There's Learning Everywhen

I'm currently reading a compilation of some of Charlotte Mason's writings about time outdoors -- "The Outdoor Life of Children" -- and the more I read of Mason's writings the more it resonates with me. She says

It would be well if we all persons in authority, parents and all who act for parents, could make up our minds that there is no sort of knowledge to be got in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves of the world they live in. Let them once get touch with Nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight all through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.
..... 
The power to classify, discriminate, distinguish between things that differ, is amongst the highest faculties of the human intellect, and no opportunity to cultivate it should be let slip; but a classification got out of books, that the child does not make for himself, cultivates no power but that of verbal memory, and a phrase or two of "Tamil" or other unknown tongue, learnt off, would serve that purpose as well.
....
The mother cannot devote herself too much to this kind of reading [naturalists' books], not only that she may read tid-bits to her children about matters they have come across, but that she may be able to answer their queries and direct their observations.

I think it speaks to me because it affirms that learning in and of itself is a worthy end, and that we are made to find happiness in it. It's not indulgence to put time and effort into learning. And not only is learning good for each individual, it is important for me in my role as a mother and teacher in the home to have that love of learning and of nature and take the time to learn what I need to know so that I can teach my children about the world we live in. I did get a certain amount of that knowledge growing up but it's not really focused on in school. If a parent didn't get this kind of education for herself, she has time to go back and pick it up and learn it alongside -- or just ahead of -- her children.