Charlotte Mason website?

Question:
Does anyone know of any Charlotte Mason websites? We have just started doing her method this year blended with the classical education and I would love to learn more.

Answer:
-I forget, offhand, what typifies Charlotte Mason style homeschool. Is it using literature, mostly, rather than text books and such? If so, how does this work with young children? It seems like it would be more adaptable to older children.

Would someone who has homeschooled Charlotte Mason style give us a basic overview? How are learning styles accomodated or is there a learning style that "fits" best?

-We haven't actually read her books - so can't really claim to follow them. Also we tend more to unschool - but we have come to a point we where value her two key ingredients in a successful childhood education: good literature (whole books) and masterly inactivity (providing a pool of books, arts, experiences, ideas, etc) and letting the children search out knowledge which is meaningful to them and arriving at their own conclusions. (This involves lots of time to play creatively, to think, and just to be children.)

Education requires an atmosphere in which the child is accepted and valuable, non-judgemental and realistic; stimulating, positive and enjoyable - not one in which we bring the world down to the child's level.

It also requires disciplined habits - attention, concentration, truthfulness, self-control, unselfishness, etc. Narration (retelling stores, etc) plays a large part in developing some of these skills, as well as comprehension.

Finally and possibly in my view most importantly, education happens in life - not classrooms. Feed children's minds with the best intellectual food - literature, art, music, history, science, nature.... and let them digest it fore themselves - ie first hand rather than second hand pre-digested food.

We first met her methods in "For the children's sake" by Susan Schaeffer MacAuley. Two companion books ("Teaching Children" by Diane Lopez, and "Books Children Love" by Elizabeth Wilson) provide more detail to support the philosophy of the first book.

More recently, I discovered a book which is the nearest to describing our approach: "Educating the whole hearted child" by Clay and Sally Clarkson. After outlining the various approaches to HS, they then describe their own "Home Centred Learning" - which is based on Mason's work.

Re age - Charlotte (like Marva Collins???) introduced Shakespeare, etc at a much earlier age than we usually consider normal. Young children are surprisingly flexible - if you don't tell them they can't handle something, how are they to know? (Not that we should make children struggle - they do need to experience success.)

I don't think any learning style us disadvantaged. The Charlotte Mason method as I understand it is NOT exclusive. You can use unit studies with it, and you can involve as many senses as possible - making things, drawing things, etc. Like anything else in HS, take what helps you and your family and leave the rest.