The mind is a spiritual octopus, reaching out limbs in every direction to draw in enormous rations of that which under the actions of the mind itself becomes knowledge. Nothing can stale its infinite variety; the heavens and the earth, the past, the present, and future, things great and things minute, nations and men, the universe, all are within the scope of the human intelligence.

Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education, p. 330 Show Summary:

• On The New Mason Jar this week, Cindy and Dawn kick off a new series of the podcast, Morning Time for Moms, with our first guest in the series, Jami Marstall
• How Jami first came to hear about Charlotte Mason
• How much of AmblesideOnline’s curriculum Jami has personally read as the mother and teacher
• What practices Jami put in place to ensure she was growing in knowledge
• How the mother-teacher is the guide, philosopher, and friend
• What is the significance of the “spiritual octopus” quote from the intro?
• How can moms build a reading life in the busy seasons of life?
• What Jami is reading now and what some of her other activities are

Books and Links Mentioned:

Beyond Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

For the Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Towards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason

The Idea of America by Gordon S. Wood

John Adams by David McCullough

The Universe Next Door by James Sire

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Lynn Bruce’s article on The Spiritual Octopus

S2E22: Charlotte Mason Through High School with Jami Marstall

Find Cindy and Dawn:

Morning Time for Moms

Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group

Mere Motherhood Facebook Group

The Literary Life Podcast

Cindy’s Facebook

Cindy’s Instagram

Dawn’s Swedish Drill website

Dawn’s A Reasoned Patriotism website

Dawn’s Substack

What we are concerned with is the fact that we personally have relations with all that there is in the present, all that there has been in the past, and all that there will be in the future––with all above us and all about us––and that fullness of living, expansion, expression, and serviceableness, for each of us, depend upon how far we apprehend these relationships and how many of them we lay hold of…. Every [mother] is heir to an enormous patrimony, heir to all the ages, inheritor of all the present. The question is, what are the [educational] formalities necessary to put [her] in possession of that which is [hers]?

paraphrase of Charlotte Mason from School Education, pg. 186