Children are born whole persons hungry for knowledge

Education according to Charlotte Mason

"[The] mind appeals to mind and thought begets thought and that is how we become educated. For this reason we owe it to every child to put him in communication with great minds that he may get at great thoughts; with the minds, that is, of those who have left us great works; and the only vital method of education appears to be that children should read worthy books, many worthy books." - Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason was a British educator and education reformer at the turn of the 20th century. She advocated for a liberal arts approach to education and created curriculum following her perspective of what such an education should entail. She is beloved and most celebrated by proponents of classical education and homeschooling parents. 

Mason viewed children as whole persons from birth, and through her teaching methods, she aimed to thus educate the whole child—mind, body, and spirit. She thought that children were much more capable than adults, including professional educators, gave them credit for. In her view, humans are born with an appetite for knowledge, and as such, children could be exposed to big ideas at a young age. 

"I soon perceived that children were well equipped to deal with ideas, and that explanations, questionings, amplifications, are unnecessary and wearisome. Children have a natural appetite for knowledge which is informed with thought. They bring imagination, judgment, and the various so-called ‘faculties,’ to bear upon a new idea pretty much as the gastric juices act upon a food ration."