{"id":4710,"date":"2025-04-05T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/?p=4710"},"modified":"2025-04-05T08:22:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T13:22:22","slug":"the-personhood-of-the-child-book-review-of-deani-van-pelt-and-jen-spencers-students-as-persons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalrenaissance.com\/2025\/04\/05\/the-personhood-of-the-child-book-review-of-deani-van-pelt-and-jen-spencers-students-as-persons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Personhood of the Child: Book Review of Deani Van Pelt and Jen Spencer’s Students as Persons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this series, I want to review and highlight the Charlotte Mason Centenary Series of monographs released in 2023. The 18 books in this series are brief and readable volumes that encapsulate a diverse range of topics related to the life, writings and philosophy of Charlotte Mason. My intention is to select a few of the volumes to spark your interest in Charlotte Mason as she is studied by modern proponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I wrap up this series of reviews, we turn to Students as Persons: Charlotte Mason on Personalism and Relational Liberal Education<\/a><\/em> by Deani Van Pelt and Jen Spencer. One of the key tenets of Mason\u2019s pedagogy is the statement that \u201cchildren are persons.\u201d This book delves deeply into this foundational philosophical concept by looking at personalist theory and differentiating personhood from individualism. This is an important book that covers a lot of ground in just over 60 pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deani Van Pelt<\/a> has been a leading voice in Charlotte Mason education, championing school choice in Canada and adding to our knowledge of Charlotte Mason through her research. The is the current board chair for the Charlotte Mason Institute and is Scholar-in-Residence in Charlotte Mason Studies, University of Cumbria, England. Van Pelt is not only the series editor of the 18 monographs in the Centenary Series, this book is one of two volumes she has had a hand in writing in the series. Co-author Jen Spencer has likewise been a leader within the Charlotte Mason movement, having led study groups and founding a school. Her work includes the digitization of Mason archives at the Armitt Museum in Ambleside, England as well as serving as the program director for the Alveary, a curriculum created by the Charlotte Mason Institute. Spencer was recently appointed as a Visiting Research Fellow in Charlotte Mason Studies at the University of Cumbria, Ambleside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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