All posts filed under: Science of Relations

An Overlapping, Interlocking Experience by LeAnn Burkholder

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Recently, after three particularly dark and difficult years, the writings of Charlotte Mason took on a whole new level of meaning and depth in my personal life. I had just walked through great loss and was fighting hard against depression. I needed to feed my soul, to be inspired by the heroic, and the beautiful and to rediscover hope through the lives of others. I began reading to myself, reading for the sheer pleasure of reading, and reading to nurture my heart and soul. I was also drawn outdoors and I began taking more outdoor walks with my kids and soaking in the sun, feeling the wind in my hair, observing a world alive with new life and exquisite beauty. Many times this beauty was a stark contrast to the dark emotions that I was battling. This is not to say that I went on a mothering vacation, although that would have been lovely. There were still normal daily mommy duties, and homeschooling responsibilities didn’t evaporate, however all extra outside activities and responsibilities were cut …

Postmodern Polymaths: A Charlotte Mason Perspective on Specialization vs. Generalization by Timothy Laurio

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We no longer ask ourselves whether it is better to learn a few subjects ‘thoroughly,’ so we say, or to get a ‘smattering’ of many. These questions are beside the mark.—School Education, 75 During my teen years I had several discussions with my parents about the virtues of specialization versus generalization. Should you focus on one or two subjects until you are extremely good at them, or should you emphasize broad knowledge of many things? At first the discussions were just theoretical, but as I came closer to graduating, and having to choose a major and a career, they became increasingly urgent. In the end, I only half reached a conclusion, and the question still stands. Charlotte Mason, of course, believed that it was unhealthy to study only a single subject: she said that “specialisation . . . is to be deprecated” (Philosophy of Education, 53) and crafted her method to give students a rich, wide-ranging education. The result, at least among the Mason alumni that I know, is obvious. They have a plethora of …