Editor’s Note: Charlotte Mason wrote in Home Education that “At six or seven, definite lessons should begin.”[1] What then for children younger than six? Is there a Charlotte Mason education for them? The question has prompted endless discussion and debate. Fortunately, Mason herself provided some clarity back in 1917. As the editor of The Parents’ …
Editor’s Note: In 1836, the Home and Colonial School Society established a teacher training school modeled after the ideas of Swiss educational reformer Johan Pestalozzi. The school’s first teacher was Elizabeth Mayo, an educational reformer with the distinction of being the first woman ever employed in England to train teachers. Twenty-four years later, the college …
In my previous article I shared some reflections and conclusions from my research into music appreciation in the PNEU. Many of you do not need to be convinced to include music appreciation using Miss Mason’s methods. Instead your question is, “What do I do now?” How can we apply what we have learned from the …
Editor’s Note: From time to time I am asked about apparent contradictions in Charlotte Mason’s writings. For example, we are told that narrations are to be in the child’s own words. And yet when it comes to Bible lessons, Mason says that while narrating, the child should be “keeping as close as he can to …
Editor’s Note: Marjorie Evans graduated from the House of Education in 1899.[1] Six years later her first article appeared in The Parent’s Review, entitled “Beauty as a Factor in Education.”[2] The following year “[s]he, with Laura Faunce, started the first Girls’ P.N.E.U. Day School in London.”[3] Shortly thereafter she returned to the pages of The …
Editor’s Note: Laura Faunce graduated from the House of Education in 1899. “Trained by Miss Mason herself, she made her principles her own and her lessons were delightful and appreciated by her pupils, as were the addresses which she gave from time to time to PNEU audiences.” One of those addresses we share today: our fourth in …
Editor’s note: Janet Smith graduated from the House of Education in 1911.[1] As a student there she met friends for life. In 1913 we find her at an “Old Students’ Meeting,” encouraging former classmate Daphne Chaplin to lead the small gathering of alumnae in “Morris dancing.”[2] By 1914 she was already on the Executive Committee …
Editor’s note: In May of 1922, the alumnae of the House of Education gathered in the Lake District for the Ambleside Old Students’ Association conference. The educators were not to be disappointed, because Miss Mason herself was scheduled to speak. On May 1 at 11:30 AM she came forward to address the assembly. Did she know she had …
Background This is the second article in my series on Charlotte Mason’s health recommendations. The first article was primarily focused on Mason’s recommendations regarding the skin. This article will focus on her recommendations for food and drink. I wrote the article on skin care first because, as a board-certified dermatologist, skin is my primary area …