The atmosphere in your home can have a deeper, more lasting impact on your children than any curriculum or schedule. When your home becomes a place of inspiration, beauty, and connection, learning happens naturally and joyfully.
A Christ-Centered Atmosphere
The foundation of a sacred learning environment is a Christ-centered home.
Anchor Your Day in Prayer and Scripture: Elder Boyd K. Packer taught, “Our homes are to be more like a temple and less like the world” (The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Packer). Starting your day with family prayer and scripture study invites the Spirit and helps set the tone for Christ-centered learning.
Create a Dedicated Space: Designate an area in your home for spiritual and academic pursuits. Fill it with gospel-centered books, uplifting artwork, and natural light to reflect order and peace.
Incorporate Family Proclamation Principles:
- Family Goals: Work together to set spiritual and academic goals. For example, memorize a scripture each week or complete a family service project.
- Family Standards: Establish standards for behavior, media use, and respect to create a safe and uplifting atmosphere.
- Family Traditions: Build traditions that reinforce faith, such as weekly family nights, seasonal scripture readings, or service-oriented activities.
Infuse Beauty and Inspiration
Charlotte Mason believed, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life” (Home Education, Volume 1). The environment you create profoundly shapes your children’s learning experience.
Living Books: Stock your shelves with “living books”—literature written by authors passionate about their subjects. These books ignite imagination and provoke thought. Create a cozy reading corner with classics like The Chronicles of Narnia or Heidi.
Nature and Art: Mason taught, “Never be within doors when you can rightly be without” (Home Education, Volume 1). Spend time in nature, observing and documenting discoveries through journaling or sketching. Display beautiful art prints in your home and encourage your children to narrate what they see.
Music and Poetry: Play classical music during quiet times and incorporate poetry recitation into your routine. These practices nurture the soul and cultivate a love for beauty.
Foster Order and Purpose
Order and structure provide a foundation for learning.
Family Economy of Shared Responsibility: Teach children to contribute to the home through chores and shared tasks. Create chore charts or rotate responsibilities weekly. Discuss how stewardship over family tasks connects to gospel principles like service and consecration.
Habit Formation: Charlotte Mason emphasized, “The formation of habits is education, and education is the formation of habits” (Home Education, Volume 1). Focus on developing habits like attentiveness, truthfulness, and self-discipline. Introduce one habit at a time and reinforce it with consistency.
Simplicity in Surroundings: Avoid overwhelming children with clutter or excessive activities. Mason advised, “Give your child a single valuable thing at a time and let him look at it until he sees it” (Home Education, Volume 1).
Build a Culture of Love and Connection
Strong relationships are the foundation of meaningful learning.
Focus on Relationships Before Correction: Strengthen family bonds through one-on-one time, family councils, and meaningful conversations.
Teach Spiritual Skills: Help children learn how to pray, study scriptures, and seek personal revelation. For example, hold a family council to pray about decisions together, modeling reliance on the Holy Ghost.
Encourage Kindness and Empathy: Use uplifting stories to teach virtues. For example, read The Hundred Dresses to explore themes of compassion and standing up for others.
Inspire a Love of Learning
When learning is joyful and self-directed, it becomes a lifelong pursuit.
Narration: Charlotte Mason encouraged narration as a way for children to process and articulate what they’ve learned. After reading, ask, “What stood out to you?” or “What did you learn about courage from this character?”
Service Opportunities: Link learning to acts of service. For example, study nutrition and then deliver meals to those in need. Tie service projects to gospel principles like loving your neighbor and building Zion.
Encourage Reflection and Gratitude
Reflection helps children internalize what they’ve learned and recognize God’s hand in their lives.
Journaling: Encourage children to journal their thoughts, prayers, or observations from nature walks. This practice reinforces narration and self-reflection.
Gratitude Practices: President Thomas S. Monson taught, “To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven” (The Divine Gift of Gratitude, October 2010 General Conference). Use gratitude journals and family discussions to recognize daily blessings and foster joy.
Start Small and Focus on What Matters Most
You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Begin by choosing one aspect of the environment to focus on this week, whether it’s adding more beauty to your home, creating routines, or setting family goals.
Remember, your home is more than a school—it’s a sacred space where your children grow spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually. As you implement these principles, you’ll cultivate an environment that nurtures learning and invites the Spirit into every corner of your home.
Resources for Inspiration
- Charlotte Mason: 6 Volume Homeschool Series
- The Well-Educated Heart: Free resources and courses by Marlene Peterson.
- Thomas Jefferson Education: A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.
- Teachings from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including The Family: A Proclamation to the World.
