Karen's Clan

I am mindful that we are coming to the end of the mid year holidays, and I've been doing rather a lot of pondering and soul searching. It's easy, I think, no matter who you are and what you do, to become easily shaken by what you PERCEIVE others to be doing - how it looks like others are parenting, living, educating... the list can go on. Sometimes it can shake us to the core of our being.

I've been talking a lot with God this week, just looking to him for the reason, the purpose, the underpinning of our journey, specifically in educating our children. And tonight Braveheart came home with Leslie Laurio's modern English version of Charlotte Mason's School Education (vol 3). I am so excited! And just while flipping through it ever so quickly, these excerpts have LEAPT off the page at me!

 'Of all the duties of the family, the highest and most holy is the education of the children. The welfare, civilization, and culture of society essentially depend on how successful education is at home. Religious life and educational life meet and revolve around the point of the family principle. Compared with the influence of family, even a king's command seems powerless.' - Johann Herbart pg 96

And then....

We have always strived to present education as something that springs from and rests on our relationship to God. We are firmly committed to this idea. We don't seek to provide a 'religious education' as an alternative to some other kind of education, like secular education. We believe that all education is divine. Every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from God. God the Spirit is, ultimately, the One who educates mankind. The culmination of all education (which is approachable even for a little child) is personal knowledge of God, and an intimate relationship with Him. In that relationship, our being finds its fullest perfection. pg 95

And lastly....

 If the home atmosphere is permeated with a noble reverence, then a sincere faith can take root in the hearts of the children. A child's faithful devotion to guiding parents in his youth grows into faithful devotion to God who controls human destinies. Herbart expressed this idea beautifully: 'A child should see his family as the symbol of order in the world. His parents should provide him with the ideals of God's divine characteristics.' pg 55

 And what I love about these quotes, is that they not ONLY pertain to homeschooling, but to what our educational system, indeed our very society could aspire to being...

Food for thought huh?

I really never thought that I would become a Charlotte Mason fan. In the beginning, when I took baby steps along this journey, I read some of her writing and just could not get my head around her principles.

Now that I am a toddler, I find myself drawn to her more and more. There is something infinitely wise in the words she wrote; in the philosophies she developed about children and their education - and yet, as an educator, I had never heard of her until I started researching homeschooling.

I'm thrilled to report that thanks to L.N. Laurio's hard work, we can now read Charlotte Mason's work paraphrased into modern English online for free! You can even print out her work too, if you like. I have yet to decide which I prefer more - original Mason, or modern Mason - but at least there is now a choice!

Having also subscribed to the Simply Charlotte Mason newsletter, I am finding that I am now being 'educated' myself. In recent issues, the CM (Charlotte Mason) motto of "I am, I can, I will, I ought" has been explored. Within this seemingly simple motto, I am finding real tools that I can wield as I seek to shape my children's character.

I'll leave you with this:

The four phrases of Charlotte Mason's motto for students provide a healthy tension, if you will. We must keep all four parts in mind in order to maintain a balance. Our children are individuals with unique personalities and strengths and tendencies. But respecting their natural bent does not mutually exclude their forming good habits. Some children may struggle more than others with forming the habit of orderliness—or obedience or attention—but we should not allow their personalities to dictate our expectations.
Charlotte explained that habit can be stronger than natural tendencies. "Strong as nature is, habit is not only as strong, but tenfold as strong" (Vol. 1, p. 105).
She went on to give illustrations of habits that can be instilled in children, contrary to natural tendencies—habits like cleanliness and courtesy. "Such habits as these, good, bad, or indifferent, are they natural to the children? No, but they are what their mothers have brought them up to; and as a matter of fact, there is nothing which a mother cannot bring her child up to" (Vol. 1, p. 105).
This is not about shaping our children in order to make us mothers look good. Not at all. The shaping that we do with habits and ideas should be motivated from and designed to make that child the best person he or she can become for the glory of God. For their good.

(Excerpt taken from SCM newsletter, For Their Own Good: I Am, I Can, I Ought, I Will, part 3)