A Philosophy of Education Study Guide Rachel Lebowitz

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This edition published 2020 by A Charlotte Mason Plenary, LLC.

www.cmplenary.com
Title: A Philosophy of Education
Sub-title: Volume 6 Study Guide
Author: Charlotte Mason
Author: Rachel Lebowitz
A Philosophy of Education: Study Guide
Table of Contents
I NTRODUCTION TO THE S TUDY G UIDE ............................................................................................... IX
A S PECIAL I NVITATION .............................................................................................................................. XI
A S YNOPSIS : C HARLOTTE ’ S 20 P RINCIPLES ......................................................................................... XV
Book 1
I NTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1
CH 1: S ELF-E DUCATION ............................................................................................................................. 3
CH 2: C HILDREN ARE B ORN P ERSONS .................................................................................................. 5
CH 3: T HE G OOD AND E VIL N ATURE OF A C HILD .......................................................................... 7
CH 4: A UTHORITY AND D OCILITY ........................................................................................................ 11
CH 5: T HE S ACREDNESS OF P ERSONALITY ............................................................................................ 15
CH 6: T HREE I NSTRUMENTS OF E DUCATION ..................................................................................... 17
CH 7: H OW W E M AKE U SE OF M IND ................................................................................................... 21
CH 8: T HE W AY OF THE W ILL ................................................................................................................. 25
CH 9: T HE W AY OF THE R EASON ........................................................................................................... 27
CH 10: T HE C URRICULUM ........................................................................................................................ 31
Book 2
H ISTORICAL B ACKGROUND OF B OOK 2 ............................................................................................... 37
C H 1: A L IBERAL E DUCATION IN E LEMENTARY S CHOOLS ............................................................ 39
C H 2: A L IBERAL E DUCATION IN S ECONDARY S CHOOLS .............................................................. 41
C H 3: T HE S COPE OF C ONTINUATION S CHOOLS ............................................................................. 43
C H 4: T HE B ASIS OF N ATIONAL S TRENGTH ....................................................................................... 45
S UPPLEMENTARY ........................................................................................................................................... 49
A PPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................................... 51
A BOUT THE A UTHOR .................................................................................................................................. 55
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC VII

Introduction from
A C HARLOT TE M ASON P LENARY
Welcome to your Study Guide for A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason! You
are taking a step toward better understanding and, therefore, a better homeschool.
You will need a copy of Volume 6: A Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason to
complete this study. You may use any reprint of Volume 6 you like, but you will get the
most out of this Study Guide by using the Annotated Edition of Volume 6 published by
A Charlotte Mason Plenary.
Resources = Easier
You may want to consider the following helps which will make your study of
Charlotte’s A Philosophy of Education even easier:
• Volume 6 Annotated Edition
• Volume 6 Audiobook
• Volume 6 Companion Course & Discussion Group
In addition, I will give you links to other free resources throughout the Study Guide
as they relate to each chapter, including:
• Volume 6 Resources Page
• 20 Principles Videos
Charlotte Mason Your Way
My motto at The Plenary is “Charlotte Mason Your Way” because the method will,
and should, look different in every home. It’s important to understand that it is a
method and not a system. I hope you will find this Study Guide helpful in understanding
and implementing Charlotte’s method in a way that is personally meaningful to you and
your family.
A Charlotte Mason education is so life-giving, so peaceful, relaxing, and joyful. My
wish for you is that you and your children find room to breathe, to think, and to
contemplate as you sit down to the feast of this education. May you have unhurried,
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC

uncomplicated, “smooth and easy days.”

These are the things we owe our children; the things we owe ourselves. And these
are the things that I love about a Charlotte Mason education; that this style of life is
simple, relaxed, unhurried, and brings peace of mind. It gives us room to find the
path; our own path.
To that end, this resource was created with much love and respect for Charlotte and
for you; to make it easier to enjoy the beautiful education that is the Charlotte Mason
method. It comes from my home to yours with much love and appreciation. I hope you
will enjoy using it as much as I have have enjoyed creating it.
For a complete, up-to-date list of books and study guides, or for more information
about the Charlotte Mason method of education, please see The Plenary website at
cmplenary.com.
With much love,

Rachel Lebowitz
A Charlotte Mason Plenary
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC x

A Special Invitation
from A Charlotte Mason Plenary
You are invited to join a special Companion Course as you read A Philosophy of
Education; one that will help you get the most out of your time with Charlotte’s last and
most important book.
The Volume 6 Companion Course: This wonderful course includes additional

resources such as downloadable guides, bonus video content, and links to resources
mentioned in the Annotated Edition.
The content of the course is organized based on each chapter within A Philosophy of
Education, making it easy for you to find what you need to enhance your understanding
of Charlotte’s philosophy and method.
Private Online Discussion Group: Join our online discussion group and be part of
the family! Have questions? Don’t understand what Charlotte is saying? Ask us! Learn
from others and help others learn.
Special Needs Considerations: The Companion Course also includes videos that
address specific considerations of families with children who have special needs. Each
video addresses how to adapt and modify the information to fit your family’s unique
situation.
Our Special Needs Consultant, Amy Bodkin, Ed.S., believes in the developmental
approach to Charlotte Mason’s method. Children are born persons. The respect of
personhood due to every child means we see each child as an individual, not as a
diagnosis.
Join Us: We’d love to have you as part of our learning community! I hope you will
join us. Visit the following link for more information:
cmplenary.com/courses

Charlotte Mason’s
20 Principles
Charlotte Mason’s
20 Principles
1) Children are born persons.

2) They are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and for evil.
3) The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are
natural, necessary and fundamental; but –
4) These principles are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, which
must not be encroached upon, whether by the direct use of fear or love, suggestion or
influence, or by undue play upon any one natural desire.
5) Therefore, we are limited to three educational instruments – the atmosphere of
environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas. The P.N.E.U.
Motto is: “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”
6) When we say that “education is an atmosphere,” we do not mean that a child should
be isolated in what may be called a ‘child-environment’ especially adapted and prepared,
but that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home
atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his
proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the ‘child’s’ level.
7) By “education is a discipline,” we mean the discipline of habits, formed definitely and
thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body. Physiologists tell us of the adaptation of
brain structures to habitual lines of thought, i.e., to our habits.
8) In saying that “education is a life,” the need of intellectual and moral as well as of
physical sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should
have a generous curriculum.
9) We hold that the child’s mind is no mere sac to hold ideas; but is rather, if the figure
may be allowed, a spiritual organism, with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its
proper diet, with which it is prepared to deal; and which it can digest and assimilate as
the body does foodstuffs.
10) Such a doctrine as e.g. the Herbartian, that the mind is a receptacle, lays the stress of
Education (the preparation of knowledge in enticing morsels duly ordered) upon the
teacher. Children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching with
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC xv

little knowledge; and the teacher’s axiom is “what a child learns matters less than how
he learns it.”
11) But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with
all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care only
that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their
informing ideas. Out of this conception comes our principle that, –
12) “Education is the Science of Relations”; that is, that a child has natural relations with
a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature
lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our
business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as
may be of –
“Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things.”
13) In devising a Syllabus for a normal child, of whatever social class, three points must
be considered:
a) He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as docs
the body.
(b) The knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create
appetite (i.e., curiosity).
(c) Knowledge should be communicated in well-chosen language, because his
attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.
14) As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should ‘tell back’ after
a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.
15) A single reading is insisted on, because children have naturally great power of
attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by
questioning, summarizing, and the like.
Acting upon these and some other points in the behavior of mind, we find that the
educability of children is enormously greater than has hitherto been supposed, and is but
little dependent on such circumstances as heredity and environment.
Nor is the accuracy of this statement limited to clever children or to children of the
educated classes: thousands of children in Elementary Schools respond freely to this
method, which is based on the behavior of mind.
16) There are two guides to moral and intellectual self-management to offer to children,
which we may call ‘the way of the will’ and ‘the way of the reason.’
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC xvi

17) The way of the will: Children should be taught,

(a) to distinguish between ‘I want’ and ‘I will.’
(b) That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire
but do not will.
(c) That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different
thing, entertaining or interesting.
(d) That after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigor.
(This adjunct of the will is familiar to us as diversion, whose office it is to ease us for a
time from will effort, that we may ‘will’ again with added power. The use of suggestion
as an aid to the will is to be deprecated, as tending to stultify and stereotype character. It
would seem that spontaneity is a condition of development, and that human nature
needs the discipline of failure as well as of success.)
18) The way of reason: We teach children, too, not to ‘lean (too confidently) to their own
understanding’; because the function of reason is to give logical demonstration
(a) of mathematical truth,
(b) of an initial idea, accepted by the will.
In the former case, reason is, practically, an infallible guide, but in the latter, it is not
always a safe one; for, whether that idea be right or wrong, reason will confirm it by
irrefragable proofs.
19) Therefore, children should be taught, as they become mature enough to understand
such teaching, that the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the
acceptance or rejection of ideas. To help them in this choice we give them principles of
conduct, and a wide range of the knowledge fitted to them. These principles should save
children from some of the loose thinking and heedless action which cause most of us to
live at a lower level than we need.
20) We allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and ‘spiritual’ life of
children, but teach them that the Divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is
their continual Helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life.
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC xvii

A Philosophy of Education: Annotated Edition
xviii
Study Guide
Book 1
2
Volume 6
Introduction
Charlotte’s introduction to A Philosophy of Education is a good overview of the
entire volume. She introduces ideas that she will discuss in more detail in later chapters.
The War: Throughout the course of the book, Charlotte frequently mentions “the
War,” which was WWI. She wrote A Philosophy of Education in 1921, just a few years
after the war had ended. The effects of WWI were quite staggering for England. More
than 900,000 British soldiers were killed, and more than twice that number returned
home maimed or disabled. Citizens faced extreme hardship at home as well, including
famine, illness, and shortages of materials. This is the lens from which Charlotte writes
about education.
Charlotte makes the argument that one of the causes of the Great War was
Germany’s distortion and misrepresentation of certain theories by Charles Darwin. She
explains that the German education of the time was strictly utilitarian which marked the
beginning of the country’s moral downfall; that nothing mattered but physical fitness
and vocational training; that the utilitarian education freed German citizens from any
‘moral restraints;’ and that this is what can happen when education does not nourish
and inspire the spirit of a person. Charlotte cites the book German Philosophy in Relation
to the War by John Henry Muirhead as well as a book-burning incident in Germany. You
can find links to both of those references on the Volume 6 Resources Page on The
Plenary website.
Education: Education means preparing a child for life, not just for making a living; it
means feeding a person’s mind and spirit with ideas that will inspire them.
“Knowledge is the necessary daily food of the mind” for “it is the man who has read
and thought on many subjects who is, with the necessary training, the most capable
whether in handling tools, drawing plans, or keeping books. The more of a person we
succeed in making a child, the better will he both fulfill his own life and serve society … We
want an education which shall nourish the mind while not neglecting either physical or
vocational training.”
Charlotte gives a list in which she describes how her method of education is different
from the usual education of the day:
• Students do the work themselves
• Teachers are only there to help if asked – except in certain subjects such as math
and grammar; “Teachers Shall Teach Less and Scholars Shall Learn More”
• Much reading is assigned
• Nothing is selected based on a student’s interest
• Students do not seem to be confused or mixed up by the reading of so many
books simultaneously
• Students delight in their studies
• Books used are literary in style
• Marks, prizes, and rewards are not used to secure attention
• No stray lessons - lessons are planned to be consecutive in order
Liberal Education for All: This education is beneficial for ALL students, not just
those of the upper classes and gifted students. This is an education that nourishes
children from every walk of life and every ability.
Charlotte says her theory is based on certain Principles that are usually unrecognized
or disregarded. Some of which are:
• Children are persons and have the same needs as we do
• The mind needs ideas just as body needs food
• The Desire of Knowledge is the chief instrument of education and that “this
desire might be paralyzed or made powerless like an unused limb by encouraging
other desires to intervene between a child and the knowledge proper for him”
Charlotte will discuss these Principles (and others) in more detail in later chapters.
Study Questions: Introduction

1. What is education?
2. How should education serve a person as well as a society?
3. How did education go wrong in Germany and what was the result?
4. What is knowledge? How does one become educated?
Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page
COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC 2

CHAPTER 1
Self-Education
“A person is not built up from without but from within … therefore, there is no
education but self-education.”
In this chapter, Charlotte emphasizes two things regarding students:
1) Children are capable of self-education
2) Motive is what counts
And she emphasizes two things regarding teachers; namely that our responsibility
lies in:
1) Offering food for the student’s mind
2) Knowing and exercising certain principles
Students are Capable: Charlotte points out that a child is not a “little garden” or
plant to be pruned and shaped; that we must recognize and respect “the essential
property of a child, his personality.” And that his “House of Mind” is “amazingly ordered
with a view to the getting of knowledge.” All children have great intellectual capacity. But
because we equate capacity with motor skills, we think they are not capable, and we
offer food that is not satisfying and we then must resort to forcible intellectual feeding.
“I believe that all children bring with them much capacity which is not recognized by their
teachers, chiefly intellectual capacity, (always in advance of motor power), which we are
apt to drown in deluges of explanation, or dissipate in futile labors in which there is no
advance.”
Motive Counts: In education, motive counts – the motives of the teachers as well as
the motives of the students. If we, as teachers, are motivated by erroneous assumptions,
such as the idea that children have diminished capacity, then we cannot offer our
students the food they so desperately crave.
But, at the same time, if a student is motivated by external factors, then he is not
truly educating himself. He studies for external reward, not internal growth.
Charlotte will explain these ‘external factors’ and how they hinder a child in Chapter
5: The Sacredness of Personality.

The Mind Needs Food A mind is sustained upon ideas and, therefore, when choosing
what to offer our students, she asks us to “consider the ideas that influence ... character
and conduct.” The mind needs food to chew – ideas that stimulate it to sort out moral
implications.
“We feed upon the thoughts of other minds; and thought applied to thought generates
thought and we become more thoughtful. No one need invite us to reason, compare,
imagine; the mind, like the body, digests its proper food, and it must have the labor of
digestion or it ceases to function.”
Schoolwork is the Outcome of Certain Principles: Charlotte does not tell us to

“do this” or “do that,” but rather asks us to “consider this and that.” She asks us to think,
not to follow blindly.
She is asking us to think about the Principles that govern and support self-education.
But what is a Principle?
A principle is a fundamental truth that guides behavior. If the fundamental truth is
that a “child is a person,” then all principles must guide our behavior to support that
fundamental truth.
In the next chapter, Charlotte will dive deep into the fundamental truth that
“Children are Born Persons.”
Study Questions: Chapter 1

1. What does Charlotte mean when she says “the mind”?
2. What are the advantages of Charlotte’s theory, or method, of education?
3. Why does Charlotte point out that a child’s capacity is greater than his “motor
power”? How can we apply that knowledge?
4. What does Charlotte ask you to “consider”?

CHAPTER 2
Children are Born Persons
Charlotte opens by saying that this chapter was designed to set forth a “startling
truth” – why does she say that the idea that “children are born persons” is startling?
Charlotte’s First Principle: This idea also happens to be Charlotte’s very first
Principle. And I love that she puts it first. It’s as if all the other Principles that come after
it hinge on this one idea; this one truth.
Mind = Spirit: When Charlotte talks about “mind,” she is talking about the spirit, the
soul, the higher self. And it is our spirit, our soul, which gives a person value.
Charlotte is making the argument that children are born with value – they do not
acquire it; and that it must be respected in every person.
A Jewel of Astonishing Worth: She is working against the commonly held view of
her time (and I would say still commonly held view) that a child is a blank slate, an empty
vessel, clay to be molded:
“Their notion is that by means of a pull here, a push there, a compression elsewhere, a
person is, at last, turned out according to the pattern the educator has in his mind.” But
she sees a child as “a jewel of such astonishing worth that, put the whole world in one
scale and this jewel in the other, and the scale which holds the world flies up
outbalanced.”
Infinite Possibilities: She quotes the poet Thomas Trahern several times in this
chapter, saying that only poets can manage to hint at the glory which might be revealed
in a child. Every child is a “person of infinite possibilities” and has everything he needs to
realize those possibilities.
“He has all the mind [spirit] he requires for his occasions; that is, that his mind is the
instrument of his education and that his education does not produce his mind.”
Due Respect: And the first step is the realization that children are due the respect of
any other person. Ask yourself the hard question: do you treat your child as a person? Do

you treat other people, including your child, in the same way you wish to be treated? Do
all of your actions honor the dignity that is personhood?
And once we understand this Principle, we realize our own inadequacy to teach:
“Place a teacher before a class of persons… and he will say, ‘What have I to offer them?’
His dull routine lessons crumble into the dust they are when he faces children as they are.”
With Some Feeling of Awe: Once you face children “as they are” it alters your
“whole outlook on education.” Suddenly we are once again in awe of the child and we are
able to see in him “all the infinite possibilities” that he is born with. We understand that
we have been entrusted with the education of a soul, a nephesh, a life force.
And now we approach everything differently:
“We take off our shoes from off our feet; we ‘did not know it was in them,’ whether we be
their parents, their teachers or mere lookers-on. And with some feeling of awe upon us, we
shall be the better prepared to consider how and upon what children should be educated.”
To consider how and upon what, we will look at later chapters.

1. What does “Children are born persons” mean to you?
2. Does the idea that a child is a ‘born person’ change the way you think about your
children? Was this a new idea to you? Did it ‘startle’ you?
3. What are some ways in which you can begin to honor the dignity of personhood?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle #1: Children are Born Persons

CHAPTER 3
The Good & Evil Nature of a Child
The title of this chapter may give you pause, especially because it is connected with
Charlotte’s second Principle: “Children are not born either good or bad, but with
possibilities for good and for evil.”
Class Distinction: This is another instance in which it is important to know the

historical context of Victorian England. In the early 1900s, British society was based on
the class system, which included two main classes: the Upper Class, or Aristocracy; and
the Lower, or Working Class. Your class determined your worth, or value.
The distinction of classes was considered a divine order that tied in with a concept
from Aristotle called the “Chain of Being,” in which everything in the universe is arranged
in a hierarchy “according to perfection.”
In this hierarchy, God is at the top and the angels are directly below him; then,
directly below the angels is Mankind. Man, where character and intellect are the most
developed, is considered the most complete and the most perfect.
Therefore, mankind descends in order of rank – starting with the highest rank called
the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ which allowed kings to rule over others; then the Aristocracy is
next; then the Nobles; and down the chain to the working class and the poor. As you get
further down the chain, you are more removed from God; and the belief was that God
chose your place in the hierarchy. You were ‘born’ to your station. So if you were further
down on the social ladder, it was because God saw you as less worthy and less capable.
This belief continued into the nineteenth century. Charlotte was actually advocating
against this entrenched belief; she was advocating for the lower classes. She was not
afraid to challenge the status-quo.
Dual Tendencies: Charlotte recognizes that every person has good and evil
tendencies and that it is our job as parents / teachers to know “of what parts and
passions a child is made up” so that we can use that information in devising an education
for each child.
“Here we have the work of education indicated. There are good and evil tendencies in body
and mind, heart and soul; and the hope set before us is that we can foster the good so as
to attenuate the evil.”

She divides this chapter into 5 sections. Let’s take them one at a time:
Well-Being of Body: Charlotte stresses that everyone needs nourishment, time

outdoors, and exercise.
“We do not consider enough that the nourishment, rest, fresh air and natural exercise,
proper for the body as a whole, meet the requirements of the nervous system and that the
undue nervous tension which a small child suffers in carrying a cup of tea, an older boy or
girl in cramming for an examination, may be the cause later of a distressing nervous
breakdown. We are becoming a nervous, overstrained nation and … a watchful education,
alert to arrest every symptom of nervous over-pressure, would do much to secure for every
child a fine physique and a high degree of staying power.”
Well-Being of Mind: In the second section, Charlotte talks about the intellectual
inclinations. Specifically, the things we do as teachers which cause incuria, or
carelessness, in our students, including the ‘talky-talky’ of the teacher, repetition of
information, and tests.
“I am not speaking of moral evil but of those intellectual evils which we are slow to define
and are careless in dealing with.”
Intellectual Appetite: In this section, she discusses certain ‘desires’ that we all
have. These desires are natural and can work in favor of the student, or they can be
played upon and hinder the student. Charlotte will go into much more detail about these
desires and their consequences in Chapter 5: The Sacredness of Personality, but here is
one quote from this section that has always stood out to me because it is such a common
occurrence in our society today:
“There is a worse evil. We all want knowledge just as much as we want bread. We know it
is possible to cure the latter appetite by giving more stimulating food; and the worst of
using other spurs to learning is that a natural love of knowledge which should carry us
through eager school-days, and give a spice of adventure to the duller days of mature life,
is effectually choked; and boys and girls ‘Cram to pass but not to know; they do pass but
they don’t know.’ The divine curiosity which should have been an equipment for life hardly
survives early schooldays.”
Misdirected Affections: This section discusses ‘moral lessons,’ which Charlotte says
are ‘worse than useless.’ Here again, she argues that children must be presented with,
and allowed to wrestle with, ideas about character and conduct – ideas that stimulate
the mind to sort out moral implications. She says that we offer them these ideas not
through a specified ‘character curriculum,’ but throughout the curriculum as a whole.
“Children are not to be fed morally like young pigeons with predigested food. They must
pick and eat for themselves and they do so from the conduct of others which they hear of
or perceive. But they want a great quantity of the sort of food whose issue is conduct, and
that is why poetry, history, romance, geography, travel, biography, science and sums must
all be pressed into service. No one can tell what particular morsel a child will select for his
sustenance.”
Well-Being of Soul: And finally, the last section discusses what education may do
for the soul of a child. I love this paragraph, which Charlotte repeats from her fourth
Volume, Ourselves :
“What is there that outwits the understanding of a man or that is out of the range of his
thoughts, the reach of his aspirations? He is, it is true, baffled on all hands by his
ignorance, the illimitable ignorance of even the wisest, but ignorance is not incapacity and
the wings of a man’s soul beat with impatience against the bars of his ignorance. He would
out, out into the universe of infinite thought and infinite possibilities. How is the soul of a
man to be satisfied? Crowned kings have thrown up dominion because they want that
which is greater than kingdoms; profound scholars fret under limitations which keep them
playing upon the margin of the unsounded ocean of knowledge; no great love can satisfy
itself with loving; there is no satisfaction save one for the soul of a man, because the things
about him are finite, measurable, incomplete and his reach is beyond his grasp. He has an
urgent, incessant, irrepressible need of the infinite.”
The Love of Knowledge is Sufficient: Let me sum up this chapter with some of
Charlotte’s wise words: First, that “Education implies a continuous going forth of the
mind,” and that “the love of knowledge is sufficient” motivation for self-education.

1. What does Charlotte’s third Principle mean to you? “Children are not born either
good or bad, but with possibilities for good and for evil.”
2. Of what “parts and passions” is your child made up? Do you have a good “bird’s
eye view” of the nature of your child?
3. How can you encourage good tendencies and discourage negative ones?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle #2: Children are Not Born Either Good
or Bad, but with Possibilities for Good and for Evil

10
CHAPTER 4
Authority & Docility
This chapter deals with Charlotte’s Principle #3: “The principles of Authority on the
one hand and Docility on the other are natural, necessary and fundamental.”
It’s interesting that she states her third Principle by citing two other principles within
it – this creates Principles within a Principle! Let’s look at the two principles she cites:
authority and docility.
Authority: First, Charlotte states that we already have authority within us:
“Deputed authority appears to be lodged in everyone, ready for occasion … the London
policeman is the very embodiment of authority, implicitly obeyed in a way surprising to
strangers. Every king and commander, every mother, elder sister, school prefect, every
foreman of works and captain of games, finds that within himself which secures faithful
obedience, not for the sake of his merits but because authority is proper to his
office.” (emphasis mine)
Your title of parent confers automatic authority – not because of your merits, but
because it is proper for your office. Read that again, please! Too many parents have
difficulty accepting the natural authority that is theirs. If you have trouble seeing yourself
as the authority figure, please hear what Charlotte says on this subject:
“Without this principle, society would cease to cohere. Practically there is no such thing as
anarchy; what is so-called is a mere transference of authority, even if in the last resort the
anarchist find authority in himself alone. There is an idea abroad that authority makes for
tyranny, and that obedience, voluntary or involuntary, is of the nature of slavishness; but
authority is, on the contrary, the condition without which liberty does not exist ... order is
the outcome of authority.”
Docility: When you hear the word docility, you probably think subservience – at
least that’s what first came to my mind, and with it, a negative connotation. But
Charlotte defines the word for us, telling us explicitly that, in this context, docility means
teachableness and implies equality.
She uses an analogy regarding the earth’s orbit around the sun that is very useful for
understanding the delicate balance between authority and docility. The strong
gravitational pulls of each can wreak havoc if out of balance.
Two Conditions Necessary: First, she warns against arbitrary authority. And
second, that children should have a sense of the freedom that comes with self-
education.
“The teacher may not be arbitrary but must act so evidently as one under authority 1 that
the children, quick to discern, see that he too must do the things he ought.”
If you noticed the footnote that Charlotte places in the last quote, you will find
that she is referring to her second Volume: Parents and Children; particularly the
chapter titled “Parents as Rulers” and the section within that chapter titled “The
Limitations and scope of Parental Authority.” (I will include this section in a separate
PDF if you would like to read it.)
Deputed, Natural, Necessary, Fundamental: And finally, I would like to circle back
and look at some of the words that Charlotte uses to describe authority.
Deputed authority: The phrase “to depute” is defined in several ways: to delegate
authority, as in a Sheriff’s Deputy; to appoint as one’s substitute, representative, or
agent; to assign authority to another; to appoint or instruct another to perform a task for
which one is responsible.
In a word, deputed authority comes from a higher authority. You have many rights
and responsibilities given to you in your role as a parent. And Charlotte says one mistake
we make with children is this:
“Our mistake is to act in such a way that they, only, seem to be law-compelled while their
elders do as they please. The parent or teacher who is pestered for ‘leave’ to do this or
that, contrary to the discipline of the house or school, has only himself to thank; he has
posed as a person in authority, not under authority, and therefore free to allow the breach
of rules whose only [purpose] is that they minister to the well-being of the children.”
And let’s not forget that authority is also natural, necessary, and fundamental. But
our authority as parents “is to be maintained and exercised solely for the advantage of
the children, whether in mind, body, or estate.” (Vol. 2)

1. Where do you get your authority from? Who (or what) is your higher
authority?
2. Why is it so important for parents to exercise authority?
3. Do you have trouble exercising your authority? If so, why?
4. Does this chapter help you rethink / re-establish your natural authority?

5. What “two conditions are necessary to secure all proper docility and
obedience”?
6. What are some ways you can exercise your authority while still respecting
your child’s personhood?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle #3: Authority & Docility
Optional Reading: Parents as Rulers: “The Limitations and scope of Parental
Authority” (Volume 2: Parents and Children by Charlotte Mason)

14
CHAPTER 5
The Sacredness of Personality
Respect for personhood is at the heart of Charlotte’s philosophy and she continues
to emphasize this point.
“Our crying need today is less for a better method of education than for an adequate
conception of children … All action comes out of the ideas we hold and if we ponder duly
upon personality we shall come to perceive that we cannot commit a greater offense than
to maim or crush, or subvert any part of a person.”
In this chapter, Charlotte gives a long list of what not to do! And the list begins
promptly when she states Principle #4:
“These principles (i.e., authority and docility) are limited by the respect due to the
personality of children which may not be encroached upon whether by the direct use of
fear or love, suggestion or influence, or by undue play upon any one natural desire.”
Encroachment: Charlotte lists five ways in which we encroach upon a child’s

personality:
• Fear
• Love
• Suggestion
• Influence
• Playing upon the natural desires of:
• Approbation
• Emulation
• Avarice
• Power & ambition
• Society
• Knowledge
Interestingly, she says fear is the least of these offenses, while playing on the natural
desires is the worst of these because here, we play upon a child’s motive. And if you will
remember from Chapter 1: Self-Education, motive counts.

The Desire for Knowledge: But the worst of all, she says, is to play upon a child’s
natural desire for knowledge.
“So besotted is our educational thought that we believe children regard knowledge rather
as repulsive medicine than as inviting food. Hence our dependence on marks and prizes,
athletics, alluring presentation, any jam we can devise to disguise the powder … It must be
borne in mind that in proportion as other desires are stimulated that of knowledge is
suppressed … [the child] loses that one stimulating power which is sufficient for his
intellectual needs. This atrophy of the desire of knowledge is the penalty our scholars pay
because we have chosen to make them work for inferior ends.”
I hope you are not discouraged after reading the long list of prohibitions in
education. In the next chapter, Charlotte will tell us about three educational instruments
which we can use – because “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”

1. How does this principle connect with Principle #1: “Children are Born Persons”?
2. Were you surprised by anything on Charlotte’s list of ways in which we encroach
upon a child’s personality?
3. Think back to when you were a student – what motivated you to learn? Was it a
healthy motivation? Or were any encroachments used on you as the student?
4. Can you identify any ways in which you might be encroaching upon your child’s
personality?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle #4: The Sacredness of Personality

CHAPTER 6
Three Educational Instruments
After the prohibitions of the last chapter, Charlotte now discusses three instruments
of education that are allowed to us:
“Seeing that we are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, we can allow
ourselves but three educational instruments – the atmosphere of environment, the
discipline of habit and the presentation of living ideas. Our motto is – ‘Education is an
atmosphere, a discipline, a life.’” (Principle #5)
She says we must study each one of these carefully or “we shall not realize how
great a scope is left to us.” We’ll take them one at a time.
Education is an Atmosphere: At the outset, this idea seems vague. What is an

atmosphere? How do we create an atmosphere? Charlotte explains:
“When we say that education is an atmosphere we do not mean that a child should be
isolated in what may be called a ‘child environment’ specially adapted and prepared, but
that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere
both as regards persons and things and should let him live freely among his proper
conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the ‘child’s’ level.” (Principle #6)
So it is a child’s natural home environment, both the physical and emotional, that
Charlotte means when she says atmosphere; nothing artificially created.
Here, she is specifically speaking against the educational movement led by Maria
Montessori. In Montessori classrooms, everything is carefully constructed to adapt to the
child.
“It is not an environment that these want, a set of artificial relations carefully constructed,
but an atmosphere which nobody has been at pains to constitute. It is there, about the
child, his natural element, precisely as the atmosphere of the earth is about us. It is thrown
off, as it were, from persons and things, stirred by events, sweetened by love, ventilated,
kept in motion, by the regulated action of common sense.”
But there are prohibitions even here – mainly that the environment should not be
artificial, “no artificial element, no sprinkling with rose-water, or softening with
cushions.” And secondly, that we should not burden children with the effort of decision –
parents are the persons in authority and must make decisions on behalf of the child.

Education is a Discipline: Here, Charlotte discusses the discipline of habits.

“By this formula we mean the discipline of habits formed definitely and thoughtfully,
whether habits of mind or of body. Physiologists tell us of the adaptation of brain structure
to habitual lines of thought, i.e., to our habits.” (Principle #7)
And that habits, good and bad, can affect a child’s education. She stresses this point
emphatically, saying that habits are inevitable – if we are not actively cultivating good
habits, that, by doing nothing, we are actually cultivating bad habits.
“Habit is to life what rails are to transport cars. It follows that lines of habit must be laid
down towards given ends and after careful survey, or the joltings and delays of life become
insupportable. More, habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right
thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their
own accord.”
But regarding habits, we must first know the why behind the habit – the idea that
makes the habit worth doing:
“We entertain the idea which gives birth to the act and the act repeated again and again
becomes the habit; ‘Sow an act,’ we are told, ‘reap a habit.’ ‘Sow a habit, reap a
character.’ But we must go a step further back, we must sow the idea or notion which
makes the act worthwhile.”
What’s more, Charlotte tells us that by following her method of education, that good
intellectual habits are automatically formed:
“We need not labor to get children to learn their lessons; that, if we would believe it, is a
matter which nature takes care of. Let the lessons be of the right sort and children will
learn them with delight … The intellectual habits of the good life form themselves in the
following out of the due curriculum in the right way. As we have already urged, there is but
one right way, that is, children must do the work for themselves.”
Education is a Life: Because “Education is a life: That life is sustained upon ideas,”
every child has a right to a generous curriculum which will put him in touch with the best
ideas of life.
“In saying that ‘education is a life,’ the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical
sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a
generous curriculum.” (Principle #8)
But what is an idea? Charlotte tells us that an idea is a live thing of the mind that
catches us, takes hold of us, in the form of a longing or desire:
“What is an idea? we ask, and find ourselves plunged beyond our depth. A live thing of the
mind, seems to be the conclusion of our greatest thinkers ... We all know how an idea
‘strikes,’ ‘seizes,’ ‘catches hold of,’ ‘impresses’ us and at last, if it be big enough, ‘possesses’

us; in a word, behaves like an entity … These indefinite ideas which express themselves in
an ‘appetency’ towards something and which should draw a child towards things honest,
lovely and of good report, are not to be offered of set purpose or at set times: they are held
in that thought-atmosphere which surrounds him, breathed as his breath of life.
If you would like more clarity on the four Principles that Charlotte covers in this
chapter, please see the optional videos linked below.

1. What does “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life” mean to you?
2. Have you been guilty of “sprinkling with rose-water” or “softening with
cushions?”
3. What are the steps to establish good intellectual habits?
4. How can you help your students do the work for themselves?
5. What ideas did you gain from your own education as a child?
6. What ideas have helped to shape the person that you are today?
7. What are the “captain ideas” you hope to present to your child through their
education?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principles 5 & 6: Education is an Atmosphere
Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle 7: Education is a Discipline
Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principle 8: Education is a Life

20
CHAPTER 7
How We Make Use of Mind
Your preconceived ideas of “what mind is” makes a difference, both in education,
and in respecting personhood. In this chapter, Charlotte compares and contrasts how
mind is perceived in the various educational philosophies of her day – and shows us how
her philosophy differs from a more popular philosophy by Johann Friedrich Herbart. She
begins by stating her Principles 9 and 10:
“We hold that the child’s mind is no mere sac to hold ideas but is rather, if the figure may
be allowed, a ‘spiritual organism’ with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper
diet with which it is prepared to deal and what it is able to digest and assimilate as the
body does food-stuffs.” (Principle #9)
“Such a doctrine as the Herbartian, that the mind is a receptacle, lays the stress of
education, the preparation of food in enticing morsels, duly ordered, upon the teacher.
Children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching but little
knowledge; the teacher’s axiom being ‘what a child learns matters less than how he
learns it.’” (Principle #10)
The fact that Charlotte mentions Herbart in one of her Principles, and at other
times her Volumes, gives us reason to pause here and learn more about him.
Herbartian Philosophy: Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) was a German

philosopher who is known today as the founder of Pedagogy – the formal study of the
method and practice of teaching. His educational philosophy is based on the idea that
the teacher does the work to mold the student; that a child’s “potential remained
unfulfilled until it was analyzed and transformed by education.”1
Cause vs Effect: This is the exact opposite of Charlotte’s view. What’s more,
Herbart discounts any and all personality, saying that
“The soul has no capacity nor faculty whatever either to receive or produce anything … it
is no substance … neither ideas, nor feelings, nor desires. Further, within it lie no forms of
intuition and thought, no laws of willing and acting, nor any sort of predisposition.”
Both of these ideas go against Charlotte’s first Principle. They also go against
something she said in chapter 2 – that a child’s mind is “the instrument of his education

and that his education does not produce his mind.” Or, to put it another way, Herbart
believes that the “person is the effect, not the cause.”
It is no surprise then that Charlotte spends most of this chapter arguing against
Herbart’s philosophy of education.
Concentration Schemes: Charlotte is particularly opposed to the “concentration

schemes” of Herbart’s method because this type of teaching has two flaws: it makes
arbitrary connections for the student and it places the burden of education solely on the
teacher. She gives several examples of “concentration schemes,” including schemes on
Robinson Crusoe, the Spanish Armada, and soap-making. You might recognize the
modern day equivalent to Herbart’s “concentration schemes” as Unit Studies.
Germany’s Educational System: Herbart was German and his ideas heavily
influenced Germany’s educational system. Charlotte wrote Volume 6 just after the end of
WWI and she gives us a warning when she compares the educational systems of
Scandinavia with Germany:
“Denmark and Scandinavia have tried this generous policy of educating young people, not
according to the requirements of their trade but according to their natural capacity to
know and their natural desire for knowledge ... and the success of the experiment now a
century old is an object lesson for the rest of the world … Germany has pursued a different
ideal … unified by the idea of utility; and, if we will only remember the lesson, the war has
shown us how futile is an education which affords no moral or intellectual uplift, no motive
higher than the learner’s peculiar advantage and that of the State. Germany became
morally bankrupt (for a season only, let us hope) not solely because of the war but as the
result of an education which ignored the things of the spirit.”
Utilitarianism vs Personhood: At the heart of the matter is the assumption, or

preconceived idea about what a person is and what a person is meant for – a utilitarian
instrument to be shaped and molded for the good of the state? or a living, breathing soul
with innate value and infinite possibilities?

1. Narrate your understanding of the educational philosophy of Johann Friedrich
Herbart.
2. What are the main differences between Charlotte’s philosophy and Herbart’s
philosophy?
3. Have you ever used Unit Studies as a teaching tool? If so, what are your thoughts
about Unit Studies after reading this chapter?

4. What point is Charlotte making when she compares the educational systems of
Scandinavia and Germany?
5. Charlotte quotes Herbert Allen Fisher at the end of this chapter. What does he
have to say about patriotism? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principles #9 & #10: A Child’s Mind is a Spiritual
Organism with an Appetite for All Knowledge
Source: Blyth, Alan. "From Individuality to Character: The Herbartian Sociology Applied to Education." British
Journal of Educational Studies. 1981.

24
CHAPTER 8
The Way of the Will
Your idea of will might be different from Charlotte’s meaning of will. Our society
tends to think of a strong-willed child as an obstinate, difficult child. But Charlotte offers
another meaning for “will” – one of moral and intellectual self-management. Therefore,
she says, in Principles 16 and 17:
“We may offer to children two guides to moral and intellectual self-management which we
may call ‘the Way of the Will’ and ‘the Way of the Reason.’
The Way of the Will: Children should be taught:
(a) to distinguish between ‘I want‘ and ‘I will.’
(b) That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts away from that which we
desire but do not will,
(c) That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different
thing, entertaining or interesting,
(d) That after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigor.
(This adjunct of the will is familiar to us as diversion, whose office it is to ease us for a time
from will effort that we may ‘will’ again with added power. The use of suggestion as an aid
to the will is to be deprecated, as tending to stultify and stereotype character. It would
seem that spontaneity is a condition of development, and that human nature needs the
discipline of failure as well as of success.)”
Character: Charlotte offers “the will” as the primary agent in the moral and
intellectual self-management of a person; i.e., in building character:
“It is time that we realized that to fortify the will is one of the great purposes of education
… The will has only one mode of action, its function is to ‘choose,’ and with every choice we
make we grow in force of character.”
Charlotte says it is the exercising of the will that builds a person’s character. It is
through the act of choosing that our character is strengthened.
“Shall we take an idea in or reject it? Conscience and reason have their say, but will is
supreme and the behavior of will is determined by all the principles we have gathered, all
the opinions we have formed.”

City of Mansoul: Charlotte uses an analogy in this chapter when she refers to the
City of Mansoul. This is a reference to Volume 4, Ourselves, the only book in her Home
Education Series which she wrote specifically for students. In Ourselves, she borrows the
allegory from The Holy War by John Bunyan as the basis for her story and characters.
"Mansoul" or man's soul, is the "kingdom" or location of the story. It is the town which
has been built for the glory of God.
“Some study of the map of the City of Mansoul would afford us guidance: at least, a bird’s
eye view of the riches of the City should be spread before children.”
Will is Supreme: Located in this city of Mansoul are all the branches of self-
government. Charlotte reiterates this metaphor in explaining that the function of the will
is supreme:
“Realizing how much is possible to Mansoul and the perils that assail it, he should know
that the duty of self-direction belongs to him … This ‘way of the will’ is a secret of power,
the secret of self-government … and some little study of the ‘way of the will’ – which has
the ordering of every other power – may help us to understand the functions of this
Premier in the kingdom of Mansoul.”
“By degrees the scholar will perceive that just as to reign is the distinctive function of a
king, so to will is the function of a man. A king is not a king unless he reigns, and a man is
less than a man unless he wills.”
“Unlike every other power in the kingdom of Mansoul, the will is able to do what it likes, is
a free agent, and the one thing the will has to do is to prefer. “Choose ye this day,” is the
command that comes to each of us in every affair and on every day of our lives, and the
business of the will is to choose. But, choice, the effort of decision, is a heavy labor … and
most men go through life without a single definite act of willing .”
Two Conditions: In order to fortify a child’s will through education, it is our

responsibility to 1) to show that will must have an object outside of self and 2) to
safeguard him from fallacies. Charlotte will discuss the latter of these two conditions
more thoroughly in Chapter 9: The Way of the Reason.

1. How is Charlotte’s definition of will different from the usual way in which it is
defined in our society today?
2. Why does Charlotte say that having “a strong will is not synonymous with being
good”?
3. What is the difference between being “willfull” and being “governed by will”?

CHAPTER 9
The Way of the Reason
In the last chapter, Charlotte talked about the “will” and it’s powers. In this chapter,
she discusses how reason plays a part in supporting the will and that it should not always
be relied upon.
“We should teach children, also, not to lean (too confidently) unto their own
understanding because the function of reason is to give logical demonstration of
(a) mathematical truth and
(b) of initial ideas accepted by the will.
In the former case reason is, perhaps, an infallible guide but in the latter is not always a
safe one, for whether the initial idea be right or wrong reason will confirm it by
irrefragable proofs.” (Principle #18)
“Therefore children should be taught as they become mature enough to understand such
teaching that the chief responsibility which rests upon them as persons is the acceptance
or rejection of ideas presented to them. To help them in this choice we should afford them
principles of conduct and a wide range of fitting knowledge.” (Principle #19)
Reason and the Will: Charlotte says that reason is fallible and always aids the will
to support whatever idea the will has accepted. It is the will’s job to accept or reject
ideas – it is reason’s job to support those decisions. But reason never begins it, it is
always a servant to the will:
“Reason never begins it. It is only when [the student] chooses to think about some course
or plan, as Eve standing before the apples, that reason comes into play; so, if he chooses to
think about a purpose that is good, many excellent reasons will hurry up to support him;
but, alas, if he choose to entertain a wrong notion, he, as it were, rings the bell for reason,
which enforces his wrong intention with a score of arguments proving that wrong is right.”
Examples of Reasoning to Support the Will: It is our job to help children see that
reason can support good ideas and it can support bad, even evil, ideas. We must give
children examples of both and we can do this in many ways – through the reading of
good literature; through studying current events; and through giving them examples of
people serving through “glorious deeds.”

But Charlotte stresses that children should be helped in seeing the fallacies of
arguments. And she gives several examples, including the character of Macbeth from
Shakespeare’s play – saying that reason only supported Macbeth’s will of ambition and
gave him supporting, but fallible arguments for murdering his friend, the king:
“When we first meet with Macbeth he is rich in honors, troops of friends, the generous
confidence of his king. The change is sudden and complete, and, we may believe, reason
justified him at every point. But reason did not begin it. The will played upon by ambition
had already admitted the notion of towering greatness [and] gave shape to his desire. Had
it not been for this countenance afforded by the will, the forecasts of fate would have
influenced his conduct no more.”
Detecting Fallacies: Charlotte also uses Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto as
an example of exposing fallacies in arguments. Here again, historical context in
important. Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, but it did not come into
prominence until the early part of the 20th century, which is exactly when Charlotte
wrote A Philosophy of Education. She uses the fact that the Manifesto is part of the
current events of the time to show us (and students) how to detect fallacies in
arguments, however logical and right they may seem on the surface.
“We must be able to answer the arguments in the air, not so much by counter reasons as
by exposing the fallacies in such arguments and proving on our own part the opposite
position … These Ten Marxian Maxims give us ample ground for discussion not for lectures
or for oral lessons, but for following for a few minutes any opening suggested by ‘current
events,’ a feature in the children’s Programme of work. But they must follow arguments
and detect fallacies for themselves.”
Material to Work Upon: Children need practice in detecting fallacies; that reason
only needs material to work on; it needs, once again, to sort out moral implications.
“To help them in this choice we should afford them principles of conduct and a wide range
of fitting knowledge … Reason like the other powers of the mind, requires material to work
upon whether embalmed in history and literature, or afloat with the news of a strike or
uprising … our business is to provide abundant material upon which this supreme power
should work; and that whatever development occurs comes with practice in congenial
fields of thought.”
In other words, we are to give children examples and then help them to not only see
the fallacies, but to then choose right-thinking and right-acting for their own wills.
“Reason … is a faithful servant, able to prove whatsoever notion is received by the will.
Once we are convinced of the fallibility of our own reason we are able to detect the
fallacies in the reasoning of our opponents and are not liable to be carried away by every
wind of doctrine.”


1. Why is reason a faithful servant but should not be a ruler?
2. Why are “reasonable” and “right” not synonymous terms?
3. How do we help students detect fallacies in arguments supported by reason?
4. How does the will affect reason?

Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principles #16 – #19: The Way of the Will and the
Way of the Reason

30
CHAPTER 10
The Curriculum
In chapter 10, Charlotte gives us an over-arching view of her curriculum as connected

with her Principles #11 – #15:
Principle #11: “We, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to
deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum, taking care
only that all knowledge offered to him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without
their informing ideas. Out of this conception comes our principle that –
Principle #12: ‘Education is the Science of Relations’; that is, a child has natural relations
with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature
lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our
business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as
may be of –
‘Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things.’
Principle #13: In devising a syllabus for a normal child, of whatever social class, three
points must be considered:
(a) He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as does
the body.
(b) The knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create
appetite (i.e., curiosity).
(c) Knowledge should be communicated in well-chosen language, because his
attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.
Principle #14: As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should “tell
back” after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have
read.
Principle #15: A single reading is insisted on, because children have naturally great power
of attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by
questioning, summarizing, and the like.
Acting upon these and some other points in the behavior of mind, we find that the
educability of children is enormously greater than has hitherto been supposed, and is but
little dependent on such circumstances as heredity and environment.
Nor is the accuracy of this statement limited to clever children or to children of the
educated classes: thousands of children in elementary schools respond freely to this
method, which is based on the behavior of mind.”

What is a Curriculum? Here we have phrases like “a full and generous curriculum”;
“education is the science of relations”; and “telling back,” or narration on “a single
reading.” All of this encompasses Charlotte’s principles and her method – but what of the
actual curriculum? How is it is generous? And how do we decide what to base a
curriculum on?
“Education, no doubt, falls under the economic law of supply and demand; but the demand
should come from the children rather than from teachers and parents; how are their
demands to become articulate? We must give consideration to this question because the
answer depends on a survey of the composite whole we sum up as ‘human nature,’ a
whole whose possibilities are infinite and various, not only in a budding genius, the child of
a distinguished family, but in every child of the streets.”
Charlotte says that a proper curriculum, the one due to every child, is:
“A wide Programme founded on the educational rights of man; wide, but we may not say it
is impossible nor may we pick and choose and educate him in this direction but not in that.
We may not even make choice between science and the ‘humanities.’ Our part it seems to
me is to give a child a vital hold upon as many as possible of those wide relationships
proper to him.”
Three Main Categories: This curriculum consists of three main categories; three
areas of over-arching, essential knowledge: Knowledge of God, Knowledge of Man, and
Knowledge of the Universe.
This chapter is the longest of Volume 6, as it covers the overview of the curriculum,
including the three main categories and many of the subjects under each category. Here
is the overall outline of the chapter:
I. The Knowledge of God
II. The Knowledge of Man
a. History
b. Literature
c. Morals, Economics, Citizenship
d. Composition
e. Languages
f. Art
III. The Knowledge of the Universe
a. Science, Geography
b. Mathematics
c. Physical Development, Handicrafts

Charlotte discusses each subject in fairly good detail and how students progress
through the Forms. She gives many examples of books, exam questions, and exam
answers. You will find much to peruse on each subject.
I have included links to the CM SUBJECTS page on The Plenary website which will
give you suggestions for comparable modern day living books and resources for each
subject, as well as information on each subject.

1. What should we consider when designing a curriculum?
2. What are the three main categories that should be included in a curriculum?
3. How does the phrase “Education is the Science of Relations” impact the design of
a curriculum?
4. How do the five Principles covered in this chapter affect how we design a
curriculum?

Links to CM Subjects:
• Main Page CM Subjects / Forms
• Religious Studies
• History
• Literature
• Citizenship
• Languages
• Art
• Science
• Geography
• Mathematics
• Handicrafts
Link to CM Your Way Form Guides
Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principles #11, #12, and #13: Education is the
Science of Relations
Optional Video: Charlotte Mason’s Principles #14 & #15: Narration and a Single
Reading

34
Study Guide
Book 2
36
Book 2
Theory Applied
Congrats! You made it to Book 2! We’re in the home stretch!

Let’s pause here and discuss a bit about the second half of A Philosophy of Education
before moving on to the individual chapters. All of the chapters in “Book 2: Theory
Applied” were originally written as separate pamphlets or articles with the purpose of
advancing Charlotte’s “Liberal Education for All Movement.”
Book 2 “Theory Applied” Timeline: I think it is helpful (and fascinating) to

understand when each pamphlet was written and the historical background regarding
each of them. Here is the timeline of events:
• 1912 – Charlotte writes a series of six rhetorical letters to The Times of London
titled “The Basis of National Strength.” These letters will be reworked and
included as the six sections of Chapter 4 in Book 2.
• 1913 – The letters for “The Basis of National Strength” were republished as
pamphlets and widely distributed.
• 1914 – The “Drighlington School Experiment” began. A girl’s school in the
mining village of Drighlinton was selected as a test school for the “Liberal
Education for All Movement.” Charlotte says:
“I believe the ardor for knowledge in the children of this mining village is a
phenomenon that indicates new possibilities. Already many thousands of the
children of the Empire had experienced this intellectual conversion, but they were
the children of educated persons. To find that the children of a mining population
were equally responsive seemed to open a new hope for the world.”
• 1914 – World War I begins. Charlotte and her friend, Elsie Kitching were in
Germany when the war began in June 1914. They were trapped in the war zone
and their passports confiscated. They were finally rescued several months later
through “high level interventions.”
• 1916 – To celebrate the success of the Drighlington School Experiment,
Charlotte and Agnes Drury write “The Theory and Practice of a Liberal Education
in Schools,” which was presented at a conference and then widely distributed as
a pamphlet (more than 7,000 copies). The cover letter stated that the

experiment had proved that:

“It is possible to give children of the working-classes such an education in English, as
should make them patriotic and large-minded citizens with resources for their own
leisure and pleasure.”
The pamphlet was later reworked into Chapters 1 and 2, “A Liberal Education in
Elementary Schools,” and “A Liberal Education in Secondary Schools.”
• 1918 – Passage of the Education Act of 1918, also called the Fisher Act after
Herbert Albert Fisher. It raised the age of required education through age 14
and allocated an extra eight hours of study per week at Continuation Schools. In
response to The Fisher Act, Charlotte wrote another pamphlet called “The Scope
of Continuation Schools.” This will become Chapter 3.
• 1921 – Over the course of one month, Charlotte (who was almost 80 years old at
the time) wrote, dictated, and compiled the final draft of A Philosophy of
Education, while “taking the mineral baths of Wales” for her health. Her final
book would not be published until 1925, a full two years after her death.
Each pamphlet was reworked to some extent before being included in Book 2;
therefore, there is quite a bit of overlapping material!
Source: Charlotte Mason: Hidden Heritage and Educational Influence by Margaret Combs

Chapter 1
A Liberal Education in Elementary Schools
Charlotte believed that “a liberal education is, like justice, religion, liberty, fresh air,
the natural birthright of every child.”
Birthright of Every Child: Chapter 1 is based on Charlotte’s pamphlet “The Theory

and Practice of a Liberal Education in Schools” which was written to celebrate the suc-
cess of the Drighlington school. Drighlington was a very poor mining village in Yorkshire,
England. Previously, Charlotte’s methods had been tried mostly with children from upper
class educated households. This was the first time she had tested it on a wider scale with
lower class children.
“When I learned that long tried principles and methods were capable of application to …
children in the school of a mining village, I felt assured that we were following laws whose
observance results in education of a satisfying kind.”
“It is because we have succeeded in offering Humanism under such conditions that we be-
lieve the great problem of education is at last solved.”
Humanism: Charlotte uses the word Humanism quite a bit in this chapter, so it’s im-
portant to understand what Humanism meant in the early 20th century. She quotes from
the book Citizens to Be: A Social Study of Health, Wisdom and Goodness with Special Ref-
erence to Elementary Schools by M.L.V. Hughes. As regards to Humanism, Hughes says
“The work of educators in every age is first to reassert the ideal of Humanism – equipment
by education for free and complete social life, based on enlarged social interest – and then
to detect and supply practical omissions.” Citizens to Be by M.L.V. Hughes
Charlotte’s Humanism is based on the ideas of Erasmus, Rousseau, and Pestalozzi;
three philosophers whom she refers to quite often in her Home Education Series. This
quote from the Oregon State University School of Education sums it up pretty well:
“The roots of humanism are found in the thinking of Erasmus (1466-1536), who … believed
in the essential goodness of children, that humans have free will, moral conscience, the
ability to reason, aesthetic sensibility, and religious instinct. He advocated that the young
should be treated kindly and that learning should not be forced or rushed, as it proceeds in
stages. Humanism was developed as an educational philosophy by Rousseau (1712-1778)
and Pestalozzi (1746-1827), who emphasized nature and the basic goodness of humans,

understanding through the senses, and education as a gradual and unhurried process in
which the development of human character follows the unfolding of nature. Humanists
believe that the learner should be in control of his or her own destiny. Since the learner
should become a fully autonomous person, personal freedom, choice, and responsibility are
the focus. The learner is self-motivated to achieve towards the highest level possible. Moti-
vation to learn is intrinsic in humanism.” - Oregon State University School of Education
A Social Lever: Charlotte sees Humanism and her Liberal Education for All Move-
ment as a social lever meant to help the poor and working classes to not only gain a
better life, but also to feel like a contributing member of society. She will discuss this
idea more in chapter 3.
Study Questions: Book 2, Chapter 1

1. How does Charlotte use the word Humanism? How does she apply it to educa-
tion?
2. How does “A Liberal Education for All” act as a “social lever”?
3. What does she say about Civilization versus Education?
4. Does the historical background information help you understand this chapter
better? Why or why not?

Chapter 2
A Liberal Education in Secondary Schools
Charlotte continues promoting the success of the Drighlington school in this chapter,
which started out as a paper titled “The Theory and Practice of a Liberal Education in
Schools,” and was printed as 7,000 pamphlets and distributed across England.
Education = Character: Here she compares and contrasts her method with the
usual public school curriculum, saying that academic success is not true education; that
education equals the training of character.
“Academic success and knowledge are not the same thing and many excellent schools fail
to give their pupils delight in the latter for its own sake or to bring them in touch with the
sort of knowledge that influences character and conduct. The slow, imperceptible, sinking-
in of high ideals is the gain that a good school should yield its pupils.”
Principles: But she warns against attempting her method without understanding
and implementing the principles behind it.
“I feel strongly that to attempt to work this method without a firm adherence to the few
principles laid down would be not only idle but disastrous. “Oh, we could do anything with
books like those,” said a master; he tried the books and failed conspicuously because he
ignored the principles.”
Future of England: And she ends the chapter (pamphlet) with her call to action –
schools across England should take up her method.
“My bold proposal is that the Heads of Secondary Schools from the least to the greatest
should adopt a scheme of work following the lines I have indicated … that of the Parents’
Union School, and that they should do this for the nation’s sake … The future of England
depends largely upon Secondary schools; let the Heads of these lay out a liberal field of
study and astonishingly fair things will grow in that garden of mind in which we are invited
to sow the seeds of all knowledge.”

1. Do you think chapters 1 and 2 do a good job of promoting Charlotte’s method?
2. What ideas does she repeat in chapters 1 and 2?
3. Why must teachers “adhere to the principles”?

4. How does Charlotte’s method compare to the “usual schoolboy’s syllabus”?

5. What is Pelmanism and why is it an “indictment against secondary education”?

Link to Free 20 Principles Study: Finding Your Way with Charlotte Mason’s 20
Principles

Chapter 3
The Scope of Continuation Schools
Charlotte wrote this chapter, or pamphlet, as a response to the Fisher Act of 1918,
which made education compulsory up to age 14 and provided an extra 8 hours per week
for part-time compulsory education from the ages of 14 to 18.
How Shall We Spend Our Time? When the Fisher Act was passed, Charlotte hur-
riedly wrote this pamphlet to pose the question: “How shall we spend these 8 hours per
week?” In utilitarian education? In technical training? Or in the Humanities?
“This particular gift of time must be dedicated to things of the mind … If we take the easi-
est way, we shall let the boy do what he is doing for the rest of the week – work for his
employer, whether directly, by way of increased output, or indirectly, by way of increased
skill. This would be a betrayal.”
The Humanities as a Social Lever: Charlotte advocates spending those extra hours
each week devoted to the Humanities; that the Humanities are the great equalizer
among the classes if they are offered to everyone.
“But what if all were for all, if the great hope of Comenius – "All knowledge for all men“ –
were in process of taking shape? … Our upper and middle classes, professional and other,
are singularly stable folk, and they are so, not because of their material but of their intel-
lectual well-being; in this sense only they are most of them the ‘Haves’ as compared with
the ‘Have-nots.’ The reason is not far to seek. Are there not agitators abroad whose busi-
ness it is to sow seeds of discontent in the gaping minds of the multitude? The full mind
passes on, but that which is empty seizes on any new notion with avidity, and is hardly to
be blamed for doing so; a hungry mind takes what it can get, and the baker is apt to be
lenient about prosecuting the starving man who steals a loaf. I do not hesitate to say that
the constantly recurring misery of our age, ‘Labor Unrest,’ is to be laid at the door, not of
the working man, but of the nation which has not troubled itself to consider the natural
hunger of mind and the manner of meat such hunger demands.”
The Still Progress of Growth: She says that true progress is not in the agitator,
but in the slow and steady progress in character and conduct:
“Do we not confound progress with movement, action, assuming that where these are
there is necessarily advance? Whereas much of our activity is like the waves of the sea,
going always and arriving never. What we desire is the still progress of growth that comes

of root striking downwards and fruit urging upwards. And this progress in character and
conduct is not attained through conditions of environment or influence but only through
the growth of ideas, received with conscious intellectual effort.”

1. Why does Charlotte advocate for the extra 8 hours per week to be spent on the
Humanities?
2. How do the Humanities act as a “social lever”?
3. How do the Humanities provide stability for the country?
4. Do you agree with Charlotte?

Chapter 4
The Basis of National Strength
This chapter is based on the six letters that Charlotte wrote to The Times of London
in 1912 called “The Basis of National Strength.” The letters were reprinted the next year
as a pamphlet and was distributed to some 7,000 school administrators as a way to
promote the Liberal Education for All Movement.
Here is the preface to the reprint of 1913, which also happens to be a fairly good
summary of the letters that became the last chapter of Volume 6:
Because, “The consequence of Truth is great, therefore the judgment

of it must not be negligent:” (Wichcote)
Because education generally is not satisfactory in so far as it does
not lead people to read and think, or to form “a right judgment in all
things”:
Because education is everybody’s business:
Because the country deserves of us that we should take careful
thought about the education of those who shall come after:
For these and other reasons may I, as a veteran educationalist, beg
consideration of the following argument in defense of knowledge, which
it seems to me is not duly regarded as the material of education.
A wide and long experience convinces me that any failure is not in
the scholars or in the teachers but in the methods employed; and I
submit these considerations hopefully and respectfully to the Education
Department, to Councils, Inspectors, the Teachers, and other persons
who have public education at heart.
Charlotte M. Mason
Ambleside
January 1913

A Liberal Education for All Movement: These letters were later reworked in 1921
as the last chapter of A Philosophy of Education. Most of the changes are references to
WWI or other recent events, but for the most part, each letter stands on it’s own as a
separate section within Chapter 4:
I. Knowledge
II. Letters, Knowledge, and Virtue
III. Knowledge, Reason, and Rebellion
IV. New and Old Conceptions of Knowledge
V. Education and the Fullness of Life
VI. Knowledge in Literary Form
A Different Look at Education: Through these letters to The Times, Charlotte is

advocating for the nation as a whole to take a different look at “education,” saying that
the current offering in public schools is not really education at all, but a mere means of
“getting on,” and that it does a disservice both to the students and to the future of the
country.
Every time I read Charlotte’s Volumes, I am always struck by how relevant her words
are even today. A century later and we are still dealing with the same issues. When will
we recognize that
“Men and their motives, the historical sequence of events, principles for the conduct of life,
in fact, practical philosophy, is what the emergencies of the times require … These things
are not to be arrived at by any short cut … but are the gathered harvests of many seasons’
sowing of poetry, literature, history. The nation is in sore need of wise men, and these must
be made out of educated boys [and girls].”
“our fault, our exceeding great fault, is that we keep our own minds and the minds of our
children shamefully underfed … What of man’s eager, hungry, restless, insatiable mind?
True, we teach him the mechanical art of reading while he is at school, but we do not teach
him to read; he has little power of attention, a poor vocabulary, little habit of conceiving
any life but his own; to add to the gate-money at a football match is his notion of
adventure and diversion.”
“We want more life … we want hope … we want to be governed … we want a new start …
We feel that we are more than there is room for.”
We Want More: We do want more – more life, more hope for our children. And by
choosing this life, this way of living that nourishes our souls as well as our minds, we are
giving our children the sanctuary of home in which to grow and learn.

Feeding the soul and the mind in this way fosters relationships, relationships with
each other as well as relationships with knowledge, so that our children have a
foundation of all things good, true, and beautiful on which to build their own lives.
Because
“The question is not – how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education
– but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact,
how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he
has before him?” - School Education (Volume 3)
My wish for you is that you have a home (and a homeschool) filled with peace,
relaxation, and joy.

1. What are some of Charlotte’s arguments against the public school system of her
day?
2. Do any of those arguments apply to the educational systems and philosophies
where you live?
3. What are the solutions that Charlotte proposes?
4. In what ways can you apply those solutions to your homeschool? To your
community?
5. What is the goal you have for your children as adults? What kind of life do you
wish for them?
6. How can you work towards that life?

48
Supplementary
Too Wide a Mesh
This short supplementary section contends with the idea that most educational
systems are “too wide a mesh.” Charlotte uses a fishing analogy to describe how too
many students slip through the cracks, or the “mesh.”
The Big Mesh: Public schools do fine with the “bright” students – the ones who
naturally apply themselves, but they do a poor job with the “average” student and even
worse with students who have learning disabilities.
The story of two brothers serves as an illustration. These two were the products of
good schools, or as Charlotte calls it, “the system of the Big Mesh.” The two grown men
lament to each other through a series of letters that:
“’they had left school wholly uneducated’ … These letters ... prove that the desire of
knowledge is inextinguishable whatever schools do or leave undone; but have [the schools]
nothing to answer for when a pursuit which should yield ever recurring refreshment
becomes dogged labor over heavy roads with little pleasure in progress?”
Study Questions: Supplementary

1. What systems of “Big Mesh” do you see in your society?
2. Do you feel as though any of your children / students are slipping through the
“mesh”?
3. Is it possible to tighten the “mesh” so that children do not slip through it? If not,
why not? And if so, how?
4. How does Charlotte’s method compare with the “Big Mesh”?

50
Study Guide
Appendix
Optional Reading for Chapter 4
The Limitations and Scope

of Parental Authority
The Limitations and Scope of Parental Authority Having seen that it does not
rest with the parents to use, or to forego the use of, the authority they hold, let us
examine the limitations and the scope of this authority. In the first place, it is to be
maintained and exercised solely for the advantage of the children, whether in mind,
body, or estate. And here is room for the nice discrimination, the delicate intuitions, with
which parents are blessed. The mother who makes her growing-up daughter take the out
-of-door exercise she needs, is acting within her powers. The father of quiet habits, who
discourages society for his young people, is considering his own tastes, and not their
needs, and is making unlawful use of his authority.
Again, the authority of parents, though the deference it begets remains to grace the
relations of parents and child, is itself a provisional function, and is only successful as it
encourages the autonomy, if we may call it so, of the child. A single decision made by the
parents which the child is, or should be, capable of making for itself, is an encroachment
on the rights of the child, and a transgression on the part of the parents.
Once more, the authority of parents rests on a secure foundation only as they keep
well before the children that it is deputed authority; the child who knows that he is being
brought up for the service of the nation, that his parents are acting under a Divine
commission, will not turn out a rebellious son.
Further, though the emancipation of the children is gradual, they acquiring day by
day more of the art and science of self-government, yet there comes a day when the
parents’ right to rule is over; there is nothing left for them but to abdicate gracefully, and
leave their grown-up sons and daughters free agents, even though these still live at
home; and although, in the eyes of their parents, they are not fit to be trusted with the
ordering of themselves: if they fail in such self-ordering, whether as regards time,
occupations, money, friends, most likely their parents are to blame for not having
introduced them by degrees to the full liberty which is their right as men and women.
Anyway, it is too late now to keep them in training; fit or unfit, they must hold the rudder

for themselves.
As for the employment of authority, the highest art lies in ruling without seeming to
do so. The law is a terror to evil-doers, but for the praise of them that do well; and in the
family, as in the State, the best government is that in which peace and happiness, truth
and justice, religion and piety, are maintained without the intervention of the law. Happy
is the household that has few rules, and where ‘Mother does not like this,’ and, ‘Father
wishes that,’ are all constraining.
-Parents and Children by Charlotte Mason

Chapter 2: Parents as Rulers

About the Author

Hi! I’m Rachel Lebowitz, the owner of A Charlotte Mason Plenary.
My husband and I have always homeschooled our two children using the
Charlotte Mason method of education. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree
from the University of Houston where I studied Communications and
Political Science. Before attending college, I travelled as a member of Up
With People, a performing arts organization with a mission to transcend cultural barriers
and create global understanding through music. After college, I spent many years
working as a Radio and Television Journalist. My husband and I currently reside in Texas
with our two children, two dogs, and one guinea pig.
O THER B OOKS BY THE A UTHOR

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Copyright © A Charlotte Mason Plenary, LLC, 2020

This edition published 2020 by A Charlotte Mason Plenary, LLC.

COPYRIGHT © A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY, LLC VII

Charlotte Mason Your Way

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uncomplicated, “smooth and easy days.”

With much love,

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The Volume 6 Companion Course: This wonderful course includes additional

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1) Children are born persons.

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17) The way of the will: Children should be taught,

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Study Questions: Introduction

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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Schoolwork is the Outcome of Certain Principles: Charlotte does not tell us to

Study Questions: Chapter 1

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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Children are Born Persons

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Study Questions: Chapter 2

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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The Good & Evil Nature of a Child

Class Distinction: This is another instance in which it is important to know the

to attenuate the evil.”

Well-Being of Body: Charlotte stresses that everyone needs nourishment, time

Study Questions: Chapter 3

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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Authority & Docility

Study Questions: Chapter 4

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Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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The Sacredness of Personality

Encroachment: Charlotte lists five ways in which we encroach upon a child’s

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Study Questions: Chapter 5

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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Three Educational Instruments

Education is an Atmosphere: At the outset, this idea seems vague. What is an

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Education is a Discipline: Here, Charlotte discusses the discipline of habits.

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Study Questions: Chapter 6

Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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How We Make Use of Mind

Herbartian Philosophy: Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) was a German

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Concentration Schemes: Charlotte is particularly opposed to the “concentration

Utilitarianism vs Personhood: At the heart of the matter is the assumption, or

Study Questions: Chapter 7

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Links to Resources: Volume 6 Resources Page

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The Way of the Will