Is education the filling of a pail or the lighting of a fire? I think almost all home educators would agree that children are not simple pails to be filled, but complex human beings with the capacity to relate to a great many things. Thus, education is the lighting of a fire. But what is meant by ‘lighting fires’, anyway?
Well, I was going to write a blog post defining it, but I found someone else had already done the research, so read this, and here are my thoughts in addition:
Another way to say, “education is the lighting of a fire” is “education is helping kids become engaged”. What do we want them engaged in? Learning, certainly, but it goes beyond that. Charlotte Mason said the goal of education is to give students– people– a full life: ”The question is not,––how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education––but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?” (CM Vol. 3 p. 170-171)
Mr. Pychyl, in the above link, says it is necessary for the student to have both “the will and the skill” in order to be motivated to learn, and that teachers commonly make the mistake of assuming either one or the other must be supplied by the student. But kids are different– one child may be like wildfire, while another may be like slow-smoldering coals that need nurturing attendance. (Great imagery, that.) The teacher must observe and aid the student in generating interest and learning skills as necessary.
Charlotte Mason also addresses “will and skill”, considering them to be intimately related; only she calls skills “habits”:
“Knowing that the brain is the physical seat of habit and that conduct and character, alike, are the outcome of the habits we allow; knowing, too, that an inspiring idea initiates a new habit of thought, and hence, a new habit of life; we perceive that the great work of education is to inspire children with vitalising ideas as to every relation of life, every department of knowledge, every subject of thought; and to give deliberate care to the formation of those habits of the good life which are the outcome of vitalising ideas. In this great work we seek and assuredly find the co-operation of the Divine Spirit, whom we recognise, in a sense rather new to modern thought, as the supreme Educator of mankind in things that have been called secular, fully as much as in those that have been called sacred.” (CM Vol. 3 p. 172-173)
So, how do we inculcate these inspiring ideas and deliberately develop these habits? How do we teach the children?
Sometimes there is a disconnect between the idea and the development of the skill or habit. A person can be inspired to have beautiful penmanship, or to learn the piano, or to read the Bible through in a year, and still not sit down regularly to practice and accomplish the task. There is one thing lacking: strength of will. This is too often the cause of the breakdown between inspiring ideas and habit-development at our house.
Charlotte Mason’s student motto is a resolution of will:
“I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I’m a person of great value because God made me.
I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me.
I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve.
I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what’s right even if it’s not what I want.”
These are inspiring ideas, but how does a person develop the will in the trenches of everyday life? I think key in the process is what the parent allows and does not allow. Notice, above, Miss Mason says “conduct and character, alike, are the outcome of the habits we allow…” She is writing to educators and parents here, showing that ultimately, we, by what we allow and disallow, are responsible for the lighting of the fire.
So what about resistance? That might be the result of weakness in the will, or else the lack of inspiring ideas. If the will is weak, we must strengthen it. The only way I know to help a child strengthen his or her will (outside of the intervention of the Holy Spirit, which we must always pray for) is to seek understanding– to try to understand the child’s point of view before even attempting to persuade the child to ours. The best way I have discovered to accomplish this is to keep the lines of communication open, to make sure the child can come to you with concerns and dislikes and complaints. When I know one of my kids is struggling, I call her to me and invite her to just gripe for awhile. We agree to apply scriptural truth to the complaints to keep ourselves on track, but first I want to see what we are dealing with. After I find out the issues, I am in a better position to present the right inspiring ideas.
I have to be completely honest and say that there are times when the only thing I can think of is, “You just have to.” Believe it or not, that is an inspiring idea, but it takes a somewhat mature believer to be inspired by it!
More often, I have to go in search of new ways to explain things, new metaphors and analogies to help my young believers to serve the Lord with gladness, even when it means diagramming sentences, sorting laundry and reducing fractions. The constant reading of good books is a big help– it is gratifying to live vicariously through a historic or fictional character as he struggles and succeeds nobly. But we mustn’t stop with the idea– this is so often the issue at our house– it must be carried through and lived in our lives: “Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking––the strain would be too great––but, all living…” (CM Vol. 3 p. 170)
I don’t know how to wind up this rambling post, but suffice it to say I am looking for some inspiration myself as I plan for the new school year, and knowing that we fall down most often in the consistent ‘doing’ of good habits is very helpful to me. Often, I do not want to be the bad guy and make the child do something she doesn’t wanna do. Or I allow experience to be the teacher, although sometimes the stakes are too high and the process too long for experience to be a good teacher. I find that I still have a lot to learn, myself, and wonder why the Lord puts sinners in charge of His beloved children. But here we sit, and can only move forward, correcting errors as they are revealed and He provides grace to continue.
