Charlotte Mason’s Rule of Life

Earlier this month, I began a series of posts around the topic of a family rule of life. I provided a brief overview of what initially sparked my interest in this topic, and then defined what a rule of life is. In this post, we’re going to look at an example of how it can be applied, specifically in the life of the 19th-century British educator who has inspired myself and many other home educators, Charlotte Mason.

Thanks to Essex Cholmondley’s book The Story of Charlotte Mason, we can take a look at what Ms. Mason’s days looked like and see how she applied the principles she wrote about so thoroughly in her six-volume series to her own life.

Vocation

In the last post I wrote in this series, I took the definition of a rule of life from Holly Pierlot’s A Mother’s Rule of Life:

A Rule of Life is a traditional Christian tool for ordering one’s vocation. Found most often in religious community life, a Rule can also be used by laypeople — whose state in life is no less a calling from God. It consists primarily in the examination of one’s vocation and the duties it entails, and the development of a schedule for fulfilling these responsibilities in a consistent and orderly way.

With this definition in mind, we will focus on the idea of “vocation.”

You could say that Charlotte Mason’s vocation was teaching. Her parents died when she was just a teenager, and to support herself, she chose to pursue a profession in education. After completing her teacher training, she taught for several years, refining her own ideas about education based on her experiences and observations made during her teaching years. These ideas are recorded in the six-volume series she wrote, but in addition to authoring those books and continuing her teaching profession, she also started various education-related organizations, publications, and schools. With these roles came additional responsibilities, including editing papers sent to her for the Parents’ Review magazine, as well as rejecting, accepting, and writing articles herself. She spoke at conferences. She provided counseling to parents who were struggling with teaching their children. She answered letters, even simple ones, in which parents wrote to express their gratitude for the education she had provided to their children.

In her later years, she fulfilled all these roles, as well as administered a teacher training college of her own, where the student teachers lived on the premises. In this position, she oversaw what was equivalent to a large household and had to handle tasks such as meal selection, structural repairs, and accounting issues.

So, yes, she was a teacher. But she was also so many other things. And I think many home educators can relate to that.

To fulfill all these roles or callings that she felt God had laid on her heart, she knew she needed a system or “rule” to guide her days. So, she laid out a schedule for herself that allowed her to accomplish all of the different tasks efficiently and well. This schedule, however, wasn’t just about getting things done, but took into consideration her first principle: “children are born persons.” She acknowledged in how she laid out her day that she, Charlotte Mason, was also born a person. In her schedule, she not only fulfilled all of these different roles, but she also took time for herself.

The Schedule

A few years ago, Richele Baburina decided to follow Charlotte Mason’s schedule for 30 days. She began the process by reading through Essex Cholmondeley’s The Story of Charlotte Mason, which includes a section about life at her teacher training college. In this section, Elsie Kitching, Charlotte Mason’s personal assistant, described Mason’s usual day of work. So, when Richele was trying to figure out what these 30 days would look like, she pieced together a timeline of Charlotte Mason’s daily schedule based on what was in this book, as well as other resources she found. You can view the schedule she created based on that research here. I’m going to briefly touch on the various parts of her day, and we can keep each of these items in mind as we think about Mason’s “rule of life.”

7 AM

In Cholmondeley’s book, the schedule starts at 9:30 AM, when Mason began her workday, so Richele had to conduct some research into what happened before that. She discovered that the students at the teacher training college woke up at 7 AM and then had breakfast at 8 AM, so we can assume that Mason ate with them, or at least around that same time, even if it wasn’t with them. We also know from her writings that she very much valued a daily time of personal devotion. This would be a time specifically set aside for prayer and Bible reading, so we can also assume that this was part of her day as well. Mason mentions doing it in the early evening, “when their wits are fresh,” but the time of day she did it is not explicitly mentioned in the book. Richele opted to include hers in the morning, which is also when I do mine.

9:30 AM

At 9:30 AM, her workday would start, and she would begin with the morning post. She would also read, answer, and write letters. If there were any letters she had received that she wanted to mull over and give more time, she would set those aside and respond to them the next day. After that, when necessary, she would attend to household details with her housekeeper, which might include discussing accounts, the menu, and any repairs that needed to be made on the building. In the book, Kitching mentioned a specific situation in which a new maid had been hired, which was discussed during this timeslot.

Then, every first week of the month, she addressed Parents’ Review articles and any tasks that needed to be completed with them. She would read through articles that had been submitted and approve or reject them for inclusion, and she would also think about what topics would be good to include in the periodical and who might be good to write about those topics.

During a few mornings per week, she would compose book reviews that she had read during her leisure time. She would also compose articles and papers for the various conferences she was involved with as well. On Thursdays, she would critique lessons, which meant observing the students at the House of Education who were giving lessons. Throughout the term, she would also write exam questions, read exam papers, select books, and prepare new programmes for the PNEU schedule.

11 AM

At 11 AM, she would take a break when she felt she needed one. She was in poor health in the later part of her life, and sometimes she would get to about 11 o’clock and feel that she needed to rest. This may have been because she wasn’t feeling well in general, or perhaps she hadn’t slept well the night before. During this time, she would allow herself a rest for about 20 minutes, which might include some light satirical reading. Kitching then said that after the 20 minutes were up, Mason would return to her work, feeling refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready to continue with her morning tasks.

12:15 PM

She would then either take another break or have her first break of the day at 12:15 when she scheduled in a reading of a classic author. She did this for about 10 minutes, and then would prepare for dinner, which was at 1 o’clock.

1:00 PM

This meal she would have with the students in the training college, and afterward, she would read aloud from a travel book or biography with them. Through this practice, she was able to cultivate closer relationships with her students.

2:15 PM

Time spent in nature was another aspect of her life that she valued greatly and incorporated into her schedule every day at 2:15. Early on, she was able to go for nature walks, but later, as her health declined, she had to ride in a carriage instead. Either way, unless it was raining considerably or it was very windy, she would go out for these nature adventures every day. Kitching said she would sometimes bring things back with her from her time in nature. This might be a flower, or something she observed that touched her. Kitching emphasized that her relationship with nature was very important to her.

4:00 PM

At 4 o’clock, she would return to Scale How and have tea, followed by a meeting with the vice-principal to place the students who were graduating from the school, and then she would read or do some editing.

6:00 PM

Every day from 6 to 7, she would read an old favorite novel by an author she had always enjoyed. So we see here, again, that this was a brief moment for her to capture time for herself. She was stepping away from the tasks related to the school and allowing herself a short respite. This was not an idle activity merely to pass the time, but it was an activity that she enjoyed, as well as something that served to grow her mind.

7:00 PM

At 7 PM every day, she had supper. After that, she would spend time with her students, reading aloud to them or engaging in other activities that fostered those relationships and built community.

8:45 PM

And then at 8:45, she would be brought to bed. In her later years, she was unable to walk, so a carrying chair was brought at this time. She was carried to her room, and there she would read Sir Walter Scott. Kitching said that she always had a Scott novel going, and as soon as she finished one, she would start another, a practice she maintained for 30 years.

And with this routine in place, Kitching says:

Her days passed with the regularity of employment, a fullness of joy in life and work that left no room for thoughts of self…

Elsie Kitching
The Story of Charlotte Mason by Essex Cholmondley

Additional Insights

That’s an overview of her day toward the end of her life, and this routine, or some variation of it, was likely in place for quite a while. In this chapter of the book, Kitching also shared a few insights into how Charlotte Mason interacted with other people and how she addressed the world around her. These aren’t necessarily evident in this routine, but I think they are important ideas to consider when we start to piece together our own rule of life. We can keep them in mind as we pray about what we feel God is leading us to include in our days, and as we’re being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, asking, “What are the things that I need to include in my rule to fulfill my vocation?”

Highways and Byways

The first insight or quote is that:

Miss Mason rarely touched upon controversial subjects, she read very little controversial matter, she steadily refused to enter the lists and condemnation of theories with which she had no sympathy. She prayed ‘Lead us not into temptation’ in thought as other things, and she would not enter in and let her thoughts dwell in the many byways of modern thought when so much work was needed on the highways.

Elsie Kitching
The Story of Charlotte Mason by Essex Cholmondley

In the book, she specifically mentioned controversial topics that would have been prevalent in her day, but I think the underlying message is that she didn’t allow herself to be distracted from her vocation. She didn’t allow herself to be caught up in these “byways” that took her off the “highway” of her vocation. So, from this, we can consider what might be the byways that are taking us away from our vocational highway.

It could be news. It could be politics. It could be gossip, or even just getting caught up in what’s happening in other people’s lives, whether that’s people we know or people we don’t know. It could even be just over-scheduling ourselves and trying to fit in all the things we think are necessary. Things that seem good and that we don’t want ourselves or our kids to miss out on. In reality, however, many of these things are byways that take us away from the highway we should be on, or from living in a way that allows us to grow closer to God and to each other.

I think several of these byways are a result of being on social media and getting caught up in the online world. So often, even when we feel overwhelmed or as though we have no time, we can still find ourselves reaching for our phones to catch up on what’s happening outside of our home or outside of our family. Reading the news is not a bad thing, and this was even a part of Charlotte Mason’s day in the evening. But it is something that can consume us. We need to consider all these byways. How do they align with our family’s goals? How do they fit into our rule?

Setting Aside Time

The next quote was that:

She never worked out of hours nor let herself think of problems at night.

Elsie Kitching
The Story of Charlotte Mason by Essex Cholmondley

The first idea from this quote, that “she never worked out of hours,” aligns with the concept of setting aside time for specific tasks, as often and for as long as you need. For example, in my rule, I decided that I wanted to include laundry folding as one of the daily tasks I do. So, I set aside time specifically for that purpose, and during that time, I’m only folding laundry (and possibly listening to an audiobook!). I don’t do it at 2:30 in the afternoon when I find I have an extra 15 minutes. I don’t do it at 9 PM before bed. I do it in the timeslot that I set specifically for that task.

I will add that this may be different than how she meant this quote. She may have been referring to the fact that when the workday was over, Mason was done working. However, I think applying this idea to every part of our rule, and every guideline or precept that is part of our rule having its own timeslot in the schedule, allows us to keep up with the things that matter most to us. If we spend all of our time working on one part of our rule, that will be detrimental to the other parts. So when I read this quote, I felt like she was specifically saying that each task has its own time.

She also wrote that Mason did not “let herself think of problems at night,” which I imagine is a common struggle for many of us. I know it’s something I struggle with, and just the fact that she had that willpower is very inspiring.

Attention

The last quote that I pulled from this section is significant:

…her power of attention was equal to that which she claimed to in children. She gave her whole attention to whatever demanded it—a book, a conversation, household details.

Elsie Kitching
The Story of Charlotte Mason by Essex Cholmondley

I believe that this idea aligns with a quote I shared earlier in this series from Stephen Macchia, in which he stated that a rule of life “allows us to live with intention and purpose in the present moment.”

This practice means that we’re focused on what we’re doing in that moment, rather than constantly thinking about what will happen in the future, or even just five minutes from now. With a rule of life, the idea is that each of those things that we need to include as part of our rule to fulfill our vocation has its own time and its own space. When we are more intentional with the order of our days, and when we’re more intentional with our time, we find that all of these things that we want to include in our rule are taken care of. We don’t need to worry about when the kitchen is going to be cleaned or what we’re going to make for supper at random times during the day when we’re supposed to be focused on something else (like narrations, or even a conversation with someone else) because those are things we have included in our rule and they have their own time to be handled.

Habits

And of course, we can’t talk about Charlotte Mason without talking about habits. If you’ve been around the Charlotte Mason world for any period of time, you know that habit formation was crucial to her. Among many other quotes about this topic, here are two that I think go hand in hand with the idea of a rule. She said:

The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education)

When we set up our schedule and establish a rhythm or routine that we follow every day, or at least on a regular basis, we’re in the process of forming habits. We’re laying down those neural pathways in our kids through the tasks they have to do, the things that need to be accomplished together, and the time we spend as a family. All of these activities will become habits because we repeat them.

Every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend.

Charlotte Mason (Home Education)

Even if we don’t think we have a rule, and even if we don’t believe that we are instilling habits in our kids, we are.

In Crafting a Rule of Life, Stephen Macchia wrote:

All of us have an unwritten personal rule of life that we are following, some with great clarity, others unknowingly. We wake at certain times, get ready for our days in particular ways, use our free time for assorted purposes and practice rhythms of work, hobbies, worship, vacation and so on. There is already a rule in place that you are following today.

We have to consider whether or not this is the rule that we want for ourselves. Is this the rule I want to establish in my kids and that they take with them as they enter adulthood? And as a result of that consideration, we also have to ask ourselves, “Does this need to change?”

In the next post in this series, we’ll dive into how to go about coming up with your own family rule!