When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy for Today

by Elaine Cooper (preface), Eve Anderson (Foreword), Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (Contributor)

They're hallmarks of childhood. The endless "why" questions. The desire to touch and taste everything. The curiosity and the observations. It can't be denied-children have an inherent desire to know. Teachers and parents can either encourage this natural inquisitiveness or squelch it. There is joy in the classroom when children learn-not to take a test, not to get a grade, not to compete with each other, and not to please their parents or their teachers-but because they want to know about the world around them! Both Christian educators and parents will find proven help in creating a positive learning atmosphere through methods pioneered by Charlotte Mason that show how to develop a child's natural love of learning. The professional educators, administrators, and Mason supporters contributing to this volume give useful applications that work in a variety of educational settings, from Christian schools to homeschools. A practical follow-up to Crossway's For the Children's Sake , this book follows a tradition of giving serious thought to what education is, so that children will be learning for life and for everlasting life.  

Genres: Education, Parenting, Nonfiction, Family, Childrens, School, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2004

Reviews

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be excellent and practical. I tend to prefer to build my practicalities on philosophy and this book gives just the right amount of both. When I first started reading it last August I thought my days of homeschooling were over but as I finish it up here in May I am thinking of how to arrange my next homeschool year with a new student. This book has given me the tools I need to add structure to our days.

[travelgirlut · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really didn't add anything to my knowledge of how to teach under the Charlotte Mason philosophy beyond what I had gained for free off the internet. I had hoped it would have more modern applications like the title implies, but things like the internet and computers and such are only briefly mentioned in asides and not as elements of any curriculum. The book doesn't even give a complete curriculum outline. It just gives samples from a couple grades, not enough to even build my own curriculum from. I did glean maybe two ideas from this book that I hadn't thought of before, but I don't think the time invested in the book made it worth it. So not a book I would turn to to learn more of CM and how to teach like her. Look for other books (though there aren't many great ones) and definitely on the internet. Lots of info there.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed When Children Love to Learn! It’s not a book I would have picked out to read, but was asked to read two chapters by a school my daughter is planning to attend.
It turned out that I not only really enjoyed the book, but that I plan to make some sweeping changes to the way I homeschool, and have already started to implement them. As a veteran homeschooler, I didn’t think I would be inspired this much.
I recommend this book to any school or homeschool teachers, to parents of school age children, and to adults who have the time and desire to volunteer in children’s lives. I loved the story of the retired teacher who invited neighborhood children over for lemonade and would read them children’s classics! She ended up making such a positive influence in their lives by those simple acts of love.

[Brittany Roberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friends, this book resonated with my heart so much. The amount of highlighting and verbal “yes!” throughout the reading of this book would prove this true.

Even the title - “When Children Love to Learn” - isn’t that what all of us desire for our kids’ education? Lighting the fire. I’m sharing some of my favorite quotes in this post, but I will also say this: If the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education is appealing to you, I highly recommend reading this book. This isn’t so much even a book on homeschooling, but a practical approach of using Charlotte Mason’s philosophies today in multiple settings.

“As the body needs nourishment, so too does the inner person, and this feeding is through ideas found in books. All the child requires is a rich and varied curriculum.” (pg 52)

“It is the role of the teacher to get out of the way…she never lets herself get in the way of learning…she lets the living books and other resources speak for themselves and does not consider herself the students’ only source of information.” (pg 81)

“The educator does not manipulate, taking on the responsibility for the child’s knowing, but provides a fitting environment wherein the mind is sustained upon ideas, thus continuing the act of education, self-education.” (pg 134)

[Katie Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very comprehensive and a great overview of important CM concepts! I loved the practical time tables at the end of the book!

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information here, though the book is sometimes long-winded and old-fashioned too.

[Laura A · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a tough slog for me to read. As a homeschool family, not a whole lot of this book was relevant for schooling at home with real life happening. Applies more to a classroom where kids are all the same age with similar attention spans.

Doesn’t account for a toddler running around during school, sickness and just more busier stages of life during homeschool.

Enjoyed learning more about CM and her writings.
Although I follow a curriculum that would be considered CM style and literature rich, that I totally love and works for our kids, I find this book a little bit idealistic. Clutter free classrooms, quiet children studying with classic musical playing - this is not our real home environment with children of different ages and abilities.

Although I 100% agree with Charlotte Mason in educating the whole child, seeing them as a God created and bringing education into all aspects of life!

The end has a practical guide of what to include if you want to follow/ create a CM type curriculum.

[Elizabeth Santelmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with the Charlotte Mason Institute CORE class!! The whole process was so good and I learned so much!

[Abby Nall · Rating 4 out of 5]

More philosophy, with more practical examples and anecdotes than For the Children's Sake (mostly drawn from the authors' personal experiences in Charlotte Mason schools). Some of the "distinctive" essays in the middle section are great, some are just too brief to be helpful. The example scope and sequence and lesson plans at the end of the book are interesting.

The primary audience is not homeschooling parents, but schoolteachers and administrators. That made it less practical to me than I was hoping. The brief mention of homeschooling did not impress me; I felt like it implied that homeschooling was second-rate compared to the resources afforded a small public or private school, which irritated me.

I did like the opening philosophical chapters more than the majority of For the Children's Sake and made quite a few connections about the nature of children as full persons who are both image-bearers and sin-natured, so I'm glad I read it. Between the two of them, I think this one is probably more useful than For the Children's Sake, but it was not as clarifying as I hoped.

[Kari]

I've read most books on Charlotte Mason's philosophy but somehow I had missed this one. I'm loving it. It has reminded me why I chose homeschooling in the first place. I want my daughter to LOVE learning not just graduate. It's been a great refresher and a real encouragement to this burned out homeschool mom.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally read this in 2010 when I bought it from a Carole Joy Seid conference. I am so glad I highlighted it! Re-read the highlights and more and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was one of the reasons we decided to do this method of homeschooling. I love it and need to go back to this method..krb 2/2/16

[Bambi Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Not as good as I had hoped. My favorite applied CM philosophy book is still Andreola's.

[Amanda Josserand · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book to really evaluate my lessons for my children, the philosophy in which I instruct them, the methods that I use, etc. I loved the practical instructions and the rich thoughtful convictions presented in this book.
Although a lot of the specific, practical tips in regards to history, math, science, nature studies, etc are explicitly written for a classroom I found them very helpful and easily tailorable to my homeschool.

“The function of the parent is to help the child do what he lacks the power to compel himself to do. The persistent effort of training in habits becomes a habit in itself as educators begin the work of setting high expectations for relationships, whether in regard to habits of mind or moral habits.”

Do you REALLY believe that children are just as high of value of person as you?

“What must be addressed, It is this: The adults may think of themselves as superior and the child inferior, intellectually, morally, and ethically. But if we believe in the personhood of the child and in her vast potential, this becomes a false dichotomy. The reality is that the potency of the child’s mind is as great or greater than ours! We see this in a number of ways—parents talking down to their children, the belief that children must be pampered in order for them to be happy and well-adjusted, or the idea that any difficulty in the child’s life must be taken care of by the parent.”

“if children are given a diet of dry facts, and information as read to them from books they cannot understand, if they are overworked and stressed, they will simply switch off. They may become discouraged (“I’m dumb”) or decide “it’s boring”, or just be tired and lose interest and motivation. “

“Life itself is too important to crowd out with busy work.”

“Sometimes children learn a bit of this, and a bit of that, and there’s no continuity. Fragments of knowledge float around with nothing to connect them. Fragments that are meaningless and don’t make an impression. What happens as a result of such drive in fragment of teaching is described by some as cultural illiteracy.”

“For some reason or other, Americans bear the dubious reputation of overkill…First of all, the educational vision is too frequently factual information alone, rather than ideas or a big general picture. Facts, facts, facts and so teachers and children cram cram cram and students forget forget forget.”

“We are not over the child, but beside the child.”

“They need to be introduced to the living person of Jesus, who is a shepherd seeking them, loving them. He is there; this must be no school lesson. It is terrible to turn this amazing person into a lesson. Children must catch the scent, the scene, the wonder of who is. If they are used to be introduced and moved by other stories, the person or persons in the story will reach them more easily. His word is the best way to learn about God and his way of working in real history.”

“A child who possesses a sound in fairly wide knowledge of a number of subjects, all of which certain interest him; such a child studies with delight.” Miss Mason

“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life, the science of relations.”

“The ideas that quicken come from above; the mind of the little child is an open field, surely good ground, where, morning by morning, the sower goes forth to sow and the seed is the word. All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with a humble sense that we are invited in this matter to cooperate with the Holy Spirit; but it should be given dutifully and diligently with the awful sense that our cooperation would appear to be made a condition of the divine action; that the savior of the world pleads with us to “suffer the little children to come unto me” as if we had the power to hinder, as we know that we have.”
“The danger exists; but lies, not in giving the child too much, but in giving him the wrong thing to do, the sort of work for which the present state of his mental development does not fit him.”

“Do not rationalize behaviors as if they are the child’s identity.“

“Authority rightly applied expresses respect for the learner, and takes into account the lines by which he or she is designed. While not abrogating the biblical mandate for obedience, true authority seeks to work in relationship with those under its mantle. Thus, the teacher desires to engage students actively as co-learners functioning with respect flowing from a caring and relational authority. In this we are able to observe that Mr. Green takes seriously the nature of his students and adjusts his teaching so as to activate both respect and authority in his methods.”

Do the lessons
1. Provide material for mental growth?
2. Exercise several powers of the mind?
3. Furnish fruitful ideas?
4. Afford valuable, accurate, and interesting knowledge?

“A structure must be in place in the classroom that takes into account both the image of God within and the fallenness of the child and his need for dominion with direction in guidance from an earthly authority. “

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this months ago, reading a little bit at a time. It was a really good book to conceptualize all the aspects of Charlotte Mason teaching. I’m glad I read it.

[Monica Lafleur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, it made me reflect on my childhood and how my mother homeschooled me. If I were to homeschool I would love to read this again and take some practical ideas from it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really practical and helpful overview of the Charlotte Mason method of education. I’ll definitely refer to this again, especially the chapters that detail all the different subjects.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As several other reviewers have noted, you can find better information about Charlotte Mason's approach to education and how to implement it online than you'll find in this book. That's partially because the majority of the contributors seem to be coming from the experience of teaching in a small private school, and partially because they sometimes exhibit a cult-like tendency to accept anything Charlotte Mason said as the absolute truth.

Those qualms aside, I really do love Charlotte Mason, and I think she was a keen observer of children and how learning actually happens. As the title implies, she believed that education should generally be enjoyable--not necessarily entertaining or catered to the child's interests of the moment, but it should appeal to the child's innate desire to know.

I also love her firm belief that you need to first start with defining your philosophical view of children and education in order to develop your curriculum. For example, she believed that "The child's mind is the instrument of his education; his education does not produce his mind" (p. 53). As a result, the teacher is not the one who educates; children educate themselves. Rather, it is the teacher's role to "spread the feast" (one of my favorite of her metaphors) by providing a rich and varied curriculum that aims to develop all of the various dimensions of their humanity.

And, in fact, in her view an education is not reducible to a curriculum: "education is a life." It encompasses everything, since children are constantly assimilating their experiences and forming new connections and insights. And not only children, but adults too. If we love to learn, the process never ends.

I could go on with more of my takeaways, but as you might be able to tell already, my rating is for this book's handling of Charlotte Mason's approach to education rather than her views themselves (although I could certainly critique some of those too!).

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Susan Schaeffer Macauley’s “For The Children’s Sake” is 1988. It struck me in that perfect moment of readiness for what was said and resonance with the way it was said. Plus I was living in outback NSW, teaching in a primary department of 9, perched among the gidgee trees on a red sand ridge, possibility stretching in all directions.

Ever since reading SSM’s landmark book I’ve been meaning to have a poke around in the educational philosophy of Victorian educational philosopher Charlotte Mason. When I came across “When Children Love To Learn” I figured the time had come.

In some ways, Mason’s philosophy has already seeped into my bones. After my time in the outback, I left education and never taught full time again. Yet I’ve been in the world of kids and learning and creating ever since, and Mason’s infectious, dangerous, delightful contention that children are people has travelled with me all the way.

That said, the book at hand (remember? This is meant to be a book review...) didn’t really amp me up. I think the job had already been done, 30 years earlier. It’s not the book’s fault. And I think I’m not entirely in the target market. (When I told a friend, “I’m reading a book about the practical application of Victorian educational philosopher called Charlotte Mason” he said, “That’s an unusual book for a 55 year old songwriter to be reading.”) I do wonder what a practising teacher might make of all this, especially one who is captured by the philosophy yet captive in an alternative system.

I kept wondering as I read it, “How does this look in practise?” I’m a convert, but I kept wanting reassurance that this all wasn’t simply idealistic. I’d have liked a list of “Living Books” as an appendix, since vital, engaging, substantial, enduring literature is so fundamental to the whole approach.

What this book did do was spark an interest in visiting a Mason-inspired school, to observe first-hand how Mason’s philosophy might look in practise. I’d love to see the practise of appetite-driven learning, of narration, of nature walking, of seeing how real people go fitting some of the disciplinary subjects (science, maths) into the overall Mason ethos. (I’m open to any invitation, should it find its way to me...!)

If you want to dip your toe in Charlotte Mason’s wonderful world, I’d suggest starting with Schaeffer Macauley’s “For The Children’s Sake”. It’s a nourishing book for anyone who loves kids and wants to enrich kids - parents, grandparents, teachers, kids workers, uncles, aunts, leaders, you-name-it.

If you’re still hungry or if you’re a teacher wanting to probe Mason’s work a little more then this book may well be your next port of call.

[Elizabeth Mayberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was actually looking forward to reading this book but it hasn’t been what I thought it would be. I spent much longer trying to read it because it is packed with theory and thought – most of it being what I already learned through reading For the Children’s Sake. The subtitle is “A practical application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today,” but you could make the argument that nothing practical was talked about until page 209 in part two. As a homeschooling mama, I was wanting to read this for encouragement and practical tools for incorporating Charlotte Mason into our day-to-day and the book’s focus was much more on school settings and regurgitating information from Charlotte Mason and For the Children’s Sake. I’ll keep this book to look back onto later as a resource, but I am honestly not sure if I will ever pick it back up again. Just read For the Children’s Sake… it was much better and ironically more practical. I also found it interesting that it was mostly essays from other authors in each chapter. This is not the end of the world, but not what I was expecting. It made it feel more like a research paper than a practical book for those who want to implement Charlotte Mason in their children’s education.

[Rachel Behrends · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful introduction to both the philosophy of education put forth by Charlotte Mason and the practical application of such an education. As the authors are all involved in formal education in a private school setting of some sort, there were some passages geared more towards such a setting and not so much for the home educator. One article seems to have an obvious bias for the school setting instead of the home setting, which is not my opinion as a home educator. However, I'd still recommend this to any parent looking into giving their child a rich education that considers the whole child as a person.

[Jenna]

“The child’s mind is the instrument of his education; his education does not produce his mind.” - p 53

“This is how we find children––with intelligence more acute, logic more keen, observing powers more alert, moral sensibilities more quick, love and faith and hope more abounding; in fact, in all points like as we are, only much more so; but absolutely ignorant of the world and its belongings, of us and our ways, and, above all, of how to control and direct and manifest the infinite possibilities with which they are born.” - Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, Ch 23

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives practical application for how to implement a Charlotte Mason curriculum. I thought it was excellent; Mason's ideas were stated clearly as well as how to use them. Her philosophy really is quite brilliant; mainly using narration of living books for children to learn. Children enjoy reading and enjoy telling back what they have learned. I am planning on digging deeper into this book and referring to it often as I seek the best way to teach e.

[Rah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated it 4 stars because it would be an excellent resource for those wanting to start their own Charlotte Mason style school.

Not as good for a small home school family, but still had some good information and criteria for the different subjects. I took notes.

As far as the summaries of Charlotte Mason's philosophy, just go direct to the source. Skip right to the application sections if you've read any of her writings.

[Catie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good "boots on the ground" book for those of us who are homeschooling using Charlotte Mason's philosophy and methods. I always love reading her own works and diving deep into educational ideas, but something has to be taught come Monday, and this book really can get you started with confidence.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read this all word for word instead I schemed it. Not at all the way Charlotte Mason would allow.
I really found this book hard to understand most of the time however I love the Charolette Mason style of learning.
I’m still pretty new to homeschooling so I’ll try reading more about Charolette Mason.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot to chew on here for anyone with children, regardless of whether you are a professional "educator".

Pedagogy and philosophy is the foundation. It was an eye-opener to see how some of my well intentioned teaching practices did not respect the personhood of the children I served.

[Cara Shields · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book helped to break down some of Charlotte Masons reasoning for how she educated. It also helped break down studies and how to walk them out along with sample schedules for laying out the feast for your children. It’s a good resource to keep on hand as a cm family

[Summereyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! It's a great compilation of Charlotte Mason's philosophies and how to apply them today. They are classic ideas that are incredibly beneficial to children, parents, and educators alike! I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to teach children.

[Shinae Wyckoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

so many takeaways

As a CM homeschool mom, I e joyed reading the thoughtful applications of CM’s principles to the school format. There were plenty of principles and applications to be used in our home as well.

[Charissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of helpful information and suggestions for educating with the Charlotte Mason approach. I especially liked their procedure lists for nature study, picture study, and music appreciation.