meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Simply Charlotte Mason Homeschooling

How to Teach History the Charlotte Mason Way

Simply Charlotte Mason Homeschooling

Sonya Shafer

Education, Parenting, Kids & Family, How To, Self-improvement

4.8553 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With the Charlotte Mason method of living books and narration, history comes to life for your homeschool students.

How to Teach History the Charlotte Mason Way originally appeared on Simply Charlotte Mason.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Sonia Schaefer with Simply Charlotte Mason.

0:03.0

You know, too often history lessons are reduced to this dry, boring list of events and names and dates.

0:12.0

But history in a Charlotte Mason approach is more like meeting new friends and hearing about their life experiences.

0:21.8

Here's how to accomplish that.

0:33.2

To teach history, you need two things, living books about the various time periods and a

0:39.7

book of centuries.

0:41.6

Now living books are books that make the subject come alive.

0:46.5

For history, that means that the narratives help your students picture another time period

0:53.2

in their imaginations. The books act as introductions

0:58.5

to fellow human beings who are as we are, but with some differences. The chapters don't just

1:06.5

list a person's achievements. Rather, they're written in literary style and are designed to

1:13.4

give us a glimpse into that person's life during key moments in time and to make those

1:20.3

moments come alive in our mind's eye.

1:24.6

The other book that you need is the Book of Centuries. Now, a Book of Centuries is a timeline in a book.

1:31.3

Every two-page spread covers 100 years, a century, and that's why it's called a Book of Centuries.

1:39.3

This unassuming notebook is a linchpin in your student's whole education, but especially in

1:47.8

their history studies.

1:49.8

We have a free one available that you can download.

1:52.6

Check the description for a link.

1:57.0

The first thing to do is to pick a time period.

2:00.4

And this will be your starting point.

2:02.5

Then you'll proceed in chronological order from there.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sonya Shafer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sonya Shafer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.