With the sudden nature of spring the cool breezes longed to come in through the windows, and with them, a cacophony of bird songs competing with each other for sound space…
Summer draws near, and we begin to consider how we will spend our days. In his book, Leisure, the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper (1904-1997), a German philosopher, offered a helpful framework for considering the relationship between work, leisure, and entertainment.
Charlotte Mason was an intensely private person, and some aspects of her life have only come to light over the last ten years. Here are some lesser-known facts about Charlotte.
Thania described a Charlotte Mason education as rich, inspiring, and life-changing. Not only did it change the way she viewed learning as a homeschool mother, but it truly instilled a joy of learning and the desire to become lifelong learners in herself and in her children.
Before Ambleside, I attended traditional Christian schools. In third grade, I was depressed, acting out, behind in math, trailing in reading, and I hated school. I was deeply convinced that I was stupid. My parents were fearful for my future, questioning if I would even graduate high school.
In 1903 it had been suggested by a home-schoolroom pupil, Eric Bishop, that the P.U.S. should have a badge. He wrote to Charlotte Mason to ask if this could be arranged and sent her a design of a lark soaring towards heaven, encircled by a wreath of daisies.
A grieving Martha meets Jesus on the way. “If you had been there, my brother would not have died.” And Jesus responds with sweetest of words: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
I think schools often focus on information as the outcome of what they’re trying to do. Test results. What makes a “living education” is that we focus on the work of formation. It’s not just passing the test. We’re trying to form the child for every aspect of their future life.
Charlotte Mason understood the potential of the littlest of us and then made it her duty to cultivate a way of education that respects our children as persons; worthy to be given the BEST ideas to nourish their minds upon.
Charlotte Mason talks about “seeing eyes” – truly looking and observing deeply the world and God’s creation in front of us.
