Jason 
Profetie van Agabus, Jacob Folkema, after Houbraken, 1702 – 1767 (Public Domain)
Fortifying Against Doubt: the Three Paths Before Us
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We have all faced doubts.
Our children will all face doubts.
We will yet face doubts.
Doubt often comes unsolicited.
There will come a time in the life of faith for every child when they will have to decide for themselves, “Do I really believe this?” Doubt is a part of the process of maturing. It is not easy, but it is necessary.
What can we do? Can we short circuit the process? Do we need to buy a new curriculum?
Parents, Revealers of God to their Children –– It is probable that parents as a class feel more than ever before the responsibility of their prophetic office. It is as revealers of God to their children that parents touch their highest limitations; perhaps it is only as they succeed in this part of their work that they fulfil the Divine intention in giving them children to bring up––in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p 41
Preparation – But there is much to be done beforehand, though nothing when the time comes.
Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p 43
Charlotte Mason’s words of encouragement, however, are not for the faint of heart, and challenge many commonly-held views in modern Western Christianity. Her’s is a refreshing voice in a time when so many are abandoning their faith when times of doubt come. There is hope. There is a better way.
This is a recording of the closing plenary talk given at the 2021 “Living Education Retreat” (LER).
These are not safe words, but they are so very good.
The key to moving through seasons of doubt.
Evidences, no matter how compelling, are not proofs.
The essence of Christianity is loyalty to Jesus Christ
The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped.
Resources:
The Knowledge of God: The Life-Giving Distinctive of a Mason Education
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Just two paragraphs into the preface of Mason’s six volumes, the reader is invited to feast upon this simple living idea:
“…the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and the chief end of education.”
What did Charlotte Mason mean by this statement? As Mason educators, do we read this statement with the careful consideration it deserves? What does it look like to make educational decisions for our students with this “chief end” always in mind? Does our own knowledge of God (and our ongoing pursuit of it) have a lasting effect on the lives of our children? How does the knowledge of God differ from knowledge about God? As a father, pastor, and educator, these are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself recently. When I read Mason’s statement, I instinctively know there lies within it a call to something deeper than the 15-minute Bible lesson I share with my family at the beginning of each school day.
Together, let’s explore further what Mason is suggesting…
“…because every human soul has capacity for the knowledge of God; not for mathematics, perhaps, nor for science, nor for politics, but for that vast knowledge which floods the soul like a sea to swim in––the knowledge of God.”
Charlotte Mason, vol. 4, p 183
Resources:
Outfitting the Chief Explorer
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“My Lord Chief Explorer, Imagination, deserves a more complete introduction than the by-the-way mention he has had as a colleague of Intellect. He is an amazing personage, with the power to produce, as we have seen, a procession of living pictures in every region open to Intellect. Great artists, whether they be poets or painters, builders or musicians, have the power of expressing and showing to the rest of us some part, anyway, of the wonderful visions Imagination has revealed to them. But the reason why we enjoy their pictures, their poems, or their tales, is because Imagination does the same sort of thing for all of us, if in a less degree. We all have pictures and poems made for us on the inner curtains of our minds.”
Charlotte Mason, Vol. 4, p. 48
“Imagining is perhaps as close as humans get to creating something out of nothing the way God is said to.”
Frederich Buechner, “Whistling in the Dark” p 69
This year, I was honored to give the closing plenary at the Charlotte Mason Institute (CMI) Annual Conference. A few weeks later I was able to give the Outfitting talk at a workshop at the 2017 Living Education Retreat (LER). Once again, I am thrilled to be able to release this talk “into the wild” and hope that it might be an encouragement as you outfit your children for the life that is unfolding before them.
Taken from the talk description:
Let’s take some time to carefully examine the ways that Mason spoke of imagination in order to better understand her rich philosophy of education. How much truth is there in the commonly held belief that “some of us are creative and some are not”? What are Mason’s cautions to us regarding the development of imagination? How do we courageously take on the role of “Outfitter”, both for ourselves and for our students. In a culture where imagination takes its seat at the kids’ table, Mason tells us that it “grows by what it gets”, and therefore must be given its rightful place at The Feast.
Sorry the recording ends two minutes early. The closing was a simple circling back to the Kipling poem.
Resources:
An Unpublished Trail Guide
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Have you ever thought: “Where’s my guidebook? What have I gotten myself into? or Where are we going exactly?” Perhaps you’ve got a spouse or an extended family member asking these questions about homeschooling right now.
This talk is the story of my own process of movement from “homeschool skeptic” and “CM illiterate” to owning my role in an education that truly is “an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life”. Together, we’ll be reminded why this messy, beautiful, life-giving journey is absolutely worth it.
Toward rather than away
Resources:
“An Unpublished Trail Guide” slides
“An Unpublished Trail Guide” Reference List
*Thanks to our good friend Nancy Kelly for the encouragement to put this out into the wild.