About Write from History--A Charlotte Mason Writing Program

The principles in Write from History are based on the work of Ms. Charlotte
Mason. She advocated that children of the grammar or elementary stage
practice narration, copywork, and dictation when learning to write.   Most
modern classical-education writing programs use similar methods for beginning
writers--rewriting a narrative, copywork, and dictation. These methods are
seen throughout various curricula because these methods work!

Ms. Mason provided her students with passages from living books and used
these passages as the foundation from which she taught them to write. After
hearing or reading the story, the students put the story into their own words.
Younger students dictated their stories to their teacher; older students
rewrote the story themselves.   Through the use of copywork, the students
learned the mechanics of grammar and were exposed to complex sentence
structure. And finally, studied dictation provided the students the opportunity
to focus on spelling and practice grammar mechanics.

Write from History applies all of these techniques in the context of historically
relevant passages, poetry, and cultural tales. Write from History is divided
into four chapters: short stories from living books, text excerpts from primary
source documents, poetry, and cultural tales. For Chapter I, short stories that
give insight into people, places, and events from the time period studied have
been selected. Chapter II contains excerpts from primary source documents
including, but not limited to, essays, letters, and government documents.
Chapter III contains poetry from and about the time period studied. Chapter
IV contains cultural myths and tales from various countries.

About Write from History