The Mason-McGuffey Lesson Book

The Mason - McGuffey Lesson book was created to use along side the McGuffey readers and other similar readers. Although it is my aim to inspire others to fall in love with the hidden gem that the McGuffey Readers are, I left these lesson pages very open-ended so one could use them with any book they desire.

When you combine Charlotte Mason’s methods of narration, dictation and copywork to the literary treasures of McGuffey, you will have a beautiful foundation for language arts in your homeschool.

To start, choose your reader and apply the following of Mason’s methods to the McGuffey reader (or reader of choice). I recommend doing one McGuffey Lesson and break it down into daily tasks. In our homeschool, we use one method per day for each lesson, but please do what works best for your family’s needs.

EXAMPLE:

Monday:
Have the child read the lesson aloud as eloquently as she can. Paying attention to pronunciation, punctuation and speaking clearly. Then I would have her narrate the lesson back to me in her own words and she would have the option of drawing a picture to go with the lesson. For young children we do oral narrations and I write down everything they say and read it back to them at the end. Older children might write the narrations on their own.

Tuesday:
Read over the list of spelling words in the lesson and write them. There is space to define any new unfamiliar words your child might come upon. For younger children I will write the words down myself and they will copy them under my writing.

Wednesday:
Copy a phrase or sentence from the lesson. For this I will also write the phrase down for my girls to copy underneath.

Thursday:
Study a phrase or sentence from the McGuffey lesson and then dictate it.

At any time during the week you might choose to re-read the lesson for practice excellent articulation.