CMP Review 2025-02-20

February 20, 2025

This month in the Idyll Challenge we are reading my favorite chapter in all of Charlotte Mason’s six volumes. I like to say that this chapter is the greatest essay ever written about education. It captures an idea so inspiring, so far-reaching, and so impactful that it touches every aspect of teaching and learning.

Charlotte Mason had discovered the idea and coined the term “the great recognition” in 1892. But then in the winter of the following year she visited Florence and saw a wondrous fresco that would forever be associated with her wonderful idea.

Many Charlotte Mason educators travel to Florence to see the Spanish Chapel of Santa Marian Novella for themselves. But we are not the first to do so. In fact, we follow a delightful tradition.

In 1934 Rose Amy Pennethorne visited the chapel to see the frescoes for herself. “I was struck by the prevailing colours of green, white and red,” she recalled. And then she added, “I felt that the whole building was a prophecy.”

Two years later she shared about her trip. But she wrote about more than colors. She wrote about an idea that touches every aspect of teaching and learning. Read her reflection here.

@artmiddlekauff