Tucked away in northwest England, Ambleside continues to represent the geographical heart of a Charlotte Mason education for many. The stunning landscape of the region is punctuated by sparkling blue lakes, rolling green hills, and meadows adorned with wildflowers so celebrated by the poetry of William Wordsworth. While novelist Daniel Defoe declared it to be …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff After an opening article by Henrietta Franklin, the “memories” issue of The Parents’ Review continued with a reprint of Charlotte Mason’s “Educational Manifesto,” found today on page 214 of School Education. Next was an article by Essex Cholmondeley sharing memories about the House of Education under its second principal, Ellen …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff The May 1952 issue of The Parents’ Review was dedicated to looking back. But this was no mere nostalgia or reminiscence; always the view was towards linking the work of Charlotte Mason in the past to the new work of the present and the future. Some articles touched on specific …

Charlotte Mason wrote, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” In other words, “parents and teachers should know how to make sensible use of a child’s circumstances (atmosphere) to forward his sound education; should train him in the discipline of the habits of the good life; and should nourish his life with ideas, the …

In January we ran a series of vintage articles by Olive Norton, a homeschool mother of the 1950s and ’60s who became the headmistress of a PNEU School. She had a special connection with history because it was her school that the daughters of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay attended, and thus it was through Mrs. Norton …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff On November 23, 1897, the Rev. Herbert Spenser Swithinbank (1853–1937) gave an address to the Dulwich Branch of the PNEU. His text was Luke 2:43 from the English Revised Version: “the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.” By contrast, the King James Version reads, “the child Jesus tarried behind in …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff Readers of Charlotte Mason’s Home Education know the name Arthur Burrell from the chapter on recitation: “On this subject,” writes Charlotte Mason, “I cannot do better than refer the reader to Mr Arthur Burrell’s [book] Recitation.”[1] It is hard to imagine a stronger endorsement of Burrell’s 1891 Recitation: A Handbook …

Editor’s Note by Richele Baburina Little could Charlotte Mason imagine that one day the Annual Conference of the PNEU would be held at the House of Parliament. There, surrounded by portraits of England’s kings and queens, William Dyce’s oils of King Arthur and his court, along with mosaics, friezes, and sculptures depicting important moments in …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff Charlotte Mason’s most obvious link to John Ruskin is found in her lengthy quotation from Mornings in Florence in Parents and Children. Less obvious is the link from Ruskin to the practice of picture study in the House of Education, the Parents’ Union School, and homeschools today. This fascinating piece …

Editor’s Note, by Art Middlekauff Mary Gillies began her studies at Charlotte Mason’s House of Education in 1914. Six years later she joined the staff of the Burgess Hill PNEU School, serving as assistant mistress.[1] Burgess Hill had been founded in 1906 by Beatrice Goode and was notable for teaching girls through all six forms, …