Ourselves (The Home Education Series)

I love all of Charlotte Mason’s book, and this one is no exception! I highly recommend starting with book 1 and working through all of them, but if you are needed to get into the nitty gritty of her educational philosophy, then read book 6.

This review is for the Living Book Press edition of Ourselves - I was so excited to learn about the CM Home Education Series books finally being re-printed and published. I wanted the pink ones, but didn't want to pay the outrageous prices, so I had to read them online and/or have them pushed to my Kindle. Now I have an actual easy to carry book in my hands. I can make quick margin notes and have an easy go to reference any time.

Awesome book! Got it here for a great price. Was able to put my set together one at a time for half the price of buying it all together.

Perfect

Amazing book for any age

We enjoy the book, however the binding is disappointing. The pages are falling out. I’m outside the return window now, or I’d return for a hopefully better bound copy.

Charlotte Mason's writings are wonderful. This is formatted well for kindle and looks to be free of errors. However, there are no page numbers, which definitely knocks off a star for me.

This book is one that Charlotte Mason wrote for children in the 1920's.In it, she discusses a place called "Mansoul" (Man's Soul) and the people who live in it: "Lord Chief Explorer," (who represents imagination,) "Gluttony", "Rest", and lots of others. After introducing "Mansoul" and the "people," the rest of the books focuses on good or bad traits or habits, such as Courage, Kindness, Conscience, Pity, Love, Faith, etc. Charlotte Mason offers suggestions for how to improve these good habits or traits in your own life, and how to decrease the bad habits or traits. While it is a great idea, it can get annoying hearing these habits/traits spoken of as "people" and her continually referring to the "Mansoul." Also, as sometimes happens with older books directed toward children, it's hard to say what age this would be right for. It seems too advanced for very young children, but too young for older ones.The ideas in this book are somewhat mature and could be hard for a child to follow. At the same time, I read this book, and am older than the suggested "child" (16) and thought this book somewhat condescending at times (probably because she is speaking to a child) and I found the whole idea of "Mansoul" and the traits/habits as people rather annoying. I think this book would be best for a parent and younger child (8-10) to read together, or an older child (10-12) to read alone. All in all, I would say it is worth a read. Maybe not as a cover-to-cover type book, but still worth reading segments. I am giving it 3 stars, because I didn't really like or enjoy it, it was just okay.