Charlotte Mason Curriculum
A Charlotte Mason curriculum brings a treasure of great value to the door of your very own home. One only needs to read a mere page or two of Charlotte Mason’s Home Education series to glimpse the enduring worth of a Charlotte Mason education. Nearly every sentence causes me to pause, ponder, and marvel at the truth and practicality of Miss Mason’s insights. The thought that I can teach my own dear children in such a way within my own cozy home – well, my cup runneth over!
The fact that her philosophy of education remains as applicable today as it did over 100 years ago shows the enduring quality of her ideals. Few homeschool parents who truly have delved into Ms. Mason’s educational philosophy question the prize they have found. No, the wealth of knowledge and its worth goes without question. Rather, it is the putting that educational philosophy to work within one’s own home that often dampers the zeal.
Putting Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy into Practice
Have you read Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education and been inspired, only to find the thought of putting her ideals into practice in your own home daunting? Well, this scenario fits many intelligent, capable, loving homeschool parents.
Just as one may meditate on the infinite depths of a single Bible verse, so one may ponder the vast extent of a single Charlotte Mason quote. Profound. Yet, practical. I remember thinking nearly every penned sentence of Charlotte Mason’s provided more food for thought. Inspirational. Yet, overwhelming. If I’d postponed homeschooling to fully ponder and comprehend her entire six-volume series, I might have never actually homeschooled.
From 20 years of helping homeschooling families with their questions, I can assure you – many aspire to Charlotte Mason’s ideals! However, I can also assure you – equally as many struggle with putting them into practice!
Heart of Dakota: A Charlotte Mason Curriculum Written for Parents to Use in Their Own Homes
Well, Heart of Dakota to the rescue! Heart of Dakota’s guides include all that we need as homeschool parents longing to teach our children with a Charlotte Mason curriculum!
Amazing living books written in a narrative way by authors passionate about writing them? Heart of Dakota includes the very best of them for virtually every subject area! Narrations? Heart of Dakota’s plans include practical helps and specific guidance for both students’ and parents’ roles within oral and written narrations! Editing narrations? Heart of Dakota’s guides include a specific hierarchy to work through in order to help both students and parents with editing!
Dictation? Heart of Dakota’s guides include clear, easy-to-follow directions for how to properly utilize Charlotte Mason’s studied dictation method! Not sure which dictation level to use? Heart of Dakota’s guides include multiple levels of dictation, so you can customize the spelling level of difficulty to match your children’s needs!
Chronological history studies? Poetry study? Recitation? Copywork? Picture Study? Hymn Study? Nature Journaling? Classical Music and Composers’ Study? Hands-on science that points to the Creator? Timelines and keeping a Book of Centuries? Common Place Book entries? Geography Studies linked to the history being studied? Heart of Dakota includes ALL of these Charlotte Mason-inspired educational components and more!
The Blessing of Heart of Dakota Being a Charlotte Mason Curriculum
What a blessing Heart of Dakota’s being a Charlotte Mason curriculum has been to me!!! I have given my three sons a Charlotte Mason education from PreK to twelfth grade. I simply followed the plans. Everything was there at my fingertips. All I had to do was get the resources and teach what was planned. Incredible!
I have raised three sons with a passion for learning – with a passion for life! I have also been somewhat of a student of Charlotte Mason myself. Little by little, guide by guide, year by year – I learned to teach my children like Charlotte Mason envisioned. What an honor! As my sons were students of mine, I was a student of Charlotte’s. We did it, Charlotte! Thanks for the ideals, Charlotte, and Heart of Dakota – thanks for the help!
Charlotte Mason may have died in 1923, but she lives on today in 2023 in homes all around the world. What a tribute! May you be so blessed to invite ‘her’ into your own home via Heart of Dakota today!
Some of My Favorite Charlotte Mason Quotes
“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”
“To introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child’s intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find.”
“The knowledge of God is the principal knowledge.”
“Narrating is not the work of a parrot, but of absorbing into oneself the beautiful thought from the book, making it one’s own and then giving it forth again with just that little touch that comes from one’s own mind.”
“If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when these are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play!”
“The indwelling of Christ is a thought particularly fit for children because their large faith does not stumble at the mystery, their imagination leaps readily to the marvel, that the king himself should inhabit a little child’s heart.”
