Resources for the Co-op & Home Teacher

The Teacher's Notebook

Everything you need to teach Delight & Savor with confidence — the frameworks, the philosophy, the practical guides, and the posts from the field.

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What Is the Teacher's Notebook?

The Teacher's Notebook is the thinking-behind-the-teaching. It's where I explain the decisions I made when building each unit — why narration comes before writing, why we read Augustine alongside Brontë, why I structured the DELIGHT framework the way I did.

Whether you're a seasoned classical educator or brand new to Charlotte Mason, this is the place to understand not just what to do with these materials, but why each piece is there.

Every unit you purchase includes a teacher's guide. This page gives you the broader context — the philosophy, the frameworks, and the practical wisdom that holds it all together.

"The teacher's first job is not to explain — it is to get out of the way and let the book do its work."

Charlotte Mason argued that children — and older students — are not empty vessels to be filled with information. They are persons, capable of forming real relationships with ideas. The teacher's role is to introduce the best books, ask the right questions, and then trust the student to narrate back what they've encountered.

At the upper level, this looks different than it does for a seven-year-old. The narration becomes written argument. The retelling becomes analysis. The "what happened" becomes "what does this mean?" — and eventually, "what does this mean for how I should live?"

That progression — from encounter to narration to argument — is the backbone of every Delight & Savor unit. The Teacher's Notebook shows you how to walk students through it.

The Analytical Framework

The DELIGHT Framework

DELIGHT is the analytical structure woven through every unit. It gives students a repeatable set of moves for engaging a text — not a formula, but a scaffold that gradually becomes instinct. Each letter names a kind of attention.

D
Describe the Context

What is happening in the story at this moment? Who is speaking? What just happened? What's about to happen? Set the scene in 1–2 sentences.

E
Explore

What does the character want? Think about motivation, desire, fear, pride. What's at stake? What are they risking?

L
Look at the Language

What specific words or images stand out? What is the author doing with language? Look for unusual word choices, repeated words, imagery, figurative language, what's said vs. what's left unsaid.

I
Identify the Tone

How does this passage feel? Choose 2–3 tone words from the word bank provided. Tone is not what happens — it's the feeling underneath. Ask: if this passage were music, what would it sound like?

G
Gather the Big Idea

What is the deeper meaning? What truth is this passage reaching for? This isn't about plot — it's about what the passage reveals about being human.

H
Highlight the Quotation

Select and copy one important line from the passage. Choose the line that carries the most weight — the one you'd want to remember.

T
Tie Together

Connect this passage to something bigger — the living idea for the week, the Great Conversation thinker, another text, or your own experience. How does this moment fit into the larger story of what it means to be human?

How It Works in the Room

Narration in the Co-op

Narration is not a comprehension quiz. It's not a summary. It is the student's own re-telling — in their own words, from their own memory — of what they encountered in the text. Mason called it "the art of knowing." Here's how it unfolds across a 1.5-hour co-op session.

1

Opening Narration (10–15 min)

Without looking at notes, students narrate the assigned reading aloud — one at a time or as a group pass. The teacher listens, does not correct, and does not supply. The goal is to hear what actually landed. Gaps and confusions reveal what needs attention.

2

Discussion & DELIGHT Work (40–50 min)

The teacher guides the class through the week's DELIGHT focus — whether that's identifying the argument, examining patterns of language, or connecting the text to Augustine or Rousseau. Students use their handouts as a scaffold, not a script.

3

Written Narration or Response (15–20 min)

Students write — a narration paragraph, a DELIGHT response, or (in later weeks) a thesis draft. Writing begins orally and moves to the page gradually. By mid-semester, students are producing structured written argument.

4

Closing & Looking Ahead (5–10 min)

One student offers a closing narration — what did we think about today? The teacher previews the next week's reading and sends students off with a question to carry. The best co-op sessions end with students still talking in the parking lot.

Assessment

Grading & Rubrics

Grading in a Charlotte Mason upper-level course is weighted heavily toward major work — the things that demonstrate actual formation, not just compliance. Here's the breakdown used across all Delight & Savor units.

Category Weight Examples
Major Assessments 60% Recitation, compositions, creative projects, presentations, final thesis
Minor Assessments 40% Weekly narrations, handouts, commonplace checks, annotated bibliography

On Narration Grades

Narration is graded on completeness, accuracy, and the student's ability to organize what they encountered — not on sophistication. A faithful, honest narration from a struggling reader earns full marks. A polished-sounding summary that misses the point does not.

On the Honors Track

Honors Track students complete additional reading and produce more demanding written work. Their grading scale remains the same; the expectations are simply higher. Honors is a commitment, not a shortcut — it should stretch the student who is ready to be stretched.

From the Ranch & the Desk

Recent Posts

I write on Substack about what I'm teaching, what I'm reading, and what the ranch keeps teaching me about attention and formation. These are the posts most relevant to teachers using Delight & Savor.

On Living Books

Why Living Books Are Not Just "Good Books"

The difference between a living book and a merely good one is not quality — it's the animating presence of an author who cares deeply about their subject. Here's how I help students feel the difference.

Read on Substack

On Narration

Most Programs Over-Test and Under-Listen

We've replaced the oldest assessment in education — the oral narration — with multiple-choice tests and reading logs. Here's what we've lost, and how to get it back in your classroom.

Read on Substack

From the Ranch

What the Barn Taught Me About Attention

The goats don't care about your lesson plan. Neither does the horse with the swollen leg, or the calf who won't nurse. The ranch has made me a better teacher — here's how I bring that into the classroom.

Read on Substack
Read All Posts on Substack →

For Teachers New to Charlotte Mason

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions I hear most often from co-op teachers and homeschool parents who are new to the Charlotte Mason approach at the upper level.

No — the teacher's guides are written to explain the "why" alongside the "what." You don't need to have read Mason's volumes or attended a CM workshop. The framework is built into the handouts, and the teacher notes walk you through how to use it session by session. That said, if you're curious to go deeper, I recommend Mason's A Philosophy of Education (Volume 6) and Karen Glass's Consider This as excellent starting points.
Yes. The units are designed to meet students where they are. Narration doesn't require prior knowledge — only honest engagement with the text. A student who has never read Shakespeare can absolutely begin with Macbeth. The DELIGHT framework scaffolds the analytical work so that no one needs to arrive already knowing how to write a thesis. That's what we're building toward.
This is one of the most common challenges in co-op teaching. A few things that help: start with lower-stakes group narration before moving to individual turns; let reluctant students write their narration first and then read it aloud; frame narration as a gift to the class, not a performance for the teacher. Most students relax within three or four sessions once they realize there's no wrong answer — only honest or evasive ones.
The home study version is better suited to one-on-one work — it's paced and formatted differently. But if you've purchased the co-op version and want to adapt it, absolutely possible. The discussion prompts become conversation prompts; the group narration becomes written narration. The core content is identical between the two versions.
It happens. The absent student guides exist precisely for this reason — they allow students who missed a session or fell behind in the reading to re-enter the unit without derailing the class. For students who are consistently behind, I'd rather slow the reading pace than rush through the text. A book read slowly and well is worth more than a book "covered."
Not all at once. The framework is introduced gradually through the handouts — students encounter each move in practice before they see the full acronym. By Week 4 or 5, most students are using DELIGHT language naturally without thinking about it. That's the goal: internalized habit, not memorized formula.