“No education, but self-education,” said Charlotte Mason. What does this mean in our schoolroom, in our daily lives? Listen to the discussion of what we are really aiming for in the education of our children.
Listen Now:
An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Book I, Chapter I
“No one knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him; therefore, there is no education but self-education, and as soon as a young child begins his education he does so as a student.” (6/26)
“[G]ive your child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information; for the child who grows up with a few dominant ideas has his self-education provided for, his career marked out.” (1/174)
“Our deadly error is to suppose that we are his showman to the universe; and, not only so, but that there is no community at all between child and universe unless such as we choose to set up.” (3/188)
“The children, not the teachers, are the responsible persons; they do the work by self-effort. The teachers give sympathy and occasionally elucidate, sum up or enlarge, but the actual work is done by the scholars.” (6/6)
“A person is not built up from without but from within, that is, he is living, and all external educational appliances and activities which are intended to mould his character are decorative and not vital.” (6/23)
“One thing at any rate we know with certainty, that no teaching, no information becomes knowledge to any of us until the individual mind has acted upon it, translated it, transformed, absorbed it, to reappear, like our bodily food, in forms of vitality. Therefore, teaching, talk and tale, however lucid or fascinating, effect nothing until self-activity be set up; that is, self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.” (6/240)
“…no effort at self-education can do anything until one has found out this supreme delightfulness of knowledge.” (6/347)
“The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care?” (3/170-171)
“…the motto-” I am, I can, I ought, I will,” has had much effect in throwing children upon the possibilities, capabilities, duties and determining power belonging to them as persons.” (6/29)
“Naturally, each of us possesses this mind-stuff only in limited measure, but we know where to procure it ; for the best thought the world possesses is stored in books ; we must open books to children, the best books ; our own concern is abundant provision and orderly serving.” (6/26)
“If the list be short, the scholar will not get enough mind-stuff; if the books are not various, his will not be an all-round development ; if they are not original, but compiled at second hand, he will find no material in them for his intellectual growth.” (6/303)
“A corollary of the principle that education is the science of relations, is, that no education seems to be worth the name which has not made children at home in the world of books , and so related them, mind to mind, with thinkers who have dealt with knowledge.” (3/226)
“Our part is to remove obstructions and to give stimulus and guidance to the child who is trying to get in touch with the universe of things and thoughts which belongs to him.” (3/188)
“Attention is not the only habit that follows due self-education. The habits of fitting and ready expression, of obedience, of good-will, and of an impersonal outlook are spontaneous by-products of education in this sort. So, too, are the habits of right thinking and right judging; while physical habits of neatness and order attend upon the self-respect which follows an education which respects the personality of children.” (6/100)
“In proportion as he is made aware of the laws which rule every relationship, will his life be dutiful and serviceable: as he learns that no relation with persons or with things, animate or inanimate , can be maintained without strenuous effort, will he learn the laws of work and the joys of work.” (3/187-188)
“…so soon as the child can read at all, he should read for himself, and to himself, history, legends, fairy tales, and other suitable matter.” (1/227)
“People are naturally divided into those who read and think and those who do not read or think ; and the business of schools is to see that all their scholars shall belong to the former class; it is worth while to remember that thinking is inseparable from reading which is concerned with the content of a passage and not merely with the printed matter.” (6/31)
“Knowledge is not sensation, nor is it to be derived through sensation ; we feed upon the thoughts of other minds ; and thought applied to thought generates thought and we become more thoughtful. No one need invite us to reason, compare, imagine; the mind, like the body, digests its proper food, and it must have the labour of digestion or it ceases to function.” (6/26)
The sharing of books together has been such a blessing to our family. My husband occasionally shares something about a book he’s read, but (being a bit more of an extrovert) I like to narrate a lot more about what I’m reading to my family over dinner, or when we’re out together. My children have learnt about all kinds of topics such as Charles Kingsley, Louisa May Alcott and the Sufragette movement from the books I’ve read. Once we were having a discussion about draining floodland, and my 6 y.o. piped up with, “That’s a bit like the windmill in that book you read.” I was perplexed because I’d not read him any books with a windmill in, until questioning revealed that it was a book I’d read to myself, but had talked to my children about. The science of relations was at work, even with books he hadn’t read himself!
If I’m enjoying a plot-based novel, my boys love to hear narrations of it. I’ve been listening to some of the Three Musketeers series on Librivox, and I’m narrating it to them. At points, when I’ve said that I’m off to do the washing up or some cooking, I’ve been told, “Mummy, can you make sure you listen to The Three Musketeers while you do that, because you didn’t listen to ANY yesterday, and I want to know whether D’Artagnan gets to London safely?”
I find that reading about similar topics works well for science / nature study too. I didn’t plan it this way, but I was in need of a new natural history book just after I’d been planning our next term’s special studies, one of which was bees. I spotted a book about bees in my ‘I want to read’ pile, so I decided to start that straight away. I thought my eldest would enjoy me reading a particular page aloud, so I did, and he loved it so much that now I’m reading the whole book aloud to him instead of just reading it to myself. We then narrate it to my husband and my younger child so everyone can enjoy it.
Katie,
What wonderful examples! Thank you for sharing these delightful stories with us as prime examples of the concept discussed in this episode.
Liz