Welcome, Charlotte Mason friends!

While our classes are based on the award-winning classical Christian Tapestry of Grace curriculum, there are many striking similarities that we think might blend well with the Charlotte Mason approach to educating children. Here are just a few:

We Focus on Big Ideas

Our classes focus on big, beautiful ideas, rather than just memorizing facts. We spread a feast using living books that spark the imagination. And, we linger and look for the ideas that ruled the people and works we study, comparing those ideas to God's perfect Word.  

We Build Character

By focusing on what is good, true, noble, and beautiful, we think deeply with students, talking about those big ideas and the principles behind them, encouraging them to cultivate godly character and a love for God and the world around them. 

We Value the Child

We view each child as a whole person, not a developmental age, and work with parents to place students in the perfect course. Because we keep our class sizes small, teachers get to know each student, and students find our classes to be the perfect environment to explore and stretch and grow.  
"Every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from above."
​--Charlotte Mason

However . . . 

We also want to be clear about ways that we vary from our understanding of Charlotte Mason's approach:
  • Since our classes meet once per week for 60 or 90 minutes, we spend more time on a topic in one sitting than younger Charlotte Mason students might be accustomed to. At the younger stages, we break up that 60-minute class into different activities, such as praying together, dictation, informal narration, recitation, discussion, and games, but students are still on-task in the classroom for 60 minutes each week.
  • While living books are our bread and butter, we also use other great books, such as Usborne books. For a better understanding of the Tapestry of Grace whole-books philosophy, READ THIS explanation on the Tapestry website.
  • Rather than reading a few living books concurrently, our literature classes work through one classic piece at a time. Many weeks, students also read about the author's life and culture or about literary concepts we encounter in that book that week. But, we study one great book at a time, sprinkling several weeks of poetry, plays, and other genres throughout the school year. 

Still have questions?

With teachers on staff who blended our classes with the Charlotte Mason approach with their own children, we are able to help you explore how you might fit right into our Lucerna family, as we look for God's fingerprint in every subject we study.