I just realized that you also asked about Ourselves.
Charlotte was a dedicated Christian and all of her works reflect that. The last 4 Principles of her 20 Principles of Education (her philosophy) she outlined in Volume 6 says:
16. There are two guides to moral and intellectual self-management to offer to children, which we may call ‘the way of the will’ and ‘the way of the reason.’
17. The way of the will: Children should be taught, (a) to distinguish between ‘I want’ and ‘I will.’ (b) That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire but do not will. (c) That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting. (d) That after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigour. (This adjunct of the will is familiar to us as diversion, whose office it is to ease us for a time from will effort, that we may ‘will’ again with added power. The use of suggestion as an aid to the will is to be deprecated, as tending to stultify and stereotype character, It would seem that spontaneity is a condition of development, and that human nature needs the discipline of failure as well as of success.)
18. The way of reason: We teach children, too, not to ‘lean (too confidently) to their own understanding’; because the function of reason is to give logical demonstration (a) of mathematical truth, (b) of an initial idea, accepted by the will. In the former case, reason is, practically, an infallible guide, but in the latter, it is not always a safe one; for, whether that idea be right or wrong, reason will confirm it by irrefragable proofs.
19. Therefore, children should be taught, as they become mature enough to understand such teaching, that the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the acceptance or rejection of ideas. To help them in this choice we give them principles of conduct, and a wide range of the knowledge fitted to them. These principles should save children from some of the loose thinking and heedless action which cause most of us to live at a lower level than we need.
20. We allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and ‘spiritual’ life of children, but teach them that the Divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their Continual Helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life.
Ourselves was Charlotte Mason’s response to the needs of Principle 19 – so it becomes part of the application (method) of the philosophy.
A single reading of about 3 pages (often less) covers one character trait. At first Mansoul is a bit confusing. I think a lot of it is that we do not speak in metaphors much, so we are looking for “facts, just the facts, ma’am” – but that is not what will capture the imagination of a child and cause them to ponder and think deeply about their own-self government and how they will choose to carry that out. In Ourselves, Book 1, chapter 3, page 9, Charlotte Mason explains:
Every human being, child or man, is a Kingdom of Mansoul; and 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. Therefore I have said that no one has discovered the boundaries of the Kingdom of Mansoul; for nobody knows how much is possible to any one person. Many persons go through life without recognising this. They have no notion of how much they can do and feel, know and be; and so their lives turn out poor, narrow, and disappointing.
It is, indeed, true that Mansoul is like a great and rich country, with a more or less powerful and harmonious government; because there is a part of ourselves whose business it is to manage and make the best of the rest of ourselves, and that part of ourselves we shall call the Government.
She then breaks down all the different functions, needs, and such of this great country of Mansoul, and likens each one to a member of the government. By doing this she clearly shows what Government Official “controls” or governs different behaviors, desires, and actions. Each reading details what trait is responsible and pleasing to yourself, and then she even labels the downside of too much or too little governance of that trait. She doesn’t preach, but the way it is written makes me want to be a better master of myself. My oldest daughter has mentioned a couple of times that she likes the imagery in it – she can see how she wants to be a better person.
As with Plutarch, once a week readings are totally sufficient. It’s good stuff!
