Minds Like Sprouting Seedlings: Charlotte Mason Math

I was sitting in the church nursery when another homeschool mom brought her fussy toddler into the room. We began that comfortable chatting that moms in church nurseries do.

“You homeschool, right?” she asked.

“Yes.  I’m trying!” I replied.

“What do you do about math?!  I am so tired of it all – I think I might quit homeschooling if the struggle is going to be like this every day. The teacher’s manual is so thick and I can’t keep track of the worksheets and worst of all, my son HATES it,” she said.

At the time, I had a 2^nd and 3^rd grader and was a newbie with the Charlotte Mason philosophy with about 2 years of experience.  So I took a deep breath and told her the truth about what I do for math.

“Well, I’m very sorry that your math experience hasn’t been a good one so far.  But I try to follow the Charlotte Mason method.  Are you familiar with that? I’m still learning, but we rather like math. We often sit on the couch and I open the math book my father-in-law found in the discarded books at the school and read a lesson.  I watch carefully to make sure my boys are attending and following along. We are done in 15 to 20 minutes each day, sometimes less. If we need to demonstrate or practice something that needs manipulatives, we grab whatever is handy.  We carefully do a few problems aloud but are beginning to write things out a bit more. It’s pleasant and the math lesson seems so different from our other subjects in a way – it’s like you can see their minds working in a different manner and I think they find that exciting. What grade did you say your son was in?”

“Kindergarten.” she said.

This exchange really did happen and I have always remembered it because it made me so sad. I didn’t know much about what Mason said about math at that point, but I knew it didn’t involve huge teacher’s manuals, lots of worksheets, and frustrated children…in kindergarten.

What makes me happy is all the passion, research, and product development that Richele Baburina has poured into the area of Charlotte Mason and mathematics!  When I mentor young moms, I get them on this path as soon as possible. Pardon my gushing, but Richele’s work is revolutionizing how math is done in so many homes and I am thankful for her dedication in this area. I remember her leaning close to me at a Living Education Retreat years ago and telling me in her wispy voice, “I’ve been looking into what Charlotte Mason did for math over at the Harvard library and other places and I’m pretty excited about what I see.” It was a privilege to join hands with her in prayer a few years later as she stepped in front of the LER attendees and shared from her heart all she had learned about this topic.

Fast forward to today and Richele has blessed us with a few, well-planned and practical resources with more in the works.  To begin with, there is Mathematics – An Instrument for Living Teaching which you can purchase from Simply Charlotte Mason.  Here is where you will read what Mason said and did about math with a focus on the philosophy and the truth, beauty, goodness of mathematics. Included are all sorts of guidelines and charts to help you understand Mason’s scope and sequence – the bigger picture. Then there is the DVD set, Charlotte Mason’s Living Math: A Guided Journey where you will see step-by-step math lessons demonstrated.

But what’s really exciting is that Richele has started developing   The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series.  The first set in this series consists of a kit of materials (dry erase board and objects), a math notebook, and the highest quality math book I think I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful, and if you know me, you know that I think that beauty is important, even in books. Especially in books. And this book is a pleasing-to-the-hands size with a 100% cotton bookcloth cover in the color known as “Sea Depth” with and attractive endpapers with a repeating pattern called “Facet”. But the real beauty is inside the book and found in the breathtaking simplicity of the lessons.  I’m not exaggerating.  If you’ve seen some of the hefty teacher’s manuals for elementary math textbooks, you’ll understand. You really don’t need all the extra workbooks, expensive manipulatives, and other bells and whistles that come with some programs.  The Thing is the Thing, remember?  I appreciate Richele’s  introduction where she reminds us of the important particulars of teaching mathematics set in the framework of Mason’s allowable tools of atmosphere, discipline, and life. And, as in all of the subjects in a Mason education, we see the same type of progression in the lessons that are developmentally spot-on for the child. CM veterans will rejoice that their math lessons now line up with what they know about the philosophy, while newbies can rest assured they are on the right track.  And for those who know little to nothing about CM, here will be a most delightful introduction to her! Who knew you could introduce someone to Mason’s philosophy through a math book?! Richele did.

Let his arithmetic lesson be to the child a daily exercise in clear thinking and rapid, careful execution, and his mental growth will be as obvious as the sprouting of seedlings in the spring. – Charlotte Mason, Vol. 1, p. 261

What a wonderful analogy! It’s like I said at the beginning of this post – “you can actually see their minds working.”  Are the math lessons in your home relational like this?  I see this series as a lifeline for so many parents.  My youngest is now 14, but if I was just beginning, I would be thrilled that someone had already laid this out for me in such clear, helpful terms and solidly based on Charlotte’s philosophy.

Teaching from peace,

Nancy

 

More math resources:

Charlotte Mason Poetry Math Resources Page – This is the new home for more of Richele’s math helps! Don’t miss a favorite article of mine,  “A Great Recognition”! Seriously.  All teachers of math should read it.

Charlotte Mason Math Together discussion page on Facebook