Who is Charlotte Mason?
Miss Charlotte Mason was a 19th century British educator and philosopher. She understood the need to allow every child, regardless of socioeconomic status, access to a quality education. A novel thinker in her day, Mason saw children as persons, fully capable of exercising their minds to learn truth when provided with the tools of living books, rich experiences, and the natural world. Out of respect for her students, Mason believed that teachers must not intervene and interpret a book or experience for their students, but should set before them a feast of living ideas. Children partake in that feast, nourishing their minds and hearts. Mason believed that, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, children develop the ability to self-educate.
An Atmosphere, A Discipline, a life
In educating her students, Mason used three primary tools: the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas. In fact, the motto of her schools was “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”
Education is an atmosphere – This does not mean that children need a specially-prepared environment reduced or simplified for them. Rather it means that careful attention should be paid to providing students with an environment rich in people and things which inspire their minds. At Redwood, we strive to make each classroom a place of beauty and rest. The content of the classrooms is carefully curated by the teachers to provide opportunities to delight the eye and inspire the mind. Children will be surrounded by books, artwork, specimens, and tools with which they will interact in the forming of their own education.
Education is a discipline – Mason knew that children learn best when they develop the discipline of correct habits. Chief among these is the habit of careful attention. Lessons are read one time, and the students narrate what they learned. Because each lesson is short, there is plenty of opportunity each student to practice the habit of attention in a variety of subjects.
Education is a life – Charlotte Mason knew that children require not only the physical sustenance of the body, but intellectual and moral nourishment, as well. The mind feeds on ideas; therefore children should be provided with a wide and generous curriculum. As students partake in this varied and delightful feast, they begin to make relational connections between ideas both in the classroom and in their wider world.
Education is an atmosphere – This does not mean that children need a specially-prepared environment reduced or simplified for them. Rather it means that careful attention should be paid to providing students with an environment rich in people and things which inspire their minds. At Redwood, we strive to make each classroom a place of beauty and rest. The content of the classrooms is carefully curated by the teachers to provide opportunities to delight the eye and inspire the mind. Children will be surrounded by books, artwork, specimens, and tools with which they will interact in the forming of their own education.
Education is a discipline – Mason knew that children learn best when they develop the discipline of correct habits. Chief among these is the habit of careful attention. Lessons are read one time, and the students narrate what they learned. Because each lesson is short, there is plenty of opportunity each student to practice the habit of attention in a variety of subjects.
Education is a life – Charlotte Mason knew that children require not only the physical sustenance of the body, but intellectual and moral nourishment, as well. The mind feeds on ideas; therefore children should be provided with a wide and generous curriculum. As students partake in this varied and delightful feast, they begin to make relational connections between ideas both in the classroom and in their wider world.
EDUCATING THE WHOLE CHILD
At Redwood Classical Academy, our hope for every child is that they would grow to be wise in God’s ways, delight in His created world, respond with joyful service, and celebrate life together with His people. To reach this vision, we must educate the whole child: mind, heart, and soul. When we apply living ideas in the classroom, we awaken not only a love for learning, but a love for people and their God-given stories. We teach generosity so that service to others flows with joy. Every hymn sung, scripture recited, and prayer offered points students toward walking faithfully in God’s ways. And because life together involves people, we teach children to pursue peace and restore conflict with meaning and grace. As these faithful roots grow deep, we long to see a second generation rise to be anchored in truth, radiant with purpose, and ready to carry the light of Christ into the world. RCA exists not only to educate minds, but to shape hearts while cultivating a legacy of faith, wonder, and purpose that echoes through generations.
THE CHILD'S MIND
At Redwood Classical Academy, we believe that every child is born with a mind alive and hungry for truth like an active, spiritual organism created in the image of God. As Charlotte Mason reminds us, “Children are born persons.” They are not empty vessels to be filled, nor mere receptacles for facts, but whole persons with minds capable of deep thought and worthy of respect. Throughout history, educators have used metaphors to describe the mind. Some say a child is a “blank slate," implying that children have no capacities to reason or communicate until we write knowledge upon them. Others have pictured the mind as a muscle to be strengthened through rigorous exercise a view that in Mason’s day led to rigid curriculums, monotonous drills, harsh discipline, and verbatim recitation. Later in the 19th century, this “mind as muscle” approach shaped much of American schooling, producing textbooks and teaching methods heavy on repetition but light on living ideas.
Charlotte Mason, however, saw the child’s mind differently. Mason’s philosophy trusts the child’s God-given capacity to engage with living ideas and reason now, not only at some later stage of development. Mason offers a richer and truer metaphor: the mind as a living, spiritual organism. She famously described it as a “spiritual octopus,” instinctively reaching out to grasp living ideas and “drawing in enormous rations” of knowledge. By “spiritual,” she did not mean narrowly religious, but the opposite of merely physical or material. Ideas coming from Scripture, poetry, fairy tales, nature, or history and can nourish the mind without requiring the child to physically experience them. Children do not need everything made concrete before they can understand it. Their imaginations are vast, their capacity for ideas profound. They are eager to reach into many streams of knowledge. The teacher’s role is not to pour in information, but to spread an opportunity for a child to engage.
Charlotte Mason, however, saw the child’s mind differently. Mason’s philosophy trusts the child’s God-given capacity to engage with living ideas and reason now, not only at some later stage of development. Mason offers a richer and truer metaphor: the mind as a living, spiritual organism. She famously described it as a “spiritual octopus,” instinctively reaching out to grasp living ideas and “drawing in enormous rations” of knowledge. By “spiritual,” she did not mean narrowly religious, but the opposite of merely physical or material. Ideas coming from Scripture, poetry, fairy tales, nature, or history and can nourish the mind without requiring the child to physically experience them. Children do not need everything made concrete before they can understand it. Their imaginations are vast, their capacity for ideas profound. They are eager to reach into many streams of knowledge. The teacher’s role is not to pour in information, but to spread an opportunity for a child to engage.
As Mason said, “The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.” When we view the child anything other than a born person all the responsibility for learning rests on the teacher’s curation and control. But Mason reminds us that the one who does the work does the learning. True education requires the child to act on ideas, not merely store them. This is why narration (retelling in the child’s own words) is so powerful. It moves knowledge from the “outer courts” (mere hearing) into the “inner courts” (personal possession and understanding). At Redwood, we reject dry, disconnected teaching or endless recitation for its own sake. Instead, we trust the Holy Spirit as the ultimate educator, guiding each child’s unique growth toward truth.