TIP #8: Expose your child to great minds - Beginner Guide to Charlotte Mason

"We owe it to every child to put him in communication with great minds that he may get at great thoughts." is a well-known quotation from one of Charlotte Mason's volumes. 

Charlotte Mason recommended that we expose our children to great artworks, great music, great poetry and great literature from an early age, so that they can use these as inspiration to go on to create great ideas of their own. This is why most Charlotte Mason curricula include subjects such as Composer Study or Musical Appreciation and Picture Study, with a large focus on well-written works of literature. 

While being exposed to the books, artworks and music themselves, it was also encouraged to learn a little bit about the author, artist or composer as a person, as this formed an important part of understanding their work. Why did they create what they did?

So how do we define "great"? In Charlotte Mason's day (late 19th century, early 20th century), the emphasis was mostly on well-known (now seen as "classic") European minds from the 17th century onwards, mostly male and white. Thankfully in today's society, we can still follow the principle of studying great minds, but we can now be more inclusive. We can study great works from both male and female minds, and we can study great works from a wide variety of different cultures, regions and races. 

Amber O'Neal Johnston does a great job of applying Charlotte Mason's methods about great minds to her heritage and culture in her blog "Heritage Mom"