Charlotte Mason Picture Study

When I first started reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas on education I was so encouraged. With a large family it is often hard to implement art and music. The CM method has allowed us to study both. I'm going to write just a little bit on Charlotte's philosophy on picture study. Now I am no expert on her style of teaching but the one thing I cherish is her ease of studying art with young children. I started when my kids were about 5-7 years old. We would take an artist, read a child's biography and then find books with paintings by that artist. First we would look at the picture and discuss the colors, what we liked or didn't like, the shadows, the scenery, things like that. Then we would turn the picture over and take turns remembering the details of the painting. It was always so interesting to see who remembered what. We have implemented this style of learning off in on through our years of studying art. It is a wonderful, relaxing way to introduce your children to the finer things in life.