Some Practices are Principles—Part 2

I know I pointed out yesterday that principles 13-15 are the “practical” ones added to the original more abstract principles, but before we dive into those, we need to back up to number 12:

Education is the Science of Relations

There is an awful lot implied by this principle, as I wrote recently. It is also the foundation of the “practical” principles we are going to be talking about, because all of Charlotte Mason’s methods are relationship-building methods.

The full principle reads:

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.”

You can see some explicit suggestions there for things that should be included in a “CM education:” physical activity, nature, handicrafts. Those are enriching, real-life activities, things that get you away from the desk, include movement, and maybe some fresh air. But there are more academic relations to be developed as well: science, art, and of course—living books!

But our job isn’t to give our children a body of knowledge, to make sure there aren’t any gaps. No, CM included in this principle the idea that there probably are going to be gaps— “our business is not to teach him all about anything.” So, okay, they aren’t going to learn everything.

But what they are going to do is develop relationships with all the different areas of knowledge. If we are doing something—math is a frequent bugbear—in a way that is causing a child to dislike the material, we are interfering with this principle.

The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him? (School Education, p. 170-71)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPxz7XHg3fd/

Is your child getting stressed about something you are doing? This can happen in so many ways—we feel pressured to have them keeping up or making progress. Are they reading well? Are they “caught up” in math? Do they “perform” well enough to make you look like a successful homeschool mother? This kind of stress is counterproductive.

Because education is the science of relations, all the relationships in this relational method of education matter—the relationship between you and your children, and between your children as brothers and sisters, and between each child and the lovely enticing knowledge that is there for him to find in math, science, literature, art, music, and more. Bearing in mind each and every day, as a teacher, that “Education is the science of relations” will keep us mindful of what we are doing. We won’t make a child sit 45 minutes over a page of math problems. We won’t weary everyone by doubling up the lessons to make up for not getting everything done yesterday.

We will take a deep breath and make sure every day is a harmony of atmosphere, discipine, and life that creates an environment in which relationships can grow. Remember that when you know a principle well, you act upon it intuitively.

Of course, this isn’t actually an explicit “how do I do this?” principle. It’s just the principle that is the springboard for the rest of the practical ones. I’m confident of this, because rather than tacking them onto the end, Charlotte Mason chose to insert them exactly here. The new principles are 13 through 15, so number 12— “Education is the Science of Relations” will be fresh in our minds as we consider them and their role.

Part 1
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

(Pictures are used with permission and are found on Instagram in the community @charlottemasonirl [Charlotte Mason In Real Life]. I’m sure they’d love to have you join in.

This blog series is now available as a short digital book in the “Encore” series for Kindle. The original material from the series, plus bonus content, is collected in one place where you can easily refer to it. Read the Kindle version of Some Practices are Principles or purchase an epub version to read on a platform of your choice.

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