Bringing Charlotte Mason’s Living Philosophy to Today’s Families

Equipping parents and educators to build a true and lasting education.

Charlotte Mason Education exists to guide families seeking a living, classical education — one rooted in truth, beauty, and the dignity of the child. We offer a clear, thoughtful pathway into the Charlotte Mason method for those who believe education should nourish the whole person, not just check off standards.

“Our crying need to-day is less for a better method of education than for an adequate conception of children,––children, merely as human beings.”

— Charlotte Mason

New to Charlotte Mason?

A growing number of parents and educators are seeking a fresh approach to education—one that nurtures a child’s natural curiosity, fosters a love for learning, and respects them as whole persons. Charlotte Mason, a 19th-century educator, championed this vision, and today, her time-tested methods are being rediscovered in homeschools, co-ops, private schools, public schools, and beyond. At the heart of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy is a particular understanding of the child and of education itself. Children are persons, born with minds capable of knowing and relating, and education is a life of relationships—with God, mankind, and the created world—nourished through atmosphere, discipline, and the living ideas that awaken the mind.

For a fuller introduction to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and methods, see Introduction to Charlotte Mason.

A Comprehensive Introductory Course

First Steps Into Charlotte Mason Education is a guided eight-week online course that brings together the foundational principles of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy in an ordered way, helping you understand how the parts of the education belong together and how they shape practice in the home. Learn more about First Steps

Who Was Charlotte Mason?

Charlotte Mason (1842–1923) was a British educator whose work grew out of a serious consideration of what a child is and therefore what education ought to be. She insisted that children are persons from the beginning—not incomplete adults to be filled with information or shaped chiefly by rewards and punishments.

From that conviction grew a broad philosophy of education concerned with knowledge and living ideas, the natural desire to know, the rich inheritance of thought to which every person has a claim, and the possibilities present in each child as a person created in the image of God. Education, in Mason’s view, should make the most of these God-given capacities, helping children grow in knowledge, character, and the ability to govern themselves. These principles developed through her schools, the Parents’ National Educational Union, the training college at Ambleside, and six volumes of educational writing. Her work continues to inspire educators and parents today.

Read her full biography ⇒

Explore the Charlotte Mason Approach

Charlotte Mason’s principles and practices reach into every part of education—from the books children read and the habits they form to the way lessons are ordered and knowledge is approached. These pages explore individual aspects of the philosophy more closely.