In my first article in this series, we’re talking about the Transcendentals; truth, goodness and beauty and how they apply to Mother Culture. Keep reading to learn more about this practice so you can start your own Mother Culture habit!
Defining Mother Culture and Putting it Into Practice
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Mother Culture”? If you’re at all active in the homeschooling realm, particularly of the Charlotte Mason variety, serene images of book stacks and a steaming cup of tea next to an unfinished knitting project probably emerge.
Or maybe that’s not even close. Maybe you thought it had something to do with that murky stuff swirling in the bottom of apple cider vinegar.
They’re both true in a sense but we’re not talking about acetic acid and probiotics today. We’re talking about the former definition. Rather, we’re talking about the idea behind that idyllic image.
The Why
If you haven’t read my post about the root cause of homemaker’s stress, you might be wondering why you should make time for one more thing. I suggest taking a minute to read over that post as well, which will help you make a mental shift about your homemaking tasks and prioritizing what matters most to you, as well as making time to learn new skills and follow interests that will benefit your whole household.
In my opinion, Mother Culture should be one of those things.
Truth, Goodness, Beauty?
The words “truth, goodness and beauty” can be found together as a set as far back as Plato, and is still commonly used today in classical education circles. Plato called these “the transcendentals”, or properties of being. Mystie Winkler of Simply Convivial put it this way, “If we want to know anything, these are the things that can be known: what is true, what is right, what is lovely… [These] also, in the ancient conception, corresponded to studies: science (truth), religion (goodness), arts (beauty).”
As mothers, we want to be pointing our children towards these things. We know that field trips to art museums and nature reserves are important for our children, even if we aren’t deliberately training their eyes toward beauty. We know truth is of utmost importance and want the best schooling that can be had for them, and feel a strong drive to raise them up according to our values and beliefs.
But who’s doing that for the us?
Hopefully someone did do it for us during our formative years, but regardless, we are left to our own devices. And it is far too easy to neglect these pursuits for ourselves.
Feeling like we don’t have time for ourselves, or that it’s selfish to take that time, actually isn’t a problem of our day and age alone (as we’re about to see). And it isn’t magically going to go away, either. We have to push back on that narrative, while not overindulging to the point that it does become selfish (the temptation is there, especially if we’ve gone a long time without).
So many mothers say, “I simply have no time for myself!” “I never read a book!” Or else, “I don’t think it is right to think of myself!” They not only starve their minds, but they do it deliberately, and with a sense of self-sacrifice which seems to supply ample justification… That tone is not the right one. But can it be altered? Each mother must settle this for herself. She must weigh things in the balance. She must see which is the most important–the time spent in luxuriously gloating over the charms of her fascinating baby, or what she may do with that time to keep herself “growing” for the sake of that baby “some day,” when it will want her even more than it does now.”
Mother Culture
by A. Volume 3, no. 2, 1892/93, pgs. 92-95
Did you catch the date on that citation? This isn’t a new problem. But how beautiful and how true is that last sentence? Your kids need you, and they need you to keep growing.
Benefits of Mother Culture
- Improve focus and reading comprehension
- Have more interesting and lively conversations with spouse
- Feel more rested and fulfilled as a mother
- Strengthen and deepen spiritual life
- Improve mood
- Increase self-confidence
You might be thinking, ‘That’s some big talk from one obscure practice’, but as you read on you’ll see how all of this would be a natural outflowing.
So hopefully I’ve convinced you Mother Culture is worth your time, but first you need to know what it is you’re jumping into!
Let’s Define It
Let me say upfront, there may not be a definition. That is, there may not be an official definition that everyone can agree on. What we’re dealing with here is one article written in Parents’ Review over a century ago by someone named “A”. That’s all we got, folks.
Since then, Karen Andreola, who has worked over the course of her career to bring Charlotte Mason and her method back into popularity, actually trademarked the phrase and wrote a book all about it.
So what does Charlotte Mason have to do with it? While she didn’t write the article or have the term “Mother Culture” anywhere in her writings, Miss Mason was the editor of The Parents’ Review from its beginnings in 1890 until her death in 1923. Furthermore, many of Mason’s principles can be found in the concept of Mother Culture.
Let’s use her first principle as an example; children are born persons. If children are born persons, it goes to follow that mothers are as well! And being persons, we mothers should be doing our darndest to become more and more human. We were created to be image-bearers of The One who created us, and one simple way we can do that is to learn all we can about Him, His world, and our fellow image bearers.
Before we go on to further nail down a working definition, let’s talk about what Mother Culture isn’t.
Mother Culture Isn’t…
We’ll keep this part very brief because I am of the mind that we shouldn’t be policing Mother Culture and correcting others who are “doing it wrong”. Instead, we should keep a few principles in mind and use Mother Culture in a way that fits into our own lives to benefit ourselves as well as our families.
That being said, Mother Culture isn’t something to stress over.
It isn’t one-size-fits-all.
And it certainly doesn’t have to be serene.
In fact it often won’t be. We’re mothers! We have children and toddlers and babies and pets. You might be doing your Mother Culture next to a stack of laundry or reading your book while your kids play with trains noisily at your feet. That’s more than ok. Keep in mind you’re not only learning for yourself, you’re also setting a beautiful example.
There are some things in life to be purist about. I don’t think this is one of them.
But What IS it?
As long as we can all agree to give ourselves and each other some grace, I’ll give us a loose definition.
In the original article (which I highly recommend reading if you’re at all interested in Mother Culture- it’s a very quick read), we get this helpful summary; “one half-hour in which we can read, think, or ‘remember.'”
We’ll look at each of these three elements next, but first, if a half-hour a day seems like a lot right now, remember that it doesn’t have to be a half-hour straight. You can definitely break it up. And if you don’t make it to half an hour some days, at least you got in more than if you hadn’t tried!
Read
It isn’t complicated. Just read! It doesn’t have to be Dante’s Inferno or Beowulf (but never say never!)
- What book do you have on your shelf right now that you’ve been meaning to read?
- What book has your friend been recommending to you?
- Do you have one in your Amazon or Thriftbooks cart?
- Is there a book you’ve been aspiring to read but never made the time for?
If you’re like me and you often have too many good choices, good news! In the article A. tells us to have several “going” at once. She suggests 3; a “stiff” book, a moderately easy book, and a novel. Then you have a book for whatever strikes your mood.
If you want to add to that, maybe add 2 more; a book for spiritual growth and a biography. But of course you can experiment here and use the books you already have.
What categories would you use?
While we’re on the subject, might I suggest Schole Sisters’ 5×5 Reading Challenge? Five books on the same subject, do that 5 times in a year. The best part, in my opinion, is coming up with the categories š Read more about that here.
Think
Going hand-in-hand with reading, we have thinking. This almost seems too easy. If you’re reading, you’re obviously thinking, right? Of course, but I think A. was talking about something more active and intentional here. You probably have a time or a place where you do your best thinking, like on a walk or when you’re taking a shower. As we train ourselves in Mother Culture, we want to be dwelling on living ideas such as the things we just read about!
You’d be surprised at how much of your reading slips into your subconscious and comes to mind much later. In the meantime, those ideas are shaping your character and the way you think. I can think of many times in my life where something affected me on a deep level but my conscious mind was almost unaware at the time. It was only later on when I could look at the whole picture and see how ideas shaped me, caused emotions and reactions, and at times affected a situation or relationship in my life!
I know that sounds extreme, but we know from the field of psychology as well as anecdotal evidence that this is true. That’s why it’s crucial that we feed our minds the only food they can digest; ideas. Our minds will grow anemic without sufficient ideas to live on.
This especially true concerning the ultimate source of living ideas, the Bible. God’s Word is living and active and we could never plumb its depths. The scriptures should be at the top of our reading list, and we should be meditating on His words day and night.
Some of this segues perfectly into the third element:
Remember
In my understanding, A. doesn’t mean just remembering the good ol’ days and reflecting on favorite memories, not that that’s bad at all. But remembering is an important aspect of reading and thinking. As we actively think on the things we’ve been reading, we are making connections (science of relations, anyone?) and forming new brain patterns. The way we think and the things we do over and over again physically change our brains!
We’ve probably all heard by now that smartphones and other technology are rewiring our brains and replacing our short-term memory. But there’s no need to panic over this, you can re-rewire your brain. This isn’t even an entirely new problem. This matter is also mentioned in the century-old Parents’ Review article!
“The habit of reading is so easily lost; not so much, perhaps, the power of enjoying books as the actual power of reading at all. It is incredible how, after not being able to use the eyes for a time, the habit of reading fast has to be painfully regained…This power is what our children are gaining at school, and this power is what we are losing when we refuse to give a little time out of our lives to “Mother Culture.” ”
A., The Parents’ Review Volume 3, no. 2, 1892/93, pgs. 92-95
So if you’ve ever worried that technology has permanently changed you or that it’s only a problem of modernity, rest assured mothers have been worrying about such things for centuries, and probably will for centuries to come š
To bring these three elements of Mother Culture together, we can implement “remembering” in the following ways. If you have more, I’d love to hear it!
- Wrote memorization- memorizing scripture, poetry or other beautiful passages
- A Commonplace Book, or Book of Mottoes (same thing, different name; more on that soon)
- Journaling- different than Commonplace-ing in that you add your own reflections and words
- Mind mapping- as one idea pulls up another, write about your connections and even illustrate it
- Narrating- telling back what you learned in your own words via writing or telling to someone else (your spouse is a perfect candidate!)
Putting it All Together
There will be a Part Two to this post so be sure to check for that, but in the meantime, I think we need a starting point.
First off, reading an article on a habit you want to begin is already a good start! You could’ve been scrolling or doing something else less beneficial but you took time to learn something, and now you have something to think on.
Start practicing now. Mentally tell back what you just read, as if you were surmising it for a friend (narration). Maybe take a page out of John Muir-Laws’ book and say to yourself, “I notice ____…” and, “I wonder____…” Fill in your answer to those and you’ll have a takeaway and a follow-up question!
With those in your toolbelt, you can go for the trifecta and jot down a few notes, any of the quotes I included that stood out, or any connections you made to other ideas/sources. If you just want to take the ideas to mull over for a while, that’s fine too. We’ll get to Commonplace Books in the next post.
I’m so glad you’re here and took the time to read. I hope you start implementing Mother Culture into your daily homemaking schedule.
Look out for Part Two and let me know what you think in the comments! In the meantime, keep pursuing truth, goodness and beauty every single day.
-Tara
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