Category Parenting

Posts and articles about Charlotte Mason’s thoughts on parenting.

A Good Deal of Letting Alone

When our first two children were still preschoolers, my husband took them to the park without me. I had some work to finish up, so they went ahead and walked the two blocks before me. About twenty minutes later I…

Good Humor

Have you ever heard of the game Mother, May I? No, I don’t mean the innocent little game of “baby steps” and “kangaroo hops.” I mean the “game” of pestering and whining, “Mother, may I stay up late tonight? Pleeeeeeze,…

The Fence of Authority

A fenced-in backyard can be a wonderful thing when you have small children. Ask any mother who has spent a hot summer day chasing after her adventurous terrier and perpetually active toddler. Fences are good.

Insight and Self-Restraint

I remember two parties I attended when I was growing up. One was a sleepover at which I saw the parent only once: at breakfast. The rest of the time we girls were left to do anything and everything we…

You Need Both: Masterly Inactivity

We love our children. And we have great hopes for them. As Charlotte Mason so aptly put it, “People feel that they can bring up their children to be something more than themselves, that they ought to do so, and…

Are You a Thermostat or a Thermometer?

My husband John thinks in word pictures, and several years ago he described a word picture that has stuck in my mind ever since. He explained that some people are like thermostats and some are like thermometers. A thermostat regulates…

Education Is an Atmosphere

Many of you are making plans, doing research, and trying to get a handle on upcoming subjects even as you finish current ones. Some of you are preparing to enter those huge (often intimidating) vendor halls at homeschooling conventions near…