Principle #1 Children are Born Persons
In which we seek to educate the whole child: mind, body, and soul
Principle #1: Children are born persons.
Antithesis: Children are born machines.
Paraphrase for mothers: Children have dignity as their own persons no matter how small.
Theological truth: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27-31)
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There’s nothing more humbling than holding a freshly born babe complete with those glorious first cries and skin so soft it feels like you are touching heaven itself. Looking at that face for the first time, seeing those baby rolls, and thinking about all the possibilities ahead for this dear one make those dawning moments touch the divine and help us to come into contact with the miraculous nature of human life. Motherhood begins with many hopes, there are some fears, to be sure, but we get the privilege of standing at the beginning of a new story, a new life, a new person and walking them through their childhood, helping them journey into adulthood and finally, Lord willing, we launch them into adulthood where we fully pass off the governance of their lives to the man or woman who must stand on their own, ready or not.
From the beginning of life a child is fully a person with a mind, body, and soul that we get to nurture with reverence. Understanding the dignity each child receives as a birth right and our call to discipleship is the key to understanding what Mason means when she says “children are born persons.” Mason begins with defining what a person is because it is instrumental to how all of the methods, curriculum, activities, free time, scheduling and checklists that we create for our homes and schools are implemented. If we don’t understand God’s view of personhood, that each child is born bearing God’s image, then we will lead our children to the wrong ends and frustrate ourselves along the way. Since each child is born an image bearer, this comes with certain rights that honor their dignity. When we are looking at their education, we need to look at each child as a whole person, as a disciple - one who is under training and tutelage, but capable to one day be able to stand fully mature.
On the contrary, when we zero in on one aspect of a child instead of considering them as a whole, we veer off track. This easily happens with a utilitarian view of man where human dignity is pushed aside for the sake of a product and discipleship is forgotten for the sake of control. Honoring the child as a whole person can help keep us on track. We can easily put our goals and ambitions for our children ahead of their personhood (which is a utilitarian aim) and this can get us to the wrong destination. I’ve run into this a few times where I don’t take the whole person into account and ended up treating my children like machines. This happened last summer with our chore system.
I love efficiency, organization, and have a knack for administration. My mind works a lot like an engineer in a lot of ways and this, in its right place, can be a marvelous blessing to my family, friends, community, and church. I can follow through faithfully and coordinate large numbers of people to create a lot of fun for a lot of people. But, there is a dark side to this virtue. Like all virtues, they need to stay in check. I can easily lean on my checklists, order, and systems and forget the relationships and people for whom they are serving. When organizing our new chores systems last summer, I made checklists and assigned chores, but I failed to train each child, coach them on their tasks, encourage them, and thank them. In short, I was treating my children like chore robots and expecting them to give me cheerful results as if I’d nurtured them, taught them and instructed them properly.
This utilitarian way of thinking was harmful to the atmosphere of our home, yes, but what stopped me in my tracks was that I was finding it difficult to connect with my children personally. I was so focused on keeping order that I missed the opportunity to disciple them through this work. And when we do that, it leads to apathy. I missed caring for the whole person and that is what led me down the wrong path. When we have a heart to love and disciple each child as a person made in God’s image instead of treating them like machines, then we are able to lead them to joyful learning that enriches them as whole persons who bear God’s image.
IMAGO DEI
Since the modern view of man leads us to see our children with utilitarian goggles, we need to make sure we have a clear picture of the dignity of each person. We start, where the Bible does to define a person. A person is male and female wholly an image bearer of God.(Genesis 1:26-27) We bear God’s image physically as men, women, boys and girls. Our physical bodies as male and female are wholly tied to the animating life God breathes into each person. (Genesis 1:30) And we get to use our bodies for service and delight throughout our lives.
We bear God’s image spiritually in that we each have been given a soul that is immortal. We are embodied souls and we cannot separate the two. (1 Thessalonians 5:23) So when we educate children we are not only educating their intellect but also their actions, desires, and will. And even if we don’t intend to educate all of these things, they will still be informed through the attitudes, habits, and daily life the child leads. This means that instructing the moral character, actions, and habits of the child is part of his education, whether we take these things on intentionally or not.
We can think temporally about our children as persons, but as believers we also see them in light of eternity. Our children, born into a family of believers, have the privilege and we have the responsibility to teach them what it means to live a life that is pleasing to God- which is taught in the Bible. In ourselves, this is untenable, but in Christ, we get to see grace at work each day within the context of family life. He energizes us with love which is poured back into those around us.
Since a person is made up of mind, body, and soul we will use that framework for our discussion. Matthew 22:37 states: “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” We are talking about educating the whole person and not picking and choosing some parts to care for and some to ignore. This is a whole-person discipleship. Our instruction is to take into consideration the child as a person which honors their dignity as an image bearer and also points to our duty to disciple the child in the fear and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)
And since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and we are talking about education which is discipleship, let’s look more closely at ways we may disciple the child’s mind, body and soul.
Discipling the Child’s Mind
As an image bearer, our children are naturally curious and their curiosity is the key to their intellectual development. They love to ask a million questions and take things apart to see how they work, but the child is only free to do this within its proper place, which is why scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Scripture helps us to see that what we think about is greatly important. We are to think about whatever is true, good, beautiful, worthy of praise etc. (Phil. 4:8-10) These are the IDEAS that the child thinks about. They ought to be worthy of the child and honor their dignity as image bearers. Which is why Mason spends so much time talking about the quality of ideas we present to our children because they are heirs to a glorious kingdom and we want them to take from the richest, healthiest and most nourishing food so that their minds can grow to their fullest stature.
This means that to disciple a child’s mind is to help them cultivate intellectual habits such as: attention, thoroughness, accuracy, reflection etc. We cannot create these faculties for the child. That is the work of God. They are already there ready to be cultivated and here we can help them. We act as a friendly guide to support their weaknesses and help our children to build good habits to encourage growth. We can also find ways to challenge them in their strengths by understanding their motivation for learning, which is best discovered by observing how they use their free time. Mason encourages us: “We do not sufficiently recognise the independent intellectual development of children which it is our business to initiate and direct, but not to control or dominate.” (Volume 3, p. 122)
At the conclusion of our school year, I noticed that all of my children had a similar tendency: everyone was rushing through their school work and not enjoying and engaging with the ideas in a deeper way. Mason tells us that lessons are there to delight and enrich our children’s lives; not to deplete and bore them. Then I realized I wasn’t engaging with their school work in depth and delight. Since one of the first rules of teaching is that “a teacher must know what he will teach,” I knew that I needed to be more engaged with my children’s school work if I wanted to be able to guide and direct them to be more engaged. I decided to read through their history books over the summer with the posture of a student. I wrote a brief narration after each chapter and I spent time once a week drawing pictures, making maps, and painting in a notebook. Then I came into the school year full of my own curiosity and clear direction for the path ahead. I could confidently initiate and direct my children to learn and grow intellectually because I had initiative and direction for the work at hand.
But, as Mason admonishes us, we are not to control or dominate the child. We have limits to our authority (which will be covered in detail in the later principles.) The child must learn to obey and this self-control is what gives the child true freedom. Without this lesson, it’s impossible to lead children into the greater wonders where they will meet with God, mankind, and the universe, they will simply be too filled with themselves for there to be any room for anything else. This too is discipleship and honors their dignity as persons. We are to direct them and initiate their development, but in the same way you teach a child to swim so that they can be free to play in the water, but not in the way an ox goes before the plow with a yoke so that it will work for your pleasure.
Here are few questions to help you consider nurturing your child’s mind:
What are my child’s natural intellectual strengths?
How can I help to challenge my child’s strengths?
What motivates my child’s curiosity?
What intellectual habit does my child need to strengthen? attention, thoroughness, accuracy, reflection etc
How can I support him in this intellectual habit?
How does my child use his free time?
How can I support him to have a useful occupation?
Discipling the Child’s Body
“‘Ye are not your own’; the divine Author of your being has given you life, and a body finely adapted for His service; He gives you the work of preserving this body in health, nourishing it in strength, and training it in fitness for whatever special work He may give you to do in His world … It would be good work to keep to the front this idea of living under authority, training under authority, serving under authority, a discipline of life readily self-embraced by children, in whom the heroic impulse is always strong.” (Volume 3, p. 103)
Psalm 139 reminds us that we were knit together in our mother’s womb and are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.That means, we belong to Him body and soul. This affects how we disciple our children because we acknowledge God’s authority and our responsibility to share with our children how to use their bodies in ways that please Him. We educate the body of the child through physical activity, healthy nourishment, art, science, and games. But as we do this body work, the soul and the mind are also engaged and nourished. The connections are inseparable.
The most natural way to be reminded of our service to God is within our service to our family through doing our daily chores. Chores are such a tangible way to serve one another by using our bodies to serve one another and restore order to the home. It’s easy to forget that the daily chores are a gift to our children because we have the picture of Cinderella in our minds. But she served joyfully even though her place was equal to those she served. May we take on such a posture of service and heroically slay the laundry and dish dragons who seek to bring our homes into chaos. We can restore order to our little kingdoms as knights restore peace to the land.
But that is not all. We serve, yes, but we are also built to have joy. When our children learn to ride a bike, climb a tree, play an instrument, and any number of things they are expressing themselves by using their bodies as image bearers. When they enjoy the full range of motion they get to enjoy the benefits of being embodied souls. We can, in turn, use our bodies to serve others because we have made it ready for anything the Lord calls us to do.
Here are some questions for you to consider your child’s physical growth:
How has my child grown physically?
What opportunities for movement does my child have each day?
What physical habits has my child developed: self-control, courage, perseverance, toughness
How can I support my child’s weaknesses in developing these?
How can I challenge my child’s strengths to grow these further?
What activities outside the home help with my child’s physical development?
How does my child help around the house?
How does my child’s mental habits help or hurt with the physical habits? How can I support this?
Discipling the Child’s Soul
When God made the heavens and the earth he made everything in the material world such as the plants, stars, plants and animals and all that we can see. He also made everything in the spiritual world, the angels (which are spiritual beings only), the heavens, language, reason, beauty, the virtues etc and all that is unseen and is still true. We acknowledge that we have an immortal soul and we will either live forever with God in His Kingdom or we will be forever separated from Him. It’s sobering to think about our souls, which are the life force within each one of us. It is literally the breath of life that God puts within each person to animate our being. When we die, and are Christians, our souls go to be with God who made us. We nurture the souls of our children in many of the ways we care for their minds and bodies, and here we add, again the knowledge of God.
Mason encourages us: “When we recognise that God does not make over the bringing up of children absolutely even to their parents, but that He works Himself, in ways which it must be our care not to hinder, in the training of every child, then we shall learn passiveness, humble and wise.” (Volume 3, p. 35)
We acknowledge the soul of the child when we pray with them before they go to bed at night and when we say grace around the table before our meals. We teach and instruct, but as Mason reminds us there is quite a lot of letting alone and letting God work on the hearts of our children. Our children’s souls are nourished by hearing the good news of the gospel spoken with words from your lips into their ears which plant the seed into their souls. God makes it grow.
Here are some questions for you to consider your child’s spiritual growth:
How is my child receiving knowledge of God on a daily basis? (Family devotions, bible reading, prayer, church community)
What spiritual growth and progress toward God’s ways of living have I seen in my child?
What does my child struggle with spiritually?
How can I support him in strengthening his will and sharpening his reason to overcome these dispositions?
What inspiring ideas would help my child towards the path that leads to life?
What habits can I help my child learn to ease the way?
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An Education that Honors the Child as Person
The modern view of the person leads us to utilitarian methods because our aim is strictly usefulness or a product. We will all struggle to resist this tendency because, as my pastor put it, “we live in a utilitarian world.” But, there are some ways that we can intercept our desire for the narrow target of usefulness alone and find ways to honor the personhood of our children through seeing them more wholly living freely in God’s world. We can replace our modern utilitarian aims with living and engaging methods to make our school lessons wholly enriching and a lot of fun. Here’s one way we’ve had success to this end:
I put off teaching grammar for quite a while because grammar is one of those things that can be taught to an older child in just a year or two once they are fluent readers. And so, I dutifully did my research and found Easy Grammar to help support me as a busy homeschool mom. The workbook was simple and straightforward. I’d check the answers every now and then, but was the child being enriched by those lessons? Not exactly. I was just wasting her time and making myself feel like I was checking the right “grammar” box. I was focused on getting her through the grammar book. What was more important though, was getting grammar into my child so she could have those foundational tools of language to help her communicate more clearly.
Last year, I spent some time learning how to teach grammar well and tried it again, this time I was present and engaged. I had a plan and was prepared with a 5 minute lesson to try to get the grammar into my children instead of just working through the book systematically. My children, with white boards and markers in hand, sat at the table while I also had a marker and a white board. I wrote the sentence “Humpy Dumpty sat on a wall” on my whiteboard. We identified the subject, noun, verb and prepositional phrase and then things got exciting. “Change the subject,” I said. They did. “Winston Churchill sat on a wall.” “Harry Potter sat on a wall.” “Cinderella sat on a wall.” Then we paid attention to how the picture in our minds shifted with each new change. We could see the power of a writer in action with each new figure popping onto our mental walls in turn. Then the children spent time changing the subjects, verbs and prepositional phrases to make something new happen with Humpy Dumpty’s sentence. They all shared their creations, we all laughed. We were “enlarged wonderfully” by the lesson, as Mason would say. (Vol 6, p. 41) That’s what we are going for when it comes to educating persons. We want ourselves and our children to be engaged, active participants who care enough to play with the lesson and take it in as part of themselves. The grammar lesson went from a lifeless slog to a life-giving opportunity for connection, relationship and family memories. This is now my goal for each lesson. Does it enrich us? Does it bring us joy and vitality of life? Let it be so.
But this sort of education is foreign to us. We have to learn new ways of thinking about our children and new ways of thinking about education if we are to get to a place where we are all fully engaged in our lessons, enjoying the places we get to visit together through stories and the parts of God’s world we get to explore within our homeschools. The hard part is not the lessons themselves. Once we understand the parameters we have within the natural laws of teaching and learning, then things really start to open up and you will see that we have much freedom and much joy in teaching our children. But, our part (the hardest part) is finding the path so that we can offer such a life of rich exploration to our children. The utilitarian view of the person can trip us up in our efforts to educate our children, like when I tried to assign chores without considering my children’s minds and souls. I was only concerned about their bodies doing the work. Mason advocates for an education that brings us closer to that joyful relationship we hope to offer our children with not only books, ideas and things, but it will bring them into connection with themselves, their family, their community and most importantly with their God. As Mason puts it, it’s the science of relations or we could say, it’s the ability to perceive the relationships between God, mankind and His world- everything is connected to everything else.
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As I conclude our look at the person, let’s review the ground we’ve covered. A person is, from the moment of conception, made in the image of God. This means they have an eternal soul to be nurtured on God’s word, a physical body to be fed on good food that allows them to move and develop, and a mind to be fed on the nourishing ideas that are good, true and beautiful. We looked at how our approach to lessons honors the dignity of the child when we see them as a whole and don’t try to break them apart and only focus on one faculty at the expense of the others. We also considered some ways we can stumble by treating the child as a machine with a predictable outcome and a mechanical system. We want to lead our children into joyful learning that enriches them as persons bearing God’s image.
Prayer for Our Children
By Amy Carmichael
Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.
Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them.
From the worldling’s hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Holy Father, save our children.
Through life’s troubled waters steer them,
Through life’s bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father, be Thou near them.
Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.
And wherever they may bide,
Lead them Home at eventide.
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If you want to be effective with your Nature Study work, check out my Nature Study Hacking Guides at www.naturestudyhacking.com. Learn how to get outside and use those lovely nature journals.
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This was so beautiful. I teared up reading about your grammar lesson :)