Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. If you're listening to this podcast, you've most likely heard of Charlotte Mason's methods and her ideas about education. Perhaps you follow them in your own homeschool and have wonderful stories to tell about how well they work and how much your family is enjoying this type of living

education. But I wonder if you know Charlotte's story, the story of her life and her work.

Today I'd like to give you the short version. I'll hit the highlights. If you want more

details, let me recommend two books. The Story of

Charlotte Mason and In Memorium. Check the show notes for links. When Charlotte was eight

years old, a life-changing event occurred. Of course, she did not know it at the time, but later in life

she would put her finger on this event and identify it as a turning point. Here's how Charlotte

described what happened. We were lodging in one of a row of small brick houses, and on the

opposite side of the road was a wall overshadowed

by trees belonging to a big house at some little distance.

And one day, down this shady footpath, passed a tall lady with a dark shawl thrown scarf-wise

across her shoulders, a bonnet whose black strings

floated, and a whole train of tiny children holding onto her skirts and following her.

We were all interested.

And my mother found out through a friend who visited the school that this was the mistress of a girl's

school nearby.

The idea did not take shape at the time, but somehow I knew that teaching was the thing

to do, and above all, the teaching of poor children, like those I had been watching. The story of Charlotte Mason,

pages four and five. Charlotte's father was a merchant in Liverpool. He and his wife were avid readers,

and they home-educated Charlotte. But in the years leading up to the Civil War in America, Mr. Mason suffered heavy financial

losses, along with many other Liverpool merchants. If you've read Elizabeth Gaskell's book

North and South, you'll understand that relation. The strain of poverty was too much for Charlotte's delicate mother.

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