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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

{From My Commonplace}

Last week I was reading bits of Parents and Children and found some helpful justification from Miss Mason for a few of my favorite hobbies:


Feel like ditching school to spend a day at the beach?  Here's what she says about nature study for moms:
"The knowledge of Nature which we get out of books is not real knowledge; the use of books is, to help the young student verify facts has has already seen for himself.  Let us, before all things, be Nature-lovers." (p. 254)
Wondering if you should spend that extra fifteen minutes cleaning the kitchen or enjoying your current read with a cup of tea?  Let's see what she might say about that...
"it is only so far as he is intellectually alive that he can be effective in the wonderful process which we glibly call 'education.'" (p. 279)
Spent a bit more than you expected to at the library's last book sale?  (Not that I ever do that.)  Charlotte has you covered!
"if it is needful to exercise economy, let go of everything that belongs to soft and luxurious living before letting go the duty of supplying the books, and the frequent changes of books, which are necessary for the constant stimulation of the child's intellectual life." (p. 279)
Next time an over-big box of books arrives in the mail, I'm just going to call it living out a Charlotte Mason education! ;)

6 comments:

  1. I heart Charlotte! These are great Celeste. I am sorely tempted to do that last one up in calligraphy and hang it on the wall. Reminds me of the last time we went to the Farmer's Market, but first stopped at the used bookstore upstairs - I had to borrow cash from my kids to buy the apples ... ;-)

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  2. Oh my, that last quote is especially wonderful!! I'm only around page 90 in Parents and Children - it looks like I have lots to look forward to. I'm finding it so helpful and thought provoking though, what a wonderful volume.

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    1. We have been struck in our local study group by how the quotes from Volume 2, which none of us had read other than small bits when we started this study, have been particularly helpful and wise. We are all enjoying dipping into this volume, and it has me anxious to pick up this one as my next personal education read.

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  3. Celeste- that last quote made me laugh. It is good to know that I have my priorities straight in buying new books all the time. AbeBooks or ThriftBooks should adopt that quote as their motto. :)

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    1. I know! I'm totally going to use it on my husband. ;)

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