Registration for the 2023-2024 school year at the Charlotte Mason Educational Center (CMEC) will open this month!
Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) was an Anglican British educator who pushed for a shift from a utilitarian education to one based on living ideas. She wrote The Ambleside Geography Books and six volumes on education as well as a study of the life of Jesus. Her philosophy centers on respecting children from the time that they are born (children are persons), the use of living books written by one person with a passion for the topic as opposed to multi-authored textbooks, narration, habit training, and relatively short lessons.
The Charlotte Mason Educational Center (CMEC) is ideal for homeschoolers searching for a traditional Charlotte Mason education. While not officially Catholic, several of the women who run the center are Catholic and there is nothing in the program that is offensive to Catholics. The center provides a full curriculum with a collection of traditional living books. Many of these are the same books Mason used in her own time. They have collaborated with Riverbend Press and Yesterday’s Classics to bring many out of print books back into print especially for this purpose, while supplementing with other books and materials where appropriate.
Perhaps more importantly, the CMEC offers a comprehensive set of resources for homeschooling parents so that they may better understand Mason’s methods and how to follow them in a homeschool from Kindergarten through high school. All students, regardless of what form (grade level) they are in for a given year study the same period of history which allows for combined lessons if you have multiple children. Science and Geography can also be taught across form levels. There is a great deal of hands-on work in addition to narration which allows for a variety in lessons and appeals to a wide range of learners. The CMEC provides a program and timetable to allow for ease of homeschool planning. There are also many printable and video guides to assist with teaching.
If you are interested in learning more, you can request a free information packet about the program at https://www.thecmec.org/.
