This book is a replica, produced from digital images of the original. It was scanned at the University of Toronto Libraries and may contain defects, missing

Towards a Philosophy of Education is Charlotte Mason's final book in her Homeschooling Series, written after years of seeing her approach in action. This volume gives the best overview of her philosophy, and includes the final version of her 20 Principles. This book is particularly directed to parents of older children, about ages 12 and up, but is a valuable overview for parents of younger children as well. Part I develops and discusses her 20 principles; Part II discusses the practical application of her theories. Charlotte Mason was a late nineteenth-century British educator whose ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that children are born persons worthy of respect, rather than blank slates, and that it was better to feed their growing minds with living literature and vital ideas and knowledge, rather than dry facts and knowledge filtered and pre-digested by the teacher. Her method of education, still used by some private schools and many homeschooling families, is gentle and flexible, especially with younger children, and includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, conveying wonder and arousing curiosity, and through reflection upon great art, music, and poetry; nature observation as the primary means of early science teaching; use of manipulatives and real-life application to understand mathematical concepts and learning to reason, rather than rote memorization and working endless sums; and an emphasis on character and on cultivating and maintaining good personal habits. Schooling is teacher-directed, not child-led, but school time should be short enough to allow students free time to play and to pursue their own worthy interests such as handicrafts. Traditional Charlotte Mason schooling is firmly based on Christianity, although the method is also used successfully by secular families and families of other religions.

This foundations text offers both concepts and key writings from the major educational innovators throughout history, beginning with the ancient civilizations and proceeding to the current 21^st century.  The text is organized chronologically and takes a biographical approach, giving readers a wealth of primary source material by philosophers, classical to postmodern, whose ideas have helped shape educational practice.   Each chapter has a brief biography of the educator’s life, a summary of the key contributions of the educator, introductory “questions to guide your reading”, and follow-up discussion questions. 

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Volume 6 of Charlotte Mason's Home Education Series in Modern English Paraphrase

Volume 6 of Charlotte Mason's Home Education Series in Modern English Paraphrase