Mothers tend to busy themselves quite a bit about how to nourish their child’s physical needs. Food, sleep, activity, outdoor time…but how do we nourish their intellectual needs? 

Books. Glorious books.

We must put children in communication with those great minds, so they can grapple with  great thoughts. These great thoughts aren’t out of their reach–the child gets what they need from their books, so long as they are put in front of “worthy books, many worthy books.” 

For not all things are created equal.

Books Mentioned: Home Education | A Philosophy of Education (*affiliate links) 

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COMMONPLACE:

“Why in the world should we not give children, while they are at school, the sort of books they can live upon, books alive with thought and feeling, and delight in knowledge, instead of the miserable cram-books upon which they are starved?” (Formation of Character, pg. 291)

“The mind, like the body, digests its proper foods, and it must have the labor of digestion, or it ceases to function.” (Philosophy of Education, pg. 26)

“Now imagination, does not descend full-grown to take possession of an empty house like every other power of the mind, it is the merest germ of a power to begin with, and it grows by what it gets, and childhood, the age of faith, is the time for its nourishing. The children should have the joys of living in far away lands, in other persons, in other times–a delightful double existence, and this joy they will find, for the most part in their story-books.” (Home Education, pg. 153)

“We forget that it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall Man live,–whether it be spoken in the way of some truth of religion, poem, picture, scientific discovery, or literary expression, by these things men live and in all such is the life of the spirit.” (A Philosophy of Education, pg. 125)

“[We ought to] take it upon ourselves that great character comes out of great thoughts and great thoughts must be initiated by great ‘thinkers’, then we shall have a definite aim in education. Thinking, and not doing is the source of great character.” (A Philosophy of Education, pg. 278)

“And so at last they got on the move. Lucy went first, biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan. But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan.” (Prince Caspian, pg. 158)

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

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 innerlife with ideas as we sustain his body with food. (Parents and Children, pg. 39)

Let’s begin a little primer course on Charlotte Mason’s principles. We’ll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start) with Principle 1: Children are born persons. Which…seems a bit obvious. What else would they be? 

But it’s not that they could be anything else, it’s that we treat them as something else. Because we mothers have a tendency to forget our rank, and when we do that, three things tend to happen.

Books Mentioned: Home Education | A Philosophy of Education (*affiliate links) 

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COMMONPLACE:

“It is not open to the parents, either to lay aside or to sink under the burden of honor laid upon them and no doubt we have all seen the fullest, freest flow of confidence, sympathy, and love where the mother sits as a queen among her children and the father is honored as a crowned head. . . In the first place, they are the immediate and personally appointed deputies of the almighty King, the sole ruler of men.” (Parents and Children, pg. 14)

“It is summed up in three commandments, and all three have a negative character, as if the chief thing required of grown-up people is that they should do no sort of injury to the children: Take heed that ye OFFEND not––DESPISE not––HINDER not––one of these little ones.”  (Home Education, pg. 12)

“Let the child perceive that his parents are law compelled as well as he, that they simply cannot allow him to do the things which have been forbidden and he submits with the sweet meekness which belongs to his age.” (Home Education, pg. 15)

“Children should have the best of their mothers. . . her freshest, brightest hours, while at the same time, she is careful to choose her nurses wisely, train them carefully, and keep a vigilant eye on all that goes on in the nursery.” (Home Education, pg. 18)

“If the mother settle it in her own mind that the child never does wrong without being aware of his wrong-doing, she will see that he is not too young to have his fault corrected or prevented.” (Home Education, pg. 19)

‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ (Luke 18:16-17)

“This responsibility is not equally divided between the parents: it is upon the mothers of the present that the future of the world depends, in even a greater degree than upon the fathers, because it is the mothers who have the sole direction of the children’s early, most impressible years. This is why we hear so frequently of great men who have had good mothers–that is, mothers who brought up their children themselves, and did not make over their gravest duty to indifferent persons.” (Home Education, pg. 2)

As we make our way into Masonland, we may find that there is a whole foreign language here in this beautiful place. In Episode 2, we’ll make our own Charlotte Mason-to-English dictionary and go over some of the common phrases and words that you might hear as we enter this enchanting, but oft confusing, world of classical Charlotte Mason philosophy.

Books Mentioned: Home Education | A Philosophy of Education (*affiliate links) 

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COMMONPLACE: 

“If mothers could learn to do for themselves, what they do for their children . . . we would have happier households.” (School Education, pg. 33)

“consider how laborious life would be were its wheels not greased by habits of cleanliness, neatness, order, courtesy; had we to make the effort of decision about every detail of dressing and eating, coming and going, life would not be worth living… The habits of the religious life also become fixed and delightful and give us due support in the effort to live a godly, righteous, and sober life.” (A Philosophy of Education, pg. 103)

“Children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough” (Parents and Children, pg. 279) 

“Recitation and committing to memory are not necessarily the same thing, and it is well to store a child's memory with a good deal of poetry, learnt without labour.” (Home Education, pg. 224)

“Children know how to read, but they cannot read.” (P.R. article, 1890)

“The gains of such a method of learning are, that the edge of the child's enjoyment is not taken off by weariful verse by verse repetitions, and, also, that the habit of making mental images is unconsciously formed.” (Home Education, pg. 225)

“culminates in a Scott or a Homer and begins with the toddling persons of two and three who talk a great deal to each other and are surely engaged in ‘telling’ though no grown-up, not even a mother, can understand. But children of six can tell to amazing purpose. The grown-up who writes the tales to their ‘telling’ will cover many pages before getting to the end of ‘Hans and Gretel’ or a Bible story…” (A Philosophy of Education, pg. 190)

“From the beginning examinations have been an important part of our work, not with the intention of criticizing or grading, but as a means of encouraging and helping both teacher and taught.”  (“Examinations in the PNEU School and Schools Affiliated,” G.H.A. Stephens)

Let’s talk about this Charlotte Mason. She was an educator, writer, and philosopher who was born in 1842. But 1842 was a really long time ago. How is what she said 100 years ago relevant in our homes today?

Well, times might change, but do ideas change? Does the formation of a child change? 

Consider this episode a primer on who Miss Mason was, and what she believed, and why we believe it absolutely matters in your home today. 

Books Mentioned: Home Education | A Philosophy of Education (*affiliate links) 

Join the Ordinary Matters Community: The Ordinary Matters Patreon 

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Welcome to the Ordinary Matters podcast, the podcast dedicated to inspiring mothers to see the ordinary matters of motherhood as the place to cultivate a life of love, wonder, and knowledge of the King. We’re your hosts, Brittney and Melanie, sisters and best friends, learning to implement the Charlotte Mason method in our homes.

They say that there is no handbook for parenting, and it’s true. There isn’t one. But there are principles for living, for living rightly that can transform your habits and home. They are found in God’s word, his people, and the heritage of wisdom from the classical tradition. The principles are there but we just have to find them and put them into practice.

That’s what you’ll find here at the Ordinary Matters. We know it is not an easy task to cultivate an atmosphere, discipline and life of richness, but we believe it is worth every mother’s efforts. Each episode we’ll talk about the principles of a Charlotte Mason education, but also about the practices, habits, and tools we’ve found useful as we grow as mothers, homemakers, and teachers. This path–though it is not for the faint of heart–is full of beauty, peace, and delight, and it has the power to change the lives of the people in your ordinary home. 

Books Mentioned: Home Education | A Philosophy of Education (*affiliate links) 

Join the Ordinary Matters Community:  patreon.com/TheOrdinaryMatters

Connect with us elsewhere:
Instagram | Email us at [email protected]