There is a key technique that we hold to in Charlotte Mason circles that is designed to help

our children develop the habit of attention. That technique is summarized in the motto,

Don't repeat yourself. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it can become a bit fuzzy when you try to put it into practice every day.

For example, what if my child did not physically hear what I said?

Or does that mean that once I've told my child that his chore is to empty the trash,

I shouldn't ever tell him again?

Or what do I do about a toddler in the room while I'm reading aloud who's distracting her

siblings?

See, when you attempt to apply don't repeat yourself in the nitty-gritty every day of life

and lessons, it sometimes doesn't seem very simple.

So let's take a closer look at what don't repeat yourself means and what it doesn't mean.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer.

Let's look first at why Charlotte told us not to repeat. The short answer is that it's a powerful tool to help your students

develop a habit of giving full attention. You have other tools to encourage that habit as well,

such as varying the order of the subjects

as they work through the day's lessons and using living books and keeping the lessons

short.

I'll leave a link in the description to give you help with those other tools.

But not repeating yourself is a far-reaching tool that you can use both inside and outside

of lesson times.

You see, habits are formed by repetition.

The more often you repeat a certain action, the more it becomes a habit. Our brains are wired that way. So think

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