The CMP Review — Week of September 8

September 8, 2025

“From their earliest babyhood children can and should be given interests and pursuits, therefore we encourage them to note their observations and to reproduce, however roughly at first, in their nature note-books, the treasures they have found, and above all we want them to have that loving interest in ‘birds, and beasts, and butterflies’ which will teach them that life is a sacred cycle, not to be tampered with, so that the protection of an apparently valueless lady-bird means fewer greenfly and therefore more roses and therefore more pleasure in life.”

— R. A. Pennethorne, PR10, p. 558

@artmiddlekauff

📷: @dave_stillwell

September 9, 2025

I hear a lot of talk about preparation. I talk to parents and teachers who, rightly so, are concerned about how to prepare for lessons with their children and students. There are discussions about pre-reading and setting up time tables. There are concerns about getting the space ready, the materials ready, and the books out. And the parent or teacher of course wants to understand what is going to be taught and learned.

With all this interest in teacher preparation, wouldn’t it be helpful if we knew what Charlotte Mason herself said was the most important thing we should do?

Well, she told us. In 1906 she wrote that the “duty of devout meditation seems to me the most important part of the preparation of the mother or other teacher who would instruct children in the things of the Divine life.”

Nancy Kelly knew that Mason talked about meditation, but she wasn’t sure how to present the idea to others. So for ten years she contemplated the practice of Christian meditation and how it applies to the Mason method. She read books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Richard Foster, and Eugene Peterson. She dug deeply into Mason’s own meditations on the Gospel of John. And she found precious insights in the writings of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.

Finally in 2021 she was ready to share the fruit of her study. Her talk was entitled “Meditation: Narration of the Heart,” and it was recorded live. I want more people to hear this wonderful message. So we’ve remixed it and optimized it for podcast listening. Are you concerned about teacher preparation? Then take some time to listen about the most important practice. Find the recording here.

@artmiddlekauff

September 10, 2025

“Then it is that she gets overdone. Then it is that she wears herself out. Then it is that, in her efforts to be ideal wife, mother, and [manager], she forgets that she is herself. Then it is, in fact, that she stops growing.”

“Mother Culture,” PR, 1892, p. 93

@rbaburina

September 11, 2025

When I first discovered Charlotte Mason, my heart was opened to a world of beauty and joy. Everything around me began to glow, and I felt like I was living in Maurice Ravel’s Le Jardin Féerique — the Enchanted Garden. So that was the name I gave to my first blog.

But in those early days of homeschooling, Barbara said that I shouldn’t choose my favorite composer for composer study. She said I should follow the rotation. And so I did. Purcell, Mozart, Bach…

And then dark clouds came over my garden. A specter called cancer. I deleted my blog. Friction followed frustration. Too much work and too little time. Falling short of my goals. Dreams slipping by and wondering what might have been.

And in twenty years of composer study we never made it to Ravel.

Until last week. The first term of our last year. I select my own pieces now, and first on the list was the Mother Goose Suite.

I thought it would be routine when Le Jardin Féerique came up. With my son by my side, now a young man, we watched and we listened as the Frankfurt Radio Symphony began the opening strains.

Well, it was anything but routine. As the orchestra began its first crescendo, I felt a tear fall slowly from my eye. Looking back at more than two decades of homeschooling, with the end in sight, I could see it so clearly now: the garden was enchanted after all.

@artmiddlekauff

September 12, 2025

I’m not a canner or even much of a preserver. I’m more of a “grow a few things and eat them asap” kind of person.

One of our neighbours sent a note saying that anyone could come pick her lovely crabapples and she posted a simple recipe for making crabapple jelly. A low-fuss recipe that can just be stored in the fridge.

For those of you who are interested, the recipe is a bunch of crabapples, stems removed, in a pot, and put water about halfway up the apples, boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes or until everything is nice and mushy. Strain the solids out through a cheesecloth (just let it drip out, don’t squeeze the cheesecloth). For about 4 or 5 cups of liquid, add about 1 cup of sugar. Boil to reduce. Then store in the fridge.

Something new I learned is that apple skins, seeds, and cores contain enough pectin that you don’t need to add anything else to set the jelly!

Another neighbour added that you can do the same process to make crabapple juice. After straining it, add sugar to taste but don’t reduce it. This neighbour also told me that you can then put the solids through a sieve and turn that into applesauce.

So I made both jelly and juice, and I got a double batch of applesauce in the deal.

Any super simple recipes for beginners you would like to share with us, that don’t involve fancy tools?

@antonella.f.greco

September 13, 2025

Join Sonya @simplycharlottemason and me for a special look behind the scenes at the creation of The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series. Find it here.

@rbaburina

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is one of the most unforgettable and chilling parables of Christ. It is unique to the Gospel of Luke, and as J. R. Dummelow indicates, it is “full of that sympathy with the poor which characterises [Luke’s] Gospel.” But sympathy with the poor is accompanied by a warning to the rich. Charlotte Mason picks up on the theme in her 16-stanza poem based on this parable. The handwritten poem has never been published, but you can read or hear our transcribed version today. Find it here.

@artmiddlekauff

🖼️: Folio 78 recto from the Codex Aureus of Echternach, Lazarus and Dives