Sharing some helpful reminders from a book that was used in Charlotte Mason’s schools.
Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I’m Sonya Shafer.
On my bookshelf I have a copy of a book from the early 1900s that was used in Charlotte
Mason’s schools. Many books like this contain an introduction full of helpful comments,
but the introduction to this book is so refreshing that I want to share a portion of it with
you. Of course, it stands to reason that the comments
would dovetail with Charlotte’s philosophy, since she recommended and used this book.
But I often find it helpful to read the same ideas put into different words.
This little book is a resource for teaching beginning reading and writing. It's called
The Happy Reader by E. L. Young, and the introduction is titled “Hints to Young Teachers.”
Now, even though these comments are addressed specifically to teachers who are dealing with
beginning reading, I think they contain timeless Charlotte Mason wisdom that would be good
for all of us to be reminded of—young or old, new or veteran homeschooler.
Here's the paragraph I want to share with you:
Do not forget that the education of the child’s mind is of infinitely more importance than
the acquirements of reading and writing; these may be put off for years without injury to
the child’s career, but the cultivation of reason, imagination, observation and sympathy,
cannot be put off without injury to its moral and intellectual development. Therefore, do
not trouble yourself at all about the child’s progress, but be very careful of its growth.
Never treat its mistakes as faults, nor scold it for forgetting, but if it appears dull
or inattentive revise your own method and redouble your efforts to interest it. Haphazard
methods, hurry and worry, are the worst enemies of progress, but give the child a logical
method and sympathetic attention, and it cannot fail to make as much progress as its intelligence
is capable of. There is a lot of wisdom packed into that
one paragraph, but let me just point out three key ideas that stood out to me.
First, education is more important than acquirements. It's easy to think that those two concepts
are equal: education and acquirements or skills. But Charlotte would remind us that “It cannot
be too often said that information is not education” (School Education, p. 169).
Acquiring facts or skills is not true education. Yet it is easy for us to forget that fact
when we are surrounded by requirements and tests and checklists that focus on how many
academic facts and skills our students have acquired.
We need to remember that “The function of education is not to give technical skill but
to develop a person” (A Philosophy of Education, p. 147). True education is feeding the mind
and heart on ideas; true education is guiding the student’s growth as a person. Which
brings us to the second idea that stood out to me.
Focus more on growth than on progress. That’s hard to do. Let’s face it, we are
often judged by how much progress our children have made in every area of life. And when
others focus on progress, we can get our sights shifted in that direction too.
Instead, Charlotte encouraged us to keep our eyes fastened on the truth that “Children
learn, to Grow”; not just to know (Home Education, p. 171). She also said, “We must
bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education”
(The Story of Charlotte Mason, p. 231). Are we focusing on growth or on progress?
How do we know? I think one way we can tell where we are focusing is whether we fret at
the pace at which our children are learning—if we feel ourselves panicking and pushing. If
we're fretting at the pace, we're probably more focused on progress—moving from A to
B the quickest way possible. Progress. But if we find that we can rest content in
the knowledge that they are learning and growing in many areas, that they are becoming the
best persons they can be in all areas of life, then we are focusing on growth.
Which brings us to the third idea. A logical method and sympathetic attention
work better than haphazard methods and hurry and worry.
Rather than running hither and yon, switching curriculum every few months, and losing sleep
over where Johnny “should be” in his math book or Susie "should be" in her reading skills,
sometimes we simply need to be perceptive and patient.
The Charlotte Mason method works; we can trust it. And because it is a method, rather than
a rigid system, we can tweak it as needed to fit our individual children and situations.
In other words, we can teach the child, not the curriculum.
We are not tied to any particular set of lesson plans, any contrived timetable, or even any
specific books. We are free to apply Charlotte’s wonderful methods, spread an appetizing feast
of ideas, and encourage each child to partake and grow as the unique person that he or she
is. The key is to be faithful. Keep feeding each
child's mind and heart. Keep encouraging growth in each individual. Keep developing the whole
person. In other words, keep educating.
Quite a collection of wise ideas from these hints
to teachers.