I wonder why:: Masterly Inactivity

Friday, January 6, 2012

Masterly Inactivity

So Charlotte Mason has this term "Masterly Inactivity" in her book(s). This concept of mothers not pushing or controlling, but to offer time to include home making, life skills, handicrafts and the like. It was a way to allow the children choices in their afternoons. It was her creative suggestion on not loosing the hours of the afternoon to wasted time. This masterly inactivity was quieter time. It encouraged independence and interdependence, cooperation, personal expression and self reflection.

We've incorporated this MI into our afternoons (and I admit it seeps into our evenings at times). At first I was much more controlling about what we could/would do from week to week. (I didn't understand MI) When there were only little people in this house they just struggled to keep things tidy after crafting! And they often needed a nap in the afternoon.

But now there are lots of choices for the children and they enjoy it so much.
Here is a small list of what they chose this past month with photos of course!

Taking apart a pair of jeans that were too short and turning them

into a jean skirt to wear to church.

Embossing and watercolor together.

(this one is moms finished work)

Needle felting.

Quilting and embroidery (the girls get help from mature neighbors for this)

Making wooly soap

the beginning of a haversack for boys!

Other options on our long list (and no photos to show for the work):

shrinky dink jewelry

beeswax molding

Small “first doll” sewing from scratch

American Girl doll clothes sewing

knitting

crocheting

woodworking

charcoal drawing

calligraphy

assigned chores

puppy dog training

whittling with balsa wood

making cards for the volunteer office at the hospital

reading a book for fun

If you'd like to read more (and free) about Masterly Inactivity, here is one persons take on the idea.

Wonder at the things that are before thee making this the first step toward further knowledge.

Clement of Alexandria

Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life which is generally personal.

Saint John Paul II the Great

Persevere in reading while dwelling in stillness, that your mind may be drawn to wonders of God at all times.

St. Issac the Syrian

We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable.

G.K. Chesterton

Children are born with curious minds, and all they need are things to wonder about, reflect on, imagine and experience in order for their minds to do their inner work and stretch their minds to capacity.

Charlotte Mason

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

Anne Frank

Wonder is not a force that pushes us passively from behind; it is situated ahead of us with irresistible force toward the object of our astonishment; it makes us advance toward it, filled with enchantment.

Sofia Cavaletti

I wonder-hush he whispers-if perhaps the world will wake again. When Christmas brings the stories back from where the skies are blue, Where clouds are scattering diamonds down on every cottage window-pane And every boy's a fairy prince and every tale is true.

Alfred Noyes

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder..., he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
Rachel Carson

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the oceans, at the circular motion of the stars;and they pass by themselves without wondering.

St. Augustine

Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. If you learn this art of being thoughtful, you will become more and more Christlike, for His heart was meek and always thought of others.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Only those who look with the eyes of children can loose themselves in the object of their wonder.

Eberhard Arnold

Wonder is the salt of the Earth.

M.C. Escher

I think we need more of the wordless in our lives.

We need more stillness,

more of a sense of wonder, a feeling for the mystery of life.

Ben Okri

The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder.

G.K. Chesterton

When we consider how human beings are made, we are filled with wonder at the wisdom of the Creator that is revealed in us.

Theodoret

Open my eyes to see clearly the wonders of your law

Psalm 119:18

Life eternal! O what wonders crowd on faith; what joy unknown, when amidst earths closing hungers, saints stand before the throne.

William Irons

When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love and praise. Addison

Generalism is the enemy of wonder because it suppresses uniqueness.

D H Lawrence

Wonder now more than ever is an essential survivor skill. Robert Macfarlane

The ends of the earth stand in awe at the sight of your wonders. Psalm 65

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature. If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess.

Mortimer Adler