What is attention? I’m so glad you asked. Miss Mason defines attention as the act by which the whole mental force is applied to the subject at hand. It’s giving your full focus to something. And, of course, Miss Mason believed a mother could train attention to be a habit if she’s able to attract and hold the child’s attention through the right motive. 

That Miss Mason. Always getting to the child’s heart, isn’t she?

These habits are so much more than tapping a toddler into housework or finishing a school day. You’re offering your child a way in which to live with joy and delight and imagination and pleasure in God’s world.

Just imagine that.

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And bonus fun: today is the day I finally mention Plato. We’re real classical homeschoolers now.

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You can find the full episode notes here.

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Continuing Education Picks

‘Habit Training Part 2: The Practice of Habit Training,’ Patrick Egan

The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg

‘Cultivating the Habit of Attention,’ My Little Robins

‘Duty, Being, and Building with Dirt,’ Lindsey Brigham Knott

Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman

Classical Heavyweight

After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre
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