Charlotte Mason Home Education Read Along Series Week 24

Welcome to week 24, What is Nature? Charlotte Mason Home Education Read-Along Series.

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What is Nature? Charlotte Mason Home Education Read-along

This week we are reading pages 100-104 of the Home Education volume. What is Nature?

If you want to see the rest of these posts in one place, you may view them HERE. And don’t forget to download your free worksheets with each reading! If you are interested in a Charlotte Mason “curriculum”, our favorite resource is Ambleside Online.

****If you need to purchase the Charlotte Mason Home Education volume, it is available in a newer version HERE. (Affiliate link)****

I am using the Original Homeschooling Series, Volume One, Home Education- the pink books.

All persons born with the same primary desires

Cm first opens this week’s reading once again with the phrase. “Habit is TEN natures”. She states that this saying impressed upon her that it may be the key to education.

She goes on to say that all people are born with the same instincts and desires- the desire for knowledge, the desire for society, the desire for esteem. The latter, she says, can be a powerful tool in the hands of an educator.

And Affections

We also all experience the same affections, or emotions, as one another: joy, grief, love, resentment, benevolence, sympathy, fear and more. Children and adults alike are quite the same when you consider it.

Content of the most elemental notion of human nature

All of this, plus the and much more help to make up the elemental notion of human nature and it is important to consider this nature when we also consider education.

Nature plus heredity

Here, she says is what ‘cements’ ones nature: heredity. All the personality traits that we see in humans, children and adults alike, have been formed through family heredity. Stubbornness, quirks, actions, temperament, responses to environments, talents, and more are often a direct result of the generational heredity that we grow up with. And, once formed, is very difficult to change.

Plus physical conditions

And then, of course, the child’s physical condition must be considered.

Human nature the sum of certain attributes

We are tempted, when considering all of the above, that we should merely let a child develop as they are because it would be too difficult to change them.

The child must not be left to his human nature

Parents, Charlotte says, must be committed to educating their children in moral strength and purpose, as well as intellectual activity just as they are to feeding and clothing them. She concludes that a child’s will is feeble, weak, and cannot be counted on as the power of education and that we must consider that it is the human nature of a child that is strong.

Problem before the educator

It is a problem to just let a child rule themselves and their own virtue.

Divine grace works on the lines of human effort

While Divine Grace is most certainly needed for a solution to this problem, it must be said that human effort must also play a part to grow in moral strength and character development. Charlotte says that a parent who takes the time to to understand their role in educating their child will, most certainly receive Divine Grace to carry it out, but their must be an effort first.

The trust of parents must not be supine

Nature must not be allowed to simply run wild in our children. We have a duty to cultivate their nature into something of value and fruitful character.

My takeaway from This Week’s Charlotte Mason Reading

Understanding the human nature of my child is important because their nature will trump their will every time if I do not train them otherwise.

When I consider all that CM has to say this week, I feel the true weight of my responsibility as a mother and educator. If I take the time to train and cultivate my child’s character, my child, myself and the world will be rewarded. If I let them run rampart with their current character unchecked, them I should not be surprised when thorns and weeds spring up.

But in all of these things, I should invite and look for Divine Grace to help me in such a large task.

How about you? What’s your takeaway this week from the reading???

Don’t forget your free printable to go with this week’s reading!

Do you want to see the previous posts from the Charlotte Mason Home Education Read Along series??? You can find them all right here.