In previous posts, I and other homeschool bloggers here at families.com have discussed our experiences with charlotte mason curriculum. In my last post, I supplied Charlotte Mason Vocabulary for the letters A – B, and C-E , F-H and I-M. I will now discuss Q-T.
Questions: A child needs to be able to form questions in his mind and not rely on reading guides. Tools like Cliff Notes prevent the student from really knowing how to read a book.
Rights of the Child: According to a Charlotte Mason approach to education, children should be allowed certain rights which include being able to play freely, be allowed to work on projects that interest them, they must be allowed to fail, choose their own friends, spend their own money, to be dutiful, to have their own opinions, and to be allowed spontaneity.
Reading: Students should spend a good amount of time reading each day. 10 Ten to twenty minutes is not enough.
Religion: Faith is a very important aspect of this educational approach, and religion should be taught by parents to children.
Spelling: Students who have learned to spell with a Charlotte Mason approach should be able to automatically edit misspelled words. There is a detailed process to teaching children to spell.
Special Needs: As a Charlotte Mason approach thrives to teach children according to his or her own strengths it is ideal for special needs children.
Twaddle: This is the word used to describe reading material that is not worthy of a Charlotte Mason education. Instead of meaningless books that dumb down children, student should use “living books”.
Training: Children must be trained in habits, attention, and self discipline.
Read:
A little Bit of Charlotte Mason
More Charlotte Mason: An atmosphere, a discipline, a life
Charlotte Mason: Reluctant Narrators
More on Charlotte Mason and Living Books
More on Charlotte Mason: The “Science of Relations”