The CMP Review — Week of May 13

May 13, 2024

“Most of the time of the Nursery Folk is spent out-of-doors, and rightly so. Therefore it is quite an easy thing to help them to be friends with Mother Nature.” (J. R. Smith, Nature in the Nursery, PR28)

@tessakeath

May 14, 2024

“What would Jesus do?” We ask the question appropriately and sincerely. After all, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 that he imitates Christ. And in Romans 8, he says that God has “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

In 1897, the Rev. H. S. Swithinbank took the familiar question further. “How was Jesus taught?” He asked the question in sincere faith, believing that Christ was once a true human child, not merely a “stained glass window.” And if we can understand how Jesus was taught, perhaps that can inform how we teach our children too.

Swithinbank searched and found the method of education received by our Lord: “it looked to, it radiated from, it was bathed in the light of God, and the Scriptures were its one text-book.” Is there hope that we can find and apply such a method too?

And in a startling closing to his paper, Swithinbank explored what happens when the Son of God grows from boy to man. Four great words chronicle the transition. Words that would be familiar to all who know of the Charlotte Mason method: “I am, I ought, I can, I will.”

Read or listen to Swithinbank’s address here.

@artmiddlekauff

May 15, 2024

I posed so many questions to my sister when I first felt the pull to homeschool. Having already home educated my nephews for five years, she saw through my fear in the form of what-ifs and firmly stated, “Even the bad days are good.”

And it was true. Along with the bruised knees of my rough and tumble boys came my bruised ego as I endeavored to educate them. But amidst it all came moment-by-moment salvations and a growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

These glory days have been captured in 61 articles & tutorials in “Growing in the Grace of Homeschooling”— the newest print collection from Wild + Free. It’s an unplugged way to tie heartstrings with your children in an atmosphere of grace. Visit here to learn more.

@rbaburina

May 16, 2024

If I could use only one phrase to describe my daughter’s approach to college it would be ”love of learning.” This love was revealed in so many ways, from sitting in the front row of every lecture to sharing new ideas with family and friends. She followed her heart, and her heart led her to knowledge. She tasted, and found it was good.

In our homeschool too, knowledge was the goal, not grades or scores. I am glad her middle and high school years were free from the stress of comparisons and competitions that might have quenched the love of learning. I am glad that she can look back on those years of homeschool with joy.

But did it prepare her adequately for the “real world”? Did her Charlotte Mason education set her up for success in the tough college environment where grades do matter, scores count, and rankings are made?

Apparently it did. Congratulations Anesley on earning your bachelor’s degree magna cum laude. You have my great praise too.

@artmiddlekauff

May 17, 2024

Serafina and three of her friends got to take a sewing and quilting class over this winter and they each made a beautiful quilted pillow cover!

The mom of one of those friends lovingly ran the class for them and it was just such a blessing for all the girls. Not only did they learn how to quilt, they also learned about hard work, perseverance, creativity, patience, and doing things with joy! They also got to witness an adult making time in her very busy family-life schedule for her passion. Such an encouraging example!

This photo shows Serafina’s creation. Isn’t it just such a gorgeous handicraft?!?! She especially enjoyed learning how to free motion quilt to complete her project.

I am in absolute awe of the whole process.

Are there any young quilters out there? Or grown-up quilters, for that matter?

@antonella.f.greco

May 18, 2024

“Intimacy with Animals.—A fourth relation is to the dumb creation; a relation of intelligent comprehension as well as of kindness. Why should not each of us be on friendly terms with the ‘inmates of his house and garden’? Every child longs for intimacy with the creatures about him; and—

“‘He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.’” (Vol. 3 p. 80)

@tessakeath

The past 80 years have seen a growing interest among believers and scholars to better understand the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Judaism of His day. It has become increasingly clear to many that Christ was an observant Jew who held the Torah in the highest regard. One verse in particular, however, has proven especially difficult to reconcile with this view: Matthew 8:22, which reads, “But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’”

In 1968, German scholar Martin Hengel made his bold declaration about this verse. He claimed that it represented “not only an attack on the respect for parents that is demanded in the fourth commandment but also at the same time it disregarded … works of love, which … had their basis in the Torah.” Christ, he insisted, could not have loved the Torah if He could strike so deeply at the heart of its commands.

In 2000, however, British scholar Markus Bockmuehl questioned Hengel and the consensus that had formed around his view. Bockmuehl pointed to prophetic examples, such as Ezekiel, who was not allowed to mourn for his wife (24:15–27). And he noted the provision in the Torah for the Nazirite, who could not “not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother … because his separation to God is on his head.”

When Jesus was disputing with the Pharisees about the Sabbath, He said, “Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.” In the same way, prophets and Nazirites left the dead to bury their own dead, and yet were blameless. And now there is One greater than prophecy or separation.

Charlotte Mason’s poem “Follow Me!” explores the tension of conflicting loyalties raised by this verse. Read or hear her words here.

@artmiddlekauff