Charlotte Mason Devotions for the Child's Devotional Life

Many parents would like to do Bible devotions with their children but are hesitant to start. What do devotions look like for children? Where should you start, what should you read, and how should you proceed? What are the goals and what exactly is the purpose of devotions?

Charlotte Mason, a British educator during the late 19th to early 20th century, wrote six volumes on the education of the child. She discloses that just as there are laws with underlying principles of science, math, music, art etc.; there are also a underlying laws and principles of a child's education. In her volumes she not only explains and expands on the principles, as they were applied across England in homeschools and Parents' Union schools, but she also gives very practical advice for the carrying out of this method of education. Miss Mason also instructs parents in the "why" and "how to" of their duty to bring their children to the Lord and the Lord to their children through their daily devotions. These devotions form a framework that will aid the child all his life with habits for living a devotional life of loving his God and serving Him well.

In this plan, Charlotte Mason Devotions for the Child's Devotional Life, I use as its sources the writings of Miss Mason on the child's religious education and "some unconsidered aspects" in their religious training in volume 1 and 3 as well as three articles for the Religious Education of Children in the Home. These articles were published in Miss Mason's Parent's Review of September 1906. They aid in and supplement the parents' efforts in the child's devotions for the devotional life. One article provides a full plan for devotions according to the ages of the children, another covers introducing prayer to children, and Miss Mason wrote the third article on meditation for children. These articles were personally selected by Miss Mason to aid parents in establishing the habit of devotions and other religious habits in their children. They contain all that the parent needs to plan, set up, start, and continue their child's devotions consisting of worship, Bible reading, meditation, and prayer.

I took Miss Mason's writings on the child's spiritual education as well as the writings of 3 articles on the Religious Education of Children in the Home, to put together a step-by-step method for your child's devotions: The Charlotte Mason Devotions for the Child's Devotional Life. This plan may be used from the time they can sit and listen to you read or tell a little bit of the Bible to their teen years and beyond, when they will carry on their devotions on their own. This plan offers a blueprint map to parents on what the child's devotions and religious habits training need to consist of, how to introduce these ideas, and how to proceed until the child carries these habits on for himself.

This PDF contains three documents The Charlotte Mason Devotions for the Child's Devotional Life packet, The Charlotte Mason Devotions Planning Journal, and The Resource Packet. There are over 150 pages to guide you along your way. The Charlotte Mason Devotions packet explains the philosophy behind the method and contains a Devotions Plan to help the parents understand and set up devotions for their child's/children's devotional life to the Lord. The Planning Journal contains pages for planning with sample schedules and tables as well as writing space to answer the questions posed in the Charlotte Mason Devotions packet. I have also included a free resource to take you through your first year's daily Bible readings. The Resource Packet contains all the Bible passages (in ESV and KJV) and other aids mentioned by the 3 authors from the sources. I have also provided links to more modern resources if you would like to use them.

Miss Mason tells parents that they have a duty and hold the keys to their child's spiritual or religious education. She wrote much on this subject and now you hold the plan and method she suggested on how to accomplish this in your hands. May it serve you, and your children well and may you bring glory to the Lord through it.