Crafting Your Own Mothers’ Education Course

A note from Rebecca: I first came in contact with Karen Canon in 2017 when I attended the Charlotte Mason Educational Retreat, and she gave a plenary talk titled “Charlotte Mason Education: A House Beautiful for Today’s Landscape.” I say “came in contact with” because I don’t actually remember talking to her that year, but I do remember being extremely inspired by what she had to say (and not a little in awe of her wisdom and experience!). Since then, I have gotten to know her better, and I am so honored to be able to call her a good friend!

At the retreat in 2022, Karen gave a talk on how she makes her own Mothers’ Education Course and detailed everything she considers when putting together her own version of this. The talk stuck with me, especially as I have been trying to embrace more mother culture for myself. When I was planning out my Summer of Mother Culture series, I asked Karen if she might be willing to write a post for me on that topic, and she was kind enough to say yes!

If you’d like to read more about what the Mother’s Education (or Educational) Course (which included its very own beautiful “graduation” certificate!) from Charlotte Mason’s Parents’ National Educational Union was, Brandy Vencel has a very informative post here. Brandy and A Delectable Education also have several posts with book ideas for the various categories outlined below.

And now, on to Karen’s post!

“Children are best educated through careful relationships on the part of the adults—the parents and the teachers—who are themselves in a lifelong process of learning and subject to the same duties and freedoms within a Christian worldview.”

Elaine Cooper (When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’ Philosophy for Today)

I am intrigued by the ways Mason practitioners summarize her philosophy. Their elevator pitch. This is a pretty good one. It touches on many ideas, but one that has stayed with me is this: that adults are “…themselves in a lifelong process of learning.” 

There were times when this idea felt very out of reach. I was barely keeping my head above water. Time for learning?! Ha! But one day, it struck me how much I had learned since my formal education had ended. It had not taken place in classrooms and sometimes did not follow an orderly, logical progression, but learning had indeed taken place.

My faith had grown through the in-depth study of Scripture in the company of other believers. I had learned how to keep alive three little boys who, at times, seemed determined to thwart all efforts. I had learned bookkeeping for a side hustle and grown in my knowledge of home management, cooking, and gardening. And a continuous diet of fiction had expanded my understanding of those across time and place. Reading had equipped me for the tasks at hand and provided much pleasure. 

As the boys became school-age and we read together from AmblesideOnline’s Year 1 curriculum, a new world opened to me. I quickly perceived that my education included many gaps. Although a good student who had always done well in school, I was not particularly well-read. How much more there was that I wanted to know! An idea began to take hold. A little here and there was well and good; but how much more would an intentional reading practice gain me?

The Mothers’ Education Course

By reading only six hours a-day, I shall gain in the course of a twelvemonth a great deal of instruction which I now feel myself to want.

Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

With her characteristic insight, Mason recognized this same need amongst the mothers of her time. She answered the call for “an educated motherhood to improve child upbringing” (Coombs) in 1892. The Mothers’ Education Course, a three-year reading plan to provide both information and inspiration, was established, offering mothers a systematic course of independent reading organized under four subject headings that were considered “indispensable to Motherhood” (Anson).

Headings

What would it take to implement something like this for myself? What might that look like? What were the weak areas in my education that needed shoring up? I determined quickly that I was not interested in following Mason’s program of personal study in toto but in forging one fitted to my needs and situation. Before getting up a booklist, though, I would need to settle on how I would support this task of self-education.

Narration

Where better to start than with the ground plan of education: narration. How would I narrate? Silently to myself? In writing? Orally to my husband or friends? This was a question to be taken up with each book.

Reading Companions

What else was needed? What things would support the act of learning? This, also, was a question to be taken up with each book, each subject. I came to consider this second category as “Reading Companions” as I realized the practical necessity of having these things nearby while reading—a side table, a tote bag, or a shelf. I carved out learning spaces for myself just as I did for the kids. For one book or in one season of life, I required a quiet space, while another necessitated a flexible, portable one.

The Moral Imperative (aka. Accountability)

I thought about what Mason called a “moral imperative.” The “ought” to do what you should. The little push to help overcome moral inertia. Traditionally, narration in a group setting and exams can provide a moral imperative to pay attention. In the absence of them, I considered other means of accountability.

Scheduling

The next point of consideration was the question of a scheduling strategy. Would I read one book at a time from a subject, looping through subject matter? Or, would more variety be stimulating? I could assign a different subject for different days of the week. Or, keep three books going at a time, as Rebecca has shared;—”a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel” (“A.”).

A look at Mason’s daily schedule revealed that she had multiple reading times throughout her day, one even as short as ten minutes. Did I have already established habits that I could stretch or could I tie a new habit to one already established: for example, ten minutes of a novel after Bible time or a half-hour of reading after lunch while others cleaned up?

Book Selection

Since the Bible is the storehouse of living ideas, it was the logical priority before adding anything new to my schedule. Mason’s Home Education Series came next. In building new habits, an easy win was the category of “interests,” and I continued to expand my reading in gardening and cooking. School subjects formed the next category: where did I lack confidence? Grammar? Penmanship? A foreign language? Last I considered novels, which were for me the plum. Not least in importance, certainly, but that which required the least “moral imperative.”

Each season of life has required a complete recalibration of this reading plan. I have been in and out of seasons of great change—through moves, babies, illnesses, and even the death of three parents, and this practice has served me well.

Be encouraged. Start small and trust the law of accumulation.

“…as if Someone was building Eternity
as a swallow its nest
out of clumps of moments”

Anna Kamienska (Small Things)

References
“A.” “Mother Culture.” Parents’ Review (vol. 3, no. 2, 1892/93).
Anson. “The Mother’s Educational Course.” Parents’ Review (vol. 8, no. 7, 1897).
Coombs, Margaret. Charlotte Mason: Hidden Heritage and Educational Influence.