 "Valencian Fishermen," Joaquin Sorolla Y Bastida (see also By the Way, Circumstances, Comes to Us, Cotton-wool) “But all is fish that comes to our net. We have seldom had a more instructive record of childhood, even if we must allow that the instruction comes to us on the lines of what not to do. The fine character and beautiful nature of Mrs. Augustus Hare have been known to the world since the Memorials of a Quiet Life were published by this very son (Augustus Hare); and when we find how this lady misinterpreted the part of mother to her adopted and dearly beloved son, we know that we are not reading of the mistakes of an unworthy or even of a commonplace woman. Mrs. Hare always acted upon principle, and when she erred, the principle was in fault. She confounded the two principles of authority and autocracy. She believed that there was some occult virtue in arbitrary action on the part of a parent, and that a child must be the better in proportion as he does as he is bidden––the more outrageous the bidding the better the training.” * “All was fish that came to the young Goethe's net.” Examen: Show how literature and circumstances may all be “fish to our nets,” even if they are anti-examples or unwished for circumstances. Why must our principles be “fished for” and re-connected to our actions? Am I able and willing to work with “what comes?” How is this a growth mindset? ~~~~~~~ But all is fish: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:13–14. All was fish: Charlotte M. Mason, Formation of Character, 5:334. Day 91 Fish to our Nets meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025
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 "View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow," Thomas Cole “The first ideas of geography, the lessons on place, which should make a child observant of local geography, of the features of his own neighbourhood, its heights and hollows, and level lands, its streams and ponds, should be gained, as we have seen, out of doors, and should prepare him for a certain amount of generalisation––that is, he should be able to discover definitions of river, island, lake, and so on, and should make these for himself in a tray of sand, or draw them on the blackboard. Definitions. –– But definitions should come in the way of recording his experiences. Before he is taught what a river is, he must have watched a stream and observed that it flows; and so on with the rest.” * “The initial idea begets subsequent ideas; therefore, take care that children get right primary ideas on the great relations and duties of life.” * “It would seem as if a new human being came into the world with unlimited capacity for manifold relations, with a tendency to certain relations in preference to certain others, but with no degree of adaptation to these relations. To secure that adaptation and the expansion and activity of the person, along the lines of the relations most proper to him, is the work of education; to be accomplished by the two factors of ideas and habits. Every relation must be initiated by its own 'captain' (Cf. Coleridge's Method) idea, sustained upon fitting ideas; and wrought into the material substance of the person by its proper habits. This is the field before us.” * “Here we have an application of Coleridge's 'captain-idea' of every train of thought; that is, not a naked generalisation, (neither children nor grown persons find aliment in these), but an idea clothed upon with fact, and story, so that the mind may perform the acts of selection and inception from a mass of illustrative details.” * “Mathematics depend upon the teacher rather than upon the text-book and few subjects are worse taught; chiefly because teachers have seldom time to give the inspiring ideas, what Coleridge calls, the 'Captain' ideas, which should quicken imagination.” Examen: “Show the importance of the initial idea in both moral and intellectual education.” What can I gather about my part in this “field before us” from just these passages? Am I aware of my initial ideas? ~~~~~~~ The first ideas: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:276–77. The initial idea: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:38. It would seem: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:71. Here we have: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:110. Mathematics depend upon: 6:233. Show the importance: “AO Parents’ Review Archives AmblesideOnline.Org” Syllabus I.--Examination 1. Day 90 First/Captain Idea meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  By: Iulian Emil Moldovan (see also Bread, Feed (how) “In the saying that Education is a life, the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum." * “Education is part and parcel of religion and every enthusiastic teacher knows that he is obeying the precept,--‘feed my lambs’—feed with all those things which are good and wholesome for the spirit of a man; and, before all and including all, with the knowledge of God.” * “We are, in fact, only taking count of the purlieus of that vast domain which pertains to every man in right of his human nature. We neglect mind. We need not consider brain; a duly nourished and duly exercised mind takes care of its physical organ provided that organ also receives its proper material nourishment. But our fault, our exceeding great fault, is that we keep our own minds and the minds of our children shamefully underfed. The mind is a spiritual octopus, reaching out limbs in every direction to draw in enormous rations of that which under the action of the mind itself becomes knowledge.” * “ 'You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.' So I did sit and eat.” ~ George Herbert “We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life without the actual and continual help of God. Let us, then, pray to Him for it continually. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often think of Him but by a holy habit which we should form of it? You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true, for this the best and easiest method I know: and as I use no other, I advise all the world to do it. We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your consideration.” ~ Brother Lawrence Examen: Must. Mason sees this method of education as an imperative, the hunger and the sustenance both part of our human make-up and experience. Where is this hard for me to accept? How did I learn to think of my work as other than encouraging the “Holy habit” of “a realizing faith?” ~~~~~~~ In the saying: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:Preface. Education is part: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:245. We are, in fact: 6:330. You must sit down: Poetry Foundation, “Love (III) by George Herbert,” text/html, Poetry Foundation (Poetry Foundation, July 16, 2024), https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44367/love-iii. We cannot escape: Lawrence, “THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD,” Ninth Letter. Day 89 Feed (why) meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "Shepherdess Tending Sheep," Winslow Homer (see also Educare, Dig for Knowledge, Digest) “…every human being has a natural Desire to explore those realms open to intellect of which I have already spoken. Upon the knowledge of these great matters––History, Literature, Nature, Science, Art––the Mind feeds and grows. It assimilates such knowledge as the body assimilates food, and the person becomes what is called magnanimous, that is, a person of great mind, wide interests, incapable of occupying himself much about petty, personal matters. What a pity to lose sight of such a possibility for the sake of miserable scraps of information about persons and things that have little connection with one another and little connection with ourselves!” * “This natural aptitude for literature, or, shall we say, rhetoric, which overcomes the disabilities of a poor vocabulary without effort, should direct the manner of instruction we give, ruling out the talky-talky of the oral lesson and the lecture; ruling out, equally, compilations and text-books; and placing books in the hands of children and only those which are more or less literary in character that is, which have the terseness and vividness proper to literary work. The natural desire for knowledge does the rest and the children feed and grow. * “We must feed the mind as the body fitly and freely; and the less we meddle with the digestive processes in the one as in the other the more healthy the life we shall sustain.” * “Feed mind duly and its activities take care of themselves.” * “The function of the schools is no doubt to feed their scholars on knowledge until they have created in them a healthy appetite which they will go on satisfying for themselves day by day throughout life.” * “The completeness with which hundreds of children reject the wrong book is a curious and instructive experience, not less so than the avidity and joy with which they drain the right book to the dregs; children's requirements in the matter seem to be quantity, quality, and variety:” Examen: “Show that it is upon the knowledge of great matters the mind feeds and grows.” ~~~~~~~ ...every human being: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, 4:78 Bk.I. This natural aptitude: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:90–91. We must feed: 6:259. Feed mind duly: 6:289. The function of: 6:348. The completeness with: 6:248. Show that it is: Mason, Ourselves, 4:212 Bk.II. Day 88 Feed (how) meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "The Thankful Poor," Henry Ossawa Tanner (see also Evening Preparation) “No pains should be spared to make the hours of meeting round the family table the brightest hours of the day. This is supposing that the children are allowed to sit at the same table with their parents; and, if it is possible! to let them do so at every meal excepting a late dinner, the advantage to the little people is incalculable. Here is the parents' opportunity to train them in manners and morals, to cement family love, and to accustom the children to habits, such as that of thorough mastication, for instance, as important on the score of health as on that of propriety.” * “Our chief concern for the mind or for the body is to supply a well-ordered table with abundant, appetizing, nourishing and very varied food, which children deal with in their own way and for themselves.” * “So many parents and caretakers get in the pattern of struggling for power all the time, acting like adversaries and talking roughly to each other. That’s never the best way. Adults don’t need to be super controlling if they have proactively worked to set up a good atmosphere in the home and laid down good habits. If we have a good relationship with children first of all, things will go better overall. They will want to please us and understand us and cooperate with us if they feel respected and loved.” ~ Anna Migeon Examen: How is the family table a metaphor for “the art of standing aside?” Do I enjoy an actual family table? What is one small step I can make in that direction? ~~~~~~~ No pains should: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:27. Our chief concern: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:71–72. So many parents: “Question from a Reader: How Long Do Children Need for Meals?,” The Happy Dinner Table (blog), accessed January 6, 2025, https://www.thehappydinnertable.com/2014/03/question-from-a-reader-how-long-do-children-need-for-meals/. Day 87 Family Table meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "Family Embrace," Gustav Klimt (see also Education) “The Chief Thing we have to do––The last chapter introduced the thought of parents in their highest function––as revealers of God to their children. To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where He is not, into the light and warmth and comfort of the presence of God, is, no doubt, the chief thing we have to do in the world. And this individual work with each child, being the most momentous work in the world, is put into the hands of the wisest, most loving, disciplined, and divinely instructed of human beings. Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect, is the perfection of parenthood, perhaps to be attained in its fulness only through parenthood. There are mistaken parents, ignorant parents, a few indifferent parents; even, as one in a thousand, callous parents; but the good that is done upon the earth is done, under God, by parents, whether directly or indirectly.” * “But the fussy parent, the anxious parent, the parent who explains overmuch, who commands overmuch, who excuses overmuch, who restrains overmuch, who interferes overmuch, even the parent who is with the children overmuch, does away with dignity and simplicity of that relationship which, like all the best and most delicate things in life, suffer by being asserted or defended.” Examen: Who is the primary actor in the “most momentous work in the world?” Do I usually think of myself as supporting parents’ “individual work with each child?” How does that ease my practice? ~~~~~~~ The Chief Thing: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:50. But the fussy: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:39. Day 86 Family by Family meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "Then the Mother Folded Her Hands, Fell to Her Knees..." by Fritz Syberg. “…I appreciate to the full the joy of living in days characterized by childlike frankness, openness to conviction, readiness to try all things and choose that which is good. We have our faults—grave and depressing enough—but we are ready for better things, ready, indeed, for any great crusade, if some modern Luther or Savonarola should arise and tell us the thing to do. To ‘endeavour ourselves’ to the daily effort of education, to live and act, think and speak before the children, so that they shall be hourly the better for all that we are, is harder, no doubt, than to make one enormous sacrifice.” * “Entering the spiritual search for truth and for ourselves through the so-called negative, dealing squarely with what is—in ourselves, in others, or in the world around us—takes all elitism (its most common temptation) out of spirituality. It makes arrogant religion largely impossible and reveals any violent or self-aggrandizing religion as an oxymoron (although sadly that has not been widely recognized). In this upside-down frame, the quickest ticket to heaven, enlightenment, or salvation is unworthiness itself, or at least a willingness to face our own smallness and incapacity. Our conscious need for mercy is our only real boarding pass. The ego doesn’t like that very much, but the soul fully understands.” ~ Fr. Richard Rohr Examen: How does recognizing my fallibility help my teaching practice? Am I aware of living "before the children?" What kind of crusades or voices compete for my attention? ~~~~~~~ ...I appreciate to the full: Charlotte M. Mason, Formation of Character, 5:156. Entering the spiritual: Fr Richard Rohr OFM, “Unworthiness Is the Ticket,” Center for Action and Contemplation, January 22, 2025, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/unworthiness-is-the-ticket/. Day 85 Fallible meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  William Darling Mckay “But the question of fallacies is a big one, and all we need bear in mind now is, that popular cries, whether in the school or the country, very often rest upon fallacies or false judgments. So, we must look all round the notions we take up.” * “Our will must deliver us from the intellectual and moral fallacies of which the air is full.” * “The only safeguard against fallacies which undermine the strength of the nation morally and economically is a liberal education which affords a wide field for reflection and comparison and abundant data upon which to found sound judgments.” * “We must be able to answer the arguments in the air, not so much by counter reasons as by exposing the fallacies in such arguments and proving on our own part the opposite position.” * But they (children) must follow arguments and detect fallacies for themselves. Reason like the other powers of the mind, requires material to work upon whether embalmed in history and literature, or afloat with the news of a strike or uprising. It is madness to let children face a debatable world with only, say, a mathematical preparation. If our business were to train their power of reasoning, such a training would no doubt be of service; but the power is there already, and only wants material to work upon. This caution must be borne in mind. Reason, like all other properties of a person, is subject to habit and works upon the material it is accustomed to handle." * “Once we are convinced of the fallibility of our own reason, we are able to detect the fallacies in the reasoning of our opponents and are not liable to be carried away by every wind of doctrine. Every mother knows how intensely reasonable a child is and how difficult it is to answer his quite logical and foolishly wrong conclusions. So we need not be deterred from dealing with serious matters with these young neophytes, but only as the occasion occurs….” Examen: “Show how our Lord's condemnation of fallacies proves that opinions are judged upon moral grounds.” How is a liberal education necessary to a full human life? Do I “look all around the notions I take up?” ~~~~~~~ But the question: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, 4:185 Bk.I. Our will must: Mason, 4:172 Bk.II. The only safeguard: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:56. We must be able: 6:144. But they must: 6:147. Once we are convinced: 6:150. Show how our Lord’s: Mason, Ourselves, 4:235 Bk.II. Day 84 Fallacies meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  Illustration from Andersen, Hans Christian. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. W. Heath Robinson, (see also Adorable Person, All-forgiving Gentleness, Chart to Steer By, Christianity)
“'Only Believe.'––‘My duty towards God is to believe in Him,’ my first duty, the duty of my life, without which other duties would not appear to count much. 'Only believe,' the writer (i.e. Mason) was told as a girl, to her great anger and soreness of heart. If 'only fly' had been said, she could not have flown, but anyway she would have known what definite thing was expected of her; but 'only believe' carried no meaning. Of course, she believed, as she believed that yesterday was Wednesday, the 5th of October, say; that there had been a Queen Elizabeth; that at least one Pharaoh had ruled in Egypt; these things, and thousands like them, she had never troubled herself to doubt, and believed as a matter of course; but––God? Of course, she believed in God in that way, but how could it matter? She was aware that such belief was no part of her life, and she knew of no other way of believing. Some such perplexity, no doubt, tries many a soul to whom it is brought home as a duty that he must believe in God. My duty towards God, which I must fulfil for myself, which no one can do for me, and which others can give me little conscious help in fulfilling. No one can give me faith, but others can help me on the way to it; for, we are told, ‘faith cometh by hearing, and hearing, by the Word of God’: that is, faith in God, just as faith in a friend, comes of knowledge. We trust our friend because we know him; because we know him, we believe in him. Faith, trust, confidence, belief––they are all one.” Examen: Mason follows the thread of her life back to her divine discontent and the inception of vocation. Her only assignment in life, is to believe; everything else she has left us is a follow-on of that. Notice the words that indicate she knows that she is the only one she gets to bring to the party. How does Mason's method help me understand faith? ~~~~~~~ 'Only Believe.’--My duty: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, 4:197–98. Day 83 Faith meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025  "The King's only Daughter had been carried off by a Dragon" Arthur Rackham, (see also Cottonwool) “I am inclined to think, too, that fairy tales suffer in vigour and charm when they are prepared for the children; and that Wordsworth is right in considering that the very knowledge of evil conveyed in fairy tales under a certain glamour is of use in saving children from painful and injurious shocks in real life.” * “This sort of failure in verbal truthfulness is excessively common in imaginative children and calls for prompt attention and treatment; but not on the lines a hasty and righteous parent might be inclined to adopt. Here is no call for moral indignation. The parents and not the child are in fault. The probability is that the child's ravenous imagination is not duly and daily supplied with its proper meat, of fairy tale in early days, of romance, (i.e. fiction) later.” * “Doesn't she delight in fairy tales?" * “Fairy tales, (Andersen or Grimm, for example) delight Form lB, and the little people re-tell these tales copiously, vividly….” * “Whoever has told a fairy tale to a child has been made aware of that natural appetency for letters to which it is our business to minister.” * “Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.” ~ G.K. Chesterton “We turn to fairy tales not to escape but to go deeper into a terrain we’ve inherited, the vast and muddy terrain of the human psyche." ~ Sabrina Orah Mark Examen: “Show the use of fairy tales in moral instruction.” When did I last read a fairy tale? ~~~~~~~ I am inclined: Charlotte M. Mason, Parents and Children, 2:107. This sort of failure: 2:210. Doesn’t she delight: Charlotte M. Mason, Formation of Character, 5:186. Fairy tales,(Anderson or: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:180. Whoever has told: 6:339. Fairy tales, then: “The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tremendous Trifles, by G. K. Chesterton,”Ch.XVII,accessedJuly15, 2024, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8092/8092-h/8092-h.htm Mason was friends with the Chestertons. We turn to: “Happily by Sabrina Orah Mark: 9780593242476 | PenguinRandomHouse.Com: Books,” PenguinRandomhouse.com, accessed January 6, 2025, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671923/happily-by-sabrina-orah-mark/. Show the use of: Parents, 2:297. Day 82 Fairytale meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025 |
