CMP Review 2024-09-26

September 26, 2024

Charlotte Mason’s perspective on the family is at once nourishing and refreshing. In an era when we are told that children can only be properly socialized outside the home, it is encouraging to read Miss Mason’s words: “The society of his equals [is] too stimulating for a child… for everyday life, the mixed society of elders, juniors and equals, which we get in a family, gives at the same time the most repose and the most room for individual development.” She then adds, “We have all wondered at the good sense, reasonableness, fun and resourcefulness shown by a child in his own home as compared with the same child in school life.”

In a later volume she observes that human beings long to live in community. But “it sometimes happens that the thing we desire is already realised had we eyes to see.” The family can be that community. “The smallness of the family tends to obscure its character,” she writes; the desire of the ages is in our homes, if we would believe it.

When we planned our nature walk for the weekend, we sought a time that everyone could go — our homeschool student and our graduates. The mixed society of elders, juniors, and equals led to new discoveries as we identified trees and birds. The sudden arrival of rain only added to our enjoyment as some lingered among the flowers while others ran ahead to fetch the van.

No doubt “the society of equals” has its place in the development of our children. No doubt co-ops and nature clubs are a boon to Charlotte Mason educators. But let not the smallness of the family obscure its character. There may be only a few of us, but we are a co-op in a way. Each one of us in his or her own stage of life, sharing lessons learned as we go.

@artmiddlekauff