More Charlotte Mason Education: A Home Schooling How-To Manual

by Catherine Levison

Thousands of home educators benefited from the practical ideas contained in Catherine Levison's primer, A Charlotte Mason Education. Now Catherine takes an in-depth journey offering even more ideas for implementing the popular methods of Charlotte Mason into home schooling. In this concise and practical guide, Levison presents the key points of Charlotte Mason's methods as contained in her six-volume series. A perfect companion to her first book, More Charlotte Mason Education will continue to guide your family down an enjoyable and successful path of home schooling.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Parenting, Books About Books, School

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1999

Reviews

[Camille Hoffmann]

I didn't love her first book but thought I'd give this one a try- not worth it in my opinion. There were a few helpful tidbits, but also a lot of things I didn't agree with- her attitude towards public school is demeaning and farfetched in my opinion. For example, she says when her kids ask her what a particular type of rock is, she has to answer them ashamedly "Mommy doesn't know, she went to public school". Really?? That's the ONLY reason? So all homeschoolers can identify rocks, and no public schoolers can? Yeah no. As someone that was public schooled, I don't think I'm totally incompetent or uneducated as a human being ;). Her attitude towards public school teachers just really rubs me the wrong way. I have many friends that are teachers, I was a teacher, and think most teachers are FAR from incompetent. I understand that many homeschoolers have issues with public school, but her attitude just goes too far in my opinion. She also strikes me as a bit self-righteous, and I just had a hard time getting through this book overall. I kept reading it hoping I'd get some helpful information.. but I probably should have just put this one down.

Overall, I think this is one that could be skipped. Like I said, a couple helpful things, but probably information I could have found elsewhere. I will say, I'm not completely new to CM's philosophies, and so maybe that tainted my view of the book as well. Someone who knows NOTHING about Charlotte Mason would probably find this book more helpful. But I would recommend Karen Andreola's books over these any day :).

[Leah]

I am currently reading all things Charlotte Mason. This book and the one before it were a very good "condensation" of the original works of Charlotte Mason to give a good overview of her philosophy of education and some practical examples of how it works.

[Meredith Henning]

This one is always good for refreshment and I am especially interested in her High School chapter as we are only a year away from this for my oldest!

[Courtney White]

breath of fresh air. nothing entirely new but was very new when it was written.

[Raquel]

It was an easy read, and gave a glimpse into a Charlotte Mason education. I say glimpse because it wasn't enough to start teaching, rather it was a basic intro to Mason's style.

[Karen]

I did not enjoy Levison's first book (Charlotte Mason Education), but thought I'd give her another chance since I at least pulled out a few pieces of useful information. Halfway into this book, I had only rolled my eyes twice and was mostly enjoying it. But then came chapter 10, and I became infuriated with her attitude toward public schools. I found her writing in that chapter to be extremely offensive and self-righteous. The appendix contains a lot of interesting resource lists (its only saving grace), but I won't be recommending this book to anyone.

[McKenzie]

There are much better resources out there. The author jumps all over the place, the writing is poor, the information isn't terribly useful, and the author's condescension toward public schools and teachers is off the charts. (The same author who believes in a young earth and advises readers to go to museums and just choose their own dates for artifacts that don't support that perspective.)

[Samantha]

Excellent how-to book for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers or any education enthusiast. I gleaned so much wisdom from the author, a seasoned home educator herself. So many ideas to apply to my own teaching journey and all of the material was presented in an engaging and optimistic manner. Good read for homeschooling parents needing a hand to hold while applying C.M method and principles.

[Simone]

This book is dated - but surprisingly enough, a lot of the resources she mentions are available and still in print. Candid seasoned advice mixed with interpretations of Charlotte Mason's work, I found this book helpful and plan to read the rest of her books.

[Mary]

This is my absolute favorite book to lend to people when they're interested in Charlotte Mason and her philosophy. An easy read, it lays out the richness of the educational banquet in a blunt way that is very helpful.

[Bessie Doig]

I enjoyed this book and learning about Charlotte Mason education.
The main think I found hard with this book is it is written for those who homeschool in USA. As an Australian quite a bit was not relevant to our education system.

[Jurene]

I wish most books could be as brief as this. Let's just get down to the bones of the how to! I'd recommend this, although she is a clever marketer in that she is short on some topics and says to read her previous book! Now to add that to my to-read list!

[Caristy Olson]

She did a great job breaking down how to homeschool.

[Sharon]

Fine book, but I liked her other one better.

[Sophie Seehausen]

The way she constantly disparages public schools is annoying and unnecessary.

Just read Charlotte Mason's original works.

[Heather]

Dated meaning the info is solid but the resources and the lists of where to get the may not be applicable anymore

[Isaac]

This wanders far from its original purpose, and makes heavy use of the Q&A format to fill its pages. Not particularly useful.

[Cameron Gruetzner]

This was a good refresher overall. There were a few bits that seemed to contradict, but for the most part, I enjoyed it. This particular copy I borrowed from our library, but I did find enough I would like to tab and highlight for reference in the future I plan to purchase my own copy.

[Callie]

I went into this book knowing almost nothing about Charlotte Mason or her educational methods. I started with this one only because it was the only book my library had on the Charlotte Mason method, and I've been wanting to read about different educational philosophies as we start homeschooling this fall. Even though this book is a follow-up book, I learned a lot by reading this! It was a great intro to CM, and it gave me lots of ideas that I am excited about incorporating into my kids' schooling. I'd definitely recommend this book, and I'm hoping to pick up the author's first book soon to get a more complete picture of how she has used the CM method.

[Lisa]

Very poorly written. Also, the author really just describes what she does personally in her own homeschool, which sometimes is (but sometimes is certainly not) Charlotte Mason. She repeatedly states that one should take what they like from the philosophy and leave the rest. (Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having and using a comprehensive educational philosophy like Miss Mason's?). At one point the author contrasts the "relaxed" feel of the CM method with the classical method, without clarifying that CM is ultimately a variation of the classical method.

[Heidi]

I probably would've liked it more if I'd read the first one first. But it's taking the library forever to get it to me, so I went ahead with the second. It's got some good information, but there's more of the author's own opinions and commentaries than I would've liked. i.e. It's okay to sway from pure C.M. teachings in this area but not in others. But all in all I got some useful information from it.

[Heather]

This is not a discussion or summary of Mason's works. It's more a how to implement her method. I love how it's organized. It has just the information I need without having to dig around.

I love this book and use it often. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in the Charlotte Mason method.

[Ariana]

This is the best author I've found so far about the Charlotte Mason approach to education. She writes about both philosophy and practical details. If you don't know about C.M., her ideas are mainly used by homeschoolers but also a few private schools. The basics are: short, focused lessons, lots of time in nature, character building, living books (not textbooks), and plenty of time to play.

[Mary]

This was an easy and quick book. Perfect introductory book. I got lots of great ideas but most importantly it inspired me and gave me confidence as I begin my first year of homeschooling. After finishing this book I realized that I've doing a lot of the things already with my children. Great book for any parent homeschooling or not.

[Shawna]

More useful and practical advice about the Charlotte Mason method. This is the first book that I have found that really delves into using the Charlotte Mason method in high school. Most others seemed geared to younger ages.

[Teri]

Good brief overview of her ideals about education--but not a book I'd recommend. I like her ideas of keeping a child's full attention for brief periods of time, but disagree with her philosophies regarding math.

[Kimberly Huff]

I thought this book was really good, Although I've seen mixed reviews. If you are already familiar with CM than this book will help you. I wouldn't recommend it as a first book for introduction to CM, however I would recommend it to better educate in planning a CM schedule and curriculum.

[Tricia Jennings]

More great info from a straightforward writer.

[Marcia]

chapter 11 for March

[Michele]

I skipped around a bit in this one...