Charlotte Mason Principle: The Child’s Mind Needs Food to Grow

When I was growing up, I’ve always known I was smart—even if I didn’t always embrace it. (That’s probably a topic for another day, being bullied for being smart!) I used to think that some people are smart while others aren’t. 

But… it was when I already had kids of my own and researched about and started homeschooling that I stumbled upon the teachings of Charlotte Mason, a Christian educational reformer from the 1800s. Through her principles for education, I learned: everyone had the potential to be fully alive intellectually; we just didn’t know it OR how to do it. But families and communities all over the world are now applying her principles to cultivate children’s minds to their full potential.

Let’s read this quote that perfectly describes how a fully-developed intellect looks like: 

I cannot tell you more now of the delightful and illimitable sources of pleasure open to Intellect and his colleagues; but, if you realise at all what has been said, you will be surprised to know that many people live within narrow bounds, and rarely step into either of the great worlds we have been considering. The happiness of the intellectual life comes of knowing and thinking, imagining and perceiving or rather, comes of the range of things which we know and think about, imagine and perceive. Everybody’s mind is occupied in these ways about something or other, but many people know and think about small matters. It is quite well to think of these for a little while, but they think about them always, and have no room for the great thoughts which great things bring to us. (Charlotte Mason, vol 4 pg 43-44)

But how do we cultivate our minds? Miss Mason holds that there is only one kind of food for a child’s mind: 

We know that food is to the body what fuel is to the steam-engine, the sole source of energy; once we realise that the mind too works only as it is fed education will appear to us in a new light… For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information is to it as a meal of sawdust to the body; there are no organs for the assimilation of the one more than of the other. (Vol 6 pages 105-106) 

The Child’s Mind Feeds on Ideas 

From Miss Mason’s words, we see that the mind is capable of growing on only one type of food: ideas. But what are ideas? Let’s continue reading: 

What is an idea? we ask, and find ourselves plunged beyond our depth. A live thing of the mind, seems to be the conclusion of our greatest thinkers from Plato to Bacon, from Bacon to Coleridge. We all know how an idea ‘strikes,’ ‘seizes,’ ‘catches hold of,’ ‘impresses’ us and at last, if it be big enough, ‘possesses’ us; in a word, behaves like an entity. If we enquire into any person’s habits of life, mental preoccupation, devotion to a cause or pursuit, he will usually tell us that such and such an idea struck him. This potency of an idea is matter of common recognition. No phrase is more common and more promising than, ‘I have an idea’; we rise to such an opening as trout to a well-chosen fly. (Vol 6 page 106)

Here we see that an idea is a “living” thing, something that captures our fancy, seizes our whole being, and affects our daily life. 

In this post, we hope to share some of the main sources of living ideas in a Charlotte Mason education. 

Sources of living ideas in a Charlotte Mason education: 

Hymns

Hymns are a great way to dive into the living ideas about God and His relationship with people. Because most hymns were written centuries ago, the language is rich and the theological ideas deep and thought-provoking. 

Folk Songs

Folk songs give us insight into different time periods in history, and are a great addition to any in-depth look at a given era. 

Literature / excellently-written stories

Miss Mason holds that children respond best to stories written in literary form. Add to that the fact that excellently-written stories hold a plethora of ideas, they can affect us emotionally, inspire us to action, and influence our mindsets for life. 

Art 

When we do picture study with our children, we expose them to the thoughts of the greatest artists throughout history. This is a visual representation of living ideas as well, and open up a whole array of images for our children. 

Classical music

Music is another way that we encounter the great thoughts, this time of composers and musicians. We can look at it as almost like a whole new language, since it may speak with words, but it still speaks to our hearts. 

Poetry

Reading poetry is like taking a journey into a whole other world, with its layers of meaning that would take years to discover and dig deep into. 

Nature 

I love the description that, as we encounter the greatest minds in their works of art, literature, and music, when we do nature study, we encounter the mind of the Creator Himself. 

Living Ideas for Our Children’s Minds 

We hope this gives you a look at some of the ways we can find our children’s minds with living ideas. We love that the Charlotte Mason method encourages a wide curriculum, tapping into all these different facets of beautiful things that make life truly worth living.