Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Rochelle Borgina. When I was writing my son's

high school transcript, I poured over his portfolios, progress reports, and treasury of notebooks,

fascinated by the glimpse each one gave into his education.

Leafing through the pages, I smiled at those first numbers, written with a chubby pencil,

remembered how long he labored over fractions, and recalled how certain he was that two straight lines could enclose a space, until he set out to prove

it, first on paper and then outside. Trusting the guiding principles of Charlotte Mason,

I found our math lessons could be every bit as exciting as reading a tale of adventure

together during the history lesson, or as elegant and beautiful

as listening to the terms composer over a pot of tea. Today we're starting a short, three-part

series based on the motto, education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life. In this episode, we will focus on the

atmosphere of environment, the first of three educational tools in that motto. Here are some

simple ways to generate a wholesome atmosphere that retains a child's happy relationship with math, while

maintaining a healthy relationship between parent and child.

Provide a quiet growing time.

From infancy, children acquire so much knowledge in a natural way through their senses,

unstructured play, and home environment,

that there's no need to rush them into special math instruction in their early years.

Allowing this important time of freedom, growth, and unhurried thinking also ensures that when formal

math lessons begin, the brightness isn't already worn off.

While Miss Mason urges formal lessons to start no earlier than six years of age, she also

recognized that younger children are eager to know and to do.

So how do we balance this eagerness without taking the shine off formal lessons?

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