Charlotte Mason Principles #9 & #10
Dear Mama,
Johann Friedrich Herbart was a German educational philosopher with whom Charlotte Mason strongly disagreed. Herbart believed that children’s minds or souls didn’t have substance. Therefore, it couldn’t capture living ideas. Believe it or not, our education system still adheres to many of his philosophies.
Treating all students the same in a classroom is a way to lose many students. Although it makes sense to have a single teaching style in a school, it is challenging to create a lesson plan for forty students. However, it isn’t the best way to capture the students' minds with living ideas and fill them with truth, goodness, and beauty.
Rather than using a textbook and creating a dry lesson plan, try focusing on the ideas that the book is trying to convey. What lessons can we learn from the book? These ideas and lessons are what stick more than the mere facts of the book.
I remember growing up not enjoying literature because the teachers didn’t allow the book to speak for itself. We couldn’t just want the story. All we did was break apart the story in such a way that it was no longer enjoyable. That is the wrong way to teach literature.
When reading a book, allow the ideas to flow from the book. Allow the ideas to capture your children’s imaginations and make the best of it.
What do you like about the Charlotte Mason approach to teaching literature versus the Herbart way?
Warmly,
Mirley
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