Summaries
of the Charlotte Mason Series and 20 Principles
The chapter-by-chapter summaries are
concise renderings of each paragraph. All of the chapter-by-chapter
summaries from the six books, if printed out together, come to about
300 or so pages, the length of one of the six volumes (in other words,
each one is about a sixth of the original book in length.) The short
summaries are very brief (one or two page) summaries just to give a
quick overview; they are shortened versions of the longer
chapter-by-chapter summaries. A glimpse at the short summaries should
give enough of an idea what's in each book to help you decide which
volume would be most appropriate for you to start in.
Linked
chapter-by-chapter summaries
were posted to the CMSeries
email list between Sep
2003-Jun 2004. Thoroughly re-proofread Dec 2007.
Purchase
all of the
chapter-by-chapter summaries in one book at Lulu.com
or Amazon.com.
Also available for your Kindle.
Volume 1 - Home Education
Volume 2 - Parents and Children
Volume 3 - School Education
Volume 4 - Ourselves
Volume 5 - Formation Of Character
Stand-alone chapters to enhance all
parents, regardless of the ages of their children. Includes case
studies of children cured of bad habits, examples of how education
affected outcome of character in famous writers of her day, and
thoughts on how youths should make the most of their last years before
adulthood.
Read the short
summary of Volume 5
Read the complete
chapter-by-chapter summary
Volume 6 - A Philosophy Of Education
Charlotte's final book, written after
years of seeing her approach in action. Though more philosophical, this
volume gives the best overview of her approach and includes the final
version of her 20 Principles. The best place to start for parents of
older children.
Read the short
summary of Volume 6
Read the complete
chapter-by-chapter summary
"It's impossible to get a full
idea of what Miss Mason was doing
without reading volume six - not only is it the volume for the older
kids, it's the last book she wrote - I think some forty years spans the
spread between volume one and volume six. Sometimes ideas she had in
volume one didn't quite work out as she had hoped they would, and by
the time volume six came along she'd refined her ideas a little more,
they got a bit more practical. WWI happened between volumes one and
six, and this mattered. Before WWI, Charlotte, in company with many of
the Imminent Victorians, had a practically messianic view of education
- it was going to change human nature, improve it, make human beings
all wise, peacable and just about bring heaven on earth. After WWI,
Charlotte Mason's ideas on all this became a little more subdued and
realistic. It's a little sad, but I think it was a healthy change. I
think a lot of CM popularizers read volume one and promote the ideas in
that book, and people think that's all there is to CM. Even without the
refining of Charlotte's ideas that occurs over the decades between
Volumes one and six, this would be a mistake because volume one says
right up front that it's for children from birth to nine. Volume three
is for the middle grades, and volume six is the book to read for about
12 and up. Charlotte did not recommend quite the same approach for all
ages. Her program for the older kids is, like the rest, wide and
generous, rich, full of ideas, good literature, art and music, but it's
also very rigorous. By high
school I see a lot more similarities with the classical approach in
terms of materials used." ~Wendi
Capehart
Explanation of Charlotte Mason's 20
Principles
CM Motto
2004 L.
N. Laurio