A Couple of Resources You Should Know About

There have been a couple of new 'must have' resources for Christian Classical and/or Charlotte Mason educators released recently, and just in case you haven't heard about them yet, I wanted to make sure that you know about them. J  

 

 

The first is Karen Glass' new book, Consider This.   Ever wonder about the roots of the Classical Liberal Arts tradition and how Charlotte Mason's approach to education fits in?  This is the book that will put together the pieces of that puzzle for you.  It is well written and incredibly accessible.  I just finished reading through it for a fairly quick 'first pass', but look forward to revisiting it slowly and savoring it when I get a chance.   You can read more about the book at Karen's website, and here is an in-depth review.

 

 

The other is Brandy Vencel's new study guide for Charlotte Mason's 20 principles: Start Here.    Have you ever wanted to dig in to Charlotte Mason's writings, but find it a little intimidating to know where?  This is a great starting place!  Brandy has taken Charlotte Mason's 20 principles and turned them into a study drawing from Charlotte's writings, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's book For the Children's Sake, and insightful posts and articles from all around the web.   In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't actually purchased a copy of this one yet, but I participated in a 20 Principles study that Brandy led last year over on the AO Forum, the same study that this study guide is based upon.  It was a fantastic, eye-opening experience – you can read some of my quotes and thoughts from that study here.   I am so thrilled that Brandy has made this same study available for anyone who wants to use it to dig deeply into what Charlotte Mason education is really all about.

 

Happy Reading, folks!

Poetic Knowledge and Charlotte Mason

Last week, I made an attempt to explain the idea of poetic knowledge.  I’d encourage you to go back and read that now, since it will help shed light on what I want to talk about today.

 

Did ya read it?   Good.

 

At the end, I began to ponder how we can rightly lay the foundation of poetic knowledge for our children.   I believe that one possible answer may lie in embracing Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education.   Just take a look at how some of the foundational Charlotte Mason practices line up with Taylor’s comments on the practical application of poetic knowledge:

 

Using Living Books and Source Documents:

“Historically important dates and names are not only necessary to know when learning history, but for students these can also be enjoyable, if those precise things are left embedded in the stories of history.  With older students, reading the histories written by the makers of history…gives an immediacy to the subject and deepens the vicarious experience of the events.  In either case, textbooks of history should be avoided, for these are far too abstract for young minds, books about books, usually, that merely summarize events.” (Poetic Knowledge, p.169)

 

Nature Study:

“When a flower is taken apart and examined as pistil, stamen, stem, and petals, each part is seen exactly and a certain curiosity is indeed satisfied; however, curiosity is not wonder, the former being the itch to take apart, the latter to gaze on things as they are.  Curiosity belongs to the scientific impulse and would strive to dominate nature; whereas, wonder is poetic   is content to view things in their wholeness and full context, to pretty much leave them alone.  Stated as simply as possible, science sees knowledge as power; poetic knowledge is admiratio, love.   In other words, take the students outside, regularly, and turn even a backyard into a laboratory of the open fields.  Once again, textbooks at this level are a burden, they get between the student and the things of admiration.  Let them make their own notes and pictures, poems and stories, about what they have seen.  Biology is the observation of living things, not dead things.” (Poetic Knowledge, p.169)

 

Narration:

James Taylor doesn’t actually mention narration in Poetic Knowledge, but in the readings for the study of the narration principles I saw some glimpses of this idea as well.  Take for example this:

 

“It isn’t enough to know the “fact” but it must become part of our own personal experience.  The scene or story are intimately interconnected with us.  It has changed us physically (literally it has changed the brain) and emotionally (spiritually).  We are now different because of this new knowledge that is now “assimilated.”  But for this relationship building to occur, the child must do the labour of the mind themselves.  They visualise, they observe, and as they narrate what they have internally visualised and observed, the new learning becomes “personal” knowledge.”  (Carroll Smith in “Narration, The Act of Knowing” at ChildLight USA)

 

Narration is the means by which we make ‘vicarious’ experiences (such as those we experience through the reading of living books) our own ‘personal’ experiences.

 

 

and this:

 

“One way to support semantic [factual] memory is to tap into emotional memory by forming emotional connections and episodic memory…”  (Tammy Glaser in her notes on a presentation by Jennifer Spencer on Improving Reading Comprehension at Aut-2B Home in Carolina)

 

Here, we see the idea of ‘emotional memory’ being foundational to ‘factual memory’. In order to remember facts, we must have ideas and connections to tie them to.   We acquire those experiences and emotional memories…you guessed it…poetically.

 

At any rate, I found these connections fascinating.  I love the fact that these ideas promoted by Charlotte Mason have centuries of educational philosophy to back them up.    And I am grateful that I stumbled across them early while I still have the chance to apply them.   Living books, nature study, narration, etc. are all more than just ‘nice ideas’ – they are absolutely necessary and will help lay the foundations for whatever life may bring to my children.

 

 

Wednesday with Words: On Digesting Books Slowly

I’ve written before about how I love the way that books are utilized in a Charlotte Mason education.   This quote, from one of our reading assignments from the 20 Principles Study, goes right along the same lines:

 

“Having found the book which has a message for us, let us not be guilty of the folly of saying we have read it. We might as well say we have breakfasted, as if breakfasting on one day should last us for every day! The book that helps us deserves many readings, for assimilation comes by slow degrees.

Literature is full of teaching, by precept and example, concerning the management of our physical nature. I shall offer a lesson here and there by way of sample, but no doubt the reader will think of many better teachings; and that is as it should be; the way such teaching should come to us is, here a little and there a little, incidentally, from books which we read for the interest of the story, the beauty of the poem, or the grace of the writing.”

            ~Charlotte Mason in Ourselves, Book 2, page 11
 

 

Quotes Worth Pondering: A Generous Curriculum

A collection of quotes I am pondering as we study  Principles 9-11  as we continue on our way through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles…

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Charlotte Mason

“That children like feeble and tedious oral lessons, feeble and tedious story books, does not at all prove that these are wholesome food; they like lollipops but cannot live upon them; yet there is a serious attempt in certain schools to supply the intellectual, moral, and religious needs of children by appropriate 'sweetmeats.'As I have said elsewhere, the ideas required for the sustenance of children are to be found mainly in books of literary quality…”  (p.117)
 
“But we must keep to the academic ideal: all preparation for specialised industries should be taboo. Special teaching towards engineering, cotton-spinning, and the rest, is quite unnecessary for every manufacturer knows that given a 'likely' lad he will soon be turned into a good workman in the works themselves….Denmark and Scandinavia have tried this generous policy of educating young people, not according to the requirements of their trade but according to their natural capacity to know and their natural desire for knowledge, that desire to know history, poetry, science, art, which is natural to every man; and the success of the experiment now a century old is an object lesson for the rest of the world.”  (p.123-124)
 
“Time for a Story” from Dewey’s Treehouse

“See Charlotte Mason.

Charlotte Mason says, "I do not like your story.  Minds cannot eat sponges.
Minds are like hungry hippos.
Minds need a daily special hot beef sandwich with fries and gravy.
Minds need books full of ideas.
Minds need literary language.
Minds need to munch.
Munch, minds, munch."

But the teachers keep throwing sponges.
Some are different sizes.
Some are different colours.
See how interesting all the different sponges are!

"Still sponges," says Charlotte Mason.  "Minds need to munch."
 
“On Herbartian Unit Studies” from Afterthoughts
“First, I get concerned because this is not the way a good reader approaches a book…What I'm saying is that these are not natural questions to ask of the text, nor are they the most important questions to ask of the text. If this is how children are reared to view books, as objects to dissect the life out of, they will never learn great ideas from books--a sort of being too distracted by the trees to actually see the forest sort of situation. In other words, they will never be great readers…Second, and I already alluded to it, this is not the way to comprehension of a book's greatest ideas…A million rich conversations could pour forth from thinking the noble thoughts of the book, but unit studies tend to dwell on the minutia. All books have their interesting details, but the great thoughts--the Permanent Things--presented, transcend those details. In fact, many don't make the cut and aren't worthy of being preserved for generations because the author was too locked in the details of his own time; he failed to transcend and speak about the Permanent Things.”

“An Oyster and a Jewel” by Lynn Bruce at Ambleside Online

“Clearly, Charlotte felt that delivering predigested lessons with external flash and drama, a la Herbart, is not only unnecessary but stunting. She had witnessed that children truly learn when they get at the books themselves, when their minds are allowed the potent spark of communing with great authors' minds. Narration is proof--it not only teaches a child to analyze, organize, compose and express great thoughts in the buoyant wake of literary masters, but also reveals how a child makes his own connections, and how forcefully and directly his personality interacts with ideas, particularly those, as Charlotte said, "clothed in literary language."  But in order to teach a child this way, we must be willing to roll out the red carpet, so to speak, and then step aside. Give them the best books, and get out of the way. We must decrease, that they might increase. We must be servants, not masters, to their brains and spirits. This requires a certain restraint... wisdom... humility... and trust in the wiring that God gave them.”

Connections

Charlotte Mason’s 12^th Principle tells us that “education is the Science of Relations”.   What this means is that learning takes place when a child begins to see for themselves the relationships between various things that they have read or seen or experienced or studied.   Note that these are the connections that the child makes for himself, not the connections that a teacher makes for him.   One of the distinctives of Charlotte Mason’s methodology is that she places the bulk of the responsibility for learning on the student rather than on the teacher.  The relationships and connections that a child makes for himself are not easily forgotten.

 

While the responsibility is primarily on the student to make these connections, the question was raised in our Forum discussion as to whether there are any ways we can help them along (without force-feeding or doing the mental work for them.   Someone brought up this point, also found in one of our suggested readings:

 

“Occasionally when we finish a reading I have asked my children to tell me about anyone or anything that the story we just finished reminds them of.  Sometimes they tell me they can’t think of anything. That’s okay. Sometimes they will come up with a connection I would never have thought of- that’s really delightful.” (from The Common Room)

 

So, I decided to give this a try a couple weeks ago.  We had just finished reading a section from Dangerous Journey in which Christian’s travelling companion Faithful is sentenced to death by the court in Vanity Fair, and although he is put to death, the King brings him safely and immediately into the Celestial City.  After her narration, I asked Michelle if this story reminded her of anything.  She thought for a moment, and then said: “It reminds me of the story of those guys who were thrown into the fiery furnace even though they hadn’t really done anything wrong, and God brought them safely through it.”   And although it had been several weeks previously that we had read about Christian’s battle with the dragon Apollyon, my tag-along 5 year old added: “And the dragon reminded me of the dragon from St. George and the Dragon.”  (Another well- loved book around here...)

 

I was pleased and surprised by their responses.   The story had described Faithful being taken safely to the Celestial City by a horse and chariot, so the connection that I had made had been to the story of Elijah.  Michelle made a different, but still very good, connection of her own.  And I was surprised that James added anything at all, since he is not actually required to participate in our school time yet (but for certain favorite stories, he often chooses to anyway!)

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize that as simple as it is, this is what Charlotte Mason education is all about.   Each person heard the same story.  Each person took in what they were ready for: notice that Michelle totally glossed over the fact that Faithful was burned at the stake before he was taken safely to the Celestial City; she emphasized the fact that God had delivered him.  That was the part that was personally significant to her.  Each person made a different personal connection with the story.  Each person made their own mental effort in recalling the details of the story and comparing them with the details of other stories or experiences they had heard previously, and then putting those thoughts into words to share with the rest of us.  Each person from age 5 to age 34 was intrigued and engaged.  

 

We are still at the beginning of our CM homeschooling journey here, and sometimes it can get discouraging. CM education is so different from what ‘everyone else’ is doing, and as much as I love her methods, I am sometimes tempted to give in to that pressure that our homeschool needs to look more like a ‘school’.    But seeing the little sparks like this excite me and encourage me that  we are on the right track after all.

Quotes Worth Pondering: Education is a Life

Some of the ideas I am pondering was we continue through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles…

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education, Volume 6 (Charlotte Mason)

“For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information is to it as a meal of sawdust to the body; there are no organs for the assimilation of the one more than of the other. What is an idea? we ask, and find ourselves plunged beyond our depth. A live thing of the mind, seems to be the conclusion of our greatest thinkers from Plato to Bacon, from Bacon to Coleridge. We all know how an idea 'strikes,' 'seizes,' 'catches hold of,' 'impresses' us and at last, if it be big enough, 'possesses' us; in a word, behaves like an entity.”  (p.105)

 

“In the early days of a child's life it makes little apparent difference whether we educate with a notion of filling a receptacle, inscribing a tablet, moulding plastic matter, or nourishing a life, but as a child grows we shall perceive that only those ideas which have fed his life, are taken into his being; all the rest is cast away or is, like sawdust in the system, an impediment and an injury. Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child's inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food. Probably he will reject nine-tenths of the ideas we offer, as he makes use of only a small proportion of his bodily food, rejecting the rest. He is an eclectic; he may choose this or that; our business is to supply him with due abundance and variety and his to take what he needs. Urgency on our part annoys him. He resists forcible feeding and loathes predigested food. What suits him best is pabulum presented in the indirect literary form which Our Lord adopts in those wonderful parables whose quality is that they cannot be forgotten though, while every detail of the story is remembered, its application may pass and leave no trace. We, too, must take this risk.” (p.108-109)

For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)
“In fact, we can’t teach creativity.  Children respond to life, each in his own individual way.  How interesting to stand back and watch!  Provide time and place…Free time is necessary for the fruit of creativity.  It grows out of the rich life that has been the subject of this chapter.  All children respond to this abundance with ideas, plans, imagination, playing.  They solve problems, think, grow.  Children respond to life by living.  They need this time to grow.”  (p.89-90)

“An Imaginary Conversation with a Great Mind” (Tammy Glaser)
“Always one to seek scientific answers, she might liken textbooks to a diet of emerald shakes brimming with nutrients--healthy, but not satisfying for the soul. Scientists can manufacture fractionated vitamins in a lab, but this pap in a pill misses the vitality of whole food: trace ingredients, enzymes, amino acids, essential fatty acids, properly proportioned minerals, etc. Comparing infant formula to breast milk, she might note that textbooks may contain the minimum daily recommended requirements of facts, but cannot match the complex, perfectly balanced ingredients necessary for a developing brain.”

“Even if they replaced textbooks with living books, opinions with ideas, and questions with narration, teachers would still be lost without the guidance of the Holy Spirit."

“Leisure, Skills, Ideas, and Rest or I Try to Offend Everyone” (Cindy at Ordo Amoris)
“The home is the quiet refuge where ideas blossom…Ideas are like yeast, they need time to incubate.  You can’t overheat the yeast, it will die.”

“Every single minute you spend running around you are stealing moments away from your home: the place where ideas can be born…In these modern times, we can’t always stay at home but we should at least be on our guard against those lesser things that pull us away, especially during the school day.  Not running around is the first line of defense against stress.  Stress in the enemy of…just about everything worthwhile.”

“Starving our Children” (Brandy at Afterthoughts)
“We classify children as something other than human when we say that they are "too young" to have thoughts, too young to ponder, too young to read thoughtful books. Yes, children are not the same as adults, but having thoughts is a function of the soul--to assert that children cannot be thoughtful is to deny that they bear God's image, that they have souls at all.”

“In the same vein, she didn't wait for a child to be able to read to encourage their reaching out at ideas. The children were read aloud to--from broad and varied books of a high literary quality. And then those little illiterates narrated back what they had heard, claiming the ideas as their own, assimilating them into their very souls.”
 
 
 
 

 

Some challenges, in case I am not the only one who has been kind of a slacker about habit training....

Last time, I shared how I was encouraged that Charlotte Mason’s ideas about habit training were more realistic than I previously thought.    I was also challenged in a few areas by some of the ideas that came up in our reading and discussion, areas that I need to change in our home to make habit and character formation more effective:

 

Habit Training Begins with Me

Just as atmosphere begins with me, habit training also begins with me.   I am not going to be effective in helping my children develop good habits if I am not modeling good habits myself.   They need to see me choosing to do right.   They need to see me seeking to replace my poor habits with better ones so they get the idea that ‘we are all in this together’.    It was also pointed out that children are very imitative creatures and the strongest habits are the ones that are formed unconsciously from what they see in my own life.   Do I want them to imitate me?   Convicting thought indeed.

 

Remain Patient and Sympathetic

As we are working with our children to help them form good habits and good character, we need to remain patient and sympathetic with them.   Habit training is a lifetime process.  There will be times when we take one step forward and two steps back.    We need to avoid becoming irritated or harsh, even when we grow frustrated.   Above all our children need to be aware that we love them and have their best interests in mind.   I need to paste this quote from the article “Nursery Discipline” up on my fridge or somewhere:

 

“…love has to be accompanied by patience.  It often seems as if we make no progress – as though we gain to-day, we lose tomorrow.  One day we are rejoicing in the sweetness of the child’s character, the next, every fault  that we thought we conquered has reasserted itself, and we are apt to despair.  But we must remember that it is the last blow that smashes a stone, and that all the efforts of all the days will in the end succeed, and not one of them is wasted, but has helped toward the final triumph.”

 

See the Good

Related to the above, we need to look for the good habits and good qualities that our children have already formed, and make a point to encourage our children with these things.   The small victories all add up as significant efforts towards winning the war.  Another quote from “Nursery Discipline” that I need to post somewhere as a reminder:

 

“What is often needed is a little discreet blindness.  If a child is very troublesome, you must let some of his minor faults go for a time unnoticed until he has learnt to obey the weightier matters of the law.  Don’t ever dishearten a child by making him feel that nothing he does is right, and if you find yourself tending in that direction, be specially on the lookout for a child’s good points, and you are to find some, and a little praise for these will help him conquer in other directions.”

 

Habit Training takes Time

In her article on habit training, Elizabeth Foss points out that if we are going to be successful in training our children in good habits, we need to be available and actively engaged with them.  We need to be aware of what they need and what is going on in their hearts.   This means self-denial, giving up other things that I may want to do.   In our fast-paced culture, this can be hard to do.   But our children’s hearts depend on it.

 

Look at the Big Picture

When choosing habits to focus on, don’t lose sight of the big picture.  Habit training doesn’t exist just to make our lives more convenient in the short term.  In her book Loving the Little Years, Rachel Jankovich reminds us that our children are people and not an organizational project! Likewise, awhile back on the AO Forum we had a discussion about the limitations of habits: habit training is good, but never ever at the expense of our children’s hearts.  We need to think carefully about what habits will set them on the path to life and focus our energy on those, rather than making mountains out of molehills.   Elizabeth Foss reminds us of the big picture:

 

“Ultimately, we don’t want self-controlled children.  We want children who hear and answer the Lord.  We need to give children choices within limits, but we need to teach them how and why to choose right.  We need to train their hearts and educate their minds.   When they are fully informed of the consequences of their actions, we need to allow free will, just as our heavenly Father does…Children who are trained in such a way do not have their will subdued; instead they have it inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

 

Now to ponder how to put all of these ideas into action…

Some encouragement, just in case I am not the only one who gets discouraged about Habit Training....

I will admit that when I saw our next topic of discussion was 'education is a discipline' (aka habit training), I groaned a little bit.   Not because I think forming good habits is a bad idea – on the contrary, it is a good and necessary part of our children’s education and upbringing.   But as much as I love Charlotte Mason, this is one of the principles of hers I’ve had the hardest time with.    Some of her ideas on this topic are (in my experience) a little idealistic.  (She was after all a TEACHER and not a MOTHER herself.)  Some of them seem to ignore the fact that we all have a sinful nature that we cannot overcome by our own efforts.  I’ve also felt discouraged and defeated by the way some have interpreted her ideas about habit training:  Choose a habit to focus on for 6 weeks at a time.  Start with obedience, because Charlotte talked about that one the most.  Inspire your children by reading stories that pertain to that habit.  Make sure that they NEVER MESS UP on practicing this new, good habit you are trying to instill, otherwise you’ll have to go back to square one.  Follow these steps and your child will have formed their new habit in 6 weeks flat!  Then you can start another one!  Just make sure you keep a watch out for that first one…and the second one…keep those plates spinning….  

 

Is it just me, or does that ‘formula’ not quite set well with you, either?   It always seemed kind of ‘compartmentalized’ to me – I’ve tried following character-training curriculums that focus on various traits for a month or two at a time, with targeted stories and Bible verses to go along with it and I’ve never been able to stick with them for very long because they always felt too forced and contrived to me.    And training children in perfect obedience in 6 weeks?  Expecting them to never mess up?  Um, right.  This isn’t to diminish the importance of training our children to be obedient, I just find it unrealistic to master this or any other ‘habit’ or character trait in a mere 6 weeks! I view this more as a lifetime kind of project.   I also think that such a view is too simplistic and doesn’t allow for our sinful nature (which makes it impossible for us to ever be perfect on our own) or God’s grace (the only way we can overcome our sinful habits and tendencies).

 

All this to say that I’ve gotten kind of squirmy about the notion of habit training a la Charlotte Mason, and wasn’t looking forward to reading and discussing it.   I didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that CM-style habit training has been kind of a fail for me because I just couldn’t see myself embracing her vision, at least as I understood it up until now.

 

So…I was pleasantly surprised to see where the reading and discussion took us.   I discovered that I was not alone in my struggle…there are other mamas out there who have found this idea discouraging and daunting as well.   And I was encouraged by some of the ideas that I took away from this study that perhaps I can embrace Charlotte’s vision for habit training after all:

 

Yes, in Parents and Children (Volume 2), Charlotte Mason does lay out a 9-step process towards forming a new habit, which I believe the idea I was describing above came from.   But, as I am discovering, if one really wants to understand Charlotte Mason it is important to study ALL of her work as a whole, and not isolate little parts (or worse yet, rely solely on other people’s interpretations of what she says.)   In other places in her writing she discourages unnatural and compartmentalized systems.   Nor did she expect all worthwhile habits to be formed in a mere 6 weeks.  She herself mentions an example where a mother might allow a year to work towards a new habit: “Is Edward a selfish child when his fifth birthday comes?  The fact is noted in his parents’ year book, with the resolve that by his sixth birthday he shall, please God, be a generous child.” (Volume 2, Chapter 7).  In various examples of personal experiences, some habits may take even longer to form – such as Tammy’s example of helping their daughter break the habit of throwing tantrums.  It took years of slowly identifying and removing each trigger.  And that’s OK!  The goal is to move forward, but not necessarily in any particular time frame.  The nature of the child and the nature of the habit you are trying to form will determine that.    She also speaks in various places in her writing about the work of the Holy Spirit being necessary for true heart change.  She really didn’t expect our children to be perfect or to be able to overcome all their character flaws simply by following the correct method of habit training – she understood their need for a Saviour.

 

“Intentional” habit training doesn’t have to mean making a list of habits a child ought to form, and faithfully checking them off every 6 weeks.   It does mean prayerfully considering what our children need, and prayerfully considering the best way to go about tackling it.  It means continuing to pray for the Lord’s guidance and direction and for His work in our children’s lives.  “It is intentional action.  It is a thoughtful, prayerful approach to life itself.” (Elizabeth Foss in “Charlotte Mason Book Study Part Two: Education is a Discipline”).

 

Routines are an important part of habit training.  Form routines around those habits that you find most important for your children to develop.   Looking at habit training this way was encouraging – I was able to look back and see what positive habits we HAVE been able to form in our family by making them part of our family routines: Scripture memory.  Bible reading.  Chores.   Touching base as a family before heading to bed.   Eating healthy meals.  

 

Habits are formed over time.  We aren’t going to see the results right away, but we will in hindsight  This gives me courage to keep on moving forward, even if I don’t see the fruit right away.

 

Stories and ideas DO play a part in inspiring our children in good habits and good character.   But that doesn’t necessarily mean following a ‘character-training’ curriculum with the stories specifically targeted to the habit you are trying to form, and in fact it may be better NOT to be too focused.  Consider: “It is possible to sow a great idea lightly and casually and perhaps this sort of sowing should be rare and casual because if a child detect a definite purpose in his mentor he is apt to stiffen himself against it.” (Volume 6, p.102)  and “This danger is perhaps averted by giving children as their daily diet the wise thoughts of great minds and of many great minds; so that they may gradually and unconsciously get the courage of their opinions.” (Volume 6, p.104).   Spread the feast.   Let the children ingest what they are ready for.   Let the ideas soak in over time.  Let them make their own relations.   Don’t force feed or make connections for them.   In other words – keep doing what I’m doing:  feed them a steady diet of good ideas through living books.

 

While I was encouraged, I was also challenged by our study of discipline and habit training.  But, we’ll save that for next time.

 

Quotes Worth Pondering: Atmosphere is a Discipline

Some of the ideas I am pondering as we continue through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles…

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education, Volume 6 (Charlotte Mason)

“It is possible to sow a great idea lightly and casually and perhaps this sort of sowing should be rare and casual because if a child detect a definite purpose in his mentor, he is apt to stiffen himself against it.”  (p. 102)

 

“This danger is perhaps averted by giving children as their daily diet the wise thoughts of great minds, and of many great minds; so that they may gradually and unconsciously get the courage of their opinions.” (p.104)

 

For the Children’s Sake (Susan Schaeffer Macaulay)

“Routines form habits…When planning routines, priority must be given to the most important things.  The person matters (be it child, husband/wife, or friend).  We’ll need time to talk, read, relax and work together.  Our relationship with God matters.  Where is the time to be found for that?  I am a part of this creation.  Where will I find time to get out and enjoy nature?  There is too much work to be done, and I am finite.  I need to accept reality and plan the time and priorities carefully.” (p. 81-82)

 

“Talk to Nurses”, Dr. Helen Webb (Parent’s Review)

“In keeping a child truthful, remember that it is most important not to frighten it into untruthfulness by too great severity.  If it be severely punished for some fault, the temptation to hide faults will be so great that it will readily come to conceal them, and not be quite open over anything it happens to have done amiss.”

 

“Nursery Discipline”, Mrs. Ridges, (Parent’s Review)

“Then again, a child, being pre-eminently an imitative animal, most of its habits are formed by imitation rather than as a result of direct teaching.”

 

“With regard to obedience, it is a little more difficult to see how imitation can be brought in to help to form the habit of obedience.  Children’s rulers often seem not to have to obey anyone, so that in the minds of many children, to be grown up is to done as one likes.  There, I think, lies the importance of early training in religion, that the children should feel by the way we live as adults, who seem so free, are yet obedient to a higher power, that we are guided by duty, and obey the law of ‘must’.  In this connection, I have long felt that we nurses and mothers can do a truly religious work, for, by making our children obedient to us, we are preparing the way for their obedience to God.”

 

“What is often needed is a little discreet blindness.  If a child is very troublesome, you must let some of his minor faults go for a time unnoticed until he has learnt to obey the weightier matters of the law.  Don’t ever dishearten a child by making him feel that nothing he does is right, and if you find yourself tending in that direction, be specially on the look out for a child’s good points, and you are to find some, and a little praise for these will help him conquer in other directions.”

“Above all, if we are working for the future, you will see that to give commands without their reasons attached is a beautiful way of training a man to trust himself to the will of his Creator.  The child often cannot understand your reasons, but he understands loving and trusting you, and love and trust are sufficient reasons for him, as they often have to be for us adults who have dark paths to tread.”

 

“…love has to be accompanied by patience.  It often seems as if we make no progress – as though we gain to-day, we lose tomorrow.  One day we are rejoicing in the sweetness of the child’s character, the next, every fault  that we thought we conquered has reasserted itself, and we are apt to despair.  But we must remember that it is the last blow that smashes a stone, and that all the efforts of all the days will in the end succeed, and not one of them is wasted, but has helped toward the final triumph.”

 

“Discipline”, Rev. Canon Parker (Parent’s Review)

“Nursery discipline, such as I have treated of, involves a great deal of hard work and self-denial; but all the hard work and self-denial in the world will not produce the result you are aiming at – the formation of good habits – unless you are fortified with a large stock of love and sympathy.”

 

“The object of discipline is always one and the same – to form and fashion the character, to educate and inform and strengthen the will; to unfold and inculcate the highest ideal of law, and the highest sanction of law.  But the means by which the object is to be attained must be regarded as distinct from the object itself.  The certainty that our object is right does not always carry with it the certainty that our particular means are right.”

 

“Thus the aim of the teacher is not by a cast-iron system of legal and irritating restrictions to bind and fetter and imprison the will of the child, to repress and kill out all spirit and energy and individuality, and to reduce the child to a tame and lifeless and colourless thing; but rather to give full play to the utmost spirit and energy of which the child is capable, to awaken and develop in the child the idea of obedience and usefulness and the highest happiness – in fact, to put into the child’s hands the bit and bridle wherewith to curb and guide himself, and show him why and how to use them.”

 

“Charlotte Mason Book Study Part Two: Education is a Discipline”, Elizabeth Foss

“I will never deal effectively with my children’s character issues unless I deal with my own.”

 

“In order to train a child’s will in this manner, parents must lay down their lives for them.  They must be willing to spend large amounts of time engaged with them.  They must believe that children are educated  by their intimacies and they must ensure that the child is intimate with what is good and noble and true.”

 

“Ultimately, we don’t want self-controlled children.  We want children who hear and answer the Lord.  We need to give children choices within limits, but we need to teach them how and why to choose right.  We need to train their hearts and educate their minds.   When they are fully informed of the consequences of their actions, we need to allow free will, just as our heavenly Father does…Children who are trained in such a way do not have their will subdued; instead they have it inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

Atmosphere and Books

If you’ve hung around here for any length of time at all, you know I have a thing for books.   The use of good literature was one of the things that drew me towards Charlotte Mason in the first place, and is one of the things I love the most about her methods.

 

However, until discussing the idea of “Education is an Atmosphere” as part of the 20 Principles study, I’d never considered the role that books play as part of our “atmosphere”.   I’d always sort of delegated them in my mind as part of the formal “academic” side of a CM education.   Two of our reading assignments for this principle were on the topic of books, however, which surprised me.  But as I read, I began to see the connection.

 

As I mentioned in my previous post on this topic, atmosphere has less to do with the physical environment, and more to do with the tone, attitude, ideas, and relationships that the child encounters informally as they go through their daily life.  This starts in the home, of course, but extends beyond that to other places they may go and experiences they may have.  Which is where books come in.

 

From the article titled “Children and Books”:

“The ideals which children gain from books are their constant associates, and mould their characters even more than human companions.  They live with them not only while they read, but also while they are otherwise engaged; and suggestions so subtle as to pass almost unnoticed linger in the mind, to influence emotions and express themselves in action.”

 

Just as the attitude, tone, ideas and relationships a child forms in his “real life” environment make up a large part of his formation and education,  so do the attitude, tone, ideas, and relationships the child forms through the books that they read.  The books (and in this modern age, I’d say other media as well) that we choose to share with our children can have a profound effect on them.  It is subtle and not necessarily consciously noticed by the child.    In Romans 12, we are told to be “transformed by the renewal of our minds”.   While true transformation and heart change are the work of the Holy Spirit, Sproul tells us (yes, another quote from his Romans commentary) that “the avenue to the heart is through our mind.”   The mind-food we feed our children is vitally important.  This is why we want to exercise care in ensuring that the books and media we share with our children point them to what is good, true, and beautiful.

 

This doesn’t necessarily mean that we only read sweet, happy things either, as is pointed out in the article “The Atmosphere of Books”.   In her comments about atmosphere, Charlotte Mason herself warns us not to “sprinkle things with rose-water” or “soften them with cushions” or “to keep the children in glass cases”.  While there is certainly a time and a place for everything (we do need to be sensitive to our children's age and level of maturity), we do want our children to be adequately prepared to live life in the real world.  Books can provide a good vehicle for this as well – I’d rather have my children exposed to uncomfortable ideas and differing opinions through the books they read under my guidance before encountering them in the real world.   The way we handle those differing ideas can send a subtle message to our children as well – how should they respond when encountering an idea that differs from their own?   Do we hide from it?  Ignore it?  Dismiss it as stupidity?  Engage with it and discuss it in light of our own beliefs?   How we handle controversial books and ideas can play a role in the ‘formative atmosphere’ that our children breathe as well.

 

“Stories make the child’s life intelligible to himself and are therefore a means of gaining self-knowledge without self-consciousness…Why, stories are the very source of education among all races.  The hunger of the child for stories is the hunger of the race for knowledge.  All great teachers have been great storytellers, and our Lord was the greatest of all.  A mere statement of divine truth would never have impressed the simple uninformed minds of His hearers as the parables did.  Truth is absorbed and becomes part of the child’s self when enshrined in the form of a story.  Stories, too, enlarge a child’s knowledge of the world, develop his imagination and educate his sympathies.  Much reading may be a weariness of the flesh, but the well-read person who also takes his share in the work of the world is not likely to be narrow in mind or lacking in sympathy.”

 (from “Children and Books”)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Atmosphere begins with Me

In Charlotte Mason’s 4^th principle, she warns us against all the tools we shouldn’t use as we seek to educate and discipline our children.   In principles 5-8, she tells us what instruments are available to us to use instead.   The first of these is atmosphere:

“When we say that education is an atmosphere, we do not mean that a child should be isolated in what may be called a ‘child environment’ specially adapted and prepared, but that we should take into account the educational value both as regards persons and things and should let him live freely among his proper conditions.  It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the child’s level.”

 

Given that this is one of the main tenets of Charlotte Mason philosophy, I’ve thought about this before.  I’ve even written a bit about it before.   But reading the assignments for this principle brought me several new insights on what atmosphere IS and IS NOT and how to develop it in our home.  And once again, the ideas I was considering on this topic dovetailed nicely with what I have been reading in Romans.

 

One idea that hit home to me is that atmosphere is not the same as environment.   While the physical environment is important, the “atmosphere” has more to do with the intangible things – the relationships and attitudes that permeate the home.  In the article “The Atmosphere of the Home”, MF Jerrold tells us:

 

“And the gravest thought concerning this is that in this instance there is nothing to learn and nothing to teach: the atmosphere emanates from ourselves – literally is ourselves; our children live in it and breathe it, and what we are is thus incorporated into them.”

 

I don’t know about you, but I find that convicting.   Very convicting.   Atmosphere goes so far beyond organizing my home in a pleasing manner, choosing the right curriculum, following correct discipline practices.   It is not the things I do.   It starts with who I am.   If I want to build a positive atmosphere in my home, it has to start with me.

 

As I was letting this thought simmer, I read Romans 12 in my devotions.   Verses 9-21 are a beautiful description of love in action.   A picture of what Christian community should look like.  I won’t list out all of those characteristics here – although I do encourage you to go take a look at the passage for yourself when you get a chance – but I did appreciate Sproul’s comments in summary of the passage (these are my notes on it, not a direct quote from his St Andrews Expositional Commentary):

 

Christian life should be marked by:

1. Joy -- which we can have no matter what because of our hope in Him.  The idea of hope in the New Testament is an absolute certainty in the promises of God.
2. Patience – or forbearance, hanging in there when things get tough.
3. Prayer – the glue that holds everything else together.  Sproul tells us: “There is to be an ongoing dialogue between our hearts and God all the time.  We are to be always conscious of God’s presence, relying on Him and communicating with the Father our thoughts.”

 This is the atmosphere I want to cultivate in my home.   These aren’t things I can manufacture artificially, but the things that flow forth from being transformed by His Spirit and offering myself as a living sacrifice as I humbly exercise the gifts that He has given me for the good of the whole body…starting in the home.  (See Romans 12:1-8 to set up the context for this passage.)

 

So often I fall short.  So often the atmosphere of my home is not what I want it to be.    So often I get discouraged and want to quit trying.

 

But I think Romans 12 is a good place to start.   I have begun to use this passage as a basis of my prayer time - to meditate on it and let the Holy Spirit apply it to my heart.   Atmosphere begins with me.

 

But I can do nothing without Him.

Quotes Worth Pondering: Education is an Atmosphere

Some of the ideas I am savoring as we continue on our way through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles….

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Charlotte Mason

“It is not an environment that these want, a set of artificial relations carefully constructed, but an atmosphere which nobody has been at pains to constitute.  It is there, about the child, his natural element, precisely as the atmosphere of the earth is about us.  It is thrown off, as it were, from persons and things, stirred by events, sweetened by love, ventilated, kept in motion, by the regulated action of common sense.”  p.96

 

For the Children’s Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

“It is true that atmosphere is produced out the ideas held by the parents and/or teachers.”  p.74

 

“The child should enjoy an atmosphere where life can be explored in a rich way.  Little holy hedges are not what is wanted.  Understanding the objective certainty of the truth of God gives an atmosphere that is free from fear.  We can face up to people’s ideas.  Questions can be asked.  We can talk about them right in the open.  Indeed, the child should be able to know, read, or listen to people who hold all sorts of ideas.  As they mature, it is absolutely imperative that they be trusted to have access to current ‘worldly’ thought.  Some of it has true greatness (say a play, essay or book).  They should be able to enjoy what is good, and yet be able to see what ideas are wrong.  This open, frank atmosphere can only be achieved when those who produce it are aware of what is good, pure, and of a good report (cf. Philippians 4:8).”  p.74-75

 

“The Atmosphere of Home”, MF Jerrold (Parent’s Review)

“There are many important aspects of home-life from first training to highest education; but there is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and lasting effect as the atmosphere of home. And the gravest thought concerning this is that in this instance there is nothing to learn and nothing to teach: the atmosphere emanates from ourselves – literally is ourselves; our children live in it and breathe it, and what we are is thus incorporated into them.  Atmosphere is much more than teaching, and infinitely more than talk.”

 

“Children and Books”, Mrs. Conyers Alston (Parent’s Review)

“The ideals which children gain from books are their constant associates, and mould their characters even more than human companions.  They live with them not only while they read, but also while they are otherwise engaged; and suggestions so subtle as to pass almost unnoticed linger in the mind, to influence emotions and express themselves in action.”

 

“And it is in the nursery that the key to the palace of good literature is opened.  The reason why so few people have developed the critical faculty with regard to reading is that so few have grown up in the company of good books – only good books – but have been allowed, while their minds were growing, to read any printed twaddle within the covers of a book or magazine.”

Truth, Goodness, Beauty

Last week, while I was doing my quiet time, I had an “aha” moment.   For the last (very long) while, I have been slowly reading my way through the book of Romans and reading RC Sproul’s Commentary alongside (Romans: St Andrew’s Expositional Commentary).   Today I had reached Chapter 45 in this commentary – an entire chapter dedicated to the exposition of one little verse:

 

Romans 11:36 (NKJV): “For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.”

 

In unpacking the significance of the phrase “of Him” in this verse, Sproul says that everything BELONGS to Him and that He is the SOURCE of everything.   Specifically He is the source of:

 

TRUTH – We are speaking here of objective truth, outside of ourselves and our preferences.   Truth is defined as “that which describes real states of affair”.  Truth is how reality is perceived by God.   No possession we have is more valuable than truth.

 

GOODNESS – Sproul tells us “the ultimate norm for ethics and righteousness is the character of God”  and that “God’s external righteousness flows from his eternal being.”

 

BEAUTY – “Every beautiful thing comes from him and points back to Him.”  (Sproul again.)

 

Immediately, I recognized these traits because they are written right into the definition of education put forth by the Circe Institute: “EDUCATION is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty.” (I’ve been listening to lots of Circe talks lately.  Fantastic stuff, if you want something meaty to keep you company while folding laundry or cooking dinner.)  The goal of education is not simply utilitarian – to pass exams or prepare for a job (although that’s a nice side-benefit).   The goal is to become wise, virtuous people who can reflect the glory of God to those around them.   And the way we do this is by absorbing and contemplating that which is good and true and beautiful.

 

I think this is the goal that Charlotte Mason was shooting for as well.   In her fourth principle, she encourages us not to rely on external tactics such as entertainment, competitions, prizes, grades, fear, or even a winsome personality to motivate students to learn.   Rather, she tells us that “knowledge is delectable” and that the desired end of our educational efforts is “the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.”   What makes knowledge worth pursuing for its own sake?  

 

Its truth.  Its goodness.  Its beauty.

 

Obviously, God has revealed Himself to us directly through His Word.   But anywhere we spot truth, goodness, or beauty – these things can also point us to our Creator.  This is why Charlotte used great literature as a vehicle to teach all manner of subjects.   This is why she encouraged us to make room in our schedules for poetry, art, music, and nature.   Even the more ‘technical’ subjects can be vehicles we use to pursue these three things: mathematics and language reveal the order that God placed into our universe and science His intricate, creative design.   When our student asks “Why do we have to learn this?  When am I ever going to need to know this?” – we can tell them it is because it reveals the truth, goodness, and beauty of our God.  We may never need to use chemistry or geometry or music or poetry in our ‘real life’.   But they are still worth studying because each reveals another facet of God’s character, and our souls will be shaped and formed by them.   When we study chemistry with an eye towards seeing God’s design in the universe rather than merely another college-entrance-requirement-hoop to jump through, it can help make us into the men and women that God wants us to become even if we don’t go on to become a scientist or doctor.

 

As I thought about these points,  the “aha” came as I realized that this is just WHY the pursuit of “truth, goodness, and beauty” should be the goal of education.   When we pursue truth, goodness and beauty, we are pursuing God Himself because He is the source of all these things.