Every child is born a person. This is the first on the list of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy of Education. It simply means that every child is already born whole, with personality traits, just like that of an adult. They are not blank slates, that we, grownups and educators around them can shape or mold into the person they will become in the future. Because they already are. The person that they are. We just need to wait for that personality to unfold.
I'd like to think of it this way: A child is born with all their physical aspects already natural to them. They have black hair, dark brown eyes, has long, curly eyelashes, busy eyebrows, etc. They were born with it. And just like their physical attributes, their emotional and mental qualities are also natural to them. You may notice that there are kids who are more naturally curious than others. There are those who cry a lot. Those are inherent to them. They were born that way.
Now, I talked about this with a fellow parent and their reaction was "What, so I just let them be? Because they already are a person, I got nothing to do anymore?" This is actually where the second philosophy of education according to Charlotte Mason comes in.
Children are not born good or bad, but with the possibilities for good and evil.
They are born persons with tendencies towards good or evil. Our job as parents and parent-educators is not to form them into a person that we feel they should be, but to laydown the rails so that their tendencies for goodness will overpower, overshadow, and eradicate their tendencies for evil.
Just like how it is with artists and musicians, or any other discipline, every child needs direction and practice. The philosopher Lao Tzu once said "...watch your habits, they become your character." I keep that in mind in laying down the rails in my child's habit training. In Charlotte Mason's book Home Education, there is a huge chunk of it about habit training. You can read about it here.
Aristotle once said "Give me a child until 7 years and I will show you a man." This statement says it is crucial that during the early years, a child's tendency to goodness should be honed so that their tendencies for evil should be attenuated. Sound's easy enough. We just have to be very mindful and intentional in our parenting and teaching as homeschool educators.
There is a challenge though that even the most intentional or brilliant educator faces. I have been made aware through the CM method of teaching that children are born persons. This I had to learn and understand for a little while. Now, I always take this into consideration whenever we have tasks and lessons that we need to do in our homeschooling journey. But there's one thing I tend to forget. I, too, am a person. I, too, have a set of characteristics that could have an effect to my daughter's learning. My own personalities may or may not affect or overpower my little student's personality which may suppress her own.
During our lessons, my basic teaching tool is narration. That is my daughter narrates or retells the passage that we just read. You would think that since it's the student that narrates and not the presenter, her personality should shine in her narrations. For the longest time, that has always happened. But I noticed that she was looking at my non-verbal cues, my smiling, my note-taking, my nods, and even the wrinkling on my forehead.
This is because children are always eager to please their parents and wants to always meet the expectations set to them by the person they look up to. Even to the extent where they are already in a sense of overpressure. Too much of those nods and becks from their teacher during their narration or presentations would present itself as a Pied Piper situation.
A "strict" parent, always watchful, always ready to correct (or punish) any misconduct ensures an obedient child. In some ways, this could be a good thing. The parent could rest assured that their child is disciplined. However, in this example, the strong personality of the adult silences and suppresses the student's personality. Even after the punishments for incorrect actions are discontinued, the habit has already been formed and the child now thinks the way they do because that is the only way they won't be punished or reprimanded.
The real challenge lies in how the parent educator would be able to lay down the rails, counteract their possibilities towards evil, eradicate their tendencies towards greed, sloth, and all other evilness. All this being done without suppressing, but completely respecting their personality. Taking into consideration the educator's personality as well. This sounds all so stressful the way I say it. But in reality, all I do is to just approach it in the most relaxed way possible. It's actually very simple. Just let the kid talk. Listen, with all intent, just let them speak their truth, and hear out their thoughts and opinions.
Thanks for sharing these useful insights on child training. Indeed all children born come with their individual personalities already in them. The job of the parent to the make the child lean more towards good and away from evil. Not many parents have this knowledge and the result is that most children are ill-trained and society becomes the worse for it.
That's one thing I also learned from Charlottr Mason. Our children are not ours, they belong to the society and it is the parents' duty to make sure their children become responsible members of the society in the future.
I do agree with you, instead of carry them and handing things all their lifes we need to teach them and help them build the necessary tools to take decisions in life, at first they will make mistakes and thats normal, we all do but the important thing is that they learn from this mistakes to strengthen their personality, they can express themselves with respect and freedom and can make wise decisions, we are not always going to be with them our job is to guide them.
True! And yes, they will surely make mistakes. I gather it's better to make those mistakes while they're young, while their problems are not yet that complicated. It's going go be like a training ground for them so that it would be a lot easier for them when they've grown up.
I have two boys and some times I wonder how they will when they grow up and the mistakes I will see them make, lucky Im young enough to see them become adults and hopefully see my grand kids, now that I think about it must be special to see so many generations grow up, I just got a bit out of track 😅✌️
I sometimes wish I'd come across Charlotte Mason when I first started home educating my girls. I didn't encounter anything about her until they were nearly finished with their education.
@tipu curate 8
I'm sure you did a really great job still with your homeschooling. There were a lot of face palm moments in my early homeschooling years but we still learned a lot. Mothers are naturally equipped with the necessary tools our children need so yay!!! Haha.
We got through it okay in the end. 😆
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We can all learn differently from each other. It is important to recognize our children's personalities and discover what motivates them and how they learn. Very good reflection.
That's right. The days where children are not to be hear are over. Parents must understand that children are thinking beings, naturally curious and has their own way of learning. As such, parentd must adapt to their learning styles.
This is why it is very important to observe your child to know what he or she can do before you decide on his or her personality
A child should not be told to keep shut all the time or trying to prevent the child from expressing himself or herself
It is very bad
Yep. They are their own persons from the get go. Parents are just mere witnesses of how the kids grow and express themselves.
These people are doing a lot of good by giving their child a good education inside the home, it will benefit him a lot in the next life and when he gets this knowledge from both sides, he will be a successful person.
Yep, the earlier they get to learn how to express themselves, the better.
I totally agree with you my dear friend. Parents are people in the right to position to educate this child most
This is why I love that I am able to homeschool my kid. :) Thanks for dropping by.