Are we killing the love of learning in our children by requiring them to put forth their best effort?
Habit Training Yourself — New Workshop Video
I forget which convention it was that started it all. I had just finished presenting the workshop on Laying Down the Rails, all about instilling good habits in your child’s life. As I was taking off the lapel mic and gathering my laptop, I glanced up and saw a cluster of parents hovering nearby, waiting […]
3 Ways to Develop Willpower
Right off the bat, some of you may be thinking, “Strengthen my child’s will? I don’t need to strengthen it. He’s a strong-willed child already!” And that may be the case, but don’t jump to any conclusions. You might want to read the other posts about the Will to make sure you know what we’re […]
Is Your Child Strong-Willed or Weak-Willed?
A few weeks ago I did a post on the Way of the Will as a little refresher course on how Charlotte Mason explained the will and how it works. Many of you responded with requests for more on that subject. So today we’re going to touch on another aspect of the will, and I […]
Your Questions Answered: Not Repeating Yourself
Today I’m joined by my friend and co-worker, Laura Pitney, to do another installment of Your Questions Answered. The question for today is quite interesting: “You say not to repeat yourself, but I’m wondering how you teach this? I have a five year old. Let’s say I get her attention, look directly into her eyes, […]
The Way of the Will
I was recently talking with a group of parents, and in the course of our time together, I mentioned how important it is to make sure our young adults know how the will works. Well, all of the parents in that group wanted a refresher course on the way of the will, as Charlotte Mason […]
Working On Best Effort During the Summer
We talked last time about how the summer months can be a great time to give focused effort in habit-training, even if you’re taking that time off from schoolwork. Especially if you’re taking that time off from schoolwork! When you don’t have lessons to prepare and complete, you can invest your time and energy in […]
Working On Attention During the Summer
When I was a girl, I took piano lessons. I would practice diligently during the school year, but my teacher always gave her students the summer off. So I got used to not practicing during the summer months. Later, in high school, I switched to a different teacher, and she had a completely different mind-set. […]
5 Life Habits Built Into a Charlotte Mason Education
We all want to instill good habits in our children, from the time they are toddlers through the time they move out to start their own households. We often think of habit training as something we do on the side. We work on kindness alongside all of the activities of the day. We work on […]
God and Habit-Training
In Charlotte Mason circles, we talk a lot about habits: how God made our brains to form habits automatically through repetition; what kinds of motivation work best; how long it takes to form a good habit; how to replace a bad habit with a good habit. All of this is important, because good habits give […]
Top Three Habits for a Homeschool Mom
I was chatting with a young mom today about habit training, and she asked a great question. We had talked about how important it is to have living examples for our children to see and spend time with as they form good habits. She had also made the connection that parents are, of necessity, one […]
You Move Toward What You Focus On
When we lived near Chicago, my husband John rode his bike for long treks in all kinds of weather. He liked to take the roads that led out of our suburb and into relatively undeveloped country, because they were less traveled. The upside of those roads was less traffic. The downside was that they had […]
Becoming a Gandy Dancer: Habit-Training, part 9
Do you remember what a “gandy dancer” is? Way back in the first post of this series we mentioned that “gandy dancer” was the nickname that was given to early railroad workers who laid and maintained the tracks. Parents are gandy dancers. It is the parent’s business to lay down and maintain the rails of […]
Parents Ease the Transition: Habit-Training, part 8
One of the best gifts you can give your child is to help him become a person of excellent character. That is what habit-training can do: mold a child’s character. “ ‘Sow a habit, reap a character’; that is, the formation of habits is one of the chief means whereby we modify the original hereditary […]
Parents Give an Endowment: Habit-Training, part 7
The good habits you instill in your child’s life are an endowment. There is a subtle difference between an endowment and an investment. Habit-training yourself is an investment with a large return. An investment is something you usually do for yourself; you put in the capital. (more…)
Parents Support the Will: Habit-Training, part 6
All of the things we have discussed over the past few weeks on habit-training—taking on the effort of decision, spotlighting the trigger, and adjusting the consequences—are ways to help support your child’s Will. Habit-training yourself depends on a strong Will that can make the right choices even when it’s hard. You have to decide which […]
Parents Adjust the Consequences: Habit-Training, part 5
Habits have consequences. It is a fact of life that we witness every day. If you have a habit of doing the laundry regularly, you will have clean clothes to wear. If you have a habit of saving money from every paycheck, you will acquire a buffer for unexpected or future purchases. (more…)
Don’t Become the Trigger: Habit-Training, part 4
We talked last time about the importance of having a trigger that will prompt you to do the desired habit every time. Adults usually have to come up with triggers for themselves, but parents can help their children by spotlighting triggers for them. The trick is to not become your child’s trigger. (more…)
Parents Spotlight the Trigger: Habit-Training, part 3
Whether you are instilling a new habit in your own life or in your child’s life, you need to make the initial decisions about which habit you want to work on, what it will look like, whether you need to break it down into smaller more manageable stops along the way, when you are going […]
Parents Take On the Effort of Decision: Habit-Training, part 2
As we discussed last week, in many ways your job of cultivating good habits in your child is just like cultivating them in your own life. Most of the principles and practical steps are similar. But there are also some differences between laying down the rails in your child’s life and laying them down for […]
