Throughout the years I have been told by frustrated parents
and no doubt, well-meaning curriculum guides, that Charlotte Mason was
mistaken. Copy work, rich literature and
narration are simply not enough to produce good writers. While some children
are natural writers, others need detailed writing instruction. These
assertions are sufficient enough to frighten many Charlotte Mason enthusiasts,
if not most, into buying a “comprehensive writing program.” I’m sure that some of these conclusions have
been made because their children never became good writers. Understandably,
this can lead to disillusionment. But if Charlotte Mason’s methods only work
for natural writers, how did they become so popular across Great Britain and
last for so long? Personally, I have witnessed the success of her methods not
only with my four children, but also in the lives of numerous others. I hope to
show you in this brief article that Miss Mason wasn’t mistaken and the fault
lies in the application of her methods.
The number one, most common mistake that I have seen parents
make is that they expect too much too soon. Just last week, a frustrated parent
showed me a written narration from her twelve year old daughter. Vanessa has
been writing narrations for approximately two years now. I read the narration
and noticed that she had clearly understood the events in her history book and written
them down in correct order, even adding some interesting, rich vocabulary that
she had picked up from the author. She didn’t begin with a nice introductory
sentence because she was continuing the narration of some events that had
happened in a previous written narration. The length was a full, written page.
About two-thirds of the sentences were capitalized and properly punctuated. I
saw before me a good narration.
Vanessa’s mother, on the other hand, saw a mess. She
couldn’t get past the ugly mechanics and the poor introduction. She expected a
nice, neat essay with an introduction, a conclusion and proper punctuation.
These glaring errors blinded her to the rich vocabulary and complex sentence
structure that her daughter had so aptly displayed.
Personally, per Charlotte Mason’s advice, I would have praised
Vanessa for retelling the order of events so clearly and also commended her for
using some new words that she picked up from the author. Then, I would have
asked her to go over it again to see if she could find any words that she
should have capitalized and any sentences that need a period. I would have
pointed out one or two misspelled words and had her correct them, taking a
brief mental picture of the correct spellings. Privately, I would note any
other misspelled words and use them later in the week for an informal
dictation/spelling lesson. You see, Vanessa needs a fan, a cheerleader, not an
inspection officer. She needs to feel positive about her writing. If a child
doesn’t have a positive writing environment, she will not develop a love of
writing.
Now, at this point, you may be thinking. That’s all good and well for Vanessa, but my
child is fourteen years old and has been writing narrations for three years. He
still writes like Vanessa! My reply to you may be difficult to swallow, but
I assure you, your son is doing just fine. Be patient and trust the method. All
of my children went through a lengthy period of writing narrations that needed
better punctuation, spelling and organization. I continued to have them write
several narrations a week occasionally pointing out errors and making
suggestions. I didn’t over correct and I allowed them to write about the things
they cared about. I didn’t burden them with stilted, formulaic writing
exercises. They read great literature and were allowed to respond to it without
much interference. Eventually, each child developed a style of her own without
any “stylistic” instruction and the mechanical errors also ceased. Even more
importantly, they all began to love writing. It happened at different times for
each child. In fact, it wasn’t until my children were around fifteen and
sixteen years of age that I realized they had become really good writers. This
was after years of faithfully applying Miss Mason’s recommendations of reading
and copying beautiful literature, memorizing classic poems, practicing weekly
dictation, and daily narration.
If you are tempted to throw in the towel and use a writing
program – you know, the one that empties your pocketbook, requires much of your
time, and makes your kids groan at the thought of it – perhaps you should re-evaluate
your practices. Impatience with the process, over-correcting a child’s writing
and inconsistent narration can hinder Charlotte Mason’s methods from working
effectively in creating good writers.
My adult daughters are now professional writers who love to
communicate through the written word. Knowing my own deficiencies in this area,
I realize I didn’t have much of a hand in the writing process. I just put them
in touch with great authors and made sure they practiced oral and written
composition on a daily basis. You can do this too.
one step at a time...
image courtesy: talkingfingers.com
This article first appeared in Home Education Family Magazine.