that reading is delightful. Once the habit of reading his lesson-book with delight is set up in a child, his education is--not completed, but-- ensured, he will go on for himself in spite of the obstructions which school too commonly throws in his way."   Home Education, page 229 

My biggest surprise while creating this curriculum for my daughter is the usage of poetry for reading practice. I previously viewed poetry as a completely isolated subject, but I appreciated that it could also be used to help my new reader grow. 

Home Education Curriculum: Reading

All that to say, these are the things I took into consideration when planning a curriculum based solely off of Home Education. Miss H and I have already addressed those first reading lessons, but this is what he did, and will continue to do, for reading.

First Reading Lessons:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star lesson

Donkey, Donkey lesson

​Little Robin Redbreast lesson

Continuing Reading Lessons:

Reading Literature, The Primer by Harriette Taylor Treadwell

Reading Literature, The First Reader by Hariette Taylor Treadwell

Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobe

Little Bear by Else Holmlund Minarik

Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Latimore

Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected for Boys and Girls by Helen Farris

Additional Poetry for Practice:

​A Child's Garden of Verses

When We Were Very Young by AA Milne

When We Were Six by AA Milne

I'm thankful that you're joining me as I share our Charlotte Mason curriculum! 


The process of a Charlotte Mason reading lesson is pretty simple to follow. I've set out the process here for you, so you can create your own reading lessons, or to simplify, you can pick up my reading printable packs.

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