Last Monday night, our Charlotte Mason study group was cancelled, and I decided to listen in on the first Focus and Align class on the Read-Aloud Revival membership site. It was very good (as was the second part last night), but I was having trouble answering the worksheet questions and wasn’t sure what my “Rule of Six” should be, or if I even understood the concept.
I read Melissa Wiley’s post which had inspired Sarah Mackenzie. Dawn posted her Rule of Six, and I really liked her format – big picture and specifics. 🙂
I still didn’t really have any ideas for mine, until I remembered how Charlotte Mason, in Towards a Philosophy of Education, had divided the curriculum into categories: The Knowledge of God, The Knowledge of Man and The Knowledge of the Universe. Here were three (admittedly rather broad) categories I definitely want to touch on each week – ideally every day – in our homeschool. I divided those areas into three subcategories, referring to what Miss Mason had listed under each, but lumping things together more in some cases (for instance The Humanities, which covers literature, history, art, music, etc.). I also switched Phys.Ed./Handicrafts to Man from Universe. I think they fit better there and make things neater. 😉
For the other three categories, I thought of the motto used in the schools she founded: “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” And what better atmosphere in which to be educated than one of faith, hope and love? Under Discipline, I listed some areas that aid us in becoming disciplined and/or require discipline. Work – particularly assigned daily chores in the case of children – requires diligence and thoroughness. Routines help our days run smoothly, but also require self-control to become habitual and effective. And with “right responses”, I had in mind both Charlotte Mason’s teachings on habit and the philosophy of “ordo amoris” (ordered loves) of Augustine that C.S. Lewis mentions in his book The Abolition of Man. Finally, under Life are those elements of books, ideas and relationships that are so important in a CM education.
So as I see it, the left is the “what” of the education I want to give my children, and the right is the “how”. Perhaps it is a rather idealistic and unwieldy Rule of Six, but I like it. 😉
