We look to the old PNEU Programmes to see what a Charlotte Mason style education included term by term. These programmes were used by Parent Union Schools (PUS) across the country, and they were also mailed to homes for the first homeschooling families to use.
This one is from the CM Digital Collection, but you can also view several on Ambleside online.
By studying these we are able to see all of the subjects that were covered and the books used over the course of a term. They are very interesting to look at, and we can learn things that aren’t made clear elsewhere. For instance, I find it interesting that over and over again, only a portion of a book is used.
Typically the book is picked up in the next term.
Despite the seemingly small page counts, the list can still be intimidating at first glance. But Charlotte Mason and the PNEU had a tool to help teachers get through all of the material set forth in the Programmes: a schedule. 
Take a closer look, click on the image above. For a print quality copy, click here: PUS Schedules
These schedules, otherwise knows as the Time-tables, are a lot to take in, and frankly it’s taken me quite some time to figure out all of their idiosyncrasies. But they are definitely worth studying.
The schedules were used primarily by the PUS, in classrooms with 20-30 children, between six and eighteen years old. It was typical for these schools to have four or five assistants available to help the teacher. The schedules were an accompaniment to the term programme, but they were not the law. In fact teachers were advised to use them as a starting place to creating a schedule that would work best for their school.
“The P.U.S. time-table is intended to serve simply as a guide to the teacher in making her own, for it stands to reason that no two schoolrooms are identical as regards the work done, or the time allotted it.“ – Elsie Kitching, What Subjects to Leave Out of Class II When Time is Limited.
In I Buy A School, the author was charged with the task of creating the year’s schedule early in her career:
“Another boost to morale was Lanc asking me to shut myself up for an afternoon and plan the timetables for the whole school. I almost put her down to gather the youngest children round in her sitting room (Lady Royden’s study) to read to them after tea but thought it might seem cheek.” – Marion Berry, I Buy A School, pg 66
Although only morning hours are covered on these schedules, there were specific schedules adhered to in the afternoons as well. You will also note that the schedules included Saturdays. We know that not all of the schools were in session on Saturday though, because K. Clendinned notes in the article On the Possibility of Doing P.U.S. Work While Keeping Strictly to the Time-Tables that “There is no Saturday school.”
Looking more closely we see that everyone started school at 9:00 am, but Form I (1-3 grade) ended at 11:30, Form II (4-6 grade) ended at 12:00, and everyone else continued until 1:00. The length of lessons increased over time as well, with Form I students completing lessons within a twenty minute time frame and Form V and VI (11-12 grade) topping out at forty-five minutes for a lesson.
Bible was only scheduled on four of those six days of school. It’s possible that this is indicative of a time when Christian families read the Bible at home daily. You’ll notice that the Bible lessons were scheduled at the same time for all forms. That does not mean that they were actually doing it together, but it is possible. In I Buy a School, Marion Berry tells several stories which are set during “morning prayer time”, when the whole school was present.
Play time or drill, (drill being a structure time of physical activity,) was scheduled in the middle of the day for all forms. K. Clendinned comments that, “Where there is a considerable number of children they must as a rule all drill together and all play together.” And also that, “The big girls are the making of play-time. They have learnt to use ten minutes so well.” So, although the schedule does not show an overlap of drill and play time for all forms, it seemed important to some that it do indeed overlap.
It’s interesting to look at how long was spent on various subjects. Foreign language gets started in Form 1 (1-3 grade), but by the time they were in Form III (7-8 grade) they were spending over 6 hours a week on 4 different languages! Conversely, time spent on the sciences totaled 2 hours and 15 minutes in high school. Not including outdoor time in the afternoon, of course. The ratio of these two subjects is not at all typical for today’s schools or homeschools. In fact, we might find the two switched today.
Lastly, notice that arithmetic, algebra and geometry were all being done in the same week in upper years. You might also note how much time is scheduled for “mental math” in the middle school years.
There are some things that are listed on the programmes, which seem to be missing on the schedules. Some of those things were scheduled in the afternoon, like:
- Music appreciation
- Music lessons
- Picture study
- Drawing
- Handicraft
But some omissions are not as easily explained. The following notes are just my speculation:
- Folk song – It’s possible that this wasn’t listed because it was more common for people to sing folk songs during that time in history. Maybe it didn’t need to be scheduled. However, in modern times it might be appropriate to included folk songs as part of a history lesson.
- Literature (in Forms 2 and 3) – Literature was often and afternoon activity. It was also sometimes read in another language, so at times you might see a foreign language on the schedule, but they were actually reading literature in that other language. Also, Literature was listed on the programmes as optional Holiday and Evening reading.
- Copywork/transcription (in the upper forms) – Students in the upper forms kept their own Common Place books. Their “copywork” was likely to record sections of their choosing in those books.
I hope this helps you understand what a morning schedule looked like in Charlotte Mason’s time. Tomorrow we will take a quick look at the afternoon schedule.
Related:
Preparing a CM Schedule Main Page
A Charlotte Mason Afternoon Schedule
I am finding this series so helpful! I've sat and stared at the PNEU schedules quite a bit over the last couple years, but I've never been able to implement anything particularly useful. I feel like my attempts to use them have lead more to anxiety than to anything productive or helpful. I think I'm ready to look a little more closely now though, and see if I can learn more about making my schedule my servant rather than my angst producing master.
Your video introduction was wonderful, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this series progresses.
Just wanted to note that the French and German songs are most likely folk songs! And the dances were most likely folk song/dances too! 🙂 Unless the French and German songs were songs made for language learning but in a CM school that is unlikely!
Hi I wondered if your u could shed any light on ‘printing’ in the form 1 schedule?
Also on a side note, I love that writing and brush drawing are placed together!
Think of it as copywork. Later they will begin a fancier copywork, but for now they are just printing.
~Nicole
Do you know what exactly is meant by “reading”?
Thanks so much!
I’m curious. In Form III, there are supposed to be three streams of history: your own country , a neighboring country, and ancient history. But in the schedule for Form III here, I see English History and French History … but I don’t see any slot for Ancient History. I’m assuming that’s different from Greek or Roman Lives (which must be Plutarch, right? … although in Form II, we have “Plutarch’s Lives”).
It’s interesting, too, that Form IV has “European History” and Forms V and VI have “General History.” I had thought Forms IV, V, and VI were on a four-year cycle through European History. What’s “General History”?
In looking at this schedule It feel hopeful! Clearly its a lot to cover so it can but if it could be done then, it can be done now. One question, do you know what OT & NT stand for?
Thank you!
Anne
Hello, Anne. That stands for Old Testament and New Testament.
I attended a CM conference last week where I heard from many people that implementing the schedule is what got them on the REAL road to doing a Charlotte Mason curriculum. Before that things were harder than they needed to be. Over and over I am told it’s a game changer, so give it a try. I know you won’t regret it.
~Nicole
Hello Nicole,
Looking at the programmes above I notice only one Shakespeare play and one Plutarch life. That is very heartening because I have felt bad about only making it through one play a year and not being able to accomplish the Ambleside rotation. I am adding Plutarch this year and was a bit fearful I would not be able to do that full rotation. Am I reading this right? Should I just be content with one of each 🙂 ?
Hello Nicole,
Never mind. I see now it was for one term. I guess we will be content doing what we can.
Thank you for all you do. It is much appreciated!
Nicole, hello! I just attended your scheduling session at the retreat, and I wondered why the P.U.S. schedule as listed here for Form 1B does not list Literature and History readings (just Geography and Natural History). I found this interesting because not only the contemporary schedule assumes a 5-day week, it also adds readings?
Or are those included in the “Reading” heading? I have two Form 1B students – twins, thought they are at different reading ability levels. The stronger reader may not yet be strong enough to be left on her own – would I need to throw in two individual reading lessons, too?
It tells you that you need to rebalance.
Can you explain the difference between “tales” and “reading”? In your Matrix for Form1, under Literature/Tales and History, you say “See Reading”. I had always interpreted “reading” to be *reading lessons* for Form 1 beginning readers (e.g. phonics, sight and sound lessons, etc). But then the times don’t seem to fit, since CM doesn’t want beginner’s reading lessons any longer than 15-20 min per lesson. So are you saying “reading” is the actual literature/geography/history/nat history readings from our trade books? And then that would mean phonics/reading lessons are missing from the matrix? I’m just confused I guess. (in the original PUS timetables, there are specific times listed for History readings, literature readings, and natural history readings scattered through the week, and then separate times listed daily for “reading” hence why I assumed that was the phonics portion of the day. ) Any light you can shed on this would be so helpful, as this aspect has always made using the Matrix /time-table approach very confusing and disorienting for me with my two Form 1 students. Thanks!