Four years ago, two Catholic homeschooling moms "found"
 one another on a large (non-Catholic) Charlotte Mason e-mail
 forum.  Joining with other like-minded Catholic women, we
 decided to start our own Catholic Charlotte Mason forum so
 that we could freely discuss education as it relates to the
 Catholic faith.

 What we wanted, what we sought, was an educational
 lifestyle where our children thrived in the heart of our families.
 A domestic church alive with learning.

 From the start, we were never strictly CM - we couldn't be
 because Charlotte Mason wasn't Catholic. She didn't have the
 fullness of the faith, the Church, our Lady and perhaps most
 importantly of all, our beloved Lord present in the Eucharist.

 But she did have a lot to offer.

 Although not married and having no children of her own, she
 believed that parents were a child's best teacher.  She
 believed that education was "an atmosphere, a discipline and
 a life". Relationships were essential and living ideas were
 sustenance to a child's mind.  She knew that every child has an
 desire for knowledge but also noted that too many lessons,
 lectures and textbooks can destroy that desire.

 She charged that it is "not what we have learned but what we
 are waiting to learn that is the delectable part of knowledge"  and  "education that appeals to the desire for wealth (marks,
 prizes, scholarships, or the like), or to the desire of excelling,
 or to any other of the natural desires, except that for
 knowledge, destroys the balance of character; and . . . that
 desire for and delight in knowledge which is meant for our joy
 and enrichment through the whole of life."

 She encouraged the use living books in the place of textbooks
 whenever possible - allowing textbooks to be a "medium of
 ideas " rather than a "receptacle for facts" .  It is, she told us,
 living books that supply the sustenance of ideas (or food for
 thought) that are vital to true learning.

 And so much more . . .

 Charlotte Mason is not the be all, end all. Jesus Christ is.  
 Yet, we do  believe God has allowed the ideas of a 19th
 century British educator to speak a message to us about
 education and life.

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