Editor’s Note. “Just before the summer holidays [in 1887],” reminisced Charlotte Mason, “a few persons met in a neighbouring drawing-room to discuss a scheme for a Parents’ Educational Union.”[1] As a direct result of that meeting, the PNEU was born. But that was not the only momentous event in PNEU history that took place in …
My early childhood memories are of me running barefoot on a farm in South Africa. My grandparents had a small piece of land where we milked cows by hand, raised our own chickens, and grew our own corn. Whenever I visit a dairy farm, the scent of fresh cow dung always transports me back to …
Which seems more interesting to you? Reading stories of Greek and Roman heroes, or sitting in a dim classroom all day memorizing historical dates? When I was little, my schoolwork looked like reading books and spending time out in nature. Many of us have childhood memories of schoolwork that looks like a blank classroom and …
Editor’s Note: On June 18, 1926, Henrietta Franklin welcomed parents and teachers to the 28th Annual PNEU Conference in Caxton Hall, Westminster. She “plunged” her audience “directly into the pith and marrow” of the PNEU enterprise with an address entitled “Miss Mason’s Contribution to Educational Thought.” She insisted that while Mason’s fresh ideas had “changed …
We live in a world where homeschool families are often far away from relatives. They do all the work of teaching themselves, without tutors or help. A governess? Just a relic of the past! Can Charlotte Mason’s volumes speak to these kinds of families? Families like ours? In 1924, Elsie Kitching reached out to mothers …
Several years ago, a good friend of mine told me that he had been asked by his church to teach a class for some of the children. He had never done anything like this before, so he was not sure what to do or what to expect, but he said he would do it anyway. …
1906 was a big year for Charlotte Mason. It’s the year that she completed the Home Education Series! In that fateful year Mason published the fifth and final volume of the series, entitled Some Studies in the Formation of Character. Now you may correct me and say that there are actually six volumes in the …
The following thought exercise is based on a true story. Imagine that you get a call from your oldest daughter who has just started her first semester at college. This is the first phone call you have received from her since starting college away from home. Naturally you’re excited to hear from her: “Well, how …
Editor’s Note: In May of 1913, the PNEU held their 17th annual conference at Caxton Hall in London. It was a fitting venue for a gathering of educational reformers; just four years prior it had hosted a major rally calling for women’s suffrage. The year 1913 was an important one for the PNEU. Only a …