The Carden Method is an educational program developed by

Mae Carden Mae Carden (1894–1977) was an American educator who developed the Carden Method. She created the code for words, and taking apart sentences and knowing how to put them back together. Mae Carden was born in Honolulu and received her primary and ...

and practiced in approximately 80

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * AMD K8, the internal designation for the ...

s across the United States. Carden schools are largely nonsectarian and always independent.

History

Mae Carden developed the Carden Method in response to what she perceived as a decline in understanding in progressive education. The first Carden school was established in 1934 in New York City. Mae Carden also established the Carden Educational Foundation, which maintains the collection of teaching materials used in Carden schools.

Curriculum

The Carden curriculum is broad, including traditional subjects such as mathematics, language arts, science, history, and geography, as well as cultural programs in art, music, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

as well as Spanish depending on the school. Each grade level builds on the knowledge and skills gained by the student from the previous year. Language arts are taught using Sentence Analysis. This also teaches proper sentence structure by reinforcing the fact that all sentences need a subject, called the "Who," and a

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

. Mathematics is taught uniquely as the language of numbers. New concepts are continually introduced, but no concept is ever taught and dropped. Daily problems and tests both cover concepts learned recently and review all the material covered up to that point. The large majority of the literature recommended by the Carden Method is classical, including works such as

The Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the R ...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United St ...

, and

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...

. In addition to world history, geography is given great importance in order to provide students with a cultural and locational awareness of their world. Instruction in French and or Spanish begins as early as kindergarten and continues through middle school. Occasionally, students also study Latin beginning in the sixth grade or the beginning of seventh grade. The Latin complements the student's work in French and facilitates the future comprehension of other Romance languages. Study of the Latin language is supplemented by exposure to the Classical world of the Romans and Greeks. The method has received mixed reviews from education experts, with appreciation for the thorough approach to linguistics, but criticism for the lack of adaptability to modern grammar alterations and alternate vernaculars, some citing it as outdated in respect of modern vernacular.

Carden Controls

Students learn spelling through the Carden "controls", a set of rules for deconstructing a word into its basic phonic parts. The controls are essentially a distillation of classic dictionary marks, but are "presented in such a way that the students are able to remember how and why a word is spelled" and to also explain the reasons why letters are pronounced differently. In addition, the controls are accompanied by a vowel chart, which groups sounds into natural phonic clusters. Spelling instincts are reinforced through daily dictation lessons, which include both familiar and unfamiliar words.

References

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Bibliography

Who Was Mae Carden.
Heritage Oak Times. November 2005.
Who was Mae Carden and what is "The Carden Method?".
Carden Academy of Maui.

Carden School of Whittier.

External links

Carden Educational Foundation
Pedagogy