Ourselves is my current Charlotte Mason read, and I recorded seven pages of quotes from it in my commonplace book this week! I did start to include it in our Morning Time, but it got pushed out by other things, and now I am debating whether it would be more fruitful to put it back in when we have the schedule space, or have the older two read it on their own. Sometimes I think with books like these, it’s better to let the author speak directly with the student without them feeling Mom or Dad is also trying to get a certain message across. But then sometimes there’s something I want to discuss with them. But in the meantime, I’m reading it on my own and gleaning so much, like this beautiful passage:
But Knowledge has her own prizes, and these she reserves for her lovers. It is only in so far as Knowledge is dear to us and delights us for herself, that she yields us lifelong joy and contentment. He who delights in her, not for the sake of showing off, and not for the sake of excelling others, but just because she is so worthy to be loved, cannot be unhappy. He says, ‘My mind to me a kingdom is’ – and, however unsatisfactory things are in his outer life, he retires into that kingdom and is entertained and delighted by the curious, beautiful, and wonderful things he has stored within. (Ourselves, pg. 78-79)
Ah, yes, the beauty of storing lovely things within.