What a challenge, right? If you’re familiar with the Charlotte Mason philosophy, you know how hard this is! Especially if you want to avoid terms of art that someone who doesn’t know CM wouldn’t understand!
I’m doing the Afterthoughts blog’s Charlotte Mason Bootcamp, and an assignment involved reading some attempts to distill the CM philosophy into 100 words or less. A commenter on one post claims Ms. Mason herself did so in 86 words:
“The object of education is to put a child in living touch with as much as may be of the life of Nature and of thought…. a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we must train him upon physical exercises, nature, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books….Add to this one or two keys to self knowledge, and the educated youth goes forth with some idea of self management, with some pursuits, and many vital interests.” Vol 1, p4, 7, p4
I think this is a great summary, but it wasn’t exactly Ms. Mason summarizing herself. These are three different quotes pulled from the Preface.
What do you think about this summary in Ms. Mason’s words? Is it enough or should we be trying to improve on it? Would you have chosen different quotes from the Preface or her works as a whole?
How would I summarize it? Can I? This kind of forced-short narration attempt seemed like a great way to “test” my current understanding of Ms. Mason’s philosophy and what’s important to me about it. Perhaps at the end of this bootcamp, I’d write a very different summary? Maybe I’ll do it again if I remember!
Now for my first attempt at a summary in about 100 words:
Children are born persons, created betzelem Elokim. There is no separation between sacred and secular knowledge, all reflect and stem from Gd. Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life. Habits are the basis of education, especially the habits of focused attention, obedience, and truthfulness. The teacher sets a wide feast of subjects and ideas, and the student chooses what to internalize. Using interesting and narrative books, the student learns from the best minds throughout history and connects with them, then narrates back what he has heard to ensure understanding and internalization. The child connects with the world and Gd through nature and real life activities and relationships.
108 words! Not bad! I expected to go through about 3 drafts, but I feel pretty good about this one.
What do you think? What would you have chosen to include that I didn’t? Would you word something differently?
Personally, looking at it now, I really liked a sentence from a commenter’s attempt: “Focused attention at short, varied lessons keeps the mind fresh and leaves free time for personal interests.” I wish I could elaborate on the ideas of atmosphere, obedience, and discipline since so many people have a very different understanding of those words than Ms. Mason promotes. But I chose to leave them alone, and if someone wanted to ask, I could go into more detail after this elevator pitch!
Further Reading:
How Do You Define CM in 100 Words? | Archipeligo (blog of Ambleside Online, I believe)
Defining Charlotte Mason (a follow-up post to the one above)
Question: “I use Living Books, we go on nature walks and I have my children narrate–aren’t I pretty much already The Charlotte Mason method is more than these elements. It’s more than a curriculum. In fact, knowing what Charlotte said, agreeing that it makes sense, and doing it ‘more or less’ is not a really Charlotte Mason education, and won’t get the kind of results seen in her students. A Charlotte Mason education is one that fully attempts to follow her 20 Principles as detailed in her books.