Introduction to Charlotte Mason & Composer Study

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On this week's episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Lebowitz of A Charlotte Mason Plenary . She has an amazing online resource that helps you with spreading the feast and provides a team of talented consultants to help with specialized issues, like Occupational Therapy, Dyslexia, and Special Needs. It provides curriculum guides, online co-op classes, annotated editions of Charlotte Mason's Volumes 1 and 6, and courses for parents and teachers. 

Highlights of a Charlotte Mason Education:

1.  A Moral education - cultivating character
2.  Children are born persons
3.  All education is self-education
4.  Parents/Teachers are guides and friends, not the fountain-head of knowledge
5.  Narration
6.  Science of Realtions
7.  Nature Study 
8.  Joy Classes (ie. Composer Study, Picture Study, Poetry, etc.)
9.  Switch subjects to corrolate with different sides of the brain to give rest and allow for better attention
10.  Short Lessons
11.  Masterly Inactivity

Here are some of the resources we discussed:

• CM's Volumes: The Annotated Charlotte Mason Series by A Charlotte Mason Plenary
• Free 20 Principles Study:  Finding Your Way with Charlotte Mason's 20 Principles   by A Charlotte Mason Plenary
• Charlotte Mason Your Way Form Guides  by A Charlotte Mason Plenary
• CM's Volumes 1-6 (Bundle) published by Living Books Press

Regarding Nature Study - I think this is the quote Rachel was talking about - "'Suppose,' says Leigh Hunt, 'suppose flowers themselves were new! Suppose they had just come into the world, a sweet reward for some new goodness... Imagine what we should feel when we saw the first lateral stem bearing off from the main one, and putting forth a leaf. How we should watch the leaf gradually unfolding its little graceful hand; then another, then another; then the main stalk rising and producing more; then one of them giving indications of the astonishing novelty––a bud! then this mysterious bud gradually unfolding like the leaf, amazing us, enchanting us, almost alarming us with delight, as if we knew not what enchantment were to ensue, till at length, in all its fairy beauty, and odorous voluptuousness, and the mysterious elaboration of tender and living sculpture, shines forth the blushing flower.' The flowers, it is true, are not new; but the children are; and it is the fault of their elders if every new flower they come upon is not to them a Picciola, a mystery of beauty to be watched from day to day with unspeakable awe and delight." - Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1 - Home Education, p. 53

Regarding Discrimination of Sounds -  "A quick and true ear is another possession that does not come by Nature, or anyway, if it does, it is too often lost. How many sounds can you distinguish in a sudden silence out of doors? Let these be named in order from the less to the more acute. Let the notes of the birds be distinguished, both call-notes and song-notes; the four or five distinct sounds to be heard in the flow of a brook. Cultivate accuracy in distinguishing footfalls and voices; in discerning, with their eyes shut, the direction from which a sound proceeds, in which footsteps are moving. Distinguish passing vehicles by the sounds; as lorry, brougham, dog-cart. Music is, no doubt, the means par excellence for this kind of ear culture. Mrs.Curwen's 'Child Pianist' puts carefully graduated work of this kind into the hands of parents; and, if a child never become a performer, to have acquired a cultivated and correct ear is no small part of a musical education." - Charlotte Mason, Vol. 2 - Parents and Children, p. 185

Outro -  ". . . give a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information." - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 174 

Rachel's favorite quote - "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?” --Charlotte Mason, Vol. 3 - School Education, p. 170-171

For a summary of Charlotte Mason's ideas, start with reading  For the Children's Sake by Susan Shaffer McCauley or Karen Andreola's  A Charlotte Mason Companion. Then try Charlotte Mason's Volume 1 - Home Education: Annotated Edition by Rachel.

For a dive into her educational philosophy, take the free online class Rachel offers in A Charlotte Mason Plenary (Free Course on CM's 20 Principles) to learn about Charlotte Mason's Principles or read Karen Glass's In Vital Harmony or Charlotte Mason's Volume 6 - A Philosophy of Education: Annotated Edition by Rachel.

Consider adding Composer Study to your weekly studies. Pick a classical composer you'd like to learn more about and listen to some of his pieces. Select two favorites and try to learn them so well that you could identify them anywhere.