CMP Review 2025-07-31

July 31, 2025

“I have throughout spoken of ‘Relations,’ and not of ‘Interests,’” writes Charlotte Mason, “because interests may be casual, unworthy, and passing.” Hence “Education is the Science of Relations,” not the “Science of Interests.”

As home educators, we can for the most part ensure that the “relations” we cultivate in our children are worthy. We can ensure that the banquet is full of riches. We can even ensure that the relations are not “casual” — we can make these riches a serious part of our curriculum and family routine.

But if the relations we attempt to cultivate in our children are to be more than mere “interests,” they cannot be merely “passing.” And it seems to me we have little control over that. We just have to wait and see if our work of educating has stood the test of time.

On a recent nature walk with my daughter, a CM homeschool graduate, we spotted a bird on the other side of the small lake. I suspected it was a crane, but with a brief and discriminating glance through the binoculars, my daughter calmly declared, “No, it’s a blue heron.” No fanfare, no ceremony, no celebration. Just a little bit of evidence for me, that here was a relation and not an interest.

@artmiddlekauff