Education is a Discipline
We have always known that ‘use is second nature,’ and that ‘man is a bundle of habits.’ It was new to me, for instance, to perceive that it rests with parents and teachers to lay down lines of habit on which the life of the child may run henceforth with little jolting or miscarriage and may advance in the right direction with the minimum of effort.
Ambleside teachers intentionally cultivate habits of attention, listening, reading, thinking, discussing, diligence and thoroughness regarding work and rightly relating to one another. During these formative times, Ambleside teachers work alongside students, supporting them through presence and accountability.
Charlotte Mason understood—long before sophisticated imaging technology confirmed it—that the physical brain is shaped by its experiences. Mason knew life could be “duly eased” for children “by those whose business it was to lay down lines of habit upon which behaviour might run easily.”
At Ambleside, students learn the discipline of education as they practice the habits proper to learning and mature living:
- Heightened attention.
- Consistent narration.
- Careful approach to work.
- Prompt obedience.
- Mature relationships with others.
- Critical thinking.
- Generous spirit.
- Reverence.
- Natural courtesies.
- Physical fitness.
- Moral fitness.