A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY

CHARLOTTE MASON YOUR WAY FORM 2 GUIDE

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PLENARY PREFACE

Thank you for choosing A Charlotte Mason Plenary! This Guide lists each subject in Form 2, books that

were used, notes on each subject, and scheduling information. My goal is to help you design a personal-

ized “Charlotte Mason Your Way” curriculum that fits your family.

There are 3 steps to this guide:

Step #1: Overview of Form 2 Subjects

Step #2: The Charlotte Mason Your Way Quiz

Step #3: Your Custom Schedule

Step #1: An Overview of Form 2 Subjects will give you information on which subjects were taught and

which books Charlotte chose for her students.

My source information for this guide comes from analyzing more than 10 years worth of Charlotte Ma-

son’s original PNEU Programmes from 1920-1933. These Programmes list the curriculum used by students

in the PNEU Schools.

All of Charlotte’s Programmes are divided by Form. Forms are like grade levels, but they allow for

more flexibility in meeting the educational needs of a child. Forms are elastic, allowing the teacher to

stretch or contract the amount and difficulty of work based on a child’s ability and needs.

Form 2 roughly correlates with U.S. Grades 4-6:

Form 2B = Grade 4

Form 2A = Grades 5 and 6

“The children are between [the ages of] nine and twelve, occasionally over twelve. They

have twenty-one ‘subjects,’ and about twenty-five books are used. They work from 9 to 12

each day, with half an hour’s interval for games and drill.” (Vol. 3, pg 280)

For more information on Forms, please see Understanding Forms in a Charlotte Mason Education.

This guide is a compilation of information taken from many Programmes. I have included what is most

consistent throughout the Programmes. In most subjects, I have listed books that Charlotte actually used.

Whenever possible, each title will be linked to an in-print edition and/or a public domain version for your

convenience.

I have included this information to help you in selecting your own books. Viewing the actual book that

Charlotte used for a given subject will give you an insight into why she chose it, what makes it a living

book, what makes it appropriate for this age range, and what to look for in choosing a modern equivalent.

I have also listed a few books that I personally recommend. To see additional living books recommenda-

tions, please see our page Living Books and Resources for Charlotte Mason Subjects.

Once you have completed the Form 2 Overview, then move on to:

Step #2: The Charlotte Mason Your Way Quiz.

This is a fun exercise that will show you your strengths as a family. We want to identify those

strengths and build a solid foundation on them!

You will use your results from the Quiz when you get to Step #3: Creating Your Custom Schedule.

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Your schedule is the machine that keeps your homeschool going. Once in place, it takes all the deci-

sion work out of your day – you simply move on to the next thing on your schedule. A simple schedule is

easily tweaked and improved. An overly complex schedule can be difficult to change and can become a

burden. We want to keep it simple and stress-free! Less stress, more joy!

The entire process of Steps 1-3 will help set you up for ongoing success.

One more thing – I also want to encourage you to read Charlotte’s original Home Education Series for

yourself. Her words are so inspiring and so helpful for developing the atmosphere of your home, the disci-

pline you’ll need each day, and the beauty of the life you want to cultivate. After all, education is “an at-

mosphere, a discipline, a life.”

Start with Volume 1. There is a wealth of advice and knowledge in it’s pages.

I recommend The Plenary Annotated Edition, as the annotations and additional information really help

you better understand Charlotte’s words and historical context.

You can purchase Home Education: The Plenary Annotated Edition of Volume 1 as a paperback book

on Amazon or as a downloadable PDF on The Plenary website.

And thank you for choosing The Plenary!

Rachel Lebowitz A CHARLOTTE MASON PLENARY

CHARLOTTE MASON YOUR WAY FORM 2 GUIDE

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CHARLOTTE MASON YOUR WAY FORM 2 GUIDE

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FORM 2

OVERVIEW OF FORM 2 SUBJECTS STEP #1

STEP #1

BIBLE / RELIGIOUS STUDY Refer to Vol. 1, pages 248-253 / Vol. 6, pages 158-163

Charlotte’s Form 2 students had a teacher read-aloud to them “suitable stories” from the King James

Version of the Christian Bible. She assigned only the most common Bible stories. Students also began a

daily private Bible reading.

If you are a family with another faith such as Judaism, Hinduism, Muslim, etc., please use the religious

text applicable to your faith. Use Charlotte’s example of reading-aloud only the most well-known and

suitable stories for young children.

If you are not a religious family, feel free to replace with world religions or spiritual stories. Elements

such as character building, virtues, and morality are woven into many other subjects, especially Literature,

History, and Citizenship. You can also add in world religions at a later date.

See our Religious Studies page for more options.

Books used:

a. King James Version of the Christian Bible – Teachers to read-aloud “suitable stories.”

b. Teachers also used a commentary set called The Bible for School and Home by J. Paterson Smyth.

The first book in the series is The Book of Genesis. Charlotte scheduled lessons from these

commentaries. Many parents still use this set of commentaries.

c. Optional Sunday Reading: Charlotte also had this optional category which included books such as hero

stories, faith tales, and tales of other cultures. Specific books mentioned in this category include:

▪ The Red Book of Heroes by Mrs. Lang

▪ Wigwam Stories Told by North American Indians by Mary Catherine Judd

▪ Tales from Westminster Abbey by Mrs. Frewen Lord

See our Religious Studies page for more options.

COPYWORK / HANDWRITING Refer to Vol. 1, pages 233-240

Copywork began in Form 1 with simple lessons on writing strokes and then individual letters. Once a

student mastered every letter, he began writing sentences for copywork.

Choose a sentence or two from the student’s reading books. The length of each sentence will depend

on how long your student will tolerate the activity of handwriting. Gradually increase the length of the

selected passage to include 2-3 sentences as your student builds hand strength and confidence.

Copywork and dictation teach most of the language arts categories: spelling, grammar, and

punctuation. Students should hand-write the chosen passage, taking note of capitalization, punctuation,

and any words that he may not know how to spell, as well as doing his best in formation of letters.

Charlotte used:

a. A New Handwriting by Mary Monica Waterhouse Bridges

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b. Instructions to students were to transcribe “two perfectly written lines every day … from some of

your favorite passages” in their lesson books

GRAMMAR / COMPOSITION Refer to Vol. 6, pages 209-211

To add grammar in Form 2, simply point out one part of speech at a time within each passage, working

your way through all the parts of speech. For example, work on finding all the nouns for a week or more

until your student is confident in his ability to identify a noun, then introduce verbs, etc.

Charlotte instructed students to analyze and describe (parse) Subjects, Verbs, and Objects. Books used

included:

FORM 2 STEP #1