Today on Expanding Wisdom I have the pleasure of sharing a special interview and giveaway with you!
Today I am interviewing Brandy Vencel from AfterthoughtsBlog.net. She has recently written and published her book ‘Start Here: A Journey Through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles‘.
During the interview we will be discussing her book, the idea of principles versus particulars, and how you can win one of two copies of her new book! Enjoy the interview!
The giveaway instructions are below the interview!
To enter to win simply tell us which of Charlotte Mason’s 20 principles you would most like to learn more about. I have them listed below, just in case you need to look. Click on the button in below box to enter you comment and enter to win. The winners will be chosen 1 week from today and will receive an email from us if you win. We will announce the winners on our Facebook page and weekly newsletter as well.
1. Children are born persons.
2. They are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and for evil.
3. The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary and fundamental; but––
4. 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.
5. Therefore, we are limited to three educational instruments––the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas.
6. When we say that “education is an atmosphere,” we do not mean that a child should be isolated in what may be called a ‘child-environment’ especially adapted and prepared, but that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the child’s’ level.
7. By “education is a discipline,” we mean the discipline of habits, formed definitely and thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body. Physiologists tell us of the adaptation of brain structures to habitual lines of thought, i.e., to our habits.
8. In saying that “education is a life,” the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.
9. We hold that the child’s mind is no mere sac to hold ideas; but is rather, if the figure may be allowed, a spiritual organism, with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper diet, with which it is prepared to deal; and which it can digest and assimilate as the body does foodstuffs.
10. Such a doctrine as e.g. the Herbartian, that the mind is a receptacle, lays the stress of education (the preparation of knowledge in enticing morsels duly ordered) upon the teacher. Children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching with little knowledge; and the teacher’s axiom is,’ what a child learns matters less than how he learns it.”
11. But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care only that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas. Out of this conception comes our principle that,––
12. “Education is the Science of Relations“; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of––
- “Those first-born affinities
- “That fit our new existence to existing things.”
13. In devising a SYLLABUS for a normal child, of whatever social class, three points must be considered:
- He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as does the body.
- The knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create appetite (i.e., curiosity)
- Knowledge should be communicated in well-chosen language, because his attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.
14. As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should ‘tell back’ after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.
15. A single reading is insisted on, because children have naturally great power of attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by questioning, summarising. and the like.
- Acting upon these and some other points in the behaviour of mind, we find that the educability of children is enormously greater than has hitherto been supposed, and is but little dependent on such circumstances as heredity and environment.
- Nor is the accuracy of this statement limited to clever children or to children of the educated classes: thousands of children in Elementary Schools respond freely to this method, which is based on the behaviour of mind.
16. There are two guides to moral and intellectual self-management to offer to children, which we may call ‘the way of the ‘will’ and ‘the way of the reason.’
17. The way of the will: Children should be taught,
- To distinguish between ‘I want’ and ‘I will.’
- That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire but do not will.
- That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting.
- That after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigour.
18. The way of reason: We teach children, too, not to ‘lean (too confidently) to their own understanding’; because the function of reason is to give logical demonstration
- of mathematical truth,
- of an initial idea, accepted by the will.
In the former case, reason is, practically, an infallible guide, but in the latter, it is not always a safe one; for, whether that idea be right or wrong, reason will confirm it by irrefragable proofs.
19. Therefore, children should be taught, as they become mature enough to understand such teaching, that the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas. To help them in this choice we give them principles of conduct, and a wide range of the knowledge fitted to them. These principles should save children from some of the loose thinking and heedless action which cause most of us to live at a lower level than we need.
20. We allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and ‘spiritual’ life of children, but teach them that the Divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their Continual Helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life.
If you would rather not wait for the giveaway results, you can go ahead and buy your own copy of ‘Start Here: A Journey Through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles here!‘
Expanding wisdom, extending grace,
Jennifer Dow
11. But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care only that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas.
I have spent too long beating facts into my children without context!
I love that. “powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him”
Hi! Are 16-17 missing?
#15 and 18 about the way of the will and the way of reason are not completely clear to me in practice, so I’d love to learn more about those this year.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Thank you for letting me know. I miss-numbered them. Will and reason. Good ones.
Can I answer “all of them”? 🙂 I think that Principle 20 is most relevant to what I am currently learning ‘through life’ so if I have to choose *just one* it would be that one.
I know the feeling, they are all so good. 🙂
I feel like I’m going to sound like a complete Charlotte Mason failure but I have to go with 3. The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary and fundamental; but–– and 4. 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……
My first grade son has literally spent two hours sitting at the school table, not doing anything at all after I told him he couldn’t do anything else until he did his math. He just sat there until he missed lunch and got hungry enough to complete his work which of course only took him five minutes–I give him short lessons, really I do! What do you do if your child’s personality is mostly….obstinate? I’m pretty sure withholding food would fall under undue play on a natural desire 🙂
I can relate, and don’t feel like a failure. We are all on this side of eternity. None of us are perfect. We are all fighting the good fight, and we all have sinners for children, who are on this side of eternity and have their share of meltdowns! Perfection is yet to come 🙂 The dailiness of it is hard though. All of my kids have obstinate days. Some more than others. Some days I just have to ask Jesus to take over. Seriously. I have found quite a bit of help in Sonya Shaffer’s book Laying Down the Rails. It discusses all the habits Charlotte Mason recommends developing in our students. I am focusing on the attention and obedience one right now. Here is the link: https://simplycharlottemason.com/store/laying-down-rails-charlotte-mason-habits/
I think 3 & 4 go together and I would LOVE to know more about how that works. It makes so much sense when you read it, but to put it into practice in a home with children who are all different being trained by two different parents is not easy!
3. The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary and fundamental; but––
4. 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.
It makes me think of the Bible verse, “Train a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.”
Principles 7 and 11.
powers and discipline, good ones
My all-time favorite principle is the first: “Children are born persons.” I think there’s always more we can learn about respecting and honoring one another, even the youngest.
I agree. Especially when we bring the reality of the divine image into the equation.
9.We hold that the child’s mind is no mere sac to hold ideas; but is rather, if the figure may be allowed, a spiritual organism, with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper diet, with which it is prepared to deal; and which it can digest and assimilate as the body does foodstuffs. – See more at: http://expandingwisdom.com/2014/12/principles-vs-particulars-a-giveaway-or-two/#sthash.hGz9geJh.dpuf
I love that analogy.
#7 education is a discipline
I struggle the most with #13, because I do believe that repetition is the mother of memory and would love people further along the path to explore how we balance repetition with single reading of material being given full attention.
I have struggled with this as well and have worked through some of the tensions. I wrote an article over at Brandy’s blog about this. Here is the link if you are interested http://afterthoughtsblog.net/2014/10/myth-cm-and-memory-work-dont-mix.html
Great interview! It was great to hear Brandy’s voice after reading her blog for a few years!
I struggle with “Education is the science of relations” the most, I think. I catch myself making the connections, and I know that doesn’t help my children to own the material for themselves. I know I need to trust the process more, but I struggle with knowing if I’m doing it correctly. I hear a lot about “Grand Conversations,” but since I was schooled traditionally, I feel inadequate for the task. I am learning with my child more than anything, and I LOVE that part of an Ambleside Online/CM education.
Thank you! I totally agree. After you are done with Brandy’s book, you have to read Karen’s Glass book. It opened the doors for me on this idea of education as the science of relations. http://www.karenglass.net/
I would pretty much love to learn all about them. I know very little about Charlotte Mason and her educational philosophy, so I’d say, 1-20! 🙂
Pretty much, its hard to choose.
Principle 14. I’m not sure I understand this one.
There is a lot there. I am looking forward to studying it as well.
4 and 20
Both great ones.
I’m about to begin working on narrations with my 6YO, so I am very interested in 15 and 16.
Narrations are so much fun. They integrate into everything so beautifully.
19 and 20 because I grew up with Separation of all areas of life. And we have entered the teenage years…
lol. I love it and I understand. 🙂
20- I also had some separation between spiritual and the rest of life. I really want to make sure that my kids learn they should always be together.
Amen.
Number 16 The way of the will: Children should be taught, To distinguish between ‘I want’ and ‘I will.’ That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire but do not will. That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting. That after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigour. –
The will, such a power and such a struggle. I need to learn more about this one as well.
#12 Education is the Science of Relations. I’ve been thinking about that lately. Living books get a lot of attention, but there is a lot more to a Charlotte Mason education.
This is definitely my favorite one.
#4 – Along with #3. I understand them intellectually..but implementing is a different story.
Children are born persons. How is it that we seem to ignore this truth?
I also struggle with 3. The principles of authority on the one hand, and of obedience on the other, are natural, necessary and fundamental; but–– and 4. 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……
I also get children with extremely defiant attitudes toward school. My daughter would rather spend an hour sitting on her bed idle than doing her one page of math sometimes. I should have spent much more time on laying down the rails early on.
Jamie Marie & Natasha, Congratulations! You are the winners! Check you email box!
Thank you! I’m really looking forward to working through this book! I’d love to read it with you, Jennifer.