 Robert Harris, The Unruly Guest; Portraits of Children of George Robert Harris, "The Unruly Guest;" 1880. “Spiritual teaching, like the wafted odour of flowers, should depend on which way the wind blows. Every now and then there occurs a holy moment, felt to be holy by mother and child, when the two are together––that is the moment for some deeply felt and softly spoken word about God, such as the occasion gives rise to. Few words need be said, no exhortation at all; just the flash of conviction from the soul of the mother to the soul of the child. Is 'Our Father' the thought thus laid upon the child's soul? there will be, perhaps, no more than a sympathetic meeting of eyes hereafter, between mother and child, over a thousand showings forth of 'Our Father's' love; but the idea is growing, becoming part of the child's spiritual life. This is all: no routine of spiritual teaching; a dread of many words, which are apt to smother the fire of the sacred life; much self-restraint shown in the allowing of seeming opportunities to pass; and all the time, earnest purpose of heart, and a definite scheme for the building up of the child in the faith. It need not be added that, to make another use of our Lord's words, "this kind cometh forth only by prayer." It is as the mother gets wisdom liberally from above, that she will be enabled for this divine task.” * “Morals and Economics: Citizenship. Like Literature this subject, too, is ancillary to History. In Form I, children begin to gather conclusions as to the general life of the community from tales, fables, and the story of one or another great citizen. In Form II, Citizenship becomes a definite subject rather from the point of view of what may be called the inspiration of citizenship than from that of the knowledge proper to a citizen, though the latter is by no means neglected. We find Plutarch's Lives exceedingly inspiring. These are read by the teacher (with suitable omissions) and narrated with great spirit by the children. They learn to answer such questions as,––"In what ways did Pericles make Athens beautiful? How did he persuade the people to help him?" And we may hope that the idea is engendered of preserving and increasing the beauty of their own neighbourhood without the staleness which comes of much exhortation.” Examen: Am I letting the wind of the spirit and the curricular feast do their work? What did I do today to allow others to “gather conclusions?” How can I know when to speak? ~~~~~~~ Spiritual teaching, like: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:348. Morals and Economics: Citizenship: 1:185–86. Day 80 Exhortation meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025
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 Erik Theodor Werenskiold, "Briskeby Boy with Sledge" “Education is the Science of Relations; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we must train him upon physical exercises, nature, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books; for we know that our business is, not to teach him all about anything, but to help him make valid, as many as may be of 'Those first born affinities, 'That fit our new existence to existing things.'” * “All Mind Labour means Wear of Brain.––And first of all, the more educable powers of the child––his intelligence, his will, his moral feelings––have their seat in his brain; that is to say, as the eye is the organ of sight, so is the brain, or some part of it, the organ of thought and will, of love and worship. Authorities differ as to how far it is possible to localise the functions of the brain; but this at least seems pretty clear––that none of the functions of mind are performed without real activity in the mass of grey and white nervous matter named 'the brain.' Now, this is not a matter for the physiologist alone, but for every mother and father of a family; because that wonderful brain, by means of which we do our thinking, if it is to act healthily and in harmony with the healthful action of the members, should act only under such conditions of exercise, rest, and nutrition as secure health in every other part of the body.” * “Now, observe, the blood is only fully oxygenated when the air contains its full proportion of oxygen, and every breathing and burning object withdraws some oxygen from the atmosphere. Hence the importance of giving the children daily airings, and abundant exercise of limb and lung in unvitiated, unimpoverished air.” * “…for abundant daily exercise in the fresh air is of such vital importance to the children, that really nothing but sickness should keep them within doors.” * “…some sort of judicious physical exercise, should make part of every day's routine. Swedish drill is especially valuable, and many of the exercises are quite suitable for the nursery. Certain moral qualities come into play in alert movements, eye-to-eye attention, prompt and intelligent replies; but it often happens that good children fail in these points for want of physical training.” Examen: “Show the importance of daily physical exercises.” “What moral qualities appear in alert movements?” What is keeping us indoors? Am I ready to provide for children that which I will not do for myself? ~~~~~~~ Education is the: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:Preface. All Mind Labour: 1:21. Now, observe, the blood: 1:28–29. ...for abundant daily exercise: 1:88. ...some sort of judicious: 1:132. Show the importance: 1:364. Day 79 Exercise meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  Norman Rockwell, "The Children's Hour" (see also Digest)
“…the drawback to evening work is, that the brain, once excited, is inclined to carry on its labours beyond bed-time, and dreams, wakefulness, and uneasy sleep attend the poor child who has been at work until the last minute. If the elder children must work in the evening, they should have at least one or two pleasant social hours before they go to bed; but, indeed, we owe it to the children to abolish evening 'preparation.'” * “…the custom of giving home-work, at any rate to children under fourteen, is greatly to be deprecated. The gain of a combination of home and school life is lost to the children; and a very full scheme of schoolwork may be carried through in the morning hours.” * “The knowledge of children so taught (i.e. under Mason’s method) is consecutive, intelligent, and complete as far as it goes, in however many directions. For it is a mistake to suppose that the greater the number of 'subjects' the greater the scholar's labour; the contrary is the case as the variety in itself affords refreshment, and the child who has written thirty or forty sheets during an examination week comes out unfagged. Not the number of subjects but the hours of work bring fatigue to the scholar; and bearing this in mind we have short hours and no evening preparation.” * “This scheme of fairly wide and successful intellectual work is carried out in the same or less time than is occupied in the usual efforts in the same directions; there are no revisions, no evening preparations (because far more work is done by the children in ordinary school-time than under ordinary school methods, when the child is too often a listener only): no notetaking, because none are necessary, the children having the matter in their books and knowing where to find it; and as there is no cramming or working up of subjects there is much time to spare for vocational and other work of the kind.” * “So let us welcome peaceful evening in.” ~ William Cowper Examen: What if we could confidently say, “Out with homework!” What about me? What are my evening habits? ~~~~~~~ ...the drawback to evening: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:23. ...the custom of giving: 1:147–48. The knowledge of children: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:158. This scheme of fairly: 6:245. So let us: The Task: Book IV-- The Winter Evening, “The Task: Book IV. -- The Winter Evening by William Cowper - Famous Poems, Famous Poets. - All Poetry,” accessed July 15, 2024, https://allpoetry.com/The-Task:-Book-IV.----The-Winter-Evening. Day 78 Evening Preparation meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  Howard Pyle, Title Page for "The Wonder Clock" “We need not be at the pains to discriminate, in teaching children Bible narratives, between essential and accidental truth––the truth which interprets our own lives, and that which concerns only the time, place, and circumstances proper to the narrative. The children themselves will discern and keep fast hold of the essential, while the merely accidental slips from their memory as from ours.” * “What shall we say of fable, poetry, romance, the whole realm of fiction? There are two sorts of Truth. What we may call accidental Truth; that is, that such and such a thing came to pass in a certain place at a certain hour on a certain day; and this is the sort of Truth we have to observe in our general talk. The other, the Truth of Art, is what we may call essential Truth; that for example, given such and such a character, he must needs have thought and acted in such and such a way, with such and such consequences; given, a certain aspect of nature, and the poet will receive from it such and such ideas; or, certain things of common life, as a dog with a bone, for example, will presents themselves to the thinker as fables, illustrating some of the happenings of life. This sort of fiction is of enormous value to us, whether we find it in poetry or romance (i.e.novels); it teaches us morals and manners; what to do in given circumstances; what will happen if we behave in a certain way. It shows how, what seems a little venial fault is often followed by dreadful consequences, and our eyes are opened to see that it not little or venial but is a deep-seated fault of character; some selfishness, shallowness, or deceitfulness upon which a man or woman makes shipwreck. We cannot learn these things except through what is called fiction, or from the bitter experience of life, from the penalties of our writers of fiction do their best to spare us.” * “Nothing was more remote from my thought at this period ( i.e. his childhood) than theological speculation—except for Greene’s (Graham), these books were all childhood or early boyhood reading—but certain patterns were set, certain rooms were made ready, so that when, years later, I came upon Saint Paul for the first time and heard him say, “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,” I had the feeling that I knew something of what he was talking about. Something of the divine comedy that we are all of us involved in. Something of grace.” ~ Frederick Buechner Examen: What am I doing about my need for literature? Where have I been aware recently of truth that "interprets my life?" Am I hung up on accidental truth anywhere? ~~~~~~~ We need not: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:251. What shall we: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, 4:160 Bk.I. Nothing was more: Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, First Edition (HarperOne, 1992), 192. Day 77 Essential Truths meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "Schoolhouse in Winter," Maud Lewis “I think we make a mistake in burying the text under our endless comments and applications.” * “Here is an example of how such knowledge grows. I heard a class of girls aged about thirteen read an essay on George Herbert. Three or four of his poems were included, and none of the girls had read either essay or poems before. They 'narrated' what they had read and in the course of their narration gave a full paraphrase of The Elixir, The Pulley, and one or two other poems. No point made by the poet was omitted and his exact words were used pretty freely. The teacher made comments upon one or two unusual words and that was all; to explain or enforce (otherwise than by a reverently sympathetic manner, the glance and words that showed that she too, cared), would have been impertinent. It is an interesting thing that hundreds of children of this age in Secondary and Elementary Schools and in families scattered over the world read and narrated the same essay and no doubt paraphrased the verses with equal ease. I felt humbled before the children knowing myself incapable of such immediate and rapid apprehension of several pages of new matter including poems whose intention is by no means obvious. In such ways the great thoughts of great thinkers illuminate children, and they grow in knowledge, chiefly the knowledge of God. And yet this, the chief part of education, is drowned in torrents of talk, in tedious repetition, in objurgation and recrimination, in every sort of way in which the mind may be bored and the affections deadened.” * “I have often thought that the message of the Gospel can be told in very few words indeed. Learning to live it fully is what takes a lifetime.” ~ Norvene Vest Examen: Can I feel it when I am talking torrents? Did I make any impertinent comment today? ~~~~~~~ I think we make: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:349. Here is an example: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:65. I have often: Norvene Vest, Preferring Christ: A Devotional Commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict, First Edition (Morehosue Publishing, 2004), 189. Day 76 Endless Comments meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  Elephant frightened by a mouse - in “” Theater Magazine””, Sep 1925 (see also Art of Standing Aside, Character, Control, Despise) “But we may make use of certain physiological laws without encroaching on personality, because, in so doing, we should affect the instrument and not the agent. The laws of habit and, again, the tendency of will-power to rhythmic operation should be of use to us, because these are affected by brain-conditions and belong to the outworks of personality." * “…understand that it is not we who pasture the young souls. The managing mother, (or teacher) who interferes with every hour and every occupation of her child's life, all because it is her duty, would tend to disappear. She would see, with some amusement, why it is that the rather lazy, self-indulgent mother is often blessed with very good children. She, too, will let her children be, not because she is lazy, but being dutiful, she sees that––give children opportunity and elbow-room, and they are likely to become natural persons, neither cranks nor prigs. And here is a hope for society; children so brought up are hardly likely to become managing persons in their turn, inclined to intrude upon the lives of others, and be rather intolerable in whatever relation. No doubt children are deeply grateful to managing parents, and we are all lazy enough to be thankful to persons who undertake our lives for us, but these well-meaning persons encroach; we are required to act for ourselves, think for ourselves, and let other persons do the same.” * “A person may sing and dance, enjoy music and natural beauty, sketch what he sees, have satisfaction in his own good craftsmanship, labour with his hands at honest work, perceiving that work is better than wages; may live his life in various directions, the more the merrier. A certain pleasant play of the intellect attends the doing of all these things; his mind is agreeably exercised; he thinks upon what he is doing, often with excitement, sometimes with enthusiasm. He says, "I must live my life," and he lives it––in as many of these ways as are open to him; no other life is impoverished to supply his fullness, but, on the contrary, the sum of general joy in well-being is increased both through sympathy and by imitation. This is the sort of ideal that is obtaining in our (P.N.E.U) schools and in the public mind, so that the next generation bid fair to be provided with many ways of living their lives, ways which do not encroach upon the lives of others.” * “She (Mason) would not deliver those she loved from the growing pains of thinking for themselves, and sometimes those who did not understand took her silence for consent when they suggested things she did not wish. They little knew that she was only waiting for them to think clearly for themselves.” ~ Elsie Kitching Examen: “What if parents and teachers in their zeal misread the schedule of their duties, magnified their office unduly and encroached upon the personality of children?” ~~~~~~~ We may make: Charlotte M. Mason, Formation of Character, 5:Preface. ...understand that it is: 5:417. A person may: Philosophy of Education, 6:329. She would not deliver: Cholmondley, The Story of Charlotte Mason, 65. What if parents: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:96. Day 75 Encroach meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  (see also Adorable Person) “…it is necessary to believe in God; that, therefore, the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and the chief end of education.” * “…and we shall find by-and-by that 'education' means nothing less than the evolution of the human being at all points; and that the acquisition of mere learning is not necessarily education at all.” * “Children so taught (i.e. in this method) are delightful companions because they have large interests and worthy thoughts; they have much to talk about and such casual talk benefits society. The fine sense, like an atmosphere, of things worth knowing and worth living for, this it is which produces magnanimous citizens, and we feel that Milton was right in claiming magnanimity as the proper outcome of education.” * “…the purpose of this life is our education for a fuller.” * “Laws of Nature and Ways of Man––Education, properly understood, is the science of life.” Examen: Did I hold onto the end (goal) of education today? ~~~~~~~ ...it is necessary: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:Preface. ...and we shall find: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:48. Children so taught: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:267–68. ...the purpose of: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves Bk.I. Laws of Nature: Parents and Children, 2:101. Education meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "Discussing Talmud" Isidor Kauffmann (see also Born Person, Children's Magna Carta) “Should Nourish with Ideas––To nourish a child daily with loving, right, and noble ideas we believe to be the parent's next duty. The child having once received the Idea will assimilate it in his own way and work it into the fabric of his life; and a single sentence from his mother's lips may give him a bent that will make him, or may tend to make him, painter or poet, statesman or philanthropist. The object of lessons should be in the main twofold: to train a child in certain mental habits, as attention, accuracy, promptness, etc., and to nourish him with ideas which may bear fruit in his life.” * “The Child has every Power that will serve Him. ––What, then, have we to do for the child? Plainly we have not to develop the person; he is there already, with, possibly, every power that will serve him in his passage through life. Some day we shall be told that the very word education is a misnomer belonging to the stage of thought when the drawing forth of 'faculties' was supposed to be a teacher's business. We shall have some fit new word meaning, perhaps, 'applied wisdom,' for wisdom is the science of relations and the thing we have to do for a young human being is to put him in touch, so far as we can, with all the relations proper to him.” * “We want an education which shall nourish the mind while not neglecting either physical or vocational training; in short, we want a working philosophy of education. I think that we of the P.N.E.U. have arrived at such a body of theory, tested and corrected by some thirty years of successful practice with thousands of children.” * “So let us think of living and dismiss for the moment the word education from our minds with the reminder that it comes from educare, meaning to nourish, Life has to be nourished.” ~ Mary Hardcastle Examen: Can I think of myself as simply living with children? What is the table we both come to for nourishment? ~~~~~~~ Should Nourish with Ideas: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:228. The Child has every: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:75. We want an education: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:6. So let us: “AO Parents’ Review Archives AmblesideOnline.Org,” accessed July 12, 2024, https://www.amblesideonline.org/PR/PR53p209ComesDownTo.shtml. Day 73 Educare meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  Wassily Kandinsky, Composition IV. 1911 “…those who have never entered on scientific pursuits are blind to most of the poetry by which they are surrounded.” * “One other thing she (the mother) will do, but very rarely, and with tender filial reverence (most likely she will say her prayers, and speak out her prayer, for to touch on this ground with hard words is to wound the soul of the child): she will point to some lovely flower or gracious tree, not only as a beautiful work, but a beautiful thought of God, in which we may believe He finds continual pleasure, and which He is pleased to see his human children delight in. Such a seed of sympathy with the Divine thought sown in the heart of the child is worth many of the sermons the man may listen to hereafter, much of the 'divinity' he may read." * “A great promise has been given to the world––that its teachers shall not any more be removed. There are always those present with us whom God whispers in the ear, through whom He sends a direct message to the rest. Among these messengers are the great painters who interpret to us some of the meanings of life. To read their messages aright is a thing due from us. But this, like other good gifts, does not come by nature. It is the reward of humble, patient study. It is not in a day or a year that Fra Angelico will tell us of the beauty of holiness, that Giotto will confide his interpretation of the meaning of life, that Millet will tell us of the simplicity and dignity that belong to labour on the soil, that Rembrandt will show us the sweetness of humanity in many a commonplace countenance. The artist–– "Reaching, that heaven might so replenish him, Above and through his art,"–– has indispensable lessons to give us, whether he convey them through the brush of the painter, the parables of the architect, or through such another cathedral built of sound as 'Abt Vogler' produced: the outward and visible sign is of less moment than the inward and spiritual grace.” * “Till I (Christ) by parable shall ope the world, Disclose significance of common things, Till, when by symbols few interpreted, Men learn to read those books before their eyes, Writ page by page, the mysteries of the Kingdom!” Examen: Where may divinity be read? Have I put myself “in the way of seeing” today? What is my best defense against wounding the soul of a child? ~~~~~~~ ...those who have never: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:255–56. One other thing: 1:80. A great promise: Ourselves, Charlotte M. Mason, 4:72 Bk.II. Till I by parable: Mason, The Saviour of the World - Vol. 3, 59. Day 72 Divinity he may Read meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  St. Michael's Church, Langley, Norfolk, Image by Evelyn Simak, (see also Continual Converse, Co-operation) “We should allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and 'spiritual' life of children; but should 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.” * “Divine Co-operation––In this great work we seek and assuredly find the co-operation of the Divine Spirit, whom we recognise, in a sense rather new to modern thought, as the Supreme Educator of mankind in things that have been called secular, fully as much as in those that have been called sacred.” * 'God doth Instruct.'––In the things of science, in the things of art, in the things of practical everyday life, his God doth instruct him and doth teach him, her God doth instruct her and doth teach her. Let this be the mother's key to the whole of the education of each boy and each girl; not of her children; the Divine Spirit does not work with nouns of multitude, but with each single child. Because He is infinite, the whole world is not too great a school for this indefatigable Teacher, and because He is infinite, He is able to give the whole of his infinite attention for the whole time to each one of his multitudinous pupils. We do not sufficiently rejoice in the wealth that the infinite nature of our God brings to each of us.” * Over the centuries, the church in the West has come to neglect the Holy Spirit, reducing it to a vague philosophical concept, says Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a Korean-American theologian and professor. But the Spirit, at least biblically, is something concrete and real, Kim says. And the Church needs to reclaim it fully in order to help bring about interfaith dialogue, reconciliation and social justice. ~ Faith and Leadership Examen: Where might I be reducing the role of the "indefatigable Teacher" in my life? What does this look like in the classroom? ~~~~~~~ We should allow: Home Education, Charlotte M. Mason, 1:Preface. Divine Co-operation: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:254. “God doth Instruct.”: 2:273. Over the Centuries: “Grace Ji-Sun Kim: It’s Time to Recover the Spirit | Faith and Leadership,” June 21, 2016, https://faithandleadership.com/grace-ji-sun-kim-its-time-recover-the-spirit Day 71 Divine Spirit meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025 |
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