Idyll Challenge VI

The year is 1921. You’ve just heard about a revolutionary new method of education where children actually love to learn. It’s been developed by a woman named Charlotte M. Mason, who is still living. You find out that the method is especially suited to teaching one’s own children at home, which is exactly what you want to do. So you send away for the program of study for your Form I children. You can’t wait until it arrives.

Finally an envelope appears in your box. It’s Charlotte Mason’s programme for Form I! But it’s so small! It’s only 4 pages long! In shock you scan the few pages. Why, this is just … a list of books. Well, there are page numbers, and a few other details. “But what am I to do with this?” you ask. Then you reach the notes on page 4:

N.B. 3 — For methods of teaching the various subjects see Home Education, 5/6, School Education, 5/- (P.N.E.U. Office).^[1]

You breathe a sigh of relief. “Ah, this little programme just tells me what books and pages to cover. There are actually book-length volumes which tell me what I’m actually supposed to do with these books.” You eagerly send away for the books and can’t wait till they arrive.

Or perhaps the year is 1925. It’s been two years since Miss Mason passed away, but her correspondence school is still going strong. Your Form III child is not thriving at boarding school, so you bring her back to school at home. You think that the Mason method will work wonders. So you send away for Programme 101. When it arrives, you read the tiny 7-page pamphlet from cover to cover. You spot N.B. 3 near the end:

N, B 3. For methods of teaching the various subjects see Home Education, 5/6, School Education, 5/-, An Essay towards a Philosophy of Education, 10/6 (P.N.E.U. Office).^[2]

You do a little digging and find out that the third book on this list, An Essay towards a Philosophy of Education, was just published a few months ago in January. At first you think that it’s a lot to ask to be expected to read three full books just to learn methods of teaching. But then you realize that it’s for the children’s sake. And so you order your volumes and begin to read.

Or perhaps the year is 1943. You have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. You know it’s too early to start formal schooling. But you find yourself staring at long empty days and wondering how they could best be employed for your children. You hear that the PNEU is an organization founded by Charlotte M. Mason, and it’s still in operation. They publish a leaflet for mothers just like you. It’s called “Leaflet S,” or alternatively, “Leaflet for Children up to School Age.” You’ve even heard some call it the “Playroom Leaflet.” You order it from the PNEU office.

Soon it arrives and you begin to peruse it. After the title is the byline, and then some initial instructions. It reads like this:

by E. Kitching.

For Principles and Method the following books by Charlotte M. Mason are necessary.

Children are Born Persons (P.N.E.U. Office, 6d.).

Home Education (7/6). The book deals with the child’s estate; brain activity and the need for a quiet growing time; out of door life; habits (physical, moral and mental); the will; the conscience; the divine life in the child.

Discretion must be used as to what applies to children under five and what is intended for those over five.

Parents and Children (3/6), deals with the family; the work of parents; faith and duty; sensations and feelings; truth; the eternal child.

School Education (5/-) (chapter III., for Masterly Inactivity).^[3]

You find that E. Kitching was Charlotte Mason’s personal assistant and is carrying on her mentor’s work. You realize that Kitching is quite clearly saying here that certain books by Charlotte M. Mason are “necessary.” Your eye lingers on that word. Not “recommended.” Not “if you have the time.” Not “if you want to write your own curriculum.” No, it says, “necessary.”

Two books, a pamphlet, and a chapter… it seems like a lot. But then you look at your two little ones and think, “I really do want to know what is best for them. Perhaps I will follow Miss Kitching’s guidance and read these books by Miss Mason.”

Or perhaps the year is 1954. You’ve just turned nineteen and you feel a calling to become a teacher. You hear of a college for training teachers up north in beautiful Ambleside. It’s called the Charlotte Mason College. You don’t know what to expect from the instruction. You don’t know how you will be taught. But when you receive your certificate, you know. And you describe it this way:

Everything came to us from Miss Mason’s books… her religious beliefs, her educational ideas, and the wide curriculum. One did not need to guess where she was going — it was all laid out for us to follow. That was why the training was so consistent over the years. Even now if you read her books, I think you could figure out her curriculum.^[4]

Or perhaps the year is 2026. You recently made the decision to homeschool. You had no idea how much work it would be. You researched the different methods out there and one in particular stood out to you. The emphasis on living books, short lessons, and nature study really touched your heart. You found that there were many curricula offered. You researched them and picked the one that you thought was best. And once you got started, you found a pile of books, but you weren’t sure exactly what to do with them. The books were there, but somehow the life was missing. How could you learn the method to get the most from the books?

You stumble across an article written in 1927 by a woman named Helen Wix. You find out that Miss Wix was known in the school system of England for her ability to teach the Charlotte Mason method. She won the respect of teachers. She spoke their language. She could show a teacher how to turn a book list into an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

In her article, Miss Wix described your situation exactly:

When flowers are full of beauty and fruits delicious and satisfying, we may be inclined to forget that it is from the unseen roots that the main nourishment and strength must come.

In Parents’ Union School work we love and admire the flowers of narration and the fruits of thoughtfulness that result, but what of the roots from which these spring?

We can of course learn of them from Home Education and School Education, and certainly no one would venture to teach in the P.U.S. without first reading these books. To read once, however, is not enough; we must go back to them again and again.^[5]

“Oh, I see,” you say. “I’ve been trying to apply the method without reading the volumes. And the best teacher-trainer of them all said I should not just read Mason’s volumes once. I should read them again and again.”

Your conscience is stirred as you read the end of her article:

If P.N.E.U. work is not to us and our children an open door into fuller living and greater joy in the world around and within us with the added understanding that this brings, then we have not grasped the meaning of the Philosophy of Education which Miss Mason left us.^[6]

“That’s it!” you exclaim. “I tried to follow the method without grasping the meaning of the philosophy!”

You’ve heard that there were reading groups that met monthly to read and discuss the volumes. The groups were called “The Idyll Challenge.” You recall that this name was taken from a 1912 article by Miss Mason herself, where she wrote:

For forty years I have laboured to establish a working and philosophic theory of education, and, I think, with success. It has been said that “The best idea which we can form of absolute truth is that it is able to meet every condition by which it can be tested.” Now, the truth which I have formulated,* is, I think, able to meet every such condition.

* In some five volumes, of which, had they the good fortune to have been written by someone else, I should be able to say, read them through every year or two, so that the truths they embody may become a usual and natural part of your thinking.^[7]

You’ve heard of these “Idyll Challenge Groups,” but they say the groups last two years, and only accept new members during a small window from June to July on even-numbered years.

You glance at the calendar. “Why, it’s June 30, 2026.” That means one thing…

… registration for the Idyll Challenge is open!

The Idyll Challenge follows a reading schedule that covers the volumes in two years. Each Idyll Challenge group meets once per month. Each challenger is required to come to the meeting with his or her own answer to three questions:

• What is a question you have about this month’s reading?
• What is one thing you disagree with in this month’s reading?
• What is one thing you would like to put into practice from this month’s reading?

Meetings start on time and finish in exactly 60 minutes. Meetings spend approximately twenty minutes on each question, in the above order. There is no cost to join — but there is a cost to finish: your perseverance and your faithfulness. Also, you can participate in the Idyll Challenge again even if you’ve completed it (or attempted it) one or more times before.

Why repeat the Idyll Challenge? Well, Miss Wix herself said to read the volumes “again and again.”

Idyll Challenge VI starts on August 1. The following groups are offered:

• A group for men that will meet on the first Saturday of the month from 9–10 AM Eastern Time, led by Art Middlekauff.
• Two groups for men and women that is co-led by Art Middlekauff and Antonella Greco. To be eligible to join one of these groups, you must be personally and directly carrying out lessons using the Charlotte Mason method for at least ten hours per week (in a homeschool, co-op, or school). Each group will meet one Saturday per month from 9–10 AM Eastern Time.
• A group for couples led by Dave and Bethany Stillwell that will meet on the fourth Saturday of the month from 9–10 AM Eastern Time.
• A group for women led by Heather Johnson and Paula Widholm that will meet on the third Tuesday of the month from 7:30-8:30 AM Eastern Time.
• A group for women led by Donna Owen and Kim Shearer that will meet on the last Tuesday of the month from 8–9 AM Eastern Time.
• A group for men and women in the Asia–Pacific region led by Jo Lloyd and her son, a Charlotte Mason homeschool graduate. This group will meet on the second Thursday of the month from 7–8 PM Australian Eastern Time (Sydney).

Each group is limited to 20 members. Membership is granted on a first-come first-served basis. To sign-up, fill out the form at this link.

You think for a moment about why it is called a “challenge.” Yes, it does seem like it would be challenging to read six volumes in two years. But then, you’ll have the support of the group who will be reading with you. And you have the example of ladies from 1921, 1925, 1927, 1943, and 1954. They read the volumes. And you can too. Your eye glances back to the previous paragraph. You see the link. You hesitate. And then you click. Because it’s really not for you anyway. It’s for the children’s sake.

Endnotes

^[1] Programme 90, May to July 1921, Form I, Parents’ National Educational Union.

^[2] Programme 101, January to March 1925, Form III, Parents’ National Educational Union.

^[3] Leaflet S, 1943, Parents’ National Educational Union.

^[4] Stephanie Barker, from an interview by Jack Beckman, in Lessons to Learn — Charlotte Mason’s House of Education and Resistance to Taxonomic Drift, p. 253.

^[5] “A Few Roots,” by Helen E. Wix, The Parents’ Review, volume 38, p. 643.

^[6] Ibid., p. 648.

^[7] “Three Educational Idylls,” by Charlotte Mason, The Parents’ Review, volume 23, p. 808.

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