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Great Character Building Site-Christian 10 Commandments of Organization High Cost of Disorganization--Why we should develop the virtue of orderliness. "A Civilization at Risk: Whatever Became of Virtue?"--Online Chapter 1 from Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft "Justice, Wisdom, Courage, and Moderation: The Four Cardinal Virtues"--Online Chapter 4 from Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft Online "Prologue" from Heart of Virtue by Donald Demarco "Living a Virtuous Life" by Fr. William Saunders "On Self-Discipline" by Rev. James V. Schall, S.J. |
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| Music is Glazunov's Allegretto from his ballet, "The Seasons". (photo) |
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PRAY for FORTITUDE & PERSEVERANCE No NAGGING! Remember: A Hopeful, Expectant Eye! Be as positively hopeful in the face of your own failure, as you wish to be when your children fail. |
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| Habit Is Ten Natures |
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| The Four Cardinal Virtues Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, & Justice |
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| Note: Underscored titles and names indicate web links. Click on them to access the mentioned resource. |
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| GETTING STARTED: Once You have right motivation, PRAY! Then, GO FOR IT! The longest journey begins with the first step-no matter how tiny! After beginning with prayer and meditation, start with one habit. Acquire it through perseverance and fortitude. Then persistently and consistently teach it to your children. First. share with your children how your lives would benefit from the result of this new habit, share how you have been working to acquire the new habit, and enlist their support. Then let them know that you will help them to learn the new habit, too. When they forget, promise that you will look them straight in the eye and smile expectantly to remind them to remember. Practice a time or two--this was my children's favorite part!!! They practiced the raised eyebrow and hopeful smiile, just in case they needed to remind me! ;^) Then persistently and consistently watch to ensure that the habit is remembered and done faithfully and well. The time to establish a new habit is several weeks to a month. Charlotte Mason warns us to beware the rock that sinks many new ships of habit. Do NOT think to reward your children's persistent practice of their new habit by refraining from reminding them if they suddenly forget to perform it after several weeks. This will set you back beyond step one. For now, they will need to totally relearn the habit, plus they will doubt your own conviction as to the importance and necessity of cultivating the habit. The best part of learning a new habit is that with time and repetition, the new habit becomes so easy that one no longer is conscious of doing it! An even better result is the pleasure that one takes in seeing the results of the habit. My cleaner and more organized home affords me great pleasure when I sit down to a cup of tea and a book in the middle of the afternoon. My daughter loves to look at her newly grown fingernails. Did I mention that she took to learning the new habit of orderliness so well that she decided to break her own bad habit of nail-biting on her own? The added benefit of learning new habits is one's increased strength of will, fortitude to look one's shortcomings in the eye and change them. As for us moms, the terrible chore of learning new habits, and then having to persevere in making sure that our children learn them as well also has a bright side. Just as learning the habits becomes easier with time and repetition, training our children in new habits itself becomes a our new habit with the same easy and lack of conscious thought! What if I forget? Then take St. Paul's advice (Philippians 3:12-16): It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have been taken possession of by Christ... Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I contiinue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God's upward calling in Christ Jesus. |
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| If Education truly is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life, then homeschooling parents must be inherently familiar with habit formation, both their own and their children's. A peaceful, loving, and knowledge- oriented atmosphere does not occur without the systematic and persistent efforts of the parents. Habit, a means of rendering the most basic requirements of such an atmosphere automatic, is, or will become, the parents' best friend. In addition, training the children to control and master their own wills and behavior is an inherent part of creating the Christian character capable of heroic deeds in the future. |
| In His Word: Support & Inspiration for Habit Formation Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is near.Have no anxiety, but in every prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God.And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever, honorable, whatever just, whatever holy, whatever lovable, whatever of good repute, if there be any virtue, if anything worthy of praise, think upon these things. And what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, these things practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9 (Douay-Rheims Confraternity Version) 1Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good. 2 Come to him, a living stone, 3 rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built 4 into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Growth toward salvation is seen here as two steps: first, stripping away all that is contrary to the new life in Christ; second, the nourishment (pure spiritual milk) that the newly baptized have received. 2 Tasted that the Lord is good: cf Psalm 34:8. 3 Christ is the cornerstone (cf Isaiah 28:16) that is the foundation of the spiritual edifice of the Christian community (1 Peter 2:5). To unbelievers, Christ is an obstacle and a stumbling block on which they are destined to fall (1 Peter 2:8); cf Romans 11:11. 4 Let yourselves be built: the form of the Greek word could also be indicative passive, "you are being built" (cf 2 Peter 2:9). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Christ's peace must reign in your hearts, since as members of the one body you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you. In wisdom made perfect, instruct and admonish one another. Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns, and inspired songs. Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some thoughts on why we should persevere in our children�s, as well as in our own, habit formation: You are who you are when you are suddenly confronted with danger, disappointment, frustration or anger. So let us think on Jesus who loved us totally and gave Himself totally for us with no complaints, but only with love. Let us then practice doing the same for each other in small ways, as often as possible so that we may develop the habit of recalling the presence of Jesus in our hearts, minds, and souls at all times. For without the daily habit of wearing armor and training ourselves to move, fight, and defend ourselves while wearing that armor, it would serve to render us immobile and incapable of protecting ourselves or our loved ones. If we were to wear that armor only when we thought it would be necessary, we would be like those five silly virgins who waited for the bridegroom, not knowing exactly when he was to come, yet bringing no oil with which to fill their lamps. We would find ourselves defenseless when the enemy came unexpectedly. Therefore, I propose that training ourselves and our children in the habits of maintaining our relationship with God, keeping our homes orderly, and thinking properly, will serve as the training grounds for keeping ourselves fine-tuned for whatever the Spirit may require of us, that we may be strong enough, and have wisdom and strength of will enough to do God�s will. And finally, Paul�s assurance that even when we feel the most discouraged or incapable of attaining our goals: I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (New American Bible) |
| Lynn Hocraffer's Study Guides to CM-- GREAT summaries/outlines on the following topics & more: The Child, Discipline, Habits & Character, Ideas, Relations, Attention, Narration, The Will, The Reason, Goals, Religion, The 3 R's, Geography & History, The Arts, Masterly Inactivity, Nature Study & Notebooks, Method and Philosophy of Education, Useful Links, A Charlotte Mason Education, Book Reviews n nnn The Little Way--A religious household habit helper for homeschool moms. Join & go to archives & read beginning with message 1. Levison: Online Articles "Dawdling Over Lesson" "Formation of Habit" CM's Original Home Education Online ( click on underlined volume number) Vol. 1: Home Education (not yet online) Vol. 2: Parents & Children (completely online) Vol. 3: School Education (20 chapters online) Vol. 4: Ourselves (1st three chapters on- line) [All about Habits of doing good (Virtues) and Vices; Forming right conscience--written for 2 age groups] Vol. 5: Formation of Character (not yet online) Vol. 6: A Philosophy of Education (completely online) Charlotte Mason Education Links |
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