CM 3 Episode #9 The Great Recognition with Julie H. Ross
Show Notes:
Richele passionately shares how simple methods rest on profound principles throughout a Charlotte Mason education. A regular contributor to Wild + Free on a wide variety of topics, her articles also appear in Common Place Quarterly and Charlotte Mason Poetry, where she manages their Math Resources Page. Author of Brush Drawing—A Basic Course,The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series, and Mathematics—An Instrument for Living Teaching, she shares life with her husband and two sons in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.
Show Transcript:
CM EP 9 FALL
Julie -
Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Show, a podcast dedicated to discussing Ms. Mason's philosophy, principles, and methods. It is our hope that each episode will leave you inspired, and offer practical wisdom on how to provide this rich, living education in your modern homeschool. So, pull up a chair, we're glad you're here.
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Hi, hello everyone. Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Show. I'm your host, Julie Ross, and I am very honored today to be here with Rachelle Barburima. Hello.
Rachelle -
Hi, Julie, thanks for having me.
Julie -
Yeah, thanks for being here. I have always just been so thoroughly impressed with you and all of the wisdom that you impart to the Charlotte Mason community and I'm, like I said, I'm very honored that you just took the time out of your busy schedule to come and talk to us today. So thank you for that.
R -
You're welcome.
J -
Yeah, I wanted to have you on to talk about this concept that Charlotte Mason wrote about called the great recognition. It sounds really fancy. But, I think, I'm hoping, through this episode, we'll be able to kinda break it down and make it super practical. There are a ton of people that are new to homeschooling who listen, telling people who are new to the Charlotte Mason method, and I think when they realize all that she wrote about this topic, it is very reassuring. And comforting. And it does take a lot of the pressure off. So I'm hoping that will be communicated. And so that's why I wanted you on. I feel like you always do such a great job of articulating the importance of this in our homeschooling. So, let's just start off. Can you give a quick description here of what she was talking about? What is the great recognition?
R -
Sure. Well, Charlotte Mason held that there is a great recognition required by parents and it's a very freeing one. That's that guidance of the Holy Spirit that imparts knowledge, instructs you, and inspires genius. So, I call those the three "I's" when I think about it. And that, yeah, that this divine teaching waits upon our cooperation of parents. It really takes a lot of the pressure off, I think. But she also tells us, a part of the great recognition is that all aspects of education are equally subject to this guidance of the Holy Spirit. And that was pretty revolutionary, but it's not just the kind of religious subjects, but all aspects of education.
J -
Yes. I mean, that was, I'm sure, in her time, but even like, for me, when I first read that, it was like, really? Well, really? Okay. Like. Like Bible lessons, character building, okay, that all comes under the direction of Holy Spirit. But, you know, she mentions, in her writings, like, math, grammar, really? So, what were those three "I's" again? Can you say them again, cause I was really...
R -
Sure. The Holy Spirit, He imparts knowledge, instructs youth, and inspires genius.
J -
Imparts, instructs, inspires.
R -
So all of this learning, these living ideas, don't have to be imparted by us. To the child.
J -
Yeah. Right. Can you talk a little bit more about that? How does that great recognition then, you know, I know there's lots of people coming from a traditional kind of school setting. Is that different, relying on the Holy Spirit as a great educator, as opposed to, I'm the one doing all of this?
R -
Right, okay, so if we look at Charlotte Mason's 20 principles, she has the principle number nine, it really speaks to, I think, what traditional education believes. She says we hold that the child's mind is no mere sack to hold ideas, but rather, a figure may be loudest. Spiritual organism with an appetite for all knowledge. And, she taught a firm philosophy of education, that this divine Spirit is the educator in the things that were secular just as much as the sacred. And so, it also goes to ??? or blank slate, right? Our children are people that can deal with these ideas and they can deal with great thought and it doesn't have to be those ideas that, that a child is a blank slate that we write upon, or that their mind is an empty sack that we have to somehow fill up.
J -
Yeah. Right. So, how would that look, that's kinda like the traditional schooling, right? That the teacher's the one imparting...like you, those three "I's" you talked about. That teachers imparting... they're instructing the students on the different subjects. And, depending on the teacher's ???, maybe they use prizes in what not, to inspire or compare grades, right? To inspire the child to do the work, right? So how would those three "I's" look different than in a Charlotte Mason education?
R -
Well, this is the part where, even where your name, A Gentle Feast, comes into play, because our role is to give these vitalizing ideas by spreading a feast, right?
J -
Yeah. And then...
R -
I guess, sorry, that maybe through living books and, yeah, sorry, didn't know if you wanted me to go ahead with that part now.
J -
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so those three "I's", the imparting, the instructing, and the inspiring, in a Charlotte Mason education, that would be coming from the Holy Spirit. We're providing this feast, so it's our duty then, as the teacher, to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. They're the one that's going to do these three "I's", not necessarily us, right? That's not all on us. So how, then, do we practically cooperate with the Holy Spirit to allow these, those three "I's" to happen in our homeschool?
R -
Okay. Well, this living way is really based upon her method, so her principles really come upon her practices, right? Lay upon these methods and practices. And so, you know, we talk about giving children living books, so that's one of them. Another way is that we don't talk a child to death in explaining and overexplaining things. Anything...she says that anything that we would find kind of stale and dry, we can be sure that our children will find it stale and dry as well. So we don't give textbooks that have been, kind of, run through, an intermediary, or a number of intermediaries. My...
J -
...not mediaries. Yeah.
R -
Right. To kind of pull out all of these facts, but we're giving them living books full of these vitalizing ideas and the great thoughts of mankind. And, let's see a few other examples. We don't take the edge off of their intellectual interest by too great collaboration in teaching or preparation before formal lessons. So that really relieves the parent because the child is going to be dealing with this knowledge.
J -
Yes. Yes. Yeah, and I get that question all the time. Like, I don't know anything about this, How am I supposed to teach it to them. I'm like, well I don't know anything about that either. Like, that's why I got a book, written by someone who actually knows about chemistry, and then when my child's gonna read it, like.
R -
Right, right. And this...she tells us that we should teach without peasantry and verbiage. And peasantry, that's nitpicking. And verbiage is wordiness and I don't know if you've ever been in this situation, I find myself in this situation a number of times where I'm trying to teach my child a math complex, and maybe I think he's not getting it quickly enough. Rather than allowing my child this, you know, this math complex, is actually a law that was created and upheld by the God of the universe. And rather than allowing my child to grapple with it, I tend to kind of want to get in there and get in the way and explain and overexplain. And I remember once, where my son, he literally put his hands over his ears. And he said, could you please be quiet. I'm trying to think.
J -
That's something I'd do, but. Yeah.
R -
So ??? in this chapter, the great recognition, she says, such teaching as unwraps the child's mind, enfolds as many words, but his thought is unable to penetrate which gives him rules and definitions and tables in lieu of ideas. And I think that's what happens. We kind of start filling up those wonderful springs with a bunch of dirt on top, so nothing can flow.
J -
Oh, that's a good metaphor, yeah. Yeah. We definitely can get, you know, we're talking here about how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, but I definitely think we can also work against it.
R -
Yes, definitely.
J -
So it's, here's what you do, and here's what's not to do.
R -
Yes, definitely.
J -
Yes. So, I meant...you mentioned about, like, you know, laying out the feast that we're giving them these living books, we're giving them these living ideas, we're putting them in touch with beautiful things, with nature. Things that are full of ideas that will grow inside of them and not just trying to fill them with this stale and dry information. And then, talk a little too, about...we already mentioned this, but let's just dig a little bit deeper here into what she has to say about what can happen if we try to separate the secular from the religious, in terms of this great recognition. Like, here's the subject that God can impart knowledge, and then here's all the other things.
R -
Okay. So, ??? she discusses that as that as being the cause of agnosticism. In a young person's life, because there's discord that happens, and you can imagine, I mean, even in the household, if we don't have a unity of aim, then we're kind of going in all direction and we can grow cold and there's no harmony, and this is what she says is the same with this great recognition is that when we realize that everything, whether it's how to operate a microscope, or how to...or if it's math, or science, or if it's physical exercise, all of those comes under the guidance, all of this is from God, and all of this comes under His guidance. And so, when we have this unity of aim, it's going to result in this Godward movement, right. It's going to open a wider space and a more enjoyable space, rather than being pulled here and there.
And, trying to think of a way to kind of show those...illustrate this in a practical way. And, I'm remembering that once after church, there was a young man that was outside and he was listening to some music, and I overheard someone say to him, are you listening to Christian music. And that's kind of, we have a sway of dividing things into what is secular and what is religious or what is secular and what is spiritual. And we wouldn't...wouldn't we say, I mean, why would we divide that when something beautiful, as beautiful as a Mozart composition, you know, why would we say that that was not inspired by the Holy Spirit?
J -
Yeah. That's a good practical example. Yeah, she says here, so, in Parents and Children, which is volume two, there's a whole chapter on the great recognition. So, I will link to that in the show notes. And I encourage everyone to go and read her actual words on this subject. They are very insightful and inspiring. But, on page 275, she says, we must think, we must know, we must rejoice in and create the beautiful. And if all the burning thoughts that stir in the minds of men all the beautiful concepts they give birth to are things apart from God, then we too, must have a separate life. A life apart from God. A division of ourselves, into secular and religious, discord and unrest. We believe that this is the fertile source of unfaith of the day. Especially in the young and ardent minds.
So it does create that kind of discord in your spirit of you know, these were Godly and these things aren't. Right? But seeing, like you were talking about, community, the harmony within us.
R -
Right. I think, if we compartmentalize our lives into all of these different areas, then, well, we're going to be constantly kind of jumping from here, you know, from here to there. And I think that that kind of...could lack some integrity and I think that our young adults especially, feel this, right? So, ??? if it was one of Charlotte Mason's teaching students, but that discusses it, but recognizing that all of these things comes from the power of the Holy Spirit and is by Him and through Him. I give her...her inventiveness on one subject, we like looking at, we're like doing these tiny tidbits, rather than looking at this whole entire tapestry. And I think that we're the teachers if we see that it's an entire part of this tapestry. Like the mountains even give us some winds beneath our...some winds beneath our wings, to teach the multiplication tables, for instance, right? But knowing that all of these subjects are actually part of God's great design, and thinking of, when Paul says to Timothy, think upon these things and the Lord will reveal them to you, right? So the things of intellect, the things of the heart, the things of the physical things, when we're developing in all of these areas, then we recognize that these are all Godward movements.
J -
Yeah. Yeah, and she says that too, in here, that we recognize this in what we call spiritual things, meaning the things that have to do more specially with our purchase to God, but the new thing to us is that grammar, for example, may be taught in such a way as to invite, entertain the cooperation of the divine teacher. Or, in such a way as to exclude His illuminating presence from the schoolroom. We do not mean that spiritual virtues need be exhibited by the teacher, so I think that's key too, in encouragement over the course of the grammar lesson. This is no doubt true, and it is to be remembered, but perhaps the immediate point is that the teaching of grammar, by its guiding ideas and simple principles, the true, direct, and humble teaching grammar, like you were saying, without pedantry and without verbiage, is we may venture to believe accompanied by the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, of whom is all knowledge.
So it's not, like, okay, this grammar lesson, we have to put Bible verse on it, or all of the sentences have to be taken from Scripture in order to cooperate with the divine spirit. Or I have to be, like, just illuminating the spiritual presence throughout this grammar lesson, right? The actual teaching of that knowledge itself, is from God. And I know you teach a lot, you know, you wrote an amazing elementary math curriculum with Simply Charlotte Mason, so, and that's a subject I think that gives most people hives, so, can you just touch a little bit, then, on kind of how you can cooperate with the Holy Spirit? How is God imparting, like you said, the multiplication tables?
R -
Okay. Sure, well, right, I think that, traditionally and like, if we're looking at...if you're looking at a Christian math book, all it would do is maybe have a Bible verse on the side. Or...
J -
And all the word problems would be, like, about missions or something, yeah.
R -
Right. Rather than allowing the math to speak for itself, and allowing your child's mind to kinda, to grapple with these...the wonder of numbers, and so, it's really that Charlotte Mason's approach to math is really quite simple. And, you know, we think of math concepts and what a concept really is is an idea, and so it...and they...and, it's also absolute truth. So when we're dealing with something as simple as two plus two equals four, and a child can't change that, no matter how hard he tries, then he's brought in front of a truth. And Charlotte Mason tells us that these absolute truths that were made for them, and that they can actually cause us to lift our hearts to God. And, you know, a few weeks ago, a missionary from Africa was home on furlough and she actually...she and her husband approached me and they said that their son came to the knowledge of Christ via a Charlotte Mason math lesson. And
J -
Aw, that's amazing.
R -
Yeah. Yes, and she said that he had wanted to...he doesn't like to be wrong. And...
J -
I can relate to that.
R -
Right? Yeah, I mean, who does, right? And so, but, he was dealing with math, and he can't change that and he had said, you know, he was working out a problem and he had the wrong answer, but he was adamant that it was right. And so his mother asked him to show her, you know, using some coins, and...now if it goes buttons, and he, you know, so he, using the coins, or using the buttons, he saw that his answer was incorrect, but all that that did was, it stirred up anger in him. And he, yes, and then he said that he wanted to be right, he wanted the buttons to be wrong. And, so, enter some prayer and the operation of the Holy Spirit a few days later, in conversation with his parents about this, he came to the Lord. And I just find that really...first of all, it's glorifying, right? That math definitely shows God's consistency. It shows His love because He's given us handy tools that we can use in our everyday life too, you know, to build bookshelves. But also, it shows, it shows us consistency because He's actually, you know, there's a verse where He says if I haven't determined...if I haven't made my covenant with night and day or upheld the laws of Heaven and Earth, then I would kind of not uphold my covenant with you. But we see He upholds this covenant. And so, it's a sign of His love and His steadfastness.
J -
Wow, yeah, I, like, I ??? I don't know about other people, but, yeah, that was, that's super powerful. And we don't know what kind of lesson or what kind of thing God is going to use to take hold of our kids, you know? We just have to be faithful, and keep putting out the feast, keep giving them the living books, keep giving them beautiful things, in these grand ideas, and keep resting in that the Holy Spirit is going to do its work. And that, honestly, is...it takes a lot of the pressure off of the homeschooling parent, right? Is also somewhat daunting, to think about. That it takes a lot of faith, honestly, to surrender the control. It's easier as a homeschooling parent to have, you know, a test, and you can say, okay, my child got nine out of ten. So, oh yay, I'm awesome homeschool mom. You know, ??? rather than this style of education, it takes a lot of faith because you don't necessarily see the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And it takes a lot of time to grow and yeah.
R -
Right, I think, I refer to it as that faith like potatoes, and I think Derek Prince gives this illustration, where he speaks a balloon boy who has planted potatoes, and then eventually, the potatoes, they never, they die. And when, and it's because he was constantly, this little boy was constantly digging up his potatoes to check on them. And so, we do have to have, we have to have that faith that, I think, one of the exciting things about it is when Charlotte Mason lays out these ways or her methods by which we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, they're actually the simplest ways, and they run like silver threads throughout all of the subjects. So, yeah, and it's, you know, I used to think that this great recognition was this one-time deal, almost like our salvation, right? Oh, I recognize, right, I recognize that the Holy Spirit is the instructor of my child. And then, I was thinking, and I'm not supposed to undertake any teaching without realizing that I'm under, that I'm cooperating with the Holy Spirit, and so I would think about that when I was planning my child's homeschool year, rather than realizing that this was actually a moment by moment salvation for us as parents. That, so, it can be, yeah, it can, so it's like our salvation is, right, we have this dynamic salvation, this, where we come to this realization of God, but that doesn't mean that now we just are sitting around holding our bus ticket waiting to go to heaven. We also have to, right, we have this moment by moment salvation of, I can call upon the Lord throughout the day, and with the great recognition...by living this life, this prayerful life. For one thing, I don't have to always constantly be in, you know, constantly thinking about it, but at the same time, we are, we've trained our hearts and our minds to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And so, if, you know, if something's not going right, in the lesson, I can take pause in my thought, and I can ask the Lord to help. Remember...yeah, and specifically where my son was getting very frustrated because a math concept he had had with angles, we thought he knew it like the back of his hand, but one day during the lesson, and a different idea had come in at some point and planted a seed, and he suddenly, he was taking that idea and applying it to these angles, and he was very frustrated. I didn't know what to do. And, yeah, so, I just, I asked him just to go up and check the mail, just to kind of cool off, and well he did that. Yeah, I was just kind of praying and realized, I mean, it just kind of hit me, and, to grab his compass, because he loves survival skills, and to be outside, you know, with his compass, is a great thing. And so, when he grabbed his compass, suddenly everything clicked, right? And that wasn't something of my own, that was definitely an inspiration by the Holy Spirit. But my child going off without Mom in the way, you know, yeah.
J -
Yeah, sometimes, yeah, you need that time for that to work for that, for the, for that divine confirmation to happen. It is not something you can rush or do on your times tables. But, it is so reassuring to know that yeah, we have that helper to call on throughout our day and we're not doing this on our own strength and our own wisdom, right? That we're not having to impart, like you said, everything and instruct everything that, yeah, we have that to rely on. And I do think that's a good point of, yeah, every moment of every day. And I think our kids can see that, that like, mom needs to go pray right now. Like, you know? It's not, like, I pray once a day and I'm fine for the whole day. Like, no, I have to constantly ask God for help. And you can too. Like, you, we're modeling that kind of humility for our kids. And I love what she says here, that, this on page 273, and the things of science and the things of art and the things of practical everyday life as God doth instruct him and doth teach him, her God doth instruct her and doth teach her, let this be the mother's key to the whole of the education of each boy and each girl. Not of her children, but the divine spirit does not work with nouns of multitude, but with each single child.
And just knowing that, you know, He's seeing each kid, where they're at, what they need, for, you know, our daily bread, what they need for this moment in time. It's just incredible to think about.
R -
Yes, I think that...well, probably one of the most moving things I have ever read, was to realize that the Lord doesn't work with nouns of multitude, but each and every individual child. And we all know how different each of children are, right? It's really, it's quite a fantastic thing. And the fact, you know the Holy Spirit doesn't get tired. Moms, we can get tired. We might not know how to teach something, but this actually came from God. And of course, He wants us to know Him more and this is why I love that, that we can ask for His Wisdom and He won't upbraid us. And that's, I mean because these are all, kind of part of His expression and of course He wants us to know Him more. So why would He not? That's why I love that math and music and art has been found to be for everyone, not just for the genius. Because these are all kind of, come from God, and they also speak to us about God.
J -
Yeah, that, yeah, it's so reassuring. And, you know, as a parent, to go, okay, you know, each...what worked for one kid might not work for the next kid. We do...each child and pray about it and think through, because they are... yeah. And that is...
R -
Well, right, right, it's not, I mean, our children aren't formulas, right? And...
J -
Yes. And she talks about that in here too, right? That the opposite of this kind of great recognition is having, like, a system, like, kind of this, put this information in and out comes the perfect child. That doesn't work, right?
R -
Right. Right. And, I mean, so like, I guess that really talks about what even, what education is, right? And that all of these branches of learning, like, exist ultimately for the purpose of knowing God and loving Him. It just, it reminds me of something that John ??? said today. I was in one of my math presentations and he said that logic is for laws and reasoning is for rejoicing.
J -
Yeah. Yeah, another concept that she brought up in this chapter that really moved me when I first read it was, on page 279, she says, we need not say one word about the necessity for living thought in the teacher. It is only so far as he is intellectually alive that he can be affected in the wonderful process which we glibly call education. So not that I have to learn all the stuff in order to impart it to my children, but that I do need to be filling my own self up as well. I need to be going after these living thoughts as well as my children. And that's...and one of the things I just love about homeschooling so much, is like, going t/o learn all the stuff alongside of my kids. Being told all these beautiful things. And I think, especially those who are new to homeschooling, you know, it can be very tempting to just give and give and give and give of yourself and not be filling your own bucket up, per se. But we do need to take the time to not just, you know, we do need to have our quiet time, we do need to be in the Word. You know, I found it helpful to do that before school starts, cause it doesn't happen afterward. But also, to be intellectually alive to take that time to grow in our own mind. You know, kind of the concept of mother culture, that she talks about, or that we have kinda derived from her. But yeah. Do you have any thoughts on that?
R -
Well, I mean I do think that it does plant back to the great recognition, because, if everything ultimately comes, if the source is God, then whether we're, you know, as mothers, if we're out in nature, or if we're gardening, that these are all ways that we're actually still feeding upon Him, I guess, right? Because as, you know, as spiritual beings, we need to be in the Word. But because the mind is a spiritual organism, according to Charlotte Mason, we do need to be feeding on ideas just by what...same way we need to be eating healthy food and so of course, if mothers aren't doing those themselves, then it's difficult to help feed others. You know, there are times in our lives where we might not have, you know, we'll have less time than others, so if we're, you know, so if we're, you know, drinking at the same fount of knowledge as our children, in a certain season, then we can also be...it's great, because we're meeting with the same kind of, the same great thinkers, and...
J -
Yeah, yeah...
R -
And having some of the great thinkers’ thoughts.
J -
Teaching us too alongside them, while we're partaking of the feast together, yeah. For sure. Rather than, I think, kind of a traditional way of, okay, here's your assignments for the day. Go off and come back to me when they're done. But if I'm learning alongside of you and listening to this beautiful music with you, and looking at this piece of art with you, and I'm out in nature with you, like, the Holy Spirit's teaching me too. It doesn't mean I have to do every subject, you know, with my kid. Like, they have to be independent too. But, there's a beauty of having this kind of learning at home that we get to benefit from too, not just our children. Which is really neat.
Today's episode is brought to you by A Gentle Feast. A Gentle Feast is a complete curriculum for grades one through twelve, that is family centered, inspired by Ms. Mason's programs, and philosophy, and rooted in books, beauty, and Biblical truth. You can find out how smooth and easy days are closer than you think at AGentleFeast.com.
Do you have any, like, closing, just kind of words of wisdom or practical ways to encourage some new homeschool moms about this concept?
R -
We discussed the role of the teacher, the role of the student in Charlotte's nineteenth principle. Yeah, she talks about teaching the child when they're mature enough to understand. But their chief responsibility, as a person, is to accept or reject ideas and we discussed the ways we go about the Charlotte Mason education is to kind of, to, kind of speed this feast, and that's full of these ideas, and then the child gets to...they reject or choose them, but I think that the practical thing is that, as we go about this, that it's the student that is doing the discovering with the explorer in the living geography book. Or journaling with the traveler. Or if our high schooler is, you know, reading a Jane Austen novel, she's embarrassed for her new friend, and she behaves badly. Or she might win up the prize of Mr. Darcy. Or like my son, last semester, he really felt for Jo, and it was this loyal to him, that, but our children are the ones that are forming these acquaintances and rather than having strings of names and dates and lots of facts, that they're the ones forming an acquaintance with the people in history and all. I guess what that is, maybe my takeaway, is, I don't know how to form this Julie. You can edit this out.
J -
Yeah. Yeah, I can.
R -
You get what I'm saying, but I wanted your listeners to, because I do want it to, I don't want them be overwhelmed by the great recognition.
J -
Yeah. I don't think it is overwhelming. It is a very natural process, like she talks about, you know, that this is what we are created to do and to take in. We are made to feast upon ideas. So, we're giving them what they need to grow and that becomes like a natural process. We can try to stuff too much in our days. We can, you know, and I think that does kind of go with this not cooperating with the Holy Spirit sometimes. We try to get too much in, and then there's not room for these ideas to grow in our day if we're constantly on the go, or constantly filling with information, right? That they do need that kind of masterly inactivity to think. And process. You know, we need to kinda let them go sometimes. Right. Yeah. I think it's encouraging to know that, yeah, we're not having to make those relations, those connections for them. That they're doing it, is that you're trying to kind of say?
R -
Right. That this is, there's not a series of hoops that we have to jump through, as our children's teachers, but we have to try to keep everything timed with contrived songs and things, and we don't, you know, it's... our education doesn't, you know, it's not a utilitarian setting. Or a, you know, ??? but, these are, but when we recognize from whose hand we...all of these things came, then this truly does become a living education.
J -
Yes. Right. Yeah. And yeah. It is a kind of resting into that. I think, is the, what is... encouraging and what we need to do, but, it, yeah, it's kind of wrapping your brain around how that all works, and having faith in that, so. Yeah.
Do you have a favorite Charlotte Mason quote that you would like to share with us?
R -
Oh, sure. I gave that to you. And, I don't know if I have...I might have you read it. I don't know that I...
J -
This is from the Parent's Review article on the great recognition?
R -
I gave you the Parent's Review.
J -
Okay, okay. Source. Okay, she says, it will be to us as when one stops, one talks in one’s thoughts in the springtime to find the world full of bird music, unheard, the instant before. In like manner, we shall learn to make pause in our thoughts and shall hear in our intellectual perplexities as well as in our moral, the clear, sweet cheering inspiring tones of our spiritual guide.
So, what is it about this quote that you like?
R -
That the fact of the matter is, is that, well, first of all, when we stop all of our offering and we can actually start to listen and the fact that our child is a person who has this immensity of soul, that's every bit as great as the offer that he's dealing with. Which is every bit as great as our own, and that, that person sitting in front of us, or sitting beside us, has the ability to interact with the Holy Spirit.
J -
Yeah.
R -
As we recognize that, I think it will help our relationship with our children. It will open up their relationship to every number of things, including their relationship with the Lord. And I think offering a Charlotte Mason community in light of homeschool community when we see that we are dealing spirit to spirit and everyone has this immense range of spirit, then, we're going to be in the greater harmony.
J -
Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. For sure, we definitely need that. I do like, in this quote, where she talks about when we stop one’s talk, and one stops like we hear the bird music that we didn't hear the minute before. I definitely have seen that in myself as I've embraced this method of education, that I see the world differently. I experience the world differently. Right? That I might never have made a ... bird, or that song or that flower or, you know, that work of art, or things I went through most of my adult life not noticing. But then, as you are taught to observe things, and you appreciate them through, you know, having this style of education, then you hear the groove music that you didn't hear before. And you see God's handiwork like you were saying, in a math lesson.
R -
Yeah, and the great thing about that quote is that the bird song was always there. So, if we, if we're looking at the birdsong as the Holy Spirit's guiding voice, or the Lord's sweet voice, to us, He's always there, and it's us that need to recognize that.
J -
Yes, for sure. Alright, so how can people connect with you?
R -
I'm on Instagram at r, and then my last name, baburima, r baburima. And I manage CharlotteMasonPoetry.org math resources page. And so, my email address is on the ‘About’ page.
J -
And also put, you know, your link to your math curriculum as well on there. So people can find that if they're interested. And teaching more of a Charlotte Mason approach to math. I will link that in the show notes as well. So, thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. This has been super helpful and I hope that this just encouraged moms to you know, rely on the Holy Spirit, that it is, He is the great teacher, and He is there and He is always willing and able to help us and be with us in our homeschooling journey. So, thank you very much for your time.
R -
Oh, you're welcome, Julie. Thank you for having me.
Julie -
Thank you for joining us today on The Charlotte Mason Show. I'm your host Julie Ross, and I would love to mee you in person. All of The Great Homeschool Conventions has been rescheduled to 2021. Go to GreatHomeschoolConventions.com to find a convention near you.
But you don't have to wait until 2021 to experience the amazing speakers and vendors at The Great Homeschool Conventions. They now offer an online convention that you can find on GreatHomeschoolConventions.com.
Also, if you would like the show notes for today's episode, go to homeschooling.mom. If you would take a moment to subscribe to this podcast in iTunes and leave a review, I would greatly appreciate it. It helps to get the word out about this podcast to our audience.
Thanks for joining me today. Until next time, may your home be filled with books, beauty, and Biblical truth.
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