Who was Charlotte Mason?

I would like to start a series of entries explaining, to the best of my understanding, the Charlotte Mason way of educating.  I hesitate to do this because I don’t want to set myself up as some kind of expert on Miss Mason.  But I do have a purpose, and that is to help those who might read this blog to understand this way of "living" (educating). 

Miss Mason, whose full name was Charlotte Marie Mason, was born January 1, 1842 and died January 16, 1923 at the age of 81.  She was an only child and lost both parents within a year of each other.  She became an orphan at age 17. 

Miss Mason enrolled in a teachers school, received her certificate and started teaching.  After teaching for more then 10 years she left the college she was currently working at in 1878 and went to live with friends in Yorkshire, England.

Here Charlotte began to write.  She wrote a series of books on the geography of England in 1880 that were well received.  In 1886 she wrote Home Education which you can read online here.   This book caused the most notice, especially amongst mothers who wanted some type of guidance in how to raise their children. 

In 1891, when nearly 50, Miss Mason settled in Ambleside, England and stayed there until her death.  Here she opened her own school in 1892 called the House of Education with only four students.  Through this school she hoped to train governesses for young children.

Charlotte’s ideas about children were unusual in her day.  At that time children were taught according to social class.  The poor were taught a trade while the rich had a liberal education, exposed to great literature and the fine arts.  Charlotte felt differently.  She believed that all children should be permitted a liberal education.  She felt that children were "thinking, feeling human beings, as spirits to be kindled and not as vessels to be filled".

Next time we’ll talk about what a Charlotte Mason education looks like.