Welcome to A TRUE GOOD BEAUTIFUL LIFE podcast!
Here we will discuss all things Charlotte Mason in light of the ideas of the TRUE, the GOOD, and the BEAUTIFUL! I am your host, Jennifer Milligan, and throughout this series I will share with you how to find and cultivate various elements of TRUTH, GOODNESS and BEAUTY in our homes and classrooms through conversations with homeschooling parents and classroom teachers; interviews with experts, entrepreneurs, and artists; discussions regarding the great books, great minds, and great resources; fun travel and field trip summaries; and practices and creative experiences that embody the TRUE, the GOOD, and the BEAUTIFUL life. Over 100 years ago, British educator, Charlotte Mason, declared that, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life," and so today, I hope you will join me on this adventure in education.
ON THIS EPISODE
This week's episode is full of friendly faces! In our first segment on the TRUE, I share some thoughts about what Charlotte Mason means when she refers to the "Knowledge of the Universe." In the GOOD portion of the show, I have the privilege of chatting with Liz Hudson from my old Classical Conversations community and she explains and demonstrates to us how to use the Classical tool -- the 5 Common Topics. In our final portion of the podcast, I am treated once again with a conversation on the BEAUTIFUL, with both Sarah Collins and Stephanie Newcomb, two friends who I homeschool with and with whom we do Handicrafts. We share our Service experience as we all learned how to sew a quilt together.
What are the 5 Common Topics you ask? Well, they are leading questions that you can use to begin learning and conversing about any topic:
We also discuss how Charlotte Mason gave us 4 Requirements for Handicrafts (Volume 1: Home Education, p. 315):
Some of our favorite resources:
COMMONPLACE QUOTES
Besides the gain of an hour or two in the open air, there is this to be considered: meals taken al fresco are usually joyous, and there is nothing like gladness for converting meat and drink into healthy blood and tissue. All the time, too, the children are storing up memories of a happy childhood. Fifty years hence they will see the shadows of the boughs making patterns on the white tablecloth; and sunshine, children's laughter, hum of bees, and scent of flowers are being bottled up for after refreshment. - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 43 (disclaimer: this is the official quote; the one used in the podcast is a modern 'translation" provided by Amblesideonline.org; sorry for the confusion!)
. . . there is no part of a child's education more important than that he should lay, by his own observation, a wide basis of facts towards scientific knowledge in the future. He must live hours daily in the open air, and, as far as possible, in the country; must look and touch and listen; must be quick to note, consciously, every peculiarity of habit or structure, in beast, bird, or insect; the manner of growth and fructification of every plant. He must be accustomed to ask why -- Why does the wind blow? Why does the river flow? Why is a leaf-bud sticky? And do not hurry to answer his questions for him; let him think his difficulties out so far as his small experience will carry him. Above all, when you come to the rescue, let it not be in the 'cut and dried' formula of some miserable little text-book; let him have all the insight available, and you will find that on many scientific questions the child may be brought at once to the level of modern thought. - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, pp. 264-265 (disclaimer: again, this is the official quote; the one used in the podcast is a modern "translation" provided by Amblesideonline.org; sorry for the confusion!)
Out in this, God's beautiful world there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care. The teacher who turns to nature's healing finds, not trouble but a sweet, fresh breath of air. . . . She who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once a week finds it a delight and an abiding joy. She finds that without planning or going on a far voyage, she has found health and strength. - I can't remember where I found this quote! Sorry! Can you tell I work on this late at night?! :)
He practises various handicraft that he may know the feel of wood, clay, leather, and the joy of handling tools, that is, that he may establish a due relation with materials. - Charlotte Mason, Volume 6: A Philosophy of Education, p. 31
The ability to submit nature to one's will is not in itself science. This could be done through the power of a machine or a technology developed by another. . . . Technology alone does not equal science. Nonetheless, Christians have always had a high view of the common arts. The Christian high value for the body and for ordinary work has sharply distinguished Christian culture from Greek cluture. And inasmuch as they pursue technologies in a manner that complements nature and does not fight against her, Christians will promote the Elvish arts and not the Orchish ones." - Clark & Jain, The Liberal Arts Tradition, p. 115
. . . give a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information . . . - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 174
APPLICATION
