Reading in Home Education Volume I continues. It is of great help to me and I think would be of great help to any new parent, not just one who would homeschool or homeschool using Charlotte Mason’s method.
Okra in the garden.
The Short Summary of Home Education Volume – I, published on the Ambleside website, from Charlotte Mason in Modern English says this:
Charlotte discusses the use of training in good habits to replace undesirable tendencies in children. Automatic habits remove many stressful decisions from the child, making life easier and smoother since a child with good habbits will be well-behaved. In adulthood, the properly trained habits that were acquired in childhood will prevent pitfalls that many people fall into.
It’s a work day, but I steal away into the garden for a few minutes.
I wish I’d read Charlotte Mason’s works when my first child was a baby. My own beliefs mesh with hers in theory because I feel that we should look daily to whether or not, and how, God’s Word is fitting into our lives, but reading Charlotte Mason’s Home Education is helping me work things practically into our lives when it comes to daily training and home education, to help form good habits and take our lives seriously.
Picking green beans yesterday.
Do you want an example of how this has spoken to me?
My children are getting older. I have a 21-year-old living at home. He has been working and is about to attend a local college. We probably set into him the majority of what we could set into him as far as a belief system and right-wrong when he was under the age of 5 or 6, but I don’t think it’s ever too late to work on habits. He’s legally a grown man, of course, but I still have a voice and he still has ears. 
He tends to be messy with his papers — mail, receipts, so I am trying to help him form better habits with that.
John and Michaela act silly while snapping beans.
I have an 18-year-old who is finishing up the last bit of his homeschool work and basically has graduated from our homeschool. He’s a good fellow, but he likes to stay up too late. My 15-year-old son and my 11-year-old daughter are still forming habits as they go through adolescence. What is it about adolescents that makes them want to stay up late? They fall right in with their older brother and they would all stay up too late.
If I say, “Don’t stay up too late,” and make it, “because I said so,” it goes over like sandpaper. But if I remind them that they can be of no help to their family or to their community if they stay up too late and sleep the morning away, then it puts emphasis on this: I am, I can, I ought, I will. It puts an emphasis on duty. With gentle reminders, I can see it working.
Still being silly, but the beans got snapped.
Charlotte Mason wrote that there was a Code of Education in the Gospels, “expressly laid down by Christ.” She said to pay attention to three commandments given regarding “these little ones.”
- Offend not
- Despise not
- Hinder not
When I first read it, I thought it might be a point we would disagree on, but I read on. She noted that these verses can be taken beyond being applied to an adult who has become like a little one and applied to raising these souls sent to us to raise, remembering their duty to live with the knowledge that they will return to God.
She said, “…we offend them, when we do by them that which we ought not to have done; we despise them, when we leave undone those things which, for their sakes, we ought to have done.”
She talks about how mothers instinctively remove literal objects from the way of a toddler learning to walk. Why, then, would we let our “no’s” to a child be weak and something to be toyed with in regards to bigger things — things regarding character? If a mother laughs at wrongs, if she teaches her child that he can tease her “no” into a “yes,” and that he can get away with doing what started out as unacceptable, then he has learned that he can do wrong and get away with it. She has then offended, or placed a stumblingblock in his way.
I’ll close with one more quote:
…who has not met big girls and boys, the children of right-minded parents, who yet do not know what must means, who are not moved by ought, whose hearts feel no stir at the solemn name of Duty, who know no higher rule of life than ‘I want,’ and ‘I don’t want,’ ‘I like,’ and ‘I don’t like’? Heaven help parents and children when it has come to that!
I hope I have sounded “harpy” this morning. Just wanted to share these Charlotte Mason thoughts and quotes that are really helping me to help my children in their educational process.
Happy Friday!
Lynn
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
Love that last quote..my son wants to stay up late too. There never seems to be enough time in the day for even a teenager…
I love CM and I am glad you are reminding of some of her quotes.
I really enjoyed this post. It’s neat to see how you included these thoughts into practical means for even the older and adult children. I have to say after reading your post this morning… It really is never too late :O)
Blessings to you and your family!
I am really enjoying all of the Charlotte Mason-isms you are sharing with us these days☺
Hi Lynn,
I read your blog, pondered the expression on your face and was taken back to the days when it seemed like a constant process of start and stop with my girls. As teens they were active girls involved in school, extra-curricular activities, Peter Quince community theater for young people, friends, part time jobs, church, and family.
With all this they were certain they had all the answers to all the questions life could offer. Oh the wisdom of teens! I was painted as “The meanest Mom in the World”. Why? Because I set limits, curfews, and said No when it was warranted. This came with some duress as the girls felt they could handle their lives just fine!
As a parent it was a very lonely place sometimes but so necessary.
They needed to exercise their independence and experience making choices but also needed quidance.
By the time they were graduating high school a shocking thing had happened. I was transformed into the “Best Mom in the World”. My Emily gave me a card at her graduation that thanked me for standing strong and not giving up the values that she expressed as being her foundation for a successful life. Offend not, despise not, and hinder not requires a delicate balance only achieved through God’s grace and
guidance. You have been and continue to be a wonderful mother and role model.
May God bless you and yours,
Diane M.
Tonya, I am really enjoying reading CM and thinking on quotes from her writings. I think you hit the nail on the head with there not being enough time in the day even for teenagers. There is so much in the world now to distract, with video games, electronics, movie ads all over the place, internet, it’s a wonder anyone ever goes to sleep.
Deanna, thanks for your comment. I know it’s best to work on some habits with the very young, but some children don’t seem to get certain things until they get older and, as a parent, I feel it’s my job to never give up. I have one son, who shall remain nameless,
who seems to have to learn everything the hard way. Sigh.
Diane, thank you. I am truly enjoying them myself!
DianeM, thank you for your kind words. That’s very encouraging. It is very hard and lonely at times to stand by the golden rules we’ve made as a family, but I do think it pays off in the long run. Your girls sound like great individuals.
Lynn
Hey, love your post. These pictures of John really remind me of Daddy and Randall. He favors the Thomas’s alot.
Love Ya,
Vicki Garner
Vicki, I was just talking to my mom today about how much John reminds me of Uncle Jackie. We should have called him Jack. It’s this way he has.
I miss Uncle Randall and Uncle Jackie. 
I love you too,
Lynn
I loved this post! My two teenagers NEVER seem to go to bed! I still haven’t figured out a way to make them go to bed on time. It is encouraging to know others have this same trouble. LOL
Valerie
Valerie, my husband and I have recently talked about the fact that people have a hard time bringing a day to a close in this time we live in. There’s so much to keep doing, no one wants to go to bed, especially teens. It’s really something to deal with, isn’t it?
HI LYNN i have just started to use the cm way .but trying to get it all together i came across your site .to express it its like coming upon a gold mine.i sit here my eyes full of tears because of the quote you have share of cm has truly made me realize my the grace of of all the mistakes i have made.any help that you can give on these lines will be greatly welcome thanks you may god continue blessing on you and the family mary jane
Mary Jane, Thank you for your kind comment. I felt like I’d found a gold mine when I started reading Charlotte Mason’s works. I will definitely continue to share how her writings affect our home life and homeschooling.
Lynn