How to Teach History the Charlotte Mason Way

We love studying history in our Charlotte Mason homeschool! Chances are, when we parents were in school, it wasn’t everyone who enjoyed history classes, what with all the dates and names we needed to memorize! In fact, Miss Mason herself refers to that as follows: 

…but what is he to get out of the miserable little chronicle of feuds, battles, and death which is presented to him by way of ‘a reign’––all the more repellent because it bristles with dates? (Vol 1, page 280) 

What history lessons should do 

Instead, she describes history as supposedly doing the following: 

1. should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, 

2. should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic

3. should form in him, insensibly, principles whereby he will hereafter judge of the behaviour of nations, and will rule his own conduct as one of a nation.

(Vol 1, page 280)

The struggle with history lessons

Miss Mason has this to say about why most teachers—and consequently, students!—don’t enjoy learning history: 

The fatal mistake is in the notion that he must learn ‘outlines,’ or a baby edition of the whole history of England, or of Rome, just as he must cover the geography of all the world. (Vol 1, page 280)

Isn’t that what most of our schools did, having us get just a rough outline of what happened over several decades or even centuries? But there is a better way. 

7 Elements of Charlotte Mason History Lessons 

What is the Charlotte Mason alternative? Here are some components of a history lesson done the Charlotte Mason way: 

1. We offer living ideas instead of dry facts. 

Surprisingly, CM history lessons do not focus on covering “more” information. Instead, stemming off from the principle that the mind comes alive when it encounters ideas, we focus on offering our children a feast of ideas, so to speak. 

2. We “linger” or spend time with a single historical figure or two, over a short period 

This is an interesting concept to me. Instead of having our students memorize the tapestry of events, the CM way focuses on letting them “experience” life through the eyes of one or two key individuals. Listen to what Miss Mason says about this: 

Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period. Though he is reading and thinking of the lifetime of a single man, he is really getting intimately acquainted with the history of a whole nation for a whole age. (Vol 1, page 280) 

Wow! “Until he thinks the thoughts of that man”… “is at home in the ways of that period…” I love this! And it’s amazing to note that once that “experience” happens, the student is actually getting to know that nation’s history more intimately than he can get by memorizing facts, events, and dates! 

3. We prefer a diverse perspective. 

Interestingly, we don’t limit our student’s perspective to only the most important people. We also find ways to let him experience things from the point of view of other social groups and even other nations: 

Let him spend a year of happy intimacy with Alfred, ‘the truth-teller,’ with the Conqueror, with Richard and Saladin, or with Henry V.––Shakespeare’s Henry V.––and his victorious army. Let him know the great people and the common people, the ways of the court and of the crowd. Let him know what other nations were doing while we at home were doing thus and thus. If he come to think that the people of another age were truer, larger-hearted, simpler-minded than ourselves, that the people of some other land were, at one time, at any rate, better than we, why, so much the better for him. (Vol 1 page 280 to 281) 

4. We start with broad strokes early history for younger children. 

According to Charlotte Mason, it’s better to introduce young children to “the early history of a nation… because the story moves on a few broad, simple lines.” Indeed, we don’t want to burden the children with political details yet, and instead, the more of a story we can get for our children can serve to awaken their imagination for what transpired in the past. 

5. We prefer first-hand accounts, if possible! 

We usually describe living books as those that are written by someone who has expertise and passion about the subject. Here we want to add another qualifier: first-hand accounts are usually considered superior to second-hand tales. In fact, Miss Mason recommends finding these first-hand sources for our history lessons, especially for the younger years: 

Let them get the spirit of history into them by reading, at least, one old Chronicle written by a man who saw and knew something of what he wrote about, and did not get it at second-hand. (Vol 1, page 282). 

6. We like the enthralling power of a well-told story. 

Miss Mason continues to recommend “old books,” written as a first-hand account, not just for the fact that the person was actually there, but also because of the quality of storytelling that these kinds of books tend to have. Look at how she describes it: 

These old books are easier and pleasanter reading than most modern works on history, because the writers know little of the ‘dignity of history’; they purl along pleasantly as a forest brook, tell you ‘all about it,’ stir your heart with the story of a great event, amuse you with pageants and shows, make you intimate with the great people, and friendly with the lowly. (Vol 1 page 282) 

7. We believe education is the science of relations.

Another important aspect of history lessons in the CM method is that we let our children form their own connections.

We use tools, of course, like a history timeline and a Book of Centuries, where they list down significant events in the correct century. This helps them see connections across different people’s lives, and even across different nations. We also do mapwork alongside our history lessons, to help them see where certain stories take place.

Teaching History in the Charlotte Mason Method 

We hope this post has given you a clear picture of what kinds of books to use for history lessons in your Charlotte Mason homeschool. To give you some ideas, we also have upcoming posts on best living history books for elementary and those for high school, too, so stay tuned! 🙂