The CMP Review — Week of December 30

December 30, 2024

Are you a paper planner person? Do you stick to one tried-and-true planner, or are you always chasing the elusive unicorn of the perfect planner for your needs?

2025 will mark my 6th full year with the Kokuyo Jibun Techo Mini B6 Slim, and I couldn’t be happier. Admittedly, I had a brief fling with the Midori Hibino Diary in 2022, but the A6 size just didn’t work for me. Since then, the Jibun Techo feels like an extension of me, helping me keep my thoughts and schedule in order—it’s hard to imagine using anything else now.

I suppose I’m a creature of habit. How about you? Do you have a planner that you swear by, or are you still searching for ‘the one’?

@tessakeath

December 31, 2024

The role of habit in the Charlotte Mason method can be difficult for parents and teachers to grasp. How important is habit to the method? How does it relate to other factors like inspiring ideas and personal influence? And how much of Mason’s guidance on habits is still relevant to us today?

Mason had a very close friend named Helen Webb who was a medical doctor. Remembered “as much poet as woman of science,” Dr. Webb had the remarkable ability to synthesize the scientific and the spiritual elements of Mason’s method and make it all clear to the lay person. Her writings on these subjects held a special place of honor in the PNEU.

In 1929, Webb’s articles were collected into a single hardcover volume entitled Children and the Stress of Life. Last year I was delighted to see it for the first time, and I soon began to appreciate it for what it is: a gold mine of explanation and guidance for the Charlotte Mason educator.

Why do some habits “stick” and some don’t? When is personal influence good and when is it bad? What is the role of ideas and habit in the development and education of our children? In 1929, the PNEU published a book with clear answers to these questions, declaring “it is hoped that the reprinting of these lectures may help and inspire many generations of parents.”

It’s a message of wisdom for our generation of parents, and now you can read or hear it here.

@artmiddlekauff

January 1, 2025

What are your New Year’s traditions? When I became a mother I instilled a little tradition for myself: Every January 1, I endeavor to do the things that I hope to do throughout the new year. It begins with quiet reflection and gratitude for the year that has passed, along with thoughtfulness on the year ahead—both which I write down in a freshly opened journal. The day was filled with family things such as a read-aloud and a hike, along with solitary occupations.

My now-grown-children called me to the kitchen a few days ago. Apparently, they had absorbed my unspoken tradition as, around the island they told me their hopes for the year, how they would spend the first day, asked me mine, and together we planned a first day hike.

@rbaburina

January 2, 2025

When my youngest son was approaching high school age, I decided to plan a picture study rotation for him that would progress chronologically from the Renaissance to the modern era. One artist per term, three terms per year, from Titian to Mary Cassatt. We’ve passed the halfway mark and it’s been a thrill not only to study beautiful works of art, but also to experience in a living way the history of art itself.

We’re almost done with our study of John Constable (1776–1837), and last term we studied the works of J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). We read about how Constable saw sketches by a friend of Turner. We compared the styles of the artists. We saw how they seemed to form links in a chain.

One joy of picture study that never grows old is going to an art museum and finding works by the artists we just studied. At the National Gallery of Art we made a beeline for the room filled with Turner’s pieces. What a joy to recognize paintings by Constable nearby.

In her book Ourselves, Charlotte Mason speaks of how Mansoul can be filled with “galleries of precious and beautiful pictures painted by the great artists of all countries.” The National Gallery is not the only place that has works by Turner and Constable side-by-side. The same can be found in the gallery of my son’s heart. And mine too.

@artmiddlekauff

January 3, 2025

“The Ice Fairies’ Song”

Little blossom fair and bright,
From a land beyond our sight;
Stay to cheer our northern light.

Northern snows are pure and white,
Northern eyes are blue and bright,
Northern hearts are warm and light.

But we see you will away,
To some land where sunbeams play,
So we will not say you nay.

(poem from Aunt Mai’s Budget PR9 page 11, contained within “A Search For Something” by Harthorn, a Daughter of Erin)

@antonella.f.greco

January 4, 2025

Have you been to the Library of Congress?

Watching the Speaker of the House vote yesterday reminded me of the beauty of Washington DC.

@rbaburina

Laura Faunce graduated from the House of Education in 1899 before founding a PNEU school in 1906. “Trained by Miss Mason herself,” remembered Henrietta Franklin, “she made her principles her own and her lessons were delightful and appreciated by her pupils, as were the addresses which she gave from time to time to PNEU audiences.”

In 1923 Miss Faunce contributed to In Memoriam, the book written to celebrate Charlotte Mason’s legacy. Her essay was entitled “Miss Mason’s Ideal in School Life” and appeared on pages 165–173. She ended her piece with these words: “May I close with Miss Mason’s own words, which seem to set forth the creed of all her teaching: …”

Then followed Mason’s poem entitled “The Keys of Knowledge.” Would you like to read or hear the poem that sets forth the creed of Mason’s teaching? You can find it here.

@artmiddlekauff