Like most children, my son was curious, had a thirst for knowledge, and reveled in exploration and discovery.

He was also a bundle of kinetic energy.

If you have a child like this, you'll understand when I say that it wasn't that he wouldn't sit still.

It almost seemed he couldn't.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Rochelle Babordina. Charlotte Mason tells us that

children are born persons and reminds us that we are not

to despise, offend, or hinder these little ones. So I knew that I would need to meet my child

where he was, which often meant on the floor for a five-minute math lesson.

Slowly his five minutes of focused attention turned to 10, then to 15, and then to 20.

One day in about junior high, my son was tasked with drawing a series of angles without the use of a protractor.

Then he was to measure the angles and note the difference for each.

He grabbed his straight edge and set to work, wondering aloud about the assignment

and how close he could actually get.

His wonder turned to happy surprise when, upon measuring, he found

he'd drawn the angles with such precision. They weren't even a degree off. Now, my child is not

alone in his experience. Charlotte tells us, the chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics,

lies in the training it affords to the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness,

accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders. Home education, page 254. Her emphasis on nurturing good

habits during the math lessons means that, over time, fixed attention and careful execution

becomes second nature to our children, along with a slew of other good habits, and these

habits shape our child's character. In this episode, we want to focus on the discipline of

habit, the second of three educational tools in the motto, education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

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