Masterly Inactivity is the peaceful presence held by an Ambleside teacher that gently invites a child to strengthen his will to do as he ought – for example, to sit up correctly, or show kindness. Masterly Inactivity is not heavy-handed but is peaceful and natural.
Charlotte Mason proposes the need to ‘rectify’ our view of authority and how authority rightly ‘vested in the office’ of the teacher impacts the learning atmosphere. Miss Mason explains how authority is not autocratic rule but rather it is a mantle to wear with dignity and confidence. The teacher walks in authority, is under authority, and is ever aware that she stands always on Holy ground before the children.
Our founder Maryellen St. Cyr shares how she came to know Charlotte Mason, how it changed her understanding of education, and how this new understanding is implemented in our Ambleside classrooms. Check out the Making the Leap podcast from our partners at the Herzog Foundation, hosted by Christine and Chris Stigall.
In cultivating an atmosphere for learning, we at Ambleside are ever-mindful of our responsibility and vocation as educators to nurture the children, providing a place for them to grow and thrive — a place that encourages and supports the development of their mind and capacities through their own worthy efforts to apprehend knowledge.
In this next part in our video and discussion guides, we flesh out Charlotte Mason’s ideas on how to ‘excite appetency … toward things lovely, honest, and of good report.’ And we wholeheartedly agree that this is the earliest and most important ministry of the educator.
Charlotte Mason emphasized cultivating an atmosphere conducive to learning and growing. At Ambleside, we take great care to develop such an atmosphere, and our teachers are actively engaged and attuned to what is ‘going around’ in the classroom, on the playground, and through the school hallways.
With the principle always in mind that children are born persons, an Ambleside teacher is trained to be aware of the innate, God-given desires within each child, while at the same time being cautious to tread carefully in how to satisfy these.
Charlotte Mason gives us a thoughtful vision to the significance and purpose of a ‘literature lesson’ to a child’s education. At Ambleside Schools, we believe as she does that ‘a child ‘gets moral notions’ from these stories.
At Ambleside Schools we wholeheartedly agree with Charlotte Mason’s premise that children are born with an innate desire to know. They’re “pre-wired,” so to speak, to naturally learn and grow — to “self-educate.”
A vital principle in an Ambleside education is the idea that ‘Children are Born Persons.’ Charlotte Mason reminds us that children are made in God’s image with great capacity and born with an innate desire for knowledge.
