Just over two years ago, I first read the article “Three Educational Idylls,” by Charlotte Mason. Published in 1912, it reveals many profound thoughts about Charlotte Mason’s vision for education. (To be honest, I had to look up the word idyll; it means, “a simple descriptive work in poetry or prose that deals with rustic …
Editor’s Note: In April of 1930, the Ambleside Old Students’ Association held their biennial conference at Scale How in Ambleside. The conference featured ten papers which focused on three elements of Charlotte Mason’s thought: the sacredness of the person, the evolution of the individual, and the solidarity of the [human] race. The topic of the sacredness of the person was …
Editor’s Note: In 2017, Simplicity was the theme for the Living Education Retreat. I didn’t attend, but I did get to hear Mary Beuving’s recorded talk on her journey toward simplifying her life, getting rid of things to make room for people. Mary’s testimony is moving and inspiring, but also filled with practical wisdom for …
Editor’s Note, by Paul Hughes: In 1929, the PNEU branch in Melbourne, Australia met to hear the words not of a great educationalist, but of an ordinary mother. Her name was Mrs. H. J. Hannah, and she explained that Charlotte Mason’s call to parents makes us exclaim, “Who is sufficient for these things”? But Mrs. Hannah doesn’t end …
I consider myself to be a Charlotte Mason enthusiast, and most of my friends share my love for all things Mason. But lately I have realized that sometimes my enthusiasm is the thing that prevents me from sharing her great and beautiful ideas. As I have grown in knowledge and understanding, my vocabulary has changed …
Editor’s Note: “Education is a Life, but if we are to train others we must train ourselves.” What a terrifying realization. Everything about the way I live my daily life matters. Every choice I make and every moment I spend will affect the way my children learn to live and my example, for better or worse, …
Throughout my schoolgirl days I loved getting back to school in the fall. Not because I was looking forward to seeing my friends (I changed schools nearly every year), and not because I found the lessons to be so enriching (I found most school subjects to be dull and my teachers were mostly uninspiring); I …
“If I stopped reading the Bible, I sometimes wonder if anyone would notice.” The statement caught me off guard and took me back a step. It flew in the face of everything I believed to be true and to be my solemn duty as a Christian man, husband, and father. “Of course people would notice,” …
“Is there, then, not need for more ‘Mother Culture’?” -A In April of 1892, the readers of The Parents’ Review were treated to a most mysterious article. Not the opening article, but the second one, beginning on page 13 of that month’s issue. Entitled “Mother Culture,” its author was never explicitly stated. It was signed merely “A.,” the pseudonym …