I is for Ideas
A Charlotte Mason Education begins with ___________ .
Different people will fill in that space in different ways. In a method so broad and living, the elements that spark an individual are expectedly varied. What was it for you? Was it nature study, or narration; handicrafts, or habits; Short lessons or the Way of the Will? Each is valid and captivating.
There are many entrance ramps onto this broad lifepath and one of the most popular is the use of Living Books. It is to this ramp that I have most recently been drawn to clarify, but the clarification is relevant to all.
One mom is sure Ms. Mason’s method will be a hit for her bookworm who has a stack of fan fiction by her bed. Another apologetically explains that they love the idea of Charlotte Mason but that they are just simply not readers, or perhaps there is a learning disability or neurodivergence issue that that they feel bars the way. To both I remind, Charlotte Mason’s philosophy is not based on *books* (or narration, or nature study, or any of those other excellent elements) but rather hers is an education based first and foremost on IDEAS. It is to this understanding that she wielded her pen most frequently in her final years. What she offered was an education for all – and that education was an education based on IDEAS.
Ideas are the hub round which all the other elements turn. When considering if a Charlotte Mason education is a good fit – the thing to consider is, whether or not you believe her claims about the power of the “Inspiring Idea”, that inspiring ideas become “captain ideas” (guiding, driving forces).
Ms. Mason believed that fundamentally education is spiritual, i.e., immaterial, inward. That it is not based on external senses and experiences as some philosophies promote, but on the inward inception of ideas. She did not believe that curiosity and understanding and character could be applied from the outside like some sort of experiential veneer, but rather that those things grow from within. She said that certain “mental gymnastics” are of some value, but that true education is a process of idea giving birth to idea, life begetting life. That vital and first-hand thought reproduces thought.
Ms. Mason believed that the most powerful thing in the world is an idea. That every action can be traced back to an idea. That ideas form the undercurrent of life. That ideas are compelling provided they are intact and provide their own motivation and compulsion. She believed that the immaterial mind feeds on ideas the same way the material body depends on food. That just as from birth a healthy baby’s body is suited to derive the nutrients it needs for growth, so to does the healthy mind. And that just as we may provide the body with inferior food substitutes and stunt and maim – so may we the mind. She believed that malaise and apathy are not the natural state of any healthy living being, but rather a symptom with a root cause and she applied this truth to education.
Ms. Mason believed that ideas “fitly given” germinate and take root and begin to reach out, of their own accord, to secure continuing nourishment in the same way all living things do. She believed that life, once begotten, seeks to maintain itself. She believed that a teachers first call is to “hinder not”. She taught that the role of the teacher was not to categorize and mince and mush and predigest the nourishment, but rather to simply, and artfully, scoot “the feast” within reach and secure its broadness.
She believed that since the inner growth and movements of a person are often veiled even to the individual, no third party could possibly be capable of prescribing and predicting what might be needed for growth on any given day. That only the Holy Spirit, “the great educator of us all”, is worthy of such an office. She believed that the role of the teacher was to be one of standing aside and of co-operation with something above and beyond them. That a teacher’s chief goal is to maintain a humble sense of awe at the privilege they hold.
Do you? That is the question to ask yourself when approaching Charlotte Mason.
The question is not, do you like books, or nature, or classical music or art or handcrafts, or hot tea – but do you believe in the power of Ideas. Do these words give you a shiver of recognition, a tingle of excitement, a chill of fear?
Are there ideas you want your children to possess and own as their own? Are there ideas that you fear taking root? Why wouldn’t the education we offer our children recognize this? Why wouldn’t it feed them, equip them, vitalize them and so protect them?
All of the elements of a Charlotte Mason education hinge on this thought: that a person grows from the inside out, that that growth is based on ideas. We train the Habit of Attention, so that ideas don’t slip through our fingers. We Narrate, to chew and assimilate those ideas. We trace cause and effect in a wide range of lives and stories, to Instruct the Conscience. Handcrafts are more than the products; Nature Study is more than the journal. Some books – Living Books – are more than type on paper. Ideas are behind every song and work of art. A myriad of good and healthy and true ideas are there to revel in – but fallacies lurk as well. This is where broadness, variety and consistency throughout every subject is a protectant; every idea presented sounds right until it is placed against others, traced throughout history, held up for inspection.
An education based on ideas is the mover and the movement, it is the instigation and the continuation. Charlotte Mason is not for a particular type of person – but for people. Families may mold and adapt to the needs their individuals – but the IDEAS, the PRINCIPLES must remain intact, stay the priority.
Many people would affirm much of what has been said – Ms. Mason applied it. She devoted her life to applying it in unique, cohesive and effective ways. This is the method.
We as parents have been given temporary charge of a life – an outward and an inward one. It is our duty to ensure both are well fed.
Sara Timothy 2024
For Further Reading in the Volumes:
Topical CM Series (amblesideonline.org)
For Further Learning:
Ideas: Core Values of Charlotte Mason - Simply Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason and the Power of Ideas • Educational Renaissance
The Origin of Ideas (charlottemasonpoetry.org)