Learning from Habit
From Newsletter of February 2023
It would stand to reason that someone trained in the Charlotte Mason for sixteen years would ranging from teacher to administrator would avoid many of the pitfalls of our modern system of “education.” However, teaching in the model is a method of growth, not a system of perfection. Comparisons surround. The panic that may ensue when a child comes home from Sunday school having been teased that he cannot read at four can lead to feelings of needing to do more. Many home educating clients with whom I have spoken express frustration at younger children being difficult to teach. Many have found a living way of education instead of feeling compelled to fit in a stifling system. In my own (limited) parenting journey it is a constant reminder to send them outside and not structure the lessons I am so excited to begin.
“The consideration of out-of-door life, in developing a method of education, comes second in order; because my object is to show that the chief function of the child–his business in the world during the first six or seven years of his life–is to find out all he can, about whatever comes under his notice, by means of his five senses; that he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge got in this way; and that, therefore, the endeavor of his parents should be to put him in the way of making acquaintance freely with Nature and natural objects; that, in fact, the intellectual education of the young child should lie in the free exercise of perceptive power, because the first stages of mental effort are marked by the extreme activity of this power; and the wisdom of the educator is to follow the lead of Nature in the evolution of the complete human being.”
Charlotte Mason, Volume 1, pp. 96-97
Not only is the interaction with nature important, but I am reminded on a regular basis of the need to attend to habits before formal studies begin at age 6. Some things we have had placed before us by mentors and other resources are
• By age 3 can he/she peacefully accept “no?”
• Is obedience completed immediately and cheerfully?
• Is the habit of reverence and relationship with God a part of our daily family conversations?
• Is all work done well the first time without prodding?
• Is a love for reading and beauty cultivated over that of twaddle?
• Do we encourage a service of others, especially family, over self?
• “What I want is not as important as what is right.”
• Can he/she attend and show mastery over body in an age-appropriate way?
My husband and I reflect on these frequently as we learn who our children are as persons. Anyone who has seen my children have a “fit of narcissism” will know that none of these is executed perfectly. However, how will we be able to open the world of beauty and learning up if we are struggling with these basic weaknesses of will alongside the academic? I have seen it in the classroom and it is not impossible, but it is challenging. How much more will these give our children life and relationships with people and ideas rather than the focus on rote memory with concepts they are not ready to understand? Commit with me to the “preschool of habits” to give our children the gift of self-mastery, not twaddle!
