We are starting a new section in Formation of Character and we change pace slightly in Ms. Mason’s writing style as they illustrate conversations of parents and headmaster. We now flow from the topic of character and habits in the children and brings it back with a focus of the parents or adults in view.
Another great resource for summary as we journey through Volume 5 is this series between Karen Glass and Anne White. These are some mother educators who pack a wealth of wisdom in their writing and you don’t want to miss this series.
On with the chapters….
Part 2 Chapter 1
This chapter opens at a dinner party where a father is sharing about his child asking about the sky. He answers to the best of his ability, but later at this party the father is lamenting is lack of knowledge in the subject. They discuss how they as parents should have an arsenal of some nature knowledge, but obviously couldn’t be expected to be considered an expert at every subject.
Another father then shares about a family trip in which they all learned about where chalk comes from simply from being in the area where it is located naturally. He shares how the mother helped the children to recall by envisioning the places and what they had seen. Another party goer suggests how wonderful it would be to visit a different geological form each family vacation and thus have a wealth of easily obtained knowledge about each source. It is also discussed how historical and literature sites could be added to the trips and the family, children specifically, would gather first hand knowledge of all these sources through their experiences.
children have illimitable capacity for all knowledge which reaches them in some sort through the vehicle of the senses––what they see and delight in you may pin endless facts, innumerable associations, upon, and children have capacity for them all:
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 128
They continue to discuss how these experiences should not lead to object lessons, but were superior to being lectured by the parents even if the parents could somehow become so knowledgable about a myriad of subjects. They then conjecture of a club for the parents who would gather and teach one another so that each is more readily able to educate their own children.
[Ancient history now; a forecast fulfilled in the formation of the Parents’ National Educational Union.]
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 130
Part 2, Chapter 2
This chapter reads as a how to guide for proper vacationing. Strange in Charlotte Mason text, but it is feeding off the ideas presented in the previous chapter. At first she outlines why traditional vacations often offer disgruntled or unsettled feelings by the end, because most older school agers and adults are having the body and eyes fed in the new setting, but their mind is lacking. One caveat here is that she describes an entire month of holidays which is a rarity here in America, and honestly quite unfathomable to most. Here ideas for this proper vacation seem wonderful, but here we are lucky to take a week of vacation and thus we often cannot reach all the beauty she outlines here. Also she ends the chapter by saying it is not recommended for those with children under 6, and well that excludes quite a bit of families for quite a long time. I personally have seen many a family take extended trips oversees and abroad through America with under 6 crowd. It’s just a different time.
Here is the whole secret of a successful holiday––the mind must be actively, unceasingly, and involuntarily engaged with fresh and ever-changing interests;
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 132
She goes on to outline that you will want to in those years when traveling abroad is unaccesible to instead choose a county. Explore that one particular county as if it were its own country visiting multiple towns and packing light that you might travel to different lodgings in between. Take the time to visit all the spots of interest in history, literature, geology and the like for once you experience it first hand it is a memory cherished for a lifetime.
A month spent thus in gathering the lore of a single county is more educative than five terms of vigorous school work.
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 135
She ends with the warning of the younger children, and also that we want our children to know those closest to them before they move outwards. It is wonderful to love our neighboring countries and cultures, but we must also love our nations beauty and charms too.
but he who would love all the world must begin with the brother whom he has seen,
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 136
Part 2, Chapter 3
…education, like charity, begins at home…
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 137
We are back at a dinner party it would seem and they are discussing whether to listen to the old ways or the modern for raising children and how they all seem to be opposing. An example is given of a mother who is constantly changing her child’s foods, clothing, schedule etc and never settles because she is always chasing what is new and claims to be the best. However, there are also instances of an old ways of doing things that are silly or flat out wrong. How is a mother to know what to do?
They come around to the idea that the mothers must know about the why’s behind physiology and health so that they can more adequately choose what is best for their children in these categories. They caution though that the mother must not be limited to physical understanding but also moral. Thus habits will be the best way to to help develop these desired outcomes.
Thus it rests with parents to ease the way of their child by giving him the habits of the good life in thought, feeling and action, and even in spiritual things. We cannot make a child ‘good’; but, in this way, we can lay paths for the good life in the very substance of his brain. We cannot make him hear the voice of God; but, again, we can make paths where the Lord God may walk in the cool of the evening. We cannot make a child clever; but we can see that his brain is nourished with pure blood, his mind with fruitful ideas.”
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, pg 142
We set the path in developing the habits of daily pursuing God, and pray and trust God to fill in the rest.
Next week we will finish up Part 2 with a section from a school master and a conclusion to the Dinner Party story. As always the links to the rest of the narrations are below the schedule. Join me over on IG to join in the discussion.
Happy Reading!
Wholehearted Homemaking 
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