Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale, The Nightingale, was published in 1843, long before the internet ever existed. But as our modern world marches forward with every prescribed solution to the problems we face, perhaps there is something we can still learn from this old tale. If you haven’t read it, you can do so […]
Children, Technology, and the mechanical nightingale Read More »
Our youngest son is now four and as I revisit Charlotte Mason’s ideas on habit training, or maybe some collectively gathered ideas on training and educating, I’ve come to realize the importance of the flip side of habit training – the side that maybe we don’t consider often enough. I think for the most part,
The flip side of habit training Read More »
Note: This post was originally published on August 26, 2011 and is being re-posted – because I think we can all afford to hear it again and again. And because I haven’t blogged in a very, very long time… I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty
Hidden Even to Ourselves (CM Vanity) Read More »
This is a really inspiring description from the April 1923 L’Umile Pianta of what one “H.E. Wix” described as the distinguishing points of Charlotte Mason’s elementary schools: What is it that distinguishes P.N.E.U. Elementary Schools from the ordinary School? It is a difficult question to answer, primarily because the “ordinary school” is indefinable. Many persons think
They live closer to life Read More »
Do you ever find the truths behind the Charlotte Mason method peering at you in your books through the lives of others? I do. They really aren’t her truths after all, she herself would say so; they were, and always will be, His truths. “Shelley offers us the key to education when he speaks of ‘understanding
A Magnanimous Way of Living Read More »
What do you think of these quotes about teaching the scientific method? “I have been told, on good authority, that the essence of scientific method is never formulated in lectures addressed to, or text-books intended for, young teachers. …what is most necessary for the children to learn is not what is the last new theory
Scientific Training Read More »
“Those first-born affinities That fit our new existence to existing things.” Charlotte Mason quotes this more than once, it’s a verse from William Wordsworth’s poem Prelude describing something I’m not so sure any of us really know how to quantify. What does she mean by it? She begins her entire section devoted to the task
Those first-born affinities Read More »
Welcome to the March 2013 edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival! This month we are talking about: The Sacredness of Personality and since many of the posts are on topic you have a wonderful opportunity to learn about this foundational idea from varying perspectives. And what’s truly amazing is just how much wisdom there
Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival – March 2013! Read More »
While it may not seem like much… to this doting mother it is clearly the first sign of poetic expression! An unprompted journal entry – sweet rewards for this mama who is stepping out in faith that this way of educating our children does in fact produce fruit. (And yes, I did get permission to
…so besotted (infatuated) is our educational thought that we believe children regard knowledge rather as repulsive medicine than as inviting food. Hence our dependence on marks and prizes, athletics, alluring presentation, any jam we can devise to disguise the powder. […] This atrophy of the desire of knowledge is the penalty our scholars pay because
The Possibility is Still There Read More »