The New Mason Jar with Cindy Rollins

Mentally he must be developed so that as he grows older he may have the capacity to grasp the true meaning of social and political questions of the day. His mind should be so trained that he will be able to detect and reject fallacious statements, and quick to discover the claptrap of which our newspapers are so full. E. A. Smith, "Citizenship: Our Responsibility as Teachers", June 1911 L'Umile Pi...

We take strong ground when we appeal to the beauty and truth of Mathematics; that, as Ruskin points out, two and two make four and cannot conceivably make five, is an inevitable law. It is a great thing to be brought into the presence of a law, of a whole system of laws, that exist without our concurrence,––that two straight lines cannot enclose a space is a fact which we can perceive, state, and...

Again, we have made a rather strange discovery, that the mind refuses to know anything except what reaches it in more or less literary form.  Persons can 'get up' the driest of pulverised text-books and enough mathematics for some public examination; but these attainments do not appear to touch the region of mind. Of Natural Science, too, we have to learn that the way into the secrets of nature is...

"There can be no great art without great fable. Great art can only exist where great men brood intensely on something upon which all men brood a little. Without a popular body of fable there can be no unselfish art in any country. Shakespeare's art was selfish till he turned to the great tales in the four most popular books of his time…" James Masefield, as Quoted by Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Towar...

As for Literature–to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child's intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find. Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Philos...

All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with the humble sense that we are invited in this matter to co-operate with the Holy Spirit; but it should be given dutifully and diligently. Charlotte Mason, Vol. 2, Parents and Children Show Summary: Our guests on The New Mason Jar podcast this week are Emily Raible and Tracy Fast How Tracy was homeschooled and came to learn about Charlott...

In teaching music, again, let him once perceive the beautiful laws of harmony, the personality, so to speak, of Music, looking out upon him from among the queer little black notes… Charlotte Mason, Vol. 2, Parents and Children , p. 278-279 Show Summary: On the New Mason Jar today, Cindy is joined by Heather Bunting, homeschooling mother of 4 and former public school music teacher How Heather first...

Without knowledge, Reason carries a man into the wilderness and Rebellion joins company. The man is not to be blamed: it is a glorious thing to perceive your mind, your reasoning power, acting of its own accord as it were and producing argument after argument in support of any initial notion; how is a man to be persuaded, when he wakes up to this tremendous power he has of involuntary reasoning, t...

In the things of science, in the things of art, in the things of practical everyday life, his God doth instruct him and doth teach him, her God doth instruct her and doth teach her. Let this be the mother's key to the whole of the education of each boy and each girl; not of her children; the Divine Spirit does not work with nouns of multitude, but with each single child. Because He is infinite, th...

Commonplace Tales: Tales of Imagination ––Stories, again, of the Christmas holidays, of George and Lucy, of the amusements, foibles, and virtues of children in their own condition of life, leave nothing to the imagination. The children know all about everything so well that it never occurs to them to play at the situations in any one of these tales, or even to read it twice over. But let them have...

The honor due to our country…is not to be confounded with the ignorant and impertinent attitude of the Englishman or the Chinese who believes that to be born an Englishman or a Chinese puts him on a higher level than the people of all other countries; that his own country and his own government are right in all circumstances, and other countries and other governments always wrong. But, on the othe...

After all, what is the chief sign of growing old? Is it not the feeling that we know all there is to be known? It is not years which make people old; it is ruts, and a limitation of interests. When we no longer care about anything except our own interests, we are then old, it matters not whether our years be twenty of eighty. Anna Botsford Comstock, The Handbook of Nature Study Show Summary: Cindy...

Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child,–the knowledge of God, of man, and of the universe,–the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making. Charlotte Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education Show Summary: Today's guest is Bethany Mandel, Orthodox Jewish homeschooling mother of 6, co-author of the new book Stolen Youth, and conservative political c...

But the educator has to deal with a self-acting, self-developing being, and his business is to guide, and assist in, the production of the latent good in that being, the dissipation of the latent evil, the preparation of the child to take his place in the world at his best… Charlotte Mason, Home Education Show Summary: This week's guest on The New Mason Jar is Ella Rice, is a homeschooling mom of...

The parent who sees his way ––that is, the exact force of method––to educate his child, will make use of every circumstance of the child's life almost without intention on his own part, so easy and spontaneous is a method of education based upon Natural Law. Does the child eat or drink, does he come, or go, or play––all the time he is being educated, though he is as little aware of it as he is of...

…of all the joyous motives of school life, the love of knowledge is the only abiding one; the only one which determines the scale, so to speak, upon which the person will hereafter live. Charlotte Mason, School Education, Volume 3 Show Summary: Cindy and Dawn tackle another round of listener questions on this episode of The New Mason Jar How can a mom of several school age children keep up with pr...

...to be born a human being is like coming into a very great estate; so much in the way of goodness, greatness, heroism, wisdom, and knowledge, is possible to us all. Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, Book 1 Show Summary: Today's returning guest is Anne White, veteran homeschool mom, author, and member of the AmblesideOnline Advisory Anne's history with Lent and how she and her family started observing...

The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him? Charlotte Mason, School Education Show Summary: Today's guest is Melissa McMahan, veteran homeschool mom of 2 gradua...

…what if the devitalisation we notice in so many of our young people, keen about games but dead to things of the mind, is due to the processes carried on in our schools, to our plausible and pleasant ways of picturing, eliciting, demonstrating, illustrating, summarising, doing all those things for children which they are born with the potency to do for themselves? No doubt we do give intellectual...

Let us consider carefully what feelings we wish to stimulate or repress in our children, and then, having made up our minds, let us say nothing. Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children Show Summary: Today's guest is Alanna Hendon, homeschooling mom of 6, 5 of whom are boys How Alanna came to learn about the Charlotte Mason philosophy The lasting and eternal value of a Charlotte Mason education How w...

Stories….of the amusements, foibles, and virtues of children in their own condition of life, leave nothing to the imagination. The children know all about everything so well that it never occurs to them to play at the situations in any one of these tales, or even to read it twice over. But let them have tales of the imagination, scenes laid in other lands and other times, heroic adventures, hairbr...

Though system is highly useful as an instrument of education, a 'system of education' is mischievous, as producing only mechanical action instead of the vital growth and movement of a living being. Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol. 1 Show Summary: Today's guests are Anna Hornstra and two of her three daughters, Addison and Ella How Anna came to homeschooling early on What happened when Anna le...

Miss Mason taught us that 'Education is the science of relations' and that a child should feel from the very beginning that his relations with number are opening up to him yet another realm of beautiful and wonderful things for his enjoyment and delight. Number: A Figure and a Step Onward , Mrs. W.A. Stephens, The Parents' Review Show Summary: Today's guest is Richele Baburina, a veteran homeschoo...

Our flesh the Word became, and dwelt with us, And we beheld His glory, as, of God, The only-begotten Son: we who believed Knew glory when we saw it, by the signs— Not of the pomp and majesty of Kings— But Grace, the touch of God, showed sweet in Him; And Truth, discerning all things, made Him simple, His glory saw we—full of grace and truth. Charlotte Mason, from "Savior of the World," Prologue to...

Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education. The Story of Charlotte Mason Show Summary: This week Dawn and Cindy tackle some more listener questions with their personal opinions based...