HISPANIC CM INITIATIVE

Our Goal

The Hispanic Charlotte Mason Initiative exists to provide support in English and Spanish for homeschooling families and schools in the United States who wish to include a Hispanic (Spanish and Latino) identity in their educational programs.

The Beginning

When I started my educational path, I had to create a bilingual, Hispanic-American Charlotte Mason program entirely from scratch. My students are bilingual and I knew that their education ought to include a historical spine from my home country (Chile) and the surrounding Latin American region and Spain, as well as American history and its ties to England and Europe.

Starting with History, it is not difficult to identify living books and complementary resources in English, given the abundance of CM programs in that language. The exploration of books and resources in Spanish is a new path and one that we tread slowly and carefully. Thanks to our community of Spanish-speaking Charlotte Mason educators, we have been able to identify living books for different education cycles and/or grades.

Many of our members are Hispanics in the United States, therefore that is our regional focus in the English language. From there, the options are several:

In Charlotte Mason's Words

"It is the duty of the nation to maintain relations of brotherly kindness with other nations; therefore it is the duty of every family, as an integral part of the nation, to be able to hold brotherly speech with the families of other nations as opportunities arise; therefore to acquire the speech of neighbouring nations is not only to secure an inlet of knowledge and a means of culture, but is a duty of that higher morality (the morality of the family) which aims at universal brotherhood; therefore every family would do well to cultivate two languages besides the mother tongue, even in the nursery." Parents and Children, Charlotte Mason

"We introduce children as early as possible to the contemporary history of other countries as the study of English history alone is apt to lead to a certain insular and arrogant habit of mind. [...] Perhaps the gravest defect in school curricula is that they fail to give a comprehensive, intelligent and interesting introduction to history. To leave off or even to begin with the history of our own country is fatal. We cannot live sanely unless we know that other peoples are as we are with a difference, that their history is as ours, with a difference, that they too have been represented by their poets and their artists, that they too have their literature and their national life." An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education, Charlotte Mason

Contact Us Today!

Let us know if you would like to receive a hand implementing or strengthening a Hispanic identity in your Charlotte Mason school/curriculum!

Jo can offer consultations for school and for home school educators offering some practical ideas to apply the Charlotte Mason method in Hispanic and/or bilingual contexts. Jo has experience seeking living books, identifying key cultural elements to include in a school curriculum and overarching school plans, planning bilingual curricula, among others. She includes unpublished translation of key documents from the PNEU and material that is customized for each consult reflecting hours of research, study and translation.

Consults are $50/hour via Phone, Google Meet or Skype, including materials and resources.

Send Me an Email to jo at charlottemasonespanol.org

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