A Charlotte Mason Companion

After months of reading and rereading I have finally finished A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. I have thought so many times how much I agree with Charlotte’s ideas. I truly enjoyed thinking through my own philosophy of teaching and realized that I often teach according to her style. Teaching the children narration and reading great literature are so important. I am not sure about a formal grammar curriculum, so I often debate whether to teach grammar to young children or not. What ends up happening for us is that we teach grammar every two or three years. I really appreciated Charlotte’s focus on teaching fine arts. Music and art appreciation seems very important, though I don’t think my young girls are quite ready for a full teaching on Shakespeare. My favorite part of the book was the chapter with two letters from women who taught their own children according Charlotte’s methods and curriculum. The letters were written in the 1930’s and 1950’s. I was intrigued at the way they taught and spoke and how their home-school worked just such a short time ago. Karen Andreola says, “When three aspects of a Charlotte Mason education are attended to and worked out, I believe her vision of education can be realized. These three are discipline, a love of knowledge, and magnanimity of character.” What better goals for home-school could there be?