Are They Compatible? | Charlotte Mason & Waldorf | Waldorf Inspired Homeschool

The short answer is yes! The long answer is there needs to be some understanding on what can be combined and what cannot. There are some deep differences between the Waldorf and Charlotte Mason philosophy, and I will help break down some of the differences in the main lesson block versus the short varied lessons, the duration of lessons, and the use of living books versus storytelling. There are places within both philosophies in which they are compatible, and where there is that overlap, you can get the best of both worlds. During a main lesson, there are opening activities, review of previous lesson, the lesson work and the new learning. The main lesson takes about two hours. Comparatively, the Charlotte Mason approach advises short, varied lessons taking about 10 minutes when children are young and upwards of 30-40 minutes as students get older. To combine the two, use your opening activities to do several short lessons using living books. You can include your daily work to make it Charlotte Mason focused with work that is achievable and keeps the students' focus before they can tire or lose interest.

While Waldorf advocates for storytelling lesson, Charlotte Mason advises the use of Living Books. Living books are usually written by a single author who is passionate and knowledgeable about a topic who writes in an engaging way. Books and written work is arguably work that has been written and rewritten to the best quality. Facts have been checked, work has been edited and the author is presenting a final project that is her best work. Charlotte Mason advises presenting that high quality work in its original form rather than diluting it and reducing it with your own words which may include poor vocabulary or grammar or may not express the points as well. Conversely, in Waldorf, it is advised that information is first processed by the teacher who owns the information in order to deliver the lesson, not from a living book but that the teacher IS the living resource.

To combine the two, I use living books when I don't have time to prepare a main lesson. I use living books often in our open activities, and I use living books as research content for myself when preparing for a lesson.

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