What is Charlotte Mason Picture Study?

Art and homeschooling are two subjects close to my heart, so it makes sense that Picture Study is something that I write about often here. When I first started offering the Picture Study Aids in 2017, I was elated that I was able to use my degree in art history for something that benefited the homeschooling community. Since then, I’ve written posts on why it’s important and how to do it, but I’ve never really answered the question: what is Charlotte Mason Picture Study?

Charlotte Mason made the statement that education is the science of relations. This means the relationships your child (or you!) makes with the world around them. Relationships with historical time periods, laws of physics, musical compositions, great ideas, philosophies, or almost anything else you can think of. And this applies to art as well.

Picture study is the fostering of your child’s relationship with pieces of art. It’s an intentional time each week for them to get to know great works of art. The practice itself is simple, and that is where the beauty of Picture Study lies. Keeping it simple is the best way to foster that relationship.

Last month, I had a talk with Joy Cherrick about Picture Study. We discussed what it is, clarified the differences between Charlotte Mason Picture Study and other forms of art appreciation, and I also walked through what a typical Picture Study session looks like in our homeschool and in the homeschool co-ops we’ve been part of. You can watch the video below!