Olive Norton: The Recording

Two weeks ago we met Olive Norton, the homeschool mother who taught her daughter at home all the way through the secondary level. Then we learned that after graduating her daughter, Mrs. Norton became the headmistress of a small PNEU school.

On a fateful January day in the early 1970s, two girls visited that school. Their names were Margaret and Kirsteen. Their mother recalled that it “was a small PNEU school, run in a classroom built onto the back of someone’s private home, looking into an English country garden.”^[1] The mother then described what happened when the girls got home:

After the first day, Kirsteen came home glowing with life and interest. “We had the most exciting story today, but Mrs. Norton stopped at just the wrong place. I can’t wait to hear the next part of the story!” And what was this exciting, vitalizing story? To my astonishment, it was Pilgrim’s Progress, read to them in the original.^[2]

Kirsteen’s mother was intrigued and spoke with the headmistress. Years later she would write, “Thank you, Olive Norton, for introducing us to Charlotte Mason in the first place.”^[3] Kirsteen’s family was deeply involved in L’Abri and wanted to introduce Charlotte Mason to the wider community. What better way than to invite Mrs. Norton to speak? And so she did. And the lecture was recorded.

The name of Kirsteen’s mother is Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. Macaulay went on to write For the Children’s Sake, the book that introduced countless parents and teachers around the world to Charlotte Mason. Now you can hear the voice of the woman that introduced Charlotte Mason to her.

The cassette recording of Mrs. Norton’s lecture has endured some wear in the past 46 years, so we have carefully and lovingly digitized and enhanced it for you. Nevertheless, there remains some distortion making it hard to understand at times. The first few minutes are the most difficult. But keep listening. Soon you’ll grow accustomed to the sound of this voice from the past. You’ll find yourself in that “classroom built onto the back of someone’s private home, looking into an English country garden.” You’ll find yourself like Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, wanting to tell the world about this life-giving approach to education.

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Endnotes

^[1] Macaulay, Susan Schaeffer (2022). For the Children’s Sake. Wheaton: Crossway. (Original work published 1984.) p. 56.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid., p. 13.