CMP Review 2025-02-13

February 13, 2025

Before I discovered Charlotte Mason, before I even started homeschooling, I chose to broaden my horizons and listen to classics on my drive to and from work. The book that moved me the most was Jane Eyre. At the end it brought tears to my eyes.

I loved it so much that I listened to the book a second time through. And again it moved to tears.

Now that I have been homeschooling for years I am delighted to be reading Jane Eyre with my son. It’s my third time through the book, though this time I’m reading it. For a third time the words are coming to life for me, and for a third time they are making me cry.

When Jane Eyre resolves to leave Lowood, she says to herself, “now I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life…”

Charlotte Mason knew about this desire for knowledge. In fact, she said that “it may be that the souls of all children are waiting for the call of knowledge to awaken them to delightful living.” Whether the children of a mining village 1914 or a software engineer driving to work in 2002, we are all persons ready for knowledge to awaken our souls.

@artmiddlekauff