The Will

There are lots of educational schools of thought out there and over the past year I have read books about a few (truly only a small smattering) of them.  Most recently I have been reading about Charlotte Mason.  If you start reading about homeschooling you will eventually hear about Charlotte Mason.  She was an educator in England in the late 1800s and wrote a series of 7 books for parents of that time on her methods of education and child training.  She has an extremely large following in the homeschool community and I am beginning to understand why.

Unfortunately I have only read small amounts of the "source material" because I keep having to recheck them from the library.  I love Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, I don't find reading their books difficult and have read their novels several times, but I find Charlotte Mason's books challenging.  Reading nonfiction with great depth in that language style is SLOW going for me and they are always on hold so I only have two weeks to read any one of the 7 books she wrote and then I never know when I'll get to check them out again.  Couple that with the fact that I wasn't sure that the effort was worth it and I'm sure you can understand why I've only read a small amount of her books. 

I am not the only one who finds her books challenging and there are several books about her books and methods and decided to check out those books through interlibrary loan.  While waiting for those books to come in, I went to a homeschooling conference in the area and went to a workshop on Charlotte Mason's habit training.  Both Juan and I were impressed with what we heard, so I was very excited when the interlibrary loan books started to come in.  The first book I read was For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School.  I liked what I read and agreed with most of it.  The second book I am currently reading is A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning and I plan on buying the book.  The chapter that made me want to own it was chapter 10, the way of the will.  

According to Karen Andreola, the author, Charlotte Mason spoke of will training.  The will is the power of the self to choose and not just to go along with what is easy.  It is the combination of the ability to delay gratification and focus on goals along with a knowledge of self and the virtues we choose to make part of our character.  We hear about will power in relation to exercise and diet, but will power relates to all parts of our lives.  It is what makes us consistent with our goals until they become habit.  

In reading this enlightening chapter I have come to realize that many of the things I frustrate myself with is due to the fact that I have a weak will.  I often think to myself , "Why can't I just start this one thing.  I know it will help me.  I want to do it.  Why can't I seem to actually DO it?"  It is because I lack the will.  I often start things I know will be good for me and my family, but am not consistent with them.  My will is weak.  The immediate situation and how I'm feeling too often override my will.  I don't like conflict and prefer to go along the path of least resistance even if that path is not taking me where I really want to go.  This is a character defect on my part, but I feel it is an easy defect to have in our current society.  We live in a society of instant gratification and indulgence, we are constantly bombarded with things we must have and do now.  We are constantly shown the easy path is usually the best path and hard work is often not worth the end result.  Perhaps I am looking for excuses for my own character weakness, but I think I am right in feeling that we live in a weak willed world.  What else is apathy, but a lack of will?  When we make conscious, thought out choices, when we exercise our will, we cannot be apathetic.  

So how do you strengthen will?  That is my question. I am hoping a greater awareness of the problem will go a long way to helping me strengthen my will, because just like a muscle the only way to strengthen will is to exercise it.  And just like in exercising, you have to start small and work every day adding greater strain gradually.  In the end I want a strong will, I want to be able to accomplish every goal I set my mind to and most importantly I want to give this gift of a strong will to my children.  I can think of only a few gifts of greater value than a strong will.  If this is what Charlotte Mason teaches, I will put the effort into reading the source material so I can learn more.