One of the first things you notice in an Ambleside classroom is its distinctive timeline spanning the top of the room. Pictures, names, dates — all linked together by a seamless cord.
In prior times, children grew up with a mind to work—it was breathed in by the atmosphere of the home. Many children and many duties required many hands. As society has changed, however, much of our work is accomplished outside of the home, and parents labor in workplaces unseen by their children. Taking this into account, it is important to be purposeful to train a child in a view toward work.
Beauty is all around us, but we must learn to notice and recognize it. We begin in the classroom with beautiful music, art on the walls, wooden furniture. These all play a part in developing the aesthetic sense in a child while at the same time valuing the child as a person who has great capacity.
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.
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.
