Child-led learning and Charlotte Mason

For those of you who have talked to me about homeschooling, you know that I've been very influenced by Charlotte Mason and her approach to children and their education.  I've tried to model what I thought her method would look like in our home, and I have been pretty happy with how it has been going.

One of the biggest reasons I like it is her philosophy on who children are.  In fact, she had 20 Principles which speak of the nature of children how they should be taught.  Here are the first four (see link for modern day paraphrase):

Playing at Garden Tots

1. Children are born persons.
2. They are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good or 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.

Children are made in the image of God.  They love to learn.  In fact, they are picking it up all the time.  From the day that a baby is born, he is learning about the world around him.

It is because of these principles that I've begun to look into Unschooling.  At risk of being overly simplistic, one definition of Unschooling could be that it is the idea that we as parents or educators should trust our child's innate desire to learn and allow them to direct their own education.  When I first read about the Unschooling movement a couple of years ago, I personally thought it was crazy.  Wouldn't my kids just play all the time?  How would they learn about key historical events if they've never heard about them without me teaching them?  Wouldn't there by major gaps in their education?  How would they learn to read or write?

Now, I don't have all my questions answered about how this will work, but already from my limited experience from homeschooling my kids, I've discovered that they do learn a lot on their own - A LOT!  Many of you know that N pretty much taught himself to read at 4.  Yes, I tried to "help" him, but not really.  He picked it up from reading signs, playing Starfall, and watching LeapFrog videos.  I know that when Z is ready, he'll pick it up too.  It doesn't seem as daunting the second time around even though he won't be reading until he's at least 5, maybe even older.

Reading is an academic example, but also just think about out babies and toddlers learn.  No one teaches a baby how to crawl, walk, or even talk.  Those things come naturally to healthy children.  It would be ridiculous for us to spend an hour a day doing "physical therapy" with our babies to teach them to walk.  We allow them to do it in their own time in their own way.  And this feels right to us.  For some reason, we think this can't work once our kids get to be school-aged.

Going back to Charlotte Mason's Principles... Here are points 5-8 (again paraphrase is here).

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. [CM's School] 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.

In our home, we have tried to create an atmosphere for learning.  We surround ourselves with good books, fun games, and interesting toys.  We try to clear out all the twaddle from our lives as much as possible.  Because of this, the boys are able to glean from their surroundings things to help their imaginations grow.  We spend a lot of time at the library and picking up books about what they are interested in.  We play games and look things up on the internet.  We watch educational but fun movies like Magic School Bus, Carmen Sandiego or LeapFrog.  The boys are learning all the time, and it isn't difficult to teach them.  I don't need to force learning upon them.  If they don't like something, I can put it aside for when they are ready for it or reevaluate whether it is a good fit.

Unschooling or allowing my children to learn at their own pace really appeals to me.  However, I know that there are certain things that I want to make sure they do regularly and correctly.  One of these is handwriting. Another is math.  And of course, I think it is super important that they get spiritual direction, and learn about our faith and values.  I also think that sometimes Unschooling can go too far when parents begin allowing the child to direct everything about themselves including when and what they eat or choosing their own bedtimes or whether or not they participate in chores.  I still think that it is important that children learn to respect authority and obey.  When I thought of the limitations I wanted to put on our own method of "Unschooling" I realized I was back to mostly where I started with Charlotte Mason.

I love the idea though to make room in your schooling to allow children to pursue their own interests.  Since I struggled to find a good science curriculum for this kindergarten year, I've allowed this particular subject to be child-led.  On a trip to Carkeek this last November, we discovered that the salmon were spawning.  We enjoyed looking for them in the stream, but it led to a more intense study of salmon life-cycles at home.  We checked out a number of books at the library and visited the Ballard locks and fish ladder there.  It was a great study, it was child-led, but teacher-mentored.  Lori Pickert's book, Project-Based Homeschooling,  was a very helpful read when it came to mentoring children and helping them explore more of what they are interested in.  Of course, if we've exhausted a topic and nothing new has replaced their interest, I often will pick something seasonal or something that relates to their daily life to bring a few books home about to see if it perks their interest or not.  We tried reading Farmyard Animals, and that just didn't work.  I brought home a kit on "Our Earth" from our local library, and that was welcomed widely.

Another way children can pursue their interests is really on their own.  Charlotte Mason actually advocates short lessons so that the afternoons can be freely devoted to children's pursuits whether it be outdoor play or handicrafts.  My kids are rarely bored, and are constantly learning from their toys and books and imaginative play.  N has begun to learn to program and thus wants to learn to type.  It also is giving him exposure to upper-level math concepts and scenarios that he wouldn't have encountered on his own.  Giving him the freedom to learn in his own way is something I want to cultivate as much as possible.

N reading and Z practicing his writing

We still do some "formal" lessons.  We do a lesson of math every school day.  We do a little handwriting.  We read from our Bible books.  A lot of this isn't child-led, but I do it to make sure that N and Z learn to perfectly execute what they are trying to accomplish.  For example, having good penmanship is important so we strive to make our A's, B's, and C's beautiful during our lessons even though the boys are constantly making signs for the games and stories they make up throughout the day (we go through a lot of paper here) with letters all over them.

Next year, we'll do more lessons since N will be in first grade, but we'll focus on short lessons.  I've been waffling between using Ambleside Online's curriculum or Simply Charlotte Mason's, but I'm leaning toward the latter.  Still lessons will be short with plenty of room in the day for children to learn and explore on their own.  N doesn't like to sit still for long so this is good for him.  I wonder at times if he would be considered ADD in a traditional school yet I see him sit for hours reading an interesting book as long as it was his choice.  Forcing a project on him doesn't work, but if the project was his idea or I've presented it in such a way as to make it inviting, he is usually all over it.

Basically, my philosophy for schooling is that More is Less, and Less is More.  So far, it's going well, and I look forward to continue to mentor and disciple my kids throughout their lives.