Charlotte Mason Bible Resources for Homeschoolers
Last month, I introduced a series of blog posts that I plan to go through over the next few months, sharing some of my favorite Charlotte Mason homeschool resources broken down by subject. These are the ones we’ve tried and have been so helpful in making our days run more smoothly. They have also engaged my kids in whatever subject we’re covering. In some cases, they’re resources that have been made by other homeschooling moms or are from reputable homeschooling companies, and sometimes they’re just different items that have been helpful to us in a specific subject.
These are by no means the only resources out there, and I will offer others in some subjects that I have heard of but haven’t had the chance to try yet, or I have friends who have used them and appreciate them. But the main list will be the resources we’ve used in our homeschool over the last (almost) six years that have been so helpful to us.
Today I’m sharing resources for Charlotte Mason Bible lessons! I love the simplicity of Ms. Mason’s approach to teaching the Bible to students in that she kept it very simple and did not accompany every Bible reading with a moral lesson, but allowed the text to speak for itself.
Charlotte Mason Bible Lessons
The method of such lessons is very simple. Read aloud to the children a few verses covering if possible, an episode. Read reverently, carefully, and with just expression. Then require the children to narrate what they have listened to as nearly as possible in the words of the Bible. It is curious how readily they catch the rhythm of the majestic and simple Bible English. Then, talk the narrative over with them in the light of research and criticism. Let the teaching, moral and spiritual, reach them without much personal application. I know of no better help in the teaching of young children than we get in Canon Paterson Smyth’s Bible for the Young.
Charlotte Mason (Home Education)
Resources
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The AmblesideOnline Bible-reading schedule beginning in Year 2 is based on the J. Paterson-Smyth commentaries, so I started ordering them when my son was still in Year 1. These are not meant to be read to your student verbatim but are instead more of a resource for you as the teacher to give you a little more background about the readings. Generally, I do read the parts where he “sets the scene” to provide a better idea of the setting and any additional information that might be pertinent to the lesson. For instance, when we read about Moses as a boy, I showed my students the picture of the Egyptian “copywork” from the book. And when we read the story of the friends lowering the invalid down through the roof to be healed by Jesus, I built a little model with books as he outlines in the commentary.
When we go through our Bible lessons each week, I simply read a portion of that day’s assignment (all of my Bibles are broken down into sections, so I generally just stick to these), and then allow my students to narrate. If I want to “set the scene” as outlined above, or give a little background information about cultural differences or historical relevance, I will add that. But I allow the Holy Spirit the work of teaching them the deeper meaning of what that passage is about. Then I move on to the next portion until we’ve read the whole passage for that day.
Bible lessons are meant to be so simple there is no need to add a whole lot of commentary to them (especially of the “lecture” kind). However, I also think that these books have offered insight into passages that I have read many times before that I may not have otherwise considered. When I don’t read the commentary in advance of a Bible lesson or “set the scene,” I have noticed that my students are a little less engaged with the lesson.
An atlas is helpful to have on hand to see where a particular passage is taking place, especially as some of the locations in the Bible are known by different names. You can show your student how many of these stories overlap and that specific places are particularly sacred.
So these are the resources we use in our Charlotte Mason homeschool for Bible and Shakespeare! In my next post in the series, I’ll be sharing our favorite resources for History and Plutarch! If you’re not signed up for my newsletter, click here to get a notification when the new post is available!
Other posts in this series:
Also, if you want the Folger editions without the commentary, they are available for free on their website. I explain how we use them here https://bookishfamily.blogspot.com/2022/03/teachingshakespeareforfree.html
I have found that my kids don’t read the commentary much so it hasn’t been a problem. But I also don’t mind if they read an explanation of what Shakespeare was saying even if it is off-color.
That’s very helpful, Jen! Especially the link for the Folger’s editions – thank you!
This is very helpful – thank you! What bibke do you read to your children? My kids are 12 and 10, and I’m trying to decide which Bible we should use for next school year. We will be following AO suggested schedule for the first time.
I use the English Standard Version in our homeschool. We did KJV early on based on this article, but my son really struggled with it and he has been much more engaged with this version.
What age were your students when you started reading directly from the Bible?
Mine’s only 3 and LOVES Ella K. Lindvall’s Read-Aloud Bible Stories series. (The only problem is at the end of each story, there’s the question, “What did you learn?”, to which “Ice cream” is the only reply, given in giggles. Of course it’s age-appropriate for a 3 yo, but I do hope she grows out of it by narration time! Lol)
Thanks for sharing these incredible resources and your beautiful blog! (And meal plan!!) I’m very grateful for the resources to start thinking about and building our foundation early. 🙂
Ice cream is an awesome answer for everything, even when you’re an adult. 😁 For school, we began reading from the Bible in Year 1. I used various children’s Bibles before that (Jesus Storybook Bible, Children of God Storybook Bible, The Child’s Story Bible [by Catherine Vos] were our favorites).