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Original Homeschooling #3
School Education: Developing A Curriculum
Book by Mason, Charlotte M.
367 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
About the author
Charlotte M. Mason
66 books245 followersCharlotte Mason, a renowned British educator, lived during the turn of the 20th century. She turned the idea of education being something of utilitarian necessity into an approach based upon living ideas. She believed that education is "an atmosphere, a discipline, a life" and a "science of relations." Her methods are embraced around the world today, especially among the homeschool community.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 30, 2021
This is the first time I read this since joining Goodreads although I thought I read it recently. Excellent summary of Charlotte Mason's ideas. Tremendously helpful.
February 25, 2021
My fourth completed Mason volume and perhaps my favorite. So practical, she builds her case carefully from right uses of authority through the curriculum, ending with samples of student work and Mason-trained teachers' lessons.
I loved reading it a chapter a (week)day and discussing with a friend. That was incredibly helpful for getting much out of it. I think this volume will be one I revisit often.
I loved reading it a chapter a (week)day and discussing with a friend. That was incredibly helpful for getting much out of it. I think this volume will be one I revisit often.
February 17, 2025
I read it this time around with Cindy Rollins' recordings on her Patreon, as well as discussions with the group when I could make the live meetings. More treasures every time.
June 21, 2020
It took almost 5 years to read this?! Well, that’s not a reflection of the book. I would give this 4.5 stars out of 5. There were a few places a bit more explanation would have helped me. But the principles are the fundamental aspects to understand. This book gives more insight on how to apply them more specifically. It includes appendices with very helpful questions and examples.
I want to start reading it again right now!
I want to start reading it again right now!
October 16, 2019
I will probably give anything Charlotte Mason writes a 5 star review. Her words are always applicable, intensely practical and the best philosophy of education out there. It still shocks me that this woman who operated her teaching schools at the turn of the century got everything so right. So many times I read her words and say, yes, that is happening today, just like she said.
July 16, 2024
“The distinction between knowledge and information is, I think, fundamental. Information is the record of facts, experiences, appearances, etc., whether in books or in the verbal memory of the individual; knowledge, it seems to me, implies the result of the voluntary and delightful action of the mind upon the material presented
to it.”
to it.”
July 8, 2021
Just finished reading for my Idyll 3.0 challenge group - the appendices alone are gold! My favourite volume (that’s what I say about every volume though!)
November 26, 2022
I have read volume 6 several times and I still had some questions around things like the role of the teacher and oral lessons. They were more than answered in this volume. It was immensely helpful. There is much practical advice and I think the appendices are extremely valuable. This is my favorite CM volume!
September 10, 2021
Read over the past 9 months with our Charlotte Mason reading group. Such a rich and helpful volume! So glad I’m reading it with one “school age” student and it will be a great reference for future years.
December 17, 2023
Went incredibly slow through this but almost every time I picked it up, I could immediately make application in my own homeschool. So practical and helpful. What a beautiful philosophy! “We begin to see what we want. Children make large demands upon us. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. ‘Thou hast set my feet in a large room,’ should be the glad cry of every intelligent soul. Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time…”
April 16, 2022
Excellent and easier to read than some of her others, I think. There is much to ponder and I’m glad I finished it as I am thinking about our next school year because I am considering some changes that she speaks to.
June 29, 2023
So good! I wish I had read this 10 years ago.
April 5, 2025
I underlined a lot in this one but my biggest impression is her emphasis on letting “the big book by the big man” be the education. It reminded me why I was drawn to Charlotte Mason in the first place. When I was pregnant with my first, I started gathering books I loved and couldn’t wait to share with him. That’s what populated our first Morning Time when he was 18 months old (a picture book, a Bible storybook, puzzles, games, poetry, that sort of thing). I recently remembered that simple rubric and it’s helped me frame what our next school year will look like: not a frantic striving to fit in every good book recommended by every trusted source in the futile hope of “covering” everything with my children, but rather beloved books shared in an orderly-ish manner in faith that they’ll warm the imaginations of my kids. I’m looking forward to it.
March 23, 2025
Finished with my CM reading group: five of us, moms from five different countries, meeting on Zoom every other week to discuss the writing and ideas of Charlotte Mason. Next up: Volume 5 Formation of Character
May 25, 2023
I hadn't read this volume before and some chapters I was just underlining everything. Love reading her volumes, always so much better and thought provoking for me than people talking about her work.
May 6, 2021
This isn't my very favorite Charlotte Mason volume, but that could be because it's not as immediately relevant to my context as some of her other volumes. Still, I LOVE Mason's principles and find so much wisdom in her educational philosophy. I look forward to re-reading this when my daughter gets older!
February 27, 2026
I’d give it more stars if I could!
September 17, 2015
Charlotte Mason is simply brilliant. I would give this book 15 stars, for each of the three times I have read this, if that were an option.
September 27, 2026
All of Charlotte Mason’s volumes are gold that I will be mining for the rest of my life, and I owe this very wise woman so much because of the beautiful educational atmosphere that she has inspired in our home. This was a reread, but of course I’ll be rereading all six of her volumes regularly! Here are some amazing quotes I loved near the end of the book:
“Our part is to remove obstructions, to give stimulus and guidance to the child who is trying to get into touch with the universe of things and thoughts.
Our error is to suppose that we must act as his showman to the universe, and that there is no community between child and universe except such as we choose to set up.”
“It seems to me that education, which appeals to the desire for wealth (marks, prizes, scholarships, or the like), or to the desire of excelling (as in the taking of places, etc.), or to any other of the natural desires, except that for knowledge, destroys the balance of character; and, what is even more fatal, destroys by inanition that desire for and delight in knowledge which is meant for our joy and enrichment through the whole of life.”
“‘…the Utilitarian theory is profoundly immoral.’ To educate children for any immediate end—towards commercial or manufacturing aptitude, for example
—is to put a premium upon general ignorance with a view to such special aptitude. The greater includes the less, but the less does not include the greater. Excellent work of whatever kind is produced by a person of character and intelligence, and we who teach cannot do better for the nation than to prepare such persons for its uses. He who has intelligent relations with life will produce good work.”
“Let us, out of reverence for the children, be modest; let us not stake their interests on the hope that this or that new way would lead to great results if people had only the courage to follow it. It is exciting to become a pioneer; but, for the children's sake, it may be well to constrain ourselves to follow those roads only by which we know that persons have arrived, or those newer roads which offer evident and assured means of progress towards a desired end. Self-will is not permitted to the educationalist; and he may not take up fads.”
“Our part is to remove obstructions, to give stimulus and guidance to the child who is trying to get into touch with the universe of things and thoughts.
Our error is to suppose that we must act as his showman to the universe, and that there is no community between child and universe except such as we choose to set up.”
“It seems to me that education, which appeals to the desire for wealth (marks, prizes, scholarships, or the like), or to the desire of excelling (as in the taking of places, etc.), or to any other of the natural desires, except that for knowledge, destroys the balance of character; and, what is even more fatal, destroys by inanition that desire for and delight in knowledge which is meant for our joy and enrichment through the whole of life.”
“‘…the Utilitarian theory is profoundly immoral.’ To educate children for any immediate end—towards commercial or manufacturing aptitude, for example
—is to put a premium upon general ignorance with a view to such special aptitude. The greater includes the less, but the less does not include the greater. Excellent work of whatever kind is produced by a person of character and intelligence, and we who teach cannot do better for the nation than to prepare such persons for its uses. He who has intelligent relations with life will produce good work.”
“Let us, out of reverence for the children, be modest; let us not stake their interests on the hope that this or that new way would lead to great results if people had only the courage to follow it. It is exciting to become a pioneer; but, for the children's sake, it may be well to constrain ourselves to follow those roads only by which we know that persons have arrived, or those newer roads which offer evident and assured means of progress towards a desired end. Self-will is not permitted to the educationalist; and he may not take up fads.”
November 26, 2023
I wanted to add this later, because I’ve finished listening to Cindy Rollins read it aloud, but I really wanted to go back and read it myself carefully. I haven’t had the time to do that yet, so I’ll review more thoroughly whenever that happens. I did think this was chock-full of practical suggestions!
August 6, 2023
There is so much wisdom inside these pages. I am slowly making my way through the volumes, and this one was excellent! I'm grateful that Ms. Mason shared this so many years ago, and that newer publishers have reprinted them.
March 20, 2023
I started this January of 2022 and finally finished it! It was my favorite of all her volumes! Definitely will reread it.
June 17, 2025
Third time through
September 15, 2021
Loved this book. I would put out the controversial opinion that I would recommend reading this first after Vol. 1.
September 22, 2021
It is probably one of my favorites.
April 22, 2022
Her writing style is... not my favorite, but I think reading her original volumes are vital to really understanding her methods and philosophy of education. By far the single best comprehensive approach to teaching and learning that I have found, although I disagree with her on a few things (especially writing instruction in the middle school/high school years).
July 27, 2018
These are books I dabble in--rarely reading one volume straight through from beginning to end. I tend to check chapters off in the table of contents as I have time to read them.
I rate this a "5 star" because that's generally how I feel about CM's works and why I come back to them. But this one is probably the most directly "educational" and less applicable to those who aren't dabbling in education to some degree or another. That being said, it's very practical for those of us who ARE in education (homeschool or not--there are plenty of CM-style schools and classrooms out there!).
I'd still start with her principles and philosophy first before reading this volume and trying to mimic the curriculum exactly. It's important to know WHY she outlines the curriculum she does.
Update 2/20/21: I re-read this straight through with a friend in a short(ish) time frame (1 chapter/day) and it was fantastic. I don't think I read it straight through last time, and I found myself underlining/noting some of the same things but lots of new ideas. It's a volume worth reading and worth rereading. I understand some of CM's concepts better now for sure.
I rate this a "5 star" because that's generally how I feel about CM's works and why I come back to them. But this one is probably the most directly "educational" and less applicable to those who aren't dabbling in education to some degree or another. That being said, it's very practical for those of us who ARE in education (homeschool or not--there are plenty of CM-style schools and classrooms out there!).
I'd still start with her principles and philosophy first before reading this volume and trying to mimic the curriculum exactly. It's important to know WHY she outlines the curriculum she does.
Update 2/20/21: I re-read this straight through with a friend in a short(ish) time frame (1 chapter/day) and it was fantastic. I don't think I read it straight through last time, and I found myself underlining/noting some of the same things but lots of new ideas. It's a volume worth reading and worth rereading. I understand some of CM's concepts better now for sure.
May 21, 2017
Most of this book was really hard to get through. If you're looking for info that directly effects your homeschool, skip to chapter 15. All that's before that is a lot of information of educational theories of the 19th and early 20th century.
May 28, 2017
The middle of this was a tougher slog than volumes one and two, but the appendices more than made up for it! The sample exam questions & children's responses, plus specific oral lessons, are exactly what I needed to see at this point. Possibly my favorite in the series thus far.
June 22, 2019
"Even where our sentiment is warm, our religious notions are lax; and children, the children of good, religious parents, grow up without that intimate, ever-open, ever-cordial, ever-corresponding relation with Almighty God, which is the very fulfillment of life" ~CM
This book like most of it's predecessors, was a delightful surprise. I was expecting this to be concerning what my modern, millennial dictionary defined as "school". How pleasant was it to be completely changed in the way that it actually turned out. She puts such a clear emphasis on what proper education is for children and I found it so freeing for my son. She also quotes a myriad of authors that stirred my desire to learn more about each of them. Finally, Mason does a masterful job in capturing the core of education, the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom, and how that should compass everything our children learn.
This book like most of it's predecessors, was a delightful surprise. I was expecting this to be concerning what my modern, millennial dictionary defined as "school". How pleasant was it to be completely changed in the way that it actually turned out. She puts such a clear emphasis on what proper education is for children and I found it so freeing for my son. She also quotes a myriad of authors that stirred my desire to learn more about each of them. Finally, Mason does a masterful job in capturing the core of education, the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom, and how that should compass everything our children learn.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews