Have you ever wondered….

Have you ever wondered why Charlotte never published just one list of curricula?  The Advisory Team at AmblesideOnline has dug out as much of it as they can and put it together beautifully.

I found this Catherine Levison quote today while I was reading online with a feverish little guy sleeping in my lap:

“Charlotte Mason destroyed her curriculum yearly and if I wrote the kind of thing you are asking about I would be writing a curriculum rather than a book list. Mason didn’t think her methods revolved around a curriculum and she did not want teachers or parents becoming bored by the sameness. I’m not saying that writing a curriculum is bad, not at all. I write mine for my personal use, but like Charlotte I ignore it the next year and start fresh. ”

http://www.charlottemasoneducation.com/qa.html#1

That makes me feel better.  Because I don’t want to re-read all the same books three times with three children just because that is what is suggested for their level.

There is no perfect curriculum or perfect teacher or perfect education. There are just imperfect children and even-less-perfect parents and Jesus and His abundant grace.

Quote of Grace

For the few years that I have been studying Charlotte Mason’s methods, I have focused mainly on the techniques in Volume One Home Education.  It is a worthy cause to read her material written in the latter part of her life, as you see so much wisdom from the tried and true testing of her philosophy upon real people.

What should I start with?  Habits?  History?  Should I have at least 5 math lessons a week?  What about Handicrafts?  Miss Mason makes it clear on what we as parents and teachers must focus in regards to our children.

From a letter to the Hon. Mrs. Henrietta Franklin typed by Elsie Kitching:

“1922. What a time you had among the Alpine flowers!  I know something of the joy of it, for many years ago before you were born or thought of, I spent some early spring weeks at the Kaltbad (Rigi) with some friends.  After forty years I see and smell and luxuriate but I did not see the Soldanella…..Science has done nothing to confirm the “rut” theory in all these years, and Brother Body seems to me much the inferior partner.  I think all that I have written is still true but I would emphasize habit and so on less.  Child mind – no, because a child has as much mind as the rest of us.”

The mind of a child is the mind of a person.  My favorite part of this quote is the statement that she would focus on all those “things” less and more on the children themselves.  I’m sure that included the relationships, thoughts, ideas of our little people, shepherding them as they grow into big people.  This offers me much grace as I look back on the days in which I said, “What DID we do today??”  What we did was grow as a family, meeting each child’s needs as they presented themselves.  You can’t always quantify learning, and learning should not be measured by what was checked off a list.

Thanks to the c-mason yahoo group for finding that great quote!

Guidance, not showman

Our part is to remove obstructions, to give stimulus and guidance to the child who is trying to get into touch with the universe of things and thoughts. Our error is to suppose that we must act as his showman to the universe, and that there is no community between child and universe except such as we choose to set up. (Vol 3, p 219)

How easy it is to step in and point out details.  I must be constantly reminded to let them explore and discover, keeping to the roll of shepherd rather than administrator.  I am thankful for Charlotte’s insight into the minds of children and her ability to write it down on paper so I can understand.  It seems I’m not that far from childhood myself, but how easily I’ve forgotten that new discoveries are treasures to a child’s whole self in that they experience it in mind, body, and spirit.  A bit of information and a pointing to a thing will remain in their thoughts briefly, but a gem uncovered for the first time to a child bent on exploration will make a lasting impression.

~Donna

Mother Knows Best

“Allow me to say once more, that I venture to write upon subjects bearing on home education with the greatest deference to mothers; believing, that in virtue of their peculiar insight into the dispositions of their own children, they are blest with both knowledge and power in the management of them which lookers-on can only admire from afar” (Charlotte Mason, Home Education Vol. 1, p. 135).

Don’t forget!  No matter what the recommendations are, YOU KNOW BEST for your children.  You’ll have a nudge in a certain direction from the Holy Spirit.  You have the council of your husband.  You know the preferences of your children.

When you are choosing curriculum, don’t pick a particular book just because everybody else is doing it. Don’t force yourself to stick with something that you all hate just because Ambleside Online or anyone else recommends it.

You have to do what works for your household.

—Christa

Charlotte Mason on Habits

Charlotte Mason’s works supply us with loads of information on habits.  Habits don’t just happen; you must be purposeful in setting them throughout daily life.

“Educate the child in right habits and the man’s life will run
in them, without the constant wear and tear of the moral effort
of decision. Once, twice, three times in a day, he will still, no
doubt, have to choose between the highest and the less high,
the best and the less good course. But all the minor moralities
of life may be made habitual to him. He has been brought up
to be courteous, prompt, punctual, neat, considerate; and he
practises these virtues without conscious effort” (Vol. 2, p. 124).

“The mother devotes herself to the formation of one habit at
a time, doing no more than keep watch over those already
formed” (Vol. 1, p. 136).

Charlotte’s own writings can be found free on Ambleside Online here.  Also, there is a wonderful book compiled by Sonya Shafer with many of Charlotte’s writings on habits in an organized way available at Simply Charlotte Mason here.  They also have a free e-book called Smooth and Easy Days.