![\"OLYMPUS](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.educatingoaks.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/P8271131-1.jpg?resize=227%2C300\")
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Charlotte Mason lists Reason as one of her Twenty Principles: “We teach children, too, not to ‘lean (too confidently) to their own understanding’; because the function of reason is to give logical demonstration (a) of mathematical truth, (b) of an initial idea, accepted by\u00a0the will. In the former case, reason is, practically, an infallible guide, but in the latter, it is not always a safe one; for, whether that idea be right or wrong, reason will confirm it by irrefragable proofs” (Charlotte Mason,\u00a0Towards a Philosophy of Education <\/em>xxxi).<\/p>\n Reason is an\u00a0all-encompassing topic. It addresses all manner of truths of our natural world, those things that can be learned by observation or deduction. It involves looking for patterns and considering the way ideas\u00a0work together.\u00a0We all reason\u00a0all day long all the time. Sometimes we do science experiments without thinking about it. We pour a little red wine in the stew to add acidity and deepen the flavor of the onions and beef. Other times, we carefully plan out an experiment just to have it work too well, and leave us cleaning something off of the popcorn ceiling over the kitchen table. (Ahem.)<\/p>\n Mathematics clearly falls under this heading. As we grow familiar with numbers and learn to manipulate them, we combine them in different ways. We use some\u00a0math curricula\u00a0for this, but if I were a more creative mother, we could conquer this stage with games and toys and whiteboards. I am, however, declared “un-fun” by my children, so we follow our MathUSee consistently and wander through Life of Fred intermittently. Neither of which are un-fun, and both of which require outside of the box thinking on a regular basis. Have you met Sir Cumference<\/a>? He isn’t un-fun either.<\/p>\n The study of Mathematics forces you to think about things entirely from their logical roots and relationships, providing substantial practice at the art of reason. \u00a0There are other subjects that also require a lot of reasoning, but we’ll get to those tomorrow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n