Language Arts in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool

The Charlotte Mason method is well known for laying a very strong foundation for language arts, but it’s not as complicated as you might expect an excellent language arts program to be. Would you believe that, using her philosophy, you can go as far as not to need to purchase any program at all? 

In this post, we hope to outline the tools used in a CM homeschool for language arts, while also giving you some of the references from Charlotte Mason’s actual works. We hope this will encourage you to study these tools yourself in more detail so that you can implement them in your homeschool. 

Tools for Teaching Language Arts in a CM Homeschool 

Here are some of the most important tools in your arsenal in teaching Language Arts the CM way: 

Living Books

First and foremost, the CM method uses living books for all its lessons (except Math). Living books are books that are written by an author who’s passionate about the topic and who writes in an engaging, usually storytelling, way. 

Secondly, using excellently-written living books (the best there are!) means that we expose our children to the best ways of formulating thoughts and ideas. 

Lastly, using these great materials will naturally expand your child’s vocabulary, as he learns them in context; students who learn new words this way are more able to use them in the correct way even in daily conversation! 

The seven-years-old boy will have begun to read for himself, but must get most of his intellectual nutriment, by ear, certainly, but read to him out of books. Geography, sketches from ancient history, Robinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Tanglewood Tales, Heroes of Asgard, and much of the same calibre, will occupy him until he is eight. The points to be borne in mind are, that he should have no book which is not a child’s classic; and that, given the right book, it must not be diluted with talk or broken up with questions, but given to the boy in fit proportions as wholesome meat for his mind, in the full trust that a child’s mind is able to deal with its proper food. (From Vol 1 page 232) 

Oral Narration

We utilize narration as a way of learning the lessons. After reading a passage or a page or two, the child narrates, or tells back, everything he heard (if the parent is reading it aloud) or read. We start with oral narration, with no writing yet, until the child is adept enough at it; and then, when we do introduce written narration, the child still continues to narrate orally. We believe this strengthens his communication skills more than any other practice! 

When the child is six, not earlier, let him narrate the fairy-tale which has been read to him, episode by episode, upon one hearing of each; the Bible tale read to him in the words of the Bible; the well-written animal story; (From Vol 1 page 232) 

In every case the reading should be consecutive from a well-chosen book. Before the reading for the day begins, the teacher should talk a little (and get the children to talk) about the last lesson, with a few words about what is to be read, in order that the children may be animated by expectation; but she should beware of explanation and, especially, of forestalling the narrative. Then, she may read two or three pages, enough to include an episode; after that, let her call upon the children to narrate,––in turns, if there be several of them. They not only narrate with spirit and accuracy, but succeed in catching the style of their author. (page 232-233) 

Copywork

Through copywork, we train our students to pay attention to spelling, capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, and even grammar! We start copywork with the child copying letter by letter, but he soon progresses to transcription, where he copies word by word—this trains him to “take a picture” of the word, then picture it in his mind’s eye as he writes, which helps strengthen spelling, even without intentionally needing to work on spelling lists and such things! 

The earliest practice in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work… Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut, and then write from memory. (From Vol 1 Page 238) 

Dictation

Dictation is one step up from Copywork, usually begun at the age of 10. This involves the child studying a passage throughout the week, and then at the end of the week, the parent will dictate out the passage, one line at a time and only once, while the child writes down the words, spelling them from memory. Again, it helps cement spelling skills, while also letting the child absorb the sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation, of the passage studied. Take a look at Miss Mason’s actual instructions for this: 

Dictation lessons, conducted in some such way as the following, usually result in good spelling. A child of eight or nine prepares a paragraph, older children a page, or two or three pages. The child prepares by himself, by looking at the word he is not sure of, and then seeing it with his eyes shut. Before he begins, the teacher asks what words he thinks will need his attention. He generally knows, but the teacher may point out any word likely to be a cause of stumbling. He lets his teacher know when he is ready. The teacher asks if there are any words he is not sure of. These she puts, one by one, on the blackboard, letting the child look till he has a picture, and then rubbing the word out. If anyone is still doubtful he should be called to put the word he is not sure of on the board, the teacher watching to rub out the word when a wrong letter begins to appear, and again helping the child to get a mental picture. 

Then the teacher gives out the dictation, clause by clause, each clause repeated once. She dictates with a view to the pointing, which the children are expected to put in as they write; but they must not be told ‘comma,’ ‘semicolon,’ etc. After the sort of preparation I have described, which takes ten minutes or less, there is rarely an error in spelling. If there be, it is well worth while for the teacher to be on the watch with slips of stamp-paper to put over the wrong word, that its image may be erased as far as possible. At the end of the lesson, the child should again study the wrong word in his book until he says he is sure of, and should write it correctly on the stamp-paper. (Vol 1 Page 241-242) 

Written Narration

At about Year 4, we start to have our child do written narration. Remember, we require written narration only after the child is skilled enough at oral narration, and can write fast enough to catch up with his thoughts! If you notice, a child will normally be able to speak faster than he can write, and if we have them write their narrations at a time when they’re still struggling to write and spell, they may end up frustrated at not being able to get their thoughts our quickly enough. 

Also note, that we introduce written narration without teaching them about composition first. Take a look at how Miss Mason frames it: 

For children under nine, the question of composition resolves itself into that of narration, varied by some such simple exercise as to write a part and narrate a part, or write the whole account of a walk they have taken, a lesson they have studied, or of some simple matter that they know. Before they are ten, children who have been in the habit of using books will write good, vigorous English with ease and freedom; that is, if they have not been hampered by instructions. It is well for them not even to learn rules for the placing of full stops and capitals until they notice how these things occur in their books. Our business is to provide children with material in their lessons, and leave the handling of such material to themselves. If we would believe it, composition is as natural as jumping and running to children who have been allowed due use of books. They should narrate in the first place, and they will compose, later readily enough; but they should not be taught ‘composition.’ (Vol 1, page 247) 

Grammar

In the CM method, we postpone the teaching of grammar until the child is about 10 years old, when he’s better able to grasp abstract concepts. This is because grammar rules are abstract! Instead, we expose our children to excellently-written sentences throughout the first few years of school, so much so that he automatically knows how to do, for example, subject-verb agreement by saying “The boy walks” and “The boys walk” even when he hasn’t been formally taught to do so! Then, he learns the rules that explain how he automatically does those things, making it so much easier to understand. 

Grammar, being a study of words and not of things, is by no means attractive to the child, nor should he be hurried into it. English grammar, again, depending as it does on the position and logical connection of words, is peculiarly hard for him to grasp… Therefore, if he learns no more at this early stage than the declensions and a verb or two, it is well he should learn thus much, if only to help him to see what English grammar would be at when it speaks of a change in case or mood, yet shows no change in the form of a word. (Volume 1 page 295) 

Composition

Formal composition lessons are usually given in the higher grades, such as Form 3 or beyond. This might include how to write different kinds of essays, or different forms of writing, such as creative writing, journalism, and the like. Fortunately, by that time, he would have been exposed to so many different kinds of excellent writing that through his narrations, he has actually already been able to emulate these different styles. 

Poetry

Interestingly, another aspect of CM Language Arts is Poetry, which exposes our children to the beauty of the written and spoken language. We expound more on poetry in this post.

Is CM Language Arts Enough?

Perhaps you may wonder, are these tools enough to teach all that my child needs to know in language arts? Absolutely! Take a few years through this process and watch how your child progresses in his narration. Observe the way he formulates his sentences, and even the kind of words he uses. We believe that this way of learning is one of the most effective, because the child actually assimilates his learnings into his daily life!