What To Do With A Gifted Child in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool
I’ve shared before that my a large part of our homeschool origin story had to do with the fact that we were a single income family and preschool was expensive. Years before a universal preschool program was established in our home sate, we had to make a decision regarding our child’s academic future. And while it’s easy to look back from the world of Charlotte Mason and laugh about how anxious I was over my toddler’s academic standing…I did worry.
Ultimately, we made the decision to homeschool her for preschool. Armed with a plethora of learning activities, worksheets, and a laminating machine, I set out to prepare this small human for kindergarten. Prepare her I did. We learned basic math, letters, letter sounds, and at the ripe old age of 4, she was reading fairly fluently. It wasn’t uncommon for my 5 year old to collect chapter books like Pokemon cards and read through them quickly.
Along the way I discovered the Charlotte Mason philosophy and began to implement aspects of her methodology into our home, while still maintaining academic rigor for my daughter.
When the time came to consider enrolling her her kindergarten, I had one prevailing worry.
If you’re a homeschooling mom, I can only assume at some point you brought home a report card with the comment, “social butterfly” on it. Maybe that’s just me…but I don’t think so. I also received comments like, “friend of everyone”, “highly social”, and “distraction to herself and others”. Ouch to that last one.
I looked at my sweet baby girl and worried that her academic skills would put her in a position to receive similar comments. Would her days end up being a dose of corrections that would ultimately frustrate her and break her spirit? This isn’t a commentary on teachers or public schools. Lord knows teachers are dong their absolute best and with 15-25 kindergartners in the class, there is a level or order that needs to be maintained. We ultimately decided to homeschool her for kindergarten, and we continue to make that decision every year.
As she’s grown, her academic achievements have been nurtured and I’ve learned how best to meet her needs.
In a traditional school setting, gifted kids often end up in special programs or advanced tracks. But if you’re following the Charlotte Mason method, you might be wondering how that fits into the picture. This method of learning already makes room for children with different strengths and struggles. One of the beautiful things about a Charlotte Mason education is that you don’t have to make many changes to account for your child’s personhood.
““The question is not, — how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education — but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?””
An important thing to remember in a Charlotte Mason education is that you’re not trying to cram as many arbitrary facts into your child as you can. You’re teaching them to care about their education and building large and wide rooms together.
A Feast for All Children
Charlotte Mason talked about education as a feast. She believed that every child should have a wide and generous spread of ideas laid before them. That means history, literature, science, poetry, music, and the various liberal art studies. Some children will savor each bite, taking their time. Others will rush through and ask for seconds. Both are welcome at the table.
When you have a gifted child, it’s tempting to push them forward as fast as they can go in subjects where they excel. But one of the best things about a Charlotte Mason education is that it encourages depth, not just speed. A child who finishes a reading assignment quickly isn’t necessarily done. They can dig deeper. They can make connections. They can reflect. Instead of accelerating, we can stretch. Education is a science of relations, so children will naturally begin to see and make connections organically as they are introduced to various concepts. This allows gifted children to make the connections that are meaningful to them.
Structured Learning for a Gifted Child
Since Charlotte Mason’s approach is already rich and layered, you may not need to make drastic changes. But you can be intentional about how you challenge your child in a structured way.
1. Keep Lessons Short but Meaningful
Even if your child could work longer, short lessons build the habit of attention. If they speed through their math work, they can use the extra time for enrichment. Maybe they work through more challenging problems or explore math in a real-world setting. When you’re in a homeschool setting, you don’t have to work on a traditional time table, if your child is willing and able to enthusiastically complete additional math lessons in their free time and they have a passion for math…let them! One aspect of a Charlotte Mason education is free afternoon hours in which a child is able to pursue their own interests. We shouldn’t hinder our children for setting out in their own way, various academic subjects, but we also don’t have to push them learn more and be better.
2. Deepen Their Narration
A gifted child might recall every detail of a passage without much effort. Instead of stopping at a basic retelling, encourage different forms of narration. They might write a letter from one character to another, act out a scene, or compare the themes of one book to another they’ve read.
3. Offer Richer Reading
Charlotte Mason’s approach already leans toward high-quality literature, but you can introduce books that stretch your child’s thinking even further. Primary sources in history. Classic literature with layered themes. Science books that explain not just the what, but the why. Re-visiting what I said in the first point, we can lay an additional feast of beautiful free reads while also not pushing them too hard.
4. Let Them Teach
One of the best ways to solidify knowledge is to teach it to someone else. A gifted child might enjoy explaining a concept to a younger sibling, writing their own study guide, or even creating a short video about what they’ve learned.
Organic Learning in Everyday Life
Beyond structured lessons, your home is full of natural opportunities for your gifted child to grow.
1. Follow Their Curiosity
A gifted child often asks big questions. Let them. Instead of always giving them the answer, guide them toward resources where they can find it themselves. Living books. Museum visits. Conversations with experts.
2. Let Them Create
A child who moves quickly through lessons often has more time for creativity. They might write their own stories, compose music, sketch detailed illustrations, or design experiments. The act of creating stretches their thinking in ways that traditional schoolwork does not.
3. Emphasize Habits and Character
A quick mind doesn’t always come with patience, diligence, or humility. A gifted child might struggle with frustration when something isn’t easy. They might rush through work instead of giving their best effort. They might even become prideful about their intelligence. Charlotte Mason reminds us that education is not just about filling a child’s mind but shaping their character. Habits matter just as much as knowledge.
4. Give Them Time to Be a Child
Most importantly, gifted kids are kids. A child who seems years ahead in one area is still just that, a child. They need time outdoors. They need play. They need wonder. It’s okay if they read at a high school level but still build forts in the backyard. Their childhood is just as important as their intellect.
The Gift of a Rich Education
If you have a gifted child, you don’t have to reinvent your homeschool. The Charlotte Mason method is already designed to serve children of all abilities. Offer the feast. Let them go deep. Encourage good habits. And most of all, let them love learning for learning’s sake.
Education after all is the science of relations. When we are laying the feast for them, we are letting them go mind to mind with thinkers, philosophers, and historical figures. The ideas they come across will be processed and synthesized in different ways. One of the best freedoms we can give them it time and space to process these ideas and make connections.
