Charlotte Mason

Relational Education

Gillingham offers a Relational Education based on the ideas of British educator and reformer, Charlotte Mason (1842-1923). Her philosophy is deeply rooted in two primary principles:

  • Children are persons and have a natural desire to learn and to live fully.

  • We offer students a “banquet of learning” to put them in relationship with the vast inheritance of knowledge around them—with others, ideas, and the natural world—through rich language and real experiences.

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Narrative Report Cards

Charlotte Mason Institute Assessment

PSSA and Keystone Scores

Student and Parent Surveys

Living Ideas, Living Books, and Living Things

We read the best, well-written books full of inspiring and engaging (thus living) ideas that are rich in vocabulary. Traditional textbooks, dry facts, and books that are “busy” with too many pictures are avoided. All students act, experiment, read the classics, sing, read and act Shakespeare, speak Spanish or Latin, paint, walk in nature, dance, type, garden, eat outside, and read orally. Students write narrations, play instruments, and do chores in their classrooms and around the schoolhouse. Upper school students compete in a sport and complete an internship program to graduate.
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