Have you ever wondered how to help your child truly love learning? In our latest podcast episode and Substack article, we dive into Charlotte Mason’s Principle #12: Education is a Science of Relations.

Children are born with a natural desire to connect—with ideas, history, nature, art, and even the materials they use in their hands. Our role as parents and educators is not to force information upon them but to introduce them to a vast world of meaningful relationships. Whether it’s through books, tangible experiences, or friendships, a full and flourishing life comes from these rich connections.

In this episode, we explore:

• How to cultivate a love for learning through real, living ideas.

• Practical ways to encourage deep engagement with knowledge.

• How to guide teenagers toward meaningful pursuits.

• The role of parents in fostering a broad and full education.

Get the show notes and reflection questions here: https://open.substack.com/pub/howeverimperfectly/p/principle-12-education-is-about-relationships?r=37a62&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

**If you want to be effective with your Nature Study work, check out my Nature Study Hacking Guides at www.naturestudyhacking.com. Learn how to get outside and use those lovely nature journals.**

“But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care only that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas.”

Read the article and get the reflection questions over on ⁠Substack ⁠⁠.

This episode is sponsored by Nature Study Hacking. Head over to ⁠⁠NatureStudyHacking.com ⁠⁠to learn more.

“Such a doctrine as e.g. the Herbartian, that the mind is a receptacle, lays the stress of education (the preparation of knowledge in enticing morsels duly ordered) upon the teacher. Children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching with little knowledge; and the teacher’s axiom is, ‘what a child learns matters less than how he learns it.”

Read the article and get the reflection questions over on ⁠Substack ⁠.

This episode is sponsored by Nature Study Hacking. Head over to ⁠NatureStudyHacking.com ⁠to learn more.

Feeding the mind as we do the body is the role of education. Read the article and get the reflection questions over on Substack .

This episode is sponsored by Nature Study Hacking. Head over to NatureStudyHacking.com to learn more.

“Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child's inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food.”

Read the transcript and the reflection questions here.

This episode is sponsored by Nature Study Hacking guides. Learn how to get outside and use a nature journal. Head over to https://naturestudyhacking.com/

Habit training is more than a tool for managing behavior; it is the cornerstone of character formation, equipping children with the discipline, virtue, and moral strength to govern themselves well and to make decisions toward what is right. Read the Reflection Questions that go with this episode on Substack.

On the wayside of the Appalachian Mountains sits a charming stone church, with a bell tower that no longer rings and a simple stained-glass window above the pulpit. The interior is warm, with chocolatey wood contrasting the stone walls. While the church is beautiful, it is the atmosphere of love and genuine welcome from the people that makes it truly special. When you attend, you’ll be greeted with smiles and care, and that warmth comes not just from the surroundings but from the hearts of the congregation...

Read the Reflection Questions that go with this episode on Substack.

Principle #5 Seeing that we are limited by the respect due to the personality of children we can allow ourselves but three educational instruments––the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit and the presentation of living ideas. Our motto is: "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." Read the transcript and see the reflection questions on Substack

This fourth principle builds upon the third which reminds us that we have authority over our children, and they have a duty to be teachable. 

So, the key to understanding the limits of our authority comes from humble reliance on God and walking in the ways of good living laid out in scriptures. Recognizing our own weaknesses and need for God’s help allows us to maintain a posture of sympathy for our children’s weaknesses which is the key to truly guiding and directing our children toward a good life. 

⁠Read on Substack and go through the reflection questions⁠⁠

• If you want to be effective with your Nature Study work, check out my ⁠⁠Nature Study Hacking Guides⁠⁠. Learn how to get outside and use those lovely nature journals.

  Sometimes I’m on ⁠⁠Instagram here.⁠

In God’s wisdom He places children in… not daycare facilities, nor schools… He places them in families - the foundation of human society and the bedrock of human flourishing. The home is the best growing place for a child. It is here children learn good manners, right and wrong, and how to restrain the urge to wallop one’s brother. Parents are in charge. We didn’t come up with this. We know we are vastly under qualified to teach our children about the Righteousness of God, but someone must teach them and so the honor and duty falls on us. Because it is right. 

Read on Substack and go through the reflection questions⁠

• If you want to be effective with your Nature Study work, check out my ⁠Nature Study Hacking Guides⁠. Learn how to get outside and use those lovely nature journals.

  Sometimes I’m on ⁠Instagram here.⁠

This is the most controversial of Mason's Principles. Join me as we look at what this principle is telling us about the natural laws of education, namely that there is good and evil in the world and what that means for moms and teachers of children being raised in the 21st Century.

Mason wants mothers to understand the natural laws that affect our children and hinder or help our work as mothers so that we will joyfully fulfill our God-given role to guide and direct our them.

Read on Substack and go through the reflection questions

• If you want to be effective with your Nature Study work, check out my Nature Study Hacking Guides. Learn how to get outside and use those lovely nature journals.

  Sometimes I’m on Instagram here.