Secrets from Charlotte Mason on Scheduling for Peace

This time last year my then-10-year-old son was finishing Year 4 of AmblesideOnline’s (AO) stellar curriculum and we were both, quite frankly, fried. Our days began early. We enjoyed a morning time together in which we read from the Psalter, sang our hymn and folksong, read poetry aloud and recited Scripture. So far, so good. Our minds and hearts were full of truth, beauty and goodness. What a great way to start the day!

We had breakfast, did chores, and then plunged into the day’s assigned readings and disciplinary work. I pre-read, we scaffolded, he read well, he narrated, we discussed. We worked hard, really hard, all day and finally came up for air just in time for me to rustle up some grub for dinner.

At the end of the school year I was not only exhausted, but full of fear and trembling for the even more rigorous years of learning that lay ahead. I knew something was wrong. Why was “school” taking our whole day?

I’ve studied Charlotte Mason’s writings for years, the atmosphere of our home seemed conducive to loving and learning, we were developing good disciplinary habits, we embraced living books and living ideas. Yet the end of each day found us depleted and weary instead of inspired and fulfilled. I was grateful that summer had come and we could rest, recover, seek counsel and pray for answers.

When June arrived, my friends and I headed off to the annual Charlotte Mason Education Conference where I had been so inspired and renewed in years past. On the first full day at the very first session I attended, I heard Nancy Kelly say the words that would rock my world, change our lives, and become my mantra for the following year: “Keep cutting back until there is peace in your home.” My mouth dropped open and I caught my breath. What? Did she just say what I think she said? But what about all the lovely living books we might miss? What if we had gaps in our history and science learning? What if we {gasp!} didn’t finish a book?

Throughout the conference I heard various speakers say, “Are we reading too many good books?” “Are you teaching your students to build margin in their lives?” “A full life does not equal a busy life.” “Choose the best books and less of them.” “Don’t rush! We have a lifetime of learning ahead of us.” Are you seeing a pattern here?

But where to begin? Maybe the problem was me. I came home and reread Essex Cholmondley’s The Story of Charlotte Mason, focusing on Mason’s own personal schedule — the way she lived so intentionally and embraced margin in her life. Surely she would have wanted no less for the children whose educational lives were in her keeping.

Cholmondley says, “She never worked out of hours nor let herself think of problems at night … She never let herself be ‘anxious.’” She told her teachers-in-training, “The children need your utmost freshness of mind and energy, so do not sit up late preparing lessons; what you seem to gain in preparation you lose by tiredness next day.” Ouch. Her words hit this night owl right between the eyes.

Working “out of hours” is often necessary for moms, but maybe I could do my pre-reading and prep earlier in the day so late nights would be an exception instead of the rule. And maybe I could get up a bit earlier to spend time with the Lord in the morning instead of meeting him “in the watches of the night.”

In that same wonderful book I also found this quote from one of CM’s teachers-in-training about her time at Scale How:

Again, to many of us life was overfull. We would not be hurried; we liked to say ‘I will do it in my own time.’ But at Scale How time was to be respected, given to the thing or person claiming it rightfully. Then there would always be time, without over-pressure or distraction. This sense of time value was hard to achieve but it bore the test of experience during the two years’ training. What an effort of faith it all was to one so slow to read, to write and to think. It did not seem possible to find a moment for everything, yet if no time was wasted there was plenty of it and no hurry.

Were we wasting time somewhere? Were we dawdling over several little things that added up to a big time drain? How long did it really take to make that bed anyway? And could you really read Redwall while brushing your teeth in a timely manner, as my son claimed?

Next I accessed the Parents’ Review article from AO’s website which gives detailed time-tables used by the Parents’ Union Schools (P.U.S.), (Vol. 19, p. 899, 1908). The daily schedule for Form II (grades 4-6) looked so … simple. 8 subjects covered in 3 hours daily. Why was “school” taking us so long each day?

After conferring with some other CM moms I began to understand that Mason’s students were required to give focused attention to a subject for a certain period of time — not a certain number of pages. Then while mining the Charlotte Mason Digital Collection curated by Redeemer University College, I found that in a talk given at a House of Education alumni conference, Mason’s close personal friend and secretary, Elsie Kitching, said it is better to leave the term’s work unfinished than to rush the pupils through for the sake of having finished the work set. Hmmmmm … this was getting interesting!

Next I was rewarded with these little nuggets from a Parents’ Review article entitled “The Work and Aims of the Parents’ Union School” by Miss O’Ferrall (PR Vol. 3, No. 11, 1922):

And now we will take a look at the carefully arranged time-tables. Practically all the bookwork is done in the morning when the children are fresh and ready to tackle the more arduous part of their work. The hours are not long — two and a half for the first form, four for the Vth and VIth; an hour more later in the day for II, III, and IV and a couple for the Vth and VIth. This is exclusive of practising, dancing, sewing and a certain amount of reading. The lessons are carefully arranged for the various days, no lesson is longer than twenty minutes in the first form whilst in the Vth and VIth the average length is about forty minutes.

So maybe their days looked something like this:

• Form I (grades 1-3): 2.5 hours of morning work, 1 hour of afternoon work
• Form II (grades 4-6): 2.5 hours of morning work, 1 hour of afternoon work
• Forms III & IV (grades 7-9): 3.0-3.5 hours of morning work, 1.5 hours of afternoon work
• Forms V & VI (grades 10-12): 4 hours of morning work, 2 hours of afternoon work

That same PR article continues:

The afternoons are free as far as book-work is concerned for both students (HOE teachers-in-training) and children (in the practicing school), and are spent in nature work, walks, Girl Guiding and games.

As the staff conduct the Nature and Bird Walks for the College (House of Education), so the students take them for the (practicing) school. Then comes 3:45 when the children have an hour’s work before tea — handicrafts, singing, painting, picture study are the type of lessons given at this time. Then comes tea, after which the children read and sew and have some time to amuse themselves.

So let me get this straight: The P.U.S. students were engaged in book-work for 3 hours each morning, then after lunch they had time for nature walks and journaling, games and scouting. At 3:45 they spent an hour enjoying things like handicrafts, art and artist study. After tea they read and had a little “free time.”

And then I found this gem in “Imagination as a Powerful Factor in a Well-Balanced Mind” by E. A. Parish, Parents’ Review Vol. 25, No. 5, 1914:

… two things are necessary — solitude and independence. Children must have these … Miss Mason devises time-tables which cover such reasonable hours as to leave time over for this solitude, but parents are often very culpable in thinking that Tango or some other new thing must be learned as well, and the much needed time for solitude is used for plans which necessitate hurried journeys, always in the company of a responsible person, who feels it her duty to talk in an instructive way, and the thinking time, the growing time, the time in which the mind is to find food is diminished, and the child becomes restless, tiresome, irritable, disobedient — everything that a child who is reputed to be difficult can be.

So much for excessive extracurricular activities, huh? Although my son is an only child and a very outgoing soul, maybe he would derive more benefit from relaxed time at home in which to process his learning than he would in swimming umpteen laps every afternoon.

I kept going back to the P.U.S time-table. What if I plugged our booklist into those timeslots? Two geography slots a week — so be it. Three natural history readings a week — done. Where CM had French, I plugged in Spanish. Where she had English History I substituted American History. When I had completed this exercise, I still had some assigned books/readings without a timeslot. Maybe this was the excess that had been keeping us from enjoying the best?

But even if I believed that, was I brave enough to try this pared-down schedule? If we didn’t overdo the after-school activities, we could still enjoy the “lovely bits” — drawing, artist study, poetry, handicrafts (for us that means gardening and cooking) in the early afternoon. Maybe Dad would like to share some of our learning over supper or on Sunday evening? My wheels were really spinning by this time! This just might work!

After much thought and prayer, we decided to take the plunge and bring our learning schedule as close as we could to Charlotte Mason’s own. If the time-table said we should spend 20 minutes reading history, my son read for 17 and narrated for 3. Instead of a certain number of lines for copywork, he wrote for 15 minutes, came to a good stopping place, and closed the book.

We finished book-work at lunchtime, and spent the afternoons taking nature walks, painting, cooking or reading aloud. We shared poetry with Dad at supper, and enjoyed artist study and special read-alouds as a family on Sunday evenings. Instead of setting aside time for composer study, we kept the term’s music playing while we ate breakfast, did chores, cooked supper. And who says you can’t paint or chop veggies while you discuss Plutarch?

The result of our great experiment? The most peaceful, focused, fruitful year of learning we have ever experienced. When everything was done in its own time and we allowed our learning to spill over into our “life,” there really was time for everything without rushing. And when the afternoons were given to inspirational offerings like nature study, art, music and handicrafts, we were even ready for some more reading in the evening.

I won’t pretend we never looked back. At times I inadvertently allowed my public school mentality to creep back in (like devoting too much time to language arts or requiring too many math drills), or tried adding back in those books I’d weeded out (oh, the pitfalls of bibliophilia!). But the joy really is in the journey, and we are constantly honing our goals, attitudes and habits to bring them more closely in line with who God calls us to be. His mercies are new every morning, and each day is another chance to learn a little more.

Now in the process of planning our Y6, I’m determined to resist the siren call of all the good books out there and choose only the very best for our family. Less really is more. Charlotte Mason knew whereof she spoke — not just about a philosophy of education, but on ordering the day as well. “Keep cutting back until there is peace in your home.” Wise words well spoken — and just in time.

Don’t miss my follow-up post!

School is War: Scheduling for Peace Revisited