Far more valuable than academics, training a child’s habits is essential to the formation of good character. We are, after all, what we repeatedly do.

Charlotte Mason tells us that the formation of habits IS education. We must rid our mind of the idea that academics is what education is all about. It’s not. It’s about the whole child, nurturing them to be the very best they can be now. The habits of the child form the character of the adult.

Charlotte Mason tells us,

“The child who starts out with, say, 20 good habits begins with a certain capital which he will lay out to endless profit as the years go on.”

She encourages us to focus on one or two habits at a time and to lovingly nurture those until they are second nature to the child. This could take a few weeks or a few months. If you focus on one habit every three months, at the year’s end, you will have formed 4 good habits in one year. If only 20 are required for every advantage in life, you’re child is well on the way to developing a lifelong supply of powerful habits that will form his character.

Below are articles dedicated to several important habits Charlotte Mason mentions in her Original Homeschooling Series.

For a list of habits, click this link.