Charlotte Mason’s foundational principles encompass the relationship of parent and child. This is the third part of a series of podcast episodes discussing the role of “authority and docility”  and particularly addresses the child’s side of the relationship.

Listen Now:

“The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary, and fundamental; but-” (Principle 3)

“These principles are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, which must not be encroached upon, whether by the direct use of fear or love, suggestion or influence, or by undue play upon any one natural desire.” (Principle 4)

“…proud submission and dignified obedience” (2/13), [which she clarifies:] “which distinguishes great men and noble citizens.” (6/70)

“That principle in us which brings us into subjection to authority is docility, teachableness, and that also is universal. If a man in the pride of his heart decline other authority, he will submit himself slavishly to his ‘star’ or his ‘destiny.’ It would seem that the exercise of docility is as natural and necessary as that of reason or imagination; and the two principles of authority and docility act in every life precisely as do those two elemental principles which enable the earth to maintain its orbit, the one drawing it towards the sun, the other as constantly driving it into space; between the two, the earth maintains a more or less middle course and the days go on.” (6/69)

“It is a little difficult to draw the line between mechanical and reasonable obedience.” (3/18)

“We all know the child who is fully willing to do the right thing as far as mind is concerned, but with whom bodily vis inertiae is strong enough to resist a very torrent of good intentions and good resolutions…if we wish children to be able, when they grow up, to keep under their bodies and bring them into subjection, we must do this for them in their earlier years.” (3/19)

“Authority of parents…is only successful as it encourages the autonomy, if we may call it so, of the child. A single decision made by the parents which the child is, or should be, capable of making for itself, is an encroachment on the rights of the child, and a transgression on the part of the parents…If they fail in such self-ordering, …their parents are to blame for not having introduced them by degrees to the full liberty which is their right as men and women.” (2/17)

“…which secure to them freedom, i.e., self-authority, on the one hand, and ‘proud subjection’ on the other.” (6/71)

“If a boy have a passage to read, he obeys the call of that immediate duty, reads the passage with attention and is happy in doing so. We all know with what a sense of added importance we say, ‘I must be at Mrs. Jones’s by eleven.’ ‘It is necessary that I should see Brown.’ The life that does not obey such conditions has got out of its orbit and is not of use to society. It is necessary that we should all follow an ordered course, and children, even infant children, must begin in the way in which they will have to go on.” (6/70)

“All school work should be conducted in such a manner that children are aware of the responsibility of learning; it is their business to know that which has been taught.” (6/74)

“[C]hildren should have a fine sense of the freedom which comes of knowledge which they are allowed to appropriate as they choose, freely given with little intervention from the teacher.(6/73-74)

Parents and Children (Volume 2), Chapter 2

School Education (Volume 3), Chapters 1-2

An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Chapters 4-5

Golden Hours of Delight Retreat, Kings Mountain, NC; April 7, 2018

Episode 30: The Way of the Will and the Way of Reason

Episode 108: Masterly Inactivity

Charlotte Mason had much to say about parenting and this week’s episode addresses the role of parents, their responsibilities, attitudes, and weaknesses. Mason was clear about the dignified office of authority in order to lead, guide, protect, and inspire our children to fulfill their role as obedient, peaceful, and joyful persons.

Listen Now:

“The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary, and fundamental; but-” (Principle 3)

“These principles are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, which must not be encroached upon, whether by the direct use of fear or love, suggestion or influence, or by undue play upon any one natural desire.” (Principle 4)

“There is an idea abroad that authority makes for tyranny, and that obedience, voluntary or involuntary, is of the nature of slavishness; but authority is, on the contrary, the condition without which liberty does not exist and, except it be abused, is entirely congenial to those on whom it is exercised.” (6/69)

“[We] are free under authority, which is liberty; to be free without authority is license.” (3/29)

“The arbitrary exercise of authority on the part of parent, nurse, governess, whoever is set in authority over him, is the real stone of stumbling and rock of offense in the way of many a child. Nor is there room for the tender indulgent mother….for the most ruinous exercise of arbitrary authority is when the mother makes herself a law unto her child, with power to excuse him from his duties, and to grant him…indulgences…This mother errs in believing that her children are hers–in her power, body and soul.” (5/70)

“Authority is for use and service.” (2/13)

“The love of ease, the love of favour, the claims of other work, are only some of the causes which lead to a result disastrous to society––the abdication of parent. When we come to consider the nature and uses of the parents’ authority, we shall see that such abdication is as immoral as it is mischievous. Meantime, it is well worth while to notice that the causes which lead parents to resign the position of domestic rulers are resolvable into one––the office is too troublesome, too laborious. The temptation which assails parents is the same which has led many a crowned head to seek ease in the cloister–– ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,’ even if it be the natural crown of parenthood.” (2/13)

“It is not open to parents either to lay aside or to sink under the burden of the honour laid upon them” (2/14)

Parents and Children (Volume 2), Chapter 2

School Education (Volume 3), Chapters 1-2

An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Chapters 4-5

Episode 30: The Way of the Will and the Way of Reason

Charlotte Mason addressed parenting issues in concurrence with her philosophy of education. This podcast episode is the first of a three-part series on her third principle of “authority and docility.” The first portion today concerns the right view of authority in our lives.

Listen Now:

“The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary, and fundamental…” (Principle 3)

“Authority is for use and service.” (2/13)

“[Authority] is to be maintained and exercised solely for the advantage of the children, whether in mind, body, or estate.” (2/16)

“But be his knowledge of the law little or much, no parent escapes the call to rule.” (2/10)

“Now, the first thing we ask for in a ruler is, ‘Is he able to rule? Does he know how to maintain his authority?’ A ruler who fails to govern is like an unjust judge, an impious priest, an ignorant teacher; that is, he fails in the essential attribute of his office.” (2/10)

“But we have been taught better; we know now that authority is vested in the office and not in the person; that the moment it is treated as a personal attribute it is forfeited. We know that a person in authority is a person authorised; and that he who is authorised is under authority.” (3/11-12)

“For it is indeed true that none of us has a right to exercise authority, in things great or small, except as we are, and acknowledge ourselves to be, deputed by the one supreme and ultimate Authority. When we take up this volume on education, small as it is, easy reading as it is, we must bear in mind that we have put ourselves under the lead of a philosopher who overlooks nothing, who regards the least important things from the standpoint of their final issue, and who would not have the little child do as he is bid lest he should learn, as a man, to obey that authority, other than himself, which we believe to be Divine.” (3/7-8)

“We all have it in us to serve or to rule as occasion demands.” (3/10)

Parents and Children (Volume 2), Chapter 2

School Education (Volume 3), Chapters 1-2

An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Chapters 4-5

Episode 107: Forming Informed Opinions

An article on the Christian foundation of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy of Education

Application of Charlotte Mason’s principles in many areas of life is the focus of the ADE monthly Q&A episodes. This month:  how do we manage children’s extracurricular involvements, when should we expect children to gain independence with schoolwork, and are daily scheduled timetables relevant for the homeschool as much as they are used in formal classroom settings.

Listen Now:

“Lack of proportion should be our bête noire in drawing up a curriculum, remembering that the mathematician who knows little of the history of his own country or that of any other, is sparsely educated at the best. At the same time Genius has her own rights. The born mathematician must be allowed full scope even to the omission of much else that he should know. He soon asserts himself, sees into the intricacies of a problem with half an eye, and should have scope.” (6/232)

“Let us look in at a home schoolroom managed on sound principles. In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time in not ‘as good as another’; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child’s attention to his work. Again, the lessons are short, seldom more than twenty minutes in length for children under eight; and this, for two or three reasons. The sense that there is not much time for his sums or his reading, keeps the child’s wits on the alert and helps to fix his attention.” (1/142)

“…[The] mother’s firmness as much as to her good management. In the first place, that the school tasks be done, and done well, in the assigned time, should be a most fixed law. The young people will maintain that it is impossible, but let the mother insist; she will thereby cultivate the habit of attention.” (5/195)

Letters from Mothers–submitted to the PNEU about the help received as part of that organization

Charlotte Mason’s educational method encompasses all of life. This podcast episode explores the possibilities of sharing and showing love as a family through acts of mercy and service to our neighbors near and far through an interview with friend and Mason educating mom of six, Vanessa Kijewski, who shares her experiences in training her children to give.

Listen Now:

“A child who is taught from the first the delights of giving and sharing, of loving and bearing, will always spend himself freely on others, will love and serve, seeking for nothing again; but the child who recognises that he is the object of constant attention, consideration, love and service, becomes self-regardful, self-seeking, selfish, almost without his fault, so strongly is he influenced by the direction his thoughts receive from those about him.” (2/288)

“The tender sympathy of the child must be allowed to flow in ways of help and kindness towards all life that anyway touches his. I knew a little girl of five, who came in from her walk under an obvious cloud of distress. ‘What is the matter, H––?’ she was asked. A quick little ‘Nothing,’ with the reticence of her family, was all that could be got out of her for some minutes; but a caress broke her down, and, in a passion of pity, she sobbed out, ‘A poor man, no home, no food, no bed to lie upon!’ Young as she was, the revelation of the common life in humanity had come upon her; she was one with the beggar and suffered with him. Children must, of course, be shielded from intense suffering, but woe to mother or nurse who would shield, by systematically hardening, the child’s heart. This little girl had the relief of helping, and then the pain of sympathy ceased to be too much for her.” (2/265)

“Love desires to give and serve; the gifts and the service vary with the age and standing of the friends; the child will bring the gift of obedience, the parent may have to offer the service of rebuke, but the thought of service is always present to Love. “Love not in word, neither in tongue,” says the Apostle, “but in deed and in truth”; that is, perhaps, “Do not rest content with the mere expression of love, whether in word or caress, but show your love in service and in confidence”; for the love that does not trust is either misplaced or unworthy. Love has other signs, no doubt, but these are true of all true love, whether between parent and child, friend and friend, married lovers, or between those who labour for the degraded and distressed and those for whom they labour. Let us notice the word degradation: it is literally to step from, to step down, and it is really a word of hope, for if it is possible to step down, it is also possible to step up again. All the great possibilities of Love are in every human heart, and to touch the spring, one must give Love.” (4/1/85)

“We owe knowledge to the ignorant, comfort to the distressed, healing to the sick, reverence, courtesy and kindness to all men, especially to those with whom we are connected by ties of family or neighbourhood; and the sense of these dues does not come by nature.” (3/85)

“Nothing is trivial that concerns a child; his foolish-seeming words and ways are pregnant with meaning for the wise. It is in the infinitely little we must study in the infinitely great; and the vast possibilities, and the right direction of education, are indicated in the open book of the little child’s thoughts.” (1/5)

Ourselves, Book I, Part III, Section II: Justice (Volume 4)

Love desires to give and serve by Vanessa Kijewski

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 2)

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 10)

The Ministering Children’s League (PR 14)