YES! Young Brains Do Need Play

Regarding the Early Years, Charlotte Mason says of parents: "To form in his child right habits of thinking and behaving is a parent's chief duty...To nourish a child daily with loving, right, and noble ideas we believe to be the parent's next duty" ( Vol. 2, p. 228).

Contrary to the current performance-based, "the-earlier-the-better mentality," Mason also advocated postponing formal school lessons until the child is six.

"We (of the P.N.E.U) begin the definite 'school' education of children when they are six; they are no doubt capable of beginning a year or two earlier but the fact is that nature and circumstances have provided such a wide field of educaiton for young children that it seems better to abstain from requiring direct intellectual efforts until they have arrived at that age" (Vol.6, p.159).

New research is confirming what Charlotte Mason said 140 years ago,  that "it takes six years of ideal conditions where a child gives his heart to his parents."

Read more here:
"Young Brains Need Play; Preschoolers Learn Best While Having Fun."

This philosophy is why in my preschool class I provide numerous activities and experiences designed to help children explore and discover the world around them using all their senses.

Parents & Children, Chapter 6

This meaty chapter was delicious! 

It reminds parents that their highest function is to reveal God to their children then, ponders ways we plant primal ideas about Him do that successfully or unsuccessfully.

Relying on Reason by reading the Scriptures and appealing to the mind is a mistake. Bible stories convey many incidents of people who, relying on their own logic and reason, are ultimatly led astray.   Reason is faulty.  The Jews reasoned that the Jesus must die because in their mind, he was a law-breaker.  This logic was derived from a lifetime of wrong thinking.  They believed by simply adhereing to a list of rules (mostly man-made) they were counted as righteous.  They were unwilling to change their minds; change their primal ideas about God and their Messiah.

Planting the proper primal idea of God is so important; it determines the habit of thought for a lifetime about Him.

Parents' first duty and highest privilege is to introduce such primal ideas of God as to impel the soul to Him.  If unbelief sets in, are the parents without blame?

Parents are obligated to teach by example.  Teach your children to pray by praying with and for them aloud.   Teach them to pray with their hearts. Teach them to commune with God by allowing them to see and hear you in order that they may grow up in the sense of God's constant Presence.  Teach them to pray in everyday words, not strange speech that may put up a barrier between them and their "Almighty Love'" using outdated words that may have no place in their day to day lives. 

One of my many favorite CM quotes is found in this chapter:  "Let the child grow up aware of the constant; immediate; joy-giving, joy-taking Presence in the midst of them..." (p. 57 P&C).

We must live a life of worhsip before our children.  It must be more than once a week occurence and even more than a once a day occurence.  it must be our lifestyle to worship and praise our Creator, to meditate on His Word daily, to speak to Him as our loving Father.  All this so our own children may also "speak out their joys and fears, thanks and wishes." (p. 56)

"It's very Hard to do God's work," remarked a boy of five.  Children know there is an ongoing fight between good and evil.  They understand they are a part of this battle between light and truth and darkness and sin.  Parents would do a disservice to their children to think otherwise.  We may smile at their little "crimes" once in a while, but not too much.  But lest our children become overly depressed with their sinfulness, we must take care to teach them "to live in the instant healing in the dear name of the Saviour of the world." (p. 59)

Lord, help me to do my duty well.

Reminds me of this passage from

Deuteronomy 6, verses 1-9


A Call for Wholehearted Commitment


“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy,  and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life.  Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.


“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Parents and Children

Each summer I spend a considerable amount of time catching up on my reading....

This Summer's Booklist:

1. Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
2. Leaf by Niggle by Tolkien
3. The Wise Woman by George MacDonald
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. Home Education by Charlotte Mason (yearly read)
6. Parents and Children by Charlotte Mason

To help me better "know" what I'm reading and to remember I'll be blogging some my narrations.
One book I particularly want to *know* is Parents and Children. I want to be an encourager to parents with young children. Now that my children are growing up and flying off, I'd like to be able to offer some insight from my successes--the things that worked, and my failures--things I wish I could "do over." The Lord has shown me time and time again that He was always involved in my parenting, the good, the bad and the ugly. Either by guiding me along or by teaching me from my mistakes (even still). Sharing this with other parents seems a natural next step..
Chapter I
Jean Jacques Rousseau, may not have proved very admirable, still he mined a deep truth that resonated with a generation of parents and still does to this day to some extent. Parents have a God-given duty to raise their children. Like a letting out of the waters, Rousseau released a flood gate of parental enthusiasm which turned the hearts of fathers to the children. Although he offered little more than mere straw to the builders, his teachings succeeded in awakening parents to the serious, profound responsibility of parental obligations. Mothers and fathers were given this God-ordained task and arose to the challenge by leaving professions and occupations behind to focus their attention on training and raising their own children. He effectively stated,

"Fathers and mothers, this is your work, and only you can do it. It rests with you, parents of young children, to be the saviours of society unto a thousands generations. Nothing else matters. The avocations about which people weary themselves are as foolish child's play compared with this one serious business of bringing up our children in advance of ourselves."

And people listened.
Charlotte Mason, thinking an attempt to codify how parents may do this would be interesting, uses the rest of Volume 2 in the inadequately titled, Original Homeschooling Series to eloquently present a practical foundation on the role of the parent in the education of the child.