Summer & Fall 2019 Mother Culture...

I was looking back at old posts and realized, I didn't share my summer reading list so I will include progress here in this post along with the fall list. Click here to see where I left off in spring.

Summer Mother Culture

Upon reflection, I actually read quite a bit this summer all things considered. Reading in community is a big push for me. I love the accountability it brings, as well as the camaraderie. I find I am most productive when reading with a group.

Here's what I read this summer....

CM Study Group

I finished A Practical Guide to Culture by Stonestreet and Kunkle in August with my CM Study Group. There were a few nuggets in this book, particularly if you are a media friendly family, and maybe more so if you are involved in public school. However, some parts felt like preaching to the choir because sadly I'm not sure those that need to hear the message are the ones picking up the book. Stonestreet and Kunkle do tackle some difficult cultural issues such as pornography, sexual orientation, gender identity, and entertainment from a biblical perspective.

There is a rhythm to the chapters so each is written in the same format, beginning with introduction, followed by bullet points or numbered action points, and closing with a review. This makes A Practical Guide to Culture an easy read, as it's in an understandable format. There are also study guide questions at the end of each chapter, which makes it a great book club or study group book.

Overall, I did quite a bit of underlining in the book and will use it for a quick reference if needed. I would most likely not read the book a second time, but would recommend it to those looking for ways to glean ideas on handling the cultural pressures on our kids today.

Convivial Circle

In June, I finished reading Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott, in an effort to facilitate an online study group at Convivial Circle. I was really excited to finally read this book that had been on my list for some time. I've heard Andrew Kern, Martin Cothran, and Cindy Rollins all mention it at some point. Honestly, the book started really strong, but lagged for me toward the end. I don't know that Caldecott ever closed the circle in my mind. I was left wondering about a few points he brought up, but never finalized.

Overall, it was worthy in spite of being very philosophical. Maybe a second reading would better enlighten me. I would like to blog more about this book in the future.

Read Along

The kids, Steve, my father, and I set out to read The Pearl by John Steinbeck in August. We enjoyed our True Grit study so much that we wanted to continue. I believe dad, Riley, and possibly Steve finished, but Ruben and I did not. It's still on my nightstand and I aim to get back at it this winter.

Summer Schole Sisters

It's always so hard to see summer end, but I am left this year with extremely fond memories of reading Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset with my Summer Schole Sisters. Undset's trilogy had also been on my want to read list for some time...maybe since I first heard Wes Callihan mention it on a Schole Sisters podcast back in Episode 14. I have been thinking about Kristin periodically since finishing the book.

Kristin Lavransdatter is set in Medieval Norway. It is the story of a life beginning with Kristin as a young girl and ending with her death as a woman, wife, and mother of eight sons. I must confess, I was not hooked after Part I, The Wreath. Instead, I was actually annoyed by the ignorant ways of young lovers. However, Part II, The Wife persuaded me and Part III, The Cross, totally sealed the deal!! I can't recommend this book enough and will definitely read it again at some point.

Fall Mother Culture

CM Study Group

Our CM Study Group has moved on to When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy Today edited by Elaine Cooper. It's a series of essays from various educators contemplating the importance of a Charlotte Mason education and how to apply it one hundred years later. It's an older book, published in 2004, but certainly still relevant.

High School Book Club

Riley and I are starting a High School Book Club this year. It's a spin off of the High School Community I facilitated last year. However, we will simply read and discuss classic works this year at Riley's request and not include composition, current events, Shakespeare, and recitation. Our High School Community was fabulous, but a lot of work. Other members agreed and were not able to continue in the same format this year. This book club will follow more closely to the Middle School Socratic Book Clubs that I led a few years ago.

Riley was instrumental in choosing the five titles we will read. The two fall books are: The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I'll save the winter reads for another post.

My fall list is short, but plentiful. I have many other books on my nightstand. However, with the Journey: An Education for Life retreat not too far off, I'm not adding any others until winter. I will actually be speaking about Mother Culture and my reading habits at this year's retreat!

Spring 2019 Mother Culture...

The calendar says spring, but it really hasn't felt like it yet here in Wisconsin. We've had really cold, wet weather and we're about two weeks behind as far as the growing season. That's not great for the farm, but it's been good for my literary life, as I've continued to pluck away at my reading indoors. You can see my winter reading list here. Today, I'm going to share an update on past reading and show you my current book list.

CM Study Group

In March, we finished reading The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis. We also read the section on C.S. Lewis from The Great Tradition by Richard M. Gamble. In April, we discussed The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers. That was a re-read for me, but much more interesting the second time around. I will be posting more on that in the future.

In May, we began discussing A Practical Guide to Culture by John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkle. There are four parts so we will discuss a different part each month over late spring and into summer. I am also discussing this through Voxer with a couple gals I met on the Schole Sistership. I believe very strongly in reading in community. If there is no one in your area, technology has made it amazingly easy to find someone online.

Convivial Circle

I didn't finish Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot, which was on my winter reading list, but will pick it up again at some point in the future. I did, however, read Finish by Jon Acuff earlier this year, which is a current book being studied at Convivial Circle.

I am also leading a study on Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott at Convivial Circle, which is amazing so far! I will be blogging on that in the future.

High School Community

Our High School Community concluded in March, but I did finish reading Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens at that time. Both of which are excellent!

Read Along

Riley, Ruben, Steve, my dad, and I all finished reading True Grit by Charles Portis in April. It was such a fun study! When we were finished reading and discussing, we watched both the 1969 and 2010 True Grit movies. Reading along with family is another great way of reading in community. Create your own family book club!

Schole Sistership

I have joined a group of women being led by Cindy Rollins through a reading of Seeking God by Esther De Waal and The Rule of St. Benedict. However, I haven't started reading yet. I do aim to over the next couple of weeks as we are just finishing up school this week, which will afford me more time.

Literary Life

If you haven't joined Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford on their Literary Life journey, you should! They've started a podcast that explores all aspects of life cultivated by books and stories. I listened to the first episode and loved it! They are currently hosting a study of Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers, which is also on my list to be read. My only Sayers' read thus far was The Lost Tools of Learning mentioned above. I have heard a great deal about her mystery stories and can't wait to get started.

Summer Schole Sisters

Lastly, I will facilitate discussion locally as we read through Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset beginning this spring and running into summer. We will study Book I for June, Book II for July, and Book III in August. I'm nearly done reading Book I, The Wreath and am really looking forward to our June 2nd discussion! I love this summer group!

You may remember in past summers, we studied Anna Karenina, The Grapes of Wrath, and Les Miserables. We meet at a local restaurant one Sunday evening a month over the summer (typically June-August) to discuss our read. Several women in the area were asking to continue the gatherings this year. This will be our third summer and hopefully, we can continue for many more!

What's included in your spring reading list? Please share in the comments below...

True Grit...

"There is no knowing what is in a man's heart.", Mattie Ross - True Grit.    

One day, I was doing some research on the Close Reads podcast and mentioned to the kids that True Grit was initially a book written by Charles Portis. Riley and Ruben had seen parts of each True Grit movie. They are John Wayne fans and asked to watch the 1969 movie in it's entirety. I proposed a book study first and they were both intrigued. We decided to include their dad and grandpa, so I ordered multiple copies of Portis' novel from the library and we each set off in our own direction to read.

A month later, we gathered to discuss. True Grit is the story of 14-year old Mattie Ross, who's father was killed by his ranch hand, Tom Chaney. Mattie sets out to avenge her father's death. First, Mattie goes to town to identify her father's body and settle the family's financial affairs. Then, she hires Reuben J. Cogburn, also-known-as Rooster, a rough and tough, hard-drinking, one-eyed U.S. Marshall, to bring in her father's killer. However, there is one condition, that Mattie must travel with Rooster in order to see that justice is served.

In the meantime, a young Texas Ranger named La Boeuf shows up also looking for Tom Chaney. He decides to team with Cogburn in his quest, but doesn't want Mattie tagging along. In the end. La Boeuf looses the battle and the three of them set off for their fugitive, who's hiding deep in Indian Territory. Their journey proves to be quite an adventure! Mattie Ross, a proud Presbyterian, is a wonderful protagonist that I would liken to Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn.

After reading and discussing Portis' novel, we watched John Wayne's 1969 Academy Award winning performance as Rooster Cogburn. With a G-rating, I would say it was an excellent family film! Then, we watched Jeff Bridges' 2010 portrayal of Rooster, which was equally good. Both Bridges and Wayne bring Cogburn's rough and tumble, but highly lovable character full circle on the big screen. The 2010 film is more true to Portis' book, but John Wayne certainly can't be beat in his display of true grit. Interestingly, the 2010 version is rated PG-13. It's funny to see how ratings have changed over the years. Both True Grit movie versions have some minor language and violence in them, but so does the book.

Whether it be True Grit or not, I highly recommend book studies with your older children. Sometimes while parenting teenagers, we get lost in the day to day grind of them trying to assert their independence. It is so wonderful to build family culture around books and movies. It creates a bond that surpasses the most difficult days. I can't tell you enough how much I love reading along with my older kids!                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Schole Sisters - Les Miserables...

You may remember this past summer I was planning to read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo with my Summer Schole Sisters. I've been waiting to post a review until now because I was going to attend the Broadway musical Les Miserables and I wanted to compare and contrast the two. This weekend, I had the privilege of seeing the musical, but first, let's back up to the book read last summer.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo was originally published in 1862 in French. There are several good English translations, of which, you can compare here. I personally, ordered each translation from the library and read the same excerpt from each book before settling on the Norman Denny translation as my reading copy. I did so because I liked the readability of it, as well as the fact that Denny maintained much of Hugo's original work. He did move a couple lengthy passages to the back of the book, but they were still there if one chose to go read them.

I did also buy the Isabel Hapgood translation because it matches the Librivox audio and the C. E. Wilbour translation because it was the first English translation and was written only one year after Hugo's original publication. A couple of moms in our group chose the Julie Rose translation and loved the extensive end notes in that edition. I plan to go back and re-read Les Mis in a different translation at some point. Either way, I would encourage you to find an unabridged version regardless of translation.

Once I began reading Les Mis, I met with my Summer Schole Sisters five times from June through August to discuss it. We broke up assigned reading by volumes, meeting after each of the five volumes. There were six regular attenders in addition to myself, which made for great discussion. All of which were home educating moms, with the exception of one grandma. It was awesome to have that perspective in our group!

Les Miserables is set in the first half of 19th Century France after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Hugo's novel shows the social injustice of the people and the long term effects of the French Revolution on it's society. In Andrew Pudewa's talk on Fairy Tales and Moral Immagination, he judges stories in four categories. The second being "Healing Stories". I would qualify Les Mis as a healing story, in which good is good, bad is bad, good does not always win, but grace prevails. It is the story of redemption, love, loss, grace, and forgiveness.

Hugo's beautiful and unforgettable characters have incredible depth. It's hard for me to pick a favorite. Jean Valjean would most likely be at the top, as the evolution of his faith was paramount to the story. Fantine was a close second for me. As a mother, my heart ached for her and I felt like she was a child herself in such an unfortunate circumstance. She unselfishly gave everything she had to provide for her daughter, which cost her life. Then of course, the Bishop of Digne, Gavroche, and Cosette were right up there. I even fell for Eponine. I felt her character was redeemed when she handed Cosette's letter over to Marius upon her death.

There is a great deal of French history and politics in Les Mis, making it a wonderful high school read for that time period. One can also learn about the 200 year old sewer system of Paris, which is now open for tour in our modern day. In addition, the reader sees examples of good vs. evil character and romantic vs. familial love. The question of justice was a constant conversation in our book discussion. Can one ever overcome their criminal past? Les Mis has several subplots, which is part of what makes it so rich.

Regarding the musical Les Miserables, many of the subplots and depth of characters mentioned are missed on stage. I did enjoy the music immensely, but I was feeling sorry for those that had not read the novel because I don't think one can get the full understanding without that written knowledge. Also, the musical's vulgar language and sexual innuendos are not included in the book. It's unfortunate if the musical is your only experience with Les Mis because it diminishes Hugo's christian side of the story and the whole redemptive point of the book. On the other hand, the set and costuming in the Broadway Les Miserables were phenomenal. In addition, it was a bonus to me that almost every character looked as I envisioned.

Overall, I LOVED Les Miserables! I highly recommend everyone read it. As stated, the musical is good as well, but please read the book first. Or, if you've already seen the musical, do yourself a favor and go back and read Hugo's intended story. It is lengthy, but oh so worthy. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Reflections on Mere Motherhood...

Our CM Study Group took a sabbatical from Charlotte's Vol. 1, Home Education, in August to read Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins. Cindy will be the guest speaker at the Journey: An Education for Life retreat in a couple of weeks. It was a re-read for a few moms in our group, but a first time read for myself.

Mere Motherhood, is a memoir of sorts. It is Cindy Rollins' story. The story of her life as a mother of nine children and more particularly, a homeschool mother. Rollins writes candidly about her experiences in large family child rearing. At times, I laughed out loud. I consistently found myself nodding, yes, yes, and yes! Mere Motherhood is an easy read with deep thought and profound perspective. Rollins writes about her children as only a mother could. She shares times of trial, fear, failures, and self doubt, as well successes and lessons learned. Through it all, her unwavering faith and love of the Lord are inspirational.

I have many tabs for common place entries in my copy of Mere Motherhood, but will only share a few below that were profound to me...

As homeschooling became more complicated with so many glitches, hardships, and moves, I started streamlining our days. I made sure that we were having Morning Time and that the boys were doing math, a written narration, and reading for two to three hours each day. Housework, farm chores, and the constant stream of farming neighbors who needed a 'boy' for the day helped all this add up to a decent education. p. 62

I am a mother at heart. I build a home, which seems like a place to stay, but really, it is a place to leave. That is the way of it. Children are meant to grow up. I understand that now. Maybe you have yet to come face-to-face with what that means. I hope you will take courage and allow your children to walk away with grace. p. 82

Blogging helped me take notice of my weakness in the area of grammar. My older boys graduated high school comfortable with writing, but they were weak on mechanics. This weakness wasn't a huge deal, as a semester of college English put most of it to rights. At the same time, comfort and ease in writing can never be gained in a single semester. p. 88

Good mothering is not smothering;... p. 113

     Anyone who knows me, knows I tend to think too much. But something happened in my thinking when Andrew Kern said, "The radical pulls the child out of the culture. The conservative tries to weave the child into the culture." Anyone who knows Andrew knows he was speaking about The Odyssey. For the first time, I got a glimpse of why our counter-cultural lifestyle had failed and how there was maybe no such thing as a culture war. To fight against the culture is to commit suicide. We live in this culture. To pretend our children will live in another culture is insanity. But still, I worry about my children. Lately, I have seen evidence of families losing their children's hearts. I have talked to many, many moms grieving for children who have left the faith. Good moms. Good families.
     And then last night, I glanced at a quote from John Senior about destroying the television. We had lived for twenty-five years without a television, and the benefits were evident, and yet I know that now that we have one we cannot get rid of it, nor do I think we should. I wish we 'should' but I know we shouldn't. Knowing I could not change our reality left me deeply depressed for my children.
     Last night, I was reading and praying and in the midst of it I prayed, "My children, Lord, O, my children." Then, today, in a twinkling, God took all my reading and all my thinking and all my praying and showed me something true and something hopeful and maybe even the whole shebang.
     Today, one of my children, an older one visiting for the weekend, was talking to his grandfather on the phone. That is it. I don't know how to explain this, but the second I heard that child, I felt a great peace. That child was rooted. That child may be a sloppy mess sometimes, but he is rooted. That child has a grandfather with whom he talks. And suddenly I know how to handle this cultural tide against which I cannot stand. I do not have to stand against it. I have to make sure we are rooted in real things. I can't fight Facebook, but I can plant a tomato. Every single time I do something that anchors our family to the past and our heritage, I am helping preserve the hearts of my children. I am giving them a lifeline to the good life. We don't have our children for long. We don't have a whole lot of control over their lives or their futures. When we plant our flags on issues, we often win the battle and lose the war. I have not been able to justify losing the war by taking stands on issues, even issues I care deeply about. Love and heritage are good; issues not so much. If my children are tied to our family by love, then all will be well, even if they don't always plant their flags were I have planted mine....
     ...You can't fight your children into the Kingdom. You can pray for them, and you can tell them stories, and you can love them. p. 128-130

Here is what I do know, what I am willing to share with you. There are three things that cover a multitude of sins: reading, reading aloud, and written narration. p. 135 

What I love most about these passages and many more throughout Mere Motherhood, is the grace that shines through. Whether you homeschool or not, as a mama, we all feel anxiety about the responsibility of child rearing at some point. Cindy's veteran perspective provides a real sense of peace. After all, it's not in our hands. God has a plan for each and every one of our children. We simply need to trust...

This is not about having the perfect family or the perfect school. Your success or failure doesn't rest on your perfection, just your faithfulness. p. 160

Julius Caesar

We read Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare for our fifth and final Middle School Socratic Book Club, back in March. It was our first attempt at a real Shakespeare play. We've done Lamb's Tales re-tellings, but not an original work. Unfortunately, our club never got to meet for discussion for a variety of scheduling reasons. However, Riley, Ruben, and I did an in depth study at home.

I chose the Oxford School Shakespeare version for our study because it has the complete unabridged text and I love the layout. Each play in this series has marginal notes to aid in overall understanding of difficult passages as well as vocabulary. There are also plot summaries on individual scenes, a list of leading characters, background information, photos, maps, and other helpful illustrations. Julius Caesar even held a few pages in the back with references from Shakespeare's Plutarch, based on a translation by Sir Thomas North.

Initially, I created character index cards for the first Act, which Riley, Ruben, and I divided up, each taking different parts. Then we read our assigned character's lines aloud. However, given some of the vocabulary, we decided to move to an audio version, following along with the book. The dramatization was extremely helpful in aiding understanding.

After listening/reading the entire play, we watched two different movie versions of Julius Caesar that I obtained through our local public library. The first starred Marlon Brando and the second Charlton Heston. We liked the second version better. It followed the play word for word until the end of the final Act, which was unfortunate.

Overall, I really enjoyed Julius Caesar and look forward to trying another Shakespeare play in the future. Riley thought the characters were pathetic because they were, in her words, whiny and cowardly men. Ruben preferred listening to the audio over reading or watching the films. Given the history of Caesar's time period that we studied this year, it was interesting to see their reactions.

Some of my commonplace entries are as follows....

Brutus: No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection, by some other things. (Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 52-53)

Caesar: Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once. (Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 32-33)

Decius: Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,
Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.
Caesar: The cause is in my will. I will not come:
That is enough to satisfy the Senate. (Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 69-72)

Brutus: Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my
cause, and be silent that you may hear. Believe me for
mine honour, and have respect to mine honour that you
may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and awake
your senses that you may the better judge. If there be
any in this assembly, any dear friends of Caesar's, to him
I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If
then that friend demand why Brutus rose against
Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less,
but that I loved Rome more.... (Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 12-22)

Reflections from Consider This - Chapters 10-12 and Beyond...

This will be the last post in the series, in which, I share my thoughts on Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass. You can find related posts on previous chapters linked below...

Introduction and Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapters Seven through Nine

Chapter 10

Chapter ten of Consider This invites us to a clearer understanding of some classical education terminology. Glass spends time defining the words: university, trivium, and quadrivium. Of course, the trivium being grammar, logic, and rhetoric, three of the seven liberal arts. It's important to understand that the word trivium translates to "3 roads", which are to be taken simultaneously, or as Glass states, "a trivium may be understood as a three-way crossroad", not consecutively. The trivium is not aligned or tied to stages of development. It is part of a much greater whole, of which, Glass asserts, Charlotte expected her students to practice through a variety of exercises in their lessons. Also, Glass maintains that the trivium is in deed a set of skills or arts, and that Charlotte Mason implemented them in her program.

If we can get a vision of grammar, logic, and rhetoric not as subjects to be studied but as arts to be practiced and refined in the process of reading, narrating, and writing, we can see how beautifully Charlotte Mason's methods may be considered a synthetic implementation of the trivium of classical instruction, more especially when the ultimate goal of forming character and virtue is recalled. (p. 86)

Grammar, logic, and rhetoric may be employed synthetically, together, to make the most of every book, through the simple process of reading and narrating, while incidentally examining a grammatical construction or rhetorical trope - perhaps a metaphor - along the way.

Many of the exercises Charlotte Mason suggests for making use of schoolbooks fall within the realm of logical and rhetorical instruction. That is, she expects her students to employ logic and understand rhetoric devices, and to be able to express themselves adequately - to practice the liberal arts. (p. 87-88)

The quadrivium, being astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music should also be studied alongside each other as in "a four-way crossroad", as well as alongside the trivium. Together, these seven subjects or skills make up the seven liberal arts. Interestingly, according to Glass, the seven liberal arts were not ever intended for elementary students.

First of all, the seven liberal arts were not intended to be a course of study for elementary school-children, but rather for university students. The ancient universities of Europe were founded, either during the late medieval or Renaissance era, to pursue those arts. To be sure, students sometimes enrolled in universities as young as age twelve or thirteen, so we may consider the seven liberal arts appropriate for our high school students, but the seven liberal arts were historically a university course. (p.84) 

Chapter 11

Glass begins Chapter eleven by quoting Charlotte Mason on "applied philosophy" from her Vol. 3 School Education. Below are some questions that came to mind while reading this chapter were....

What is the link between principles and practices?

As she developed her methods, Charlotte Mason kept in mind the principle that a child's mind is a living organism that requires a varied diet. She made sure that her methods introduced children to every vital area of knowledge, so that their mental diet would be so nutritious as a well-conceived menu plan. (p. 96)

Principles and practices definitely go hand in hand. I remember listening to Schole Sisters Podcast #10 Which Comes First? The Principles or the Practical? in which Brandy, Mystie, and Pam unpacked the relationship between principles and practices.

In the quote above, Glass is specifically referring to Charlotte's Principle 12 on The Science of Relations, which was a principle Glass also referenced in Chapter 5. If the mind is a living organism, which requires a varied diet, living books were a part of that nutrition. Books were also at the center of classical education as a means to accomplish the classical ideal. One must have ideas in order to discuss ideas.

Glass goes on to give examples of how Charlotte provided nourishment through other subjects and areas of study, such as bible, history, literature, science, and geography.

In laying a wide and varied feast of knowledge before her pupils, Charlotte Mason was encouraging them to form relationships for themselves with their fellow man through literature and history, and with the natural world around them. In spite of the variety of books that appeared on her programs, she never lost sight of the synthetic understanding that all knowledge is connected, and she desired that the children should grow to understand that for themselves. (p. 102)

As an aside, I have often wondered about history and its place in the liberal arts tradition. On page 99, Glass writes,

History was not a traditional part of classical education. It is not, of course, one of the seven liberal arts. However, most contemporary educators who are interested  in the classical tradition, which is historical in itself, find that history is an area of knowledge - actually a framework for other knowledge - that must not be neglected. We desire to read the works of the thinkers of the past, and in order to fully appreciate their thoughts, we need to know something of the times that they live in, the forces that shaped their thinking, and the results that proceeded from their ideas. 

How does narration contribute to synthetic thinking?

According to Glass, as a child narrates day after day, he will make connections formed by living ideas, which will in turn lead to synthetic thinking as the child gets older.

Narration requires mental attention from the first word to the last. The mind must sift and evaluate everything that was included in the material.....

....Also, by not merely going over everything in his mind, but by actually speaking it aloud or composing it in writing, the learner is making the knowledge his own. What he has heard or read, then narrated, he knows. (p. 104) 

Where did this idea of narration originally come from? 

Charlotte never tells us where the idea arose to ask children to tell back their lessons, but it is unlikely that she imagined it herself. We know that she delved into the educational writings of history, and perhaps it was there that she picked up the whispers that led her try it....

....Wherever she encountered the idea, we know that Charlotte Mason tried it, and found it an effective method. (p. 103-104) 

What is the role of the teacher?

All of Charlotte Mason's practical methods - narration, nature notebooks, history notebooks, making notes in the margins of school books - are intended to contribute to synthetic thinking. (p. 107)

Teacher's task is to spread as wide and generous a feast before children as possible, and give them every opportunity to assimilate knowledge which will lay the foundation for lifelong interests in every area. (p. 107)

One of my favorite parts of this chapter was the following paragraph. I just love the image it paints.

The relationship between a teacher and a child should include a note of friendship, of sympathy, because they are fellow travelers on the path toward wisdom and understanding. The teacher has gone further and comprehended more, and so earned the right to lead others along the same path. Nevertheless, he remains humble in the task, knowing that he is only a guide, able to ensure that important things are not missed along the way, but aware that the path is not of his own making. (p. 109) 

Chapter 12

Glass spends the final chapter of Consider This developing the idea of synthetic thinking and a synthetic understanding of knowledge. She believes synthetic thinking is the means to being educated classically and reaching the classical ideal, even if one never reaches a "level of proficiency in any of the liberal arts". By synthetic thinking, Glass proposes we must consider all knowledge as a whole.

Next, Glass pits synthetic thinking against postmodernism...

Postmodern thinking has permeated our culture, and although it is difficult to define, the identifying feature of postmodernism is a rejection of all "metanarratives" - attempts to synthesize knowledge and experience in a unified, meaningful way. (p. 114)

Postmodernism thought is analytic. It is the deconstruction or fragmentation, which proclaims there is no absolute truth. In my mind, if there is no set measure or absolute, one would have to continually search each part or analyze to find meaning. Glass shows us how postmodernism goes against Charlotte's principle 12...

Postmodern literary critics assume that words have no absolute meaning; that is, they do not refer to real things but only to words. According to their system, the only real meaning in any text is what the reader chooses to find. The classical practice of giving language first place in education - of reading and understanding books and learning to communicate clearly and effectively through words - cannot coexist with rejection of a unified, absolute truth. "Education is the science of relations" is the exact opposite of "fragmentation". (p. 114)

Glass also points out that one must have a synthetic view of a human being if one is to adhere Charlotte's principle one, which states, "children are born persons".

We need to embrace her principle today and expand it to "we are all persons," which is in fact a synthetic way of viewing a human being. It is a rejections of the reductionist modern psychology, which would have us believe that we are animal beings only, and that our thoughts and emotions are no more than electrochemical impulses. If that is the case, there is no room, no reason, for classical traditions; we are without truth and meaning. (p. 115)

Glass goes on with a brief explanation of how to synthesize as well as giving one last push to encourage the pursuit of synthetic understanding. In closing, she states part of her purpose for writing Consider This,

Part of my purpose in writing this book has been to help its readers know classical education a little better through acquaintance, however brief, with the thinkers of the past, rather than merely knowing "about" classical education through the lens of modern thinkers. I have offered only a taste, but the authors I have quoted here are worth reading more fully. (p. 122)

Throughout reading Consider This, it was apparent to me that Glass is well read, not only in regard to thinkers of the classical tradition, but to the writings of Charlotte Mason as well. If I got anything out of this book, it was a desire to read widely, both ancient writings on education, as well as modern writings on education. A thirst to drink deeply from the ancient well. A hunger for a varied diet brought by a feast of living books. I look forward to continuing my pursuit of both classical and a Charlotte Mason education.

The Call of the Wild...

The Call of the Wild by Jack London was our February Middle School Socratic Book Club read. A couple of quotes from my commonplace are as follows...

But Buck possessed a quality that made for greatness - imagination. (Ch. 3)

For the last time in his life he allowed passion to usurp cunning and reason, and it was because of his great love for John Thornton that he lost his head. (Ch. 7) 

I found it interesting that the author equated having love with giving up reason, as if one could not have both. However, upon investigation and learning of Jack London's worldview, it was not surprising. London was a prominent socialist and atheist, who wrote from a point of realism and naturalism. He was also interested in Marxism, Nietzschean philosophy, and Darwinism.

The Call of the Wild is one of London's most famous works. It was originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post in 1903. It is the story of dog named Buck, half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, living a comfortable life on Judge Miller's estate in California until one day, when Buck is stolen and sold to dog traders, who teach Buck obedience by beating him.

The Call of the Wild is set in the late 1890's and the Klondike Gold Rush is on. Throughout the story, we see Buck being sold from one cruel master to the other, until eventually, he is rescued by John Thornton, a veteran gold prospector. From there, a relationship is built between man and beast. However, when Thornton is killed, Buck decides to leave civilization for good and return to the wild. Theorists say, the theme in The Call of the Wild is based on Darwin's idea of survival of the fittest. I agree and could definitely see evolutionary ideas at work.

He was beaten (he knew that); but he was not broken. He saw, once for all, that he stood no chance against a man with a club. He had learned the lesson, and in all his after life he never forgot it. That club was a revelation. It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law, and he met the introduction halfway. The facts of life took on a fiercer aspect and, while he faced that aspect uncowed, he faced it with all the latent cunning of his nature aroused. (Ch. 1)

He swiftly lost the fastidiousness which had characterized his old life. A dainty eater, he found that his mates, finishing first, robbed him of his unfinished ration. There was no defending it. While he was fighting off two or three, it was disappearing down the throats of the others. To remedy this, he ate as fast as they; and, so greatly did hunger compel him., he was not above taking what did not belong to him. He watched and learned...

...This first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment....

...His development (or retrogression) was rapid. His muscles became hard as iron and he grew callous to all ordinary pain. He achieved an internal as well as external economy. He could eat anything, no matter how loathsome or indigestible; and, once eaten, the juices of this stomach extracted the last least particle of nutriment; and his blood carried it to the farthest reaches of his body, building it into the toughest and stoutest tissues. Sight and scent became remarkably keen, while his hearing developed such acuteness that in his sleep he heard the faintest sound and knew whether it heralded peace or peril. He learned to bite the ice out with his teeth when it collected between his toes; and when he was thirsty and there was a thick scum of ice over the water hole, he would break it by rearing and striking it with stiff forelegs. His most conspicuous trait was an inability to scent the wind and forecast it a night in advance. No matter how breathless the air when he dug his nest by tree or bank, the wind that later blew inevitably found him to leeward, sheltered and snug. 

And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. It was no task for him to learn to fight with cut and slash and the quick wolf snap. In this manner had fought forgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him, and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks. They came to him without effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. And when, on the still, cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him. And his cadences were their cadences, the cadences which voiced their woe and what to them was the meaning of the stillness and the cold and dark. 

Thus, as token of what a puppet thing life is, the ancient song surged through him and he came into his own again. And he came because men had found a yellow metal in the North, and because Manuel was a gardener's helper whose wages did not lap over the needs of his wife and divers small copies of himself. (Ch. 2) 

Despite, London's worldview, or maybe because of it, The Call of the Wild is a worthy read. It lent a great opportunity for worldview discussion. It would make a fitting piece for older students discovering rhetorical thinking.

Aside from London's worldview, The Call of the Wild is action packed and has been a favorite of many outdoorsmen over the years. The boys in our group enjoyed it much more than the girls.

Reflections from Consider This - Chapters 7-9...

Let's continue our discussion of Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass by taking a look at Chapters 7, 8, and 9, in which Glass endeavors to show us how Charlotte Mason's Principles relate to the classical tradition.

Chapter 7

The Greeks and Romans did not call what they were doing "classical education", and they did not speak with a single voice. There were just as many conflicting educational methods then as there are now. (p. 49)

In spite of their different approaches or methods, however, the classical educators were generally consistent in one thing. They had in common the goal of producing virtue in their learners, and they understood that the outcome of education was meant to influence character and conduct, not intellect alone. (p. 50)

Charlotte Mason also understood this desired outcome of education and aimed to 'produce virtue'.  Virtue as in a commendable quality or trait; a particular moral, intellectual, physical, spiritual excellence. In What is Virtue?, Andrew Kern gives us a definition of virtue. Ms. Mason did this through religious teaching, the use of quality living books, and through habit training.

For the brain is the seat of habit: the culture of habit is, to a certain extent, physical culture: the discipline of habit is at least a third part of the great whole which we call education, and here we feel that the physical science of to-day has placed us far in advance of the philosopher of fifty years ago. We hold with him entirely as to the importance of great formative ideas in the education of children, but we add to our ideas, habits, and we labour to form habits upon a physical basis. Character is the result not merely of the great ideas,which are given to us, but of the habits which we labour to form upon those ideas. We recognise both principles, and the result is a wide range of possibilities in education, practical methods, and a definite aim. We labour to produced a human being at his best physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually, with the enthusiasms of religion, of the good life, of nature, knowledge, art, and manual work; and we do not labour in the dark. (School Education, p. 99)

The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days. (Home Education, p. 136)

...the habits of the child produce the character of the man, because certain mental habitudes once set up, their nature is to go on for ever unless they should be displaced by other habits. (Home Education, p. 118)

Forming good habits produces character.

In Chapter 7, Glass goes on state that the beginning of classical study is grammar, but grammar meant something very different to the Greeks and Romans, and even the later Renaissance educators, than it does to most teachers today.

According to Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of The English Language, 'grammar' in Greek means from a letter. According to Glass,

Quintilian equates grammar - a word with Greek origins - to literature, a Latin word. If we have learned any Greek and Latin roots, we can see that gram and lit both mean "letter," and call to mind that slightly antiquated expression for someone who was classically educated - "a man of letters" - that is, a man well-read in great books. (p. 50)

Glass further states, Quintilian didn't limit the study of grammar to reading, but also comprehension. Next, she says, The idea that education should begin by reading literature was embraced by the Renaissance educators. However, these Renaissance educators were not native to the Greek and Latin language, which were the classical languages that all books were written in at that time, so in order to study/read any books, they had to study/learn Latin.

Latin was important to them, not for its own sake, but because it was the language of the books - no Latin was the equivalent of being illiterate. (p. 52)

Therefore, Latin was studied because it was the language of original text. As time went on and books were translated, the study of Latin became a "mental exercise in grammatical rules and translation". The purpose of studying Latin changed and according to Glass became more utilitarian, as it went from synthetic to analytic.

This led me to think about whether or not we should study Latin in our homeschool? And, why do I desire my kids to study Latin? Because as Glass points out, if we implement classical practices without the impetus of the classical ideals, we will never achieve those ideals. Given her argument, I really started to see that my reason and desire for my kids to study Latin is utilitarian and pragmatic.

According to Glass, Charlotte Mason also understood the history of Latin and did not want it to be eliminated from the traditional curriculum for purposes of reading and understanding literature. Charlotte didn't refute classical education, but rather knew that it must be used for the right reasons.

Those of us who want to revive a vital education according to the classical ideal in our own times, as Charlotte Mason did, must look past the practices and understand the purposes for classical learning. If we choose to use the traditional methods, such as the teaching of Latin and logic, we must use them for the right reasons and in the right way in order to achieve the desired outcome. (p. 60)

Chapter 8

Glass used Chapter 8 to explain a few of Charlotte's principles and to show how they relate to classical education, including:

Principle 1 - Children are born persons.

Principles 9. 10. & 11 - We must provide food for the mind, which is no mere sac - pabulum.

Principles 5, 6, 7, & 8 - Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

Glass went into greater detail regarding the PNEU motto stating the classical relations of each, of which I will share my notes below...

Atmosphere - learning environment
  Classical Relation
  1. healthy interaction with world, experience of natural disappointments and failures, triumph of small successes keep a child humble
  2. natural interaction with world and people as well as natural enjoyment of labor, play, and exercise contribute to "poetic knowledge" or synthetic understanding of connectedness
  3. child can begin to put virtues into practice - sharing, helping neighbor, showing considerate behavior

Discipline - habit
  Classical Relation
  1. ordering affections, paving the way for a virtuous life

Life - living ideas
  Classical Relation
  1. diet of ideas must be appetizing and varied - earliest efforts in education were meant to inspire
  2. provide living ideas, not information (p.71)

Glass closes Chapter 8 with,

Everything that a person learns becomes a part of himself, and as his character is formed, he recognizes that he is made up of those experiences he has had, the people he has met, the books he has read, and the things that he has thought. This is not a process that ends with a semester, or a graduation, but goes on and on as long as we are alive and learning.  (p.73)

Chapter 9

In addition to the three instruments of education necessary for children's mental and spiritual growth, Charlotte Mason gave further consideration to that primary goal which was the business of classical education: the formation of character, shaped by the idea that right thinking leads to right acting. (p. 75)

So Glass begins Chapter 9 and continues with explaining Charlotte's Principles 16, 17, & 18 for the purposes of character development.

The way of the will - self-governance

The way of reason - do not lean on your own understanding

These two guides to self-management that were part of Charlotte's program of education serve no direct academic purpose, but do play a role in the shaping that right thinking which it is hoped will lead to right action, or forming a virtuous person. (p. 79)

Again, as in Chapter 6, at the end of Chapter 9, Glass summarized by reviewing the three elements that consistently underlie all of the endeavors of historical, classical education. These being virtue, humility and synthetic thinking. She closed by asserting that Charlotte Mason was indeed a classical educator.

Charlotte Mason consciously places her methods and philosophy within this classical tradition. She, and those who worked with her in the PNEU, deliberately looked to educational philosophies from the past to shape their contemporary practices. We may look at any one of her methods or ideas and see where it finds a place within the service of some part of the traditional classical ideal. (p. 81)

In doing a little further research attempting to flush this out, I found the following words written by Charlotte Mason and couldn't help but think there is some connection here to the classical tradition.

THREE FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES - Three principles which underlie the educational thought of the Union, and the furtherance of which some of us have deeply at heart, are: - (a) The recognition of authority as a fundamental principle, as universal and as inevitable in the moral world as is that of gravitation in the physical; (b) the recognition of the physical basis of habits and of the important part which the formation of habits plays in education; (c) the recognition of the vital character and inspiring power of ideas. (School Education p. 126)

Reflections from Consider This - Chapter Six....

In keeping on with our study of Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass, let's turn to Chapter Six, 'Drawing the Circle Closed'. Chapter Six is very short. Here Glass draws a circle based on her ideas presented in Chapters Three, Four, and Five. It was somewhat of a review of former chapters in what appears to be an attempt to connect the dots.

In Chapter Three, we learned that classical educators didn't separate character training from academics. Glass asserts that knowledge transformed into action becomes virtue.

In Chapter Four, Glass shows us that one must be humble in order to be teachable. This idea of humility aligns with Charlotte Mason's Principle 3.

In Chapter Five, we begin the study of was Glass has termed, 'synthetic thinking', which is based on Charlotte's writings. Basically, synthetic thinking is developing what Charlotte calls the 'Science of Relations' in her Principle 12.



In Chapter Six, Glass states,

These three things - pursuit of virtue, humility, and synthetic thinking that motivates to right action - form a complete circle that is the essence, the heart of what motivated the classical educators. We might call it the "classical ideal." It is a pivot, or the hub around which all classical educational methods revolve. (Ch. 6, p. 47)

It appears that Glass has reduced classical education to three elements, virtue, humility, and synthetic thinking. She then pulls from Charlotte Mason's philosophy to mesh her ideas with these three elements. I'm interested to see what Glass has in store for the second half of Consider This and whether or not she can close the gap between Classical Tradition and a Charlotte Mason education.

Reflections from Consider This - Chapter Five...

Chapter Five of Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass is connected to Charlotte's Principle 12, which says,..

We, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum, taking care only that all knowledge offered to him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas. Out of this conception comes our principle that,–

"Education is the Science of Relations"; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of--

"Those first-born affinities that fit our new existence to existing things."

I have a whole post on Principle 12 so I will not go too deeply here regarding Charlotte's meaning of it. Instead, I'd like to keep to the ideas presented in Chapter Five of Consider This. In the second paragraph of Chapter Five, Glass states,

The ancient thinkers were always looking for universal principles to explain the world. They did not always agree on the principles, but they did agree on one think - that the universe was orderly and understandable, and that all knowledge was interconnected...

A few paragraphs later, Glass further states,

This primary understanding of the unity of knowledge was recognized as a fundamental truth by later Christian educators who had the advantage of divine revelation. Knowing the Creator, they were easily able to place the classical understanding of universal principles within the context of Scripture, and to see that the universal principles were in fact instituted by God, who created the world as a place of order. 

So the universe is orderly making it understandable and Christian educators, knowing a creator, are able to place understanding in the context of Scripture.  We know that Charlotte was well read in these ancient thinkers. Glass asserts that [Charlotte] admired the complete conception of knowledge having its origin in God. Glass calls this "synthetic thinking". "Synthetic" in Greek is syn, meaning with, and thesis, meaning to set forth. Therefore, according to Glass, synthetic thinking is "to place things together" or to make connections or relationships, which comes back to Charlotte's "science of relations"

Glass says, synthetic thinking is the opposite of  "analytic thinking", which in Greek means to dissolve or take apart. She argues that analytic thinking should not be our primary way of teaching, particularly in the early years. Unfortunately, this is the type of teaching modern public schools use most in their textbook/workbook programs. Read a few paragraphs, answer some comprehension questions, true/false, fill-in-the-blank; then at the end of the chapter, complete a review section with more of the above type questions and some vocabulary words. Lastly, take a test and move on. Glass gives us a more in depth explanation on p. 38, using a history lesson as an example...

...A synthetic approach to history will tell us a continuing story, a comprehensive sequence of events with people, places, or dates included as needed. The story will show us people interacting with each other. There will be choices and consequences; causes and effects. There will be promises made and kept or made and broken. There will be places or events that give rise to determinations or provocations; there will be the whole gamut of human experience and emotion - love, passion, hatred, war, reconciliation. We will not learn everything at once, but will learn each lesson in its turn as part of a whole pageant of human experience. there will be continuity, connection, and, it is to be hoped, compassion and fellow feeling, because the people of history were real people exactly like ourselves. 

...When we analyze history, we break it down into quantifiable components...Lists of names, dates, or discrete events - an election won by this percentage, or the battle fought by this number on one side, and that number on the other. Dates, sequences, bare facts - this is all an analytical approach can tell us of history. 

Analytical thinking concerns itself with things that may be measured, or quantified in some way. Just as the "good taste" of the apple is lost when it is taken apart, so the less-easily-measured parts of knowledge, such as truth and beauty and goodness, are lost when information is isolated from its illuminating context.  

This is exactly a point I was trying to make when writing In Response to "The Perils of Teaching History Through Literature". Synthetic teaching allows the student to develop relationships. One of the best means to synthetic teaching is living books. Or, in keeping with the example of history, teaching history through literature, biographies, autobiographies, accurate historical fiction, and primary source documents. Allowing the student to see into the lives of our historical ancestors helps to build a bridge of understanding, with which comes knowledge.

Glass goes so far as to say, "Our modern system of beginning education with analytic thinking, and in fact of teaching analysis almost exclusively, deprives our children of synthetic thinking and prevents them from developing relationships with all areas of knowledge. They never have the chance to create their own connection to all the delightful knowledge in the universe, and yet this is what they need most, what classical education ought to give."  Glass calls us to revive synthetic thinking in our homeschools, saying, "synthesize first, analyze later."

On the other hand, don't misunderstand. Analytic thinking is not bad or wrong, but it shouldn't be the first line method of teaching. Let your students develop relationships with history, science, and math before dissecting them. Teach the whole, not in parts.

Interestingly, as an aside, while talking within our CM Study Group, one of the moms mentioned having a hard time with this idea of synthetic thinking simply because of the name. She related synthetic to being chemically processed or something made in a factory, man made, to imitate something in nature, rather than Glass's organic approach. 

Oliver Twist....

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens was our January Middle School Socratic Book Club read.  Last year we studied A Christmas Carol so this was my second Dickens' novel. Riley, Ruben and I actually started Oliver Twist last January 2016, but got about half way and failed to finish.  So this year, I purposely chose it for our book club knowing it would force us to push on.  We each started back at the beginning and this time were able to complete the book.

Oliver Twist was orphaned at birth when his mother died shortly after delivery. Chapter One starts out very grim and the book doesn't get a whole lot brighter until the very end.  Dickens' tale is dark and deep, yet gratifying when good overcomes evil. Several times throughout, I asked myself why I picked such a depressing book. It felt like heavy sledding. I believe this was Dickens intention, to show the dark side of London and its workhouses in the Victorian Era.

After reading each chapter, I wrote a short one paragraph narration...yes, after all 53 chapters!...to aid my memory and recollection as there are numerous characters in Oliver Twist.  Actually, I also pulled from this list and created a three page typed reference sheet so I could initially keep everyone straight. In the end, Dickens masterfully weaves them all together. I can't think of anyone who was left hanging and this novel writing detail is satisfying to me. I like closure in my reading.

This month in our club, we talked about foreshadowing since Dickens gives numerous examples in Oliver Twist. The three examples I cited in class, which I will withhold here due to being a spoiler, all point to finding out Oliver's family history.

Overall, I loved Oliver Twist and am contemplating which will be my next Dickens' novel. Initially, it seemed impossible to find commonplace entries and then I found three beautiful passages toward the end. Below is an example of RileyAnn's commonplace entry and also Ruben's narration...

'I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back, - and yet I don't know, for if you had spoken to me so, sometime again, I should have laughed it off. But,' she said, looking hastily round, 'this fear comes over me again. I must go home.'

'Home!' repeated the young lady, with great stress upon the word.

'Home, lady,' rejoined the girl. 'To such a home as I have raised for myself with the work of my whole life. Let us part. I shall be watched or seen. Go, go. If I have done you any service, all I ask is, that you leave me and let me go my way alone.' Oliver Twist Ch 46

Oliver Twist narrated by Ruben

Oliver Twist was an orphan who, when he was 9-years old, got sent to the workhouse. He was apprenticed to the Sowerberry's, but he did not like it there so he ran away to London. There he met up with Fagin and his team of robbers, but he did not like robbing people. One day when he was out robbing, he got caught and went to court.  He was then taken in by Mr. Brownlow.  He liked it there, but one day he was out running an errand and he got captured again by Fagin and his men. Then he was forced to rob one night and Oliver got shot in the robbery. He then was left in a ditch to die.  He crawled back to the house he had attempted to rob. The people took pity on him and took care of him until he got older. He then met back up with Mr. Brownlow. He was adopted by Mr. Brownlow.  He lived happily ever after with Mr. Brownlow. The end. 

Reflections from Consider This - Chapter Four....

Chapter Four of Consider This, Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass ties directly to Charlotte Mason's Principle Three.

Principle 3: The principles of Authority on the one hand and Docility on the other are natural, necessary and fundamental;...

If one aspires to be teachable (having docility), one must have power (authority) over one's own mind. In other words, one must be humble to be teachable.

Charlotte Mason wrote much on the quality of humility throughout her six volume series, dedicating a whole chapter in Vol, 4, Ourselves, to it. First she begins in Chapter I of Part III, Book I, writing about The Ways of Love. She says, 

Love, like a king, has his Lords in Waiting––Pity, Benevolence, Sympathy, Kindness, Generosity, Gratitude, Courage, Loyalty, Humility, Gladness.

From there, Charlotte dedicates a chapter to each of these qualities. In which, Chapter X of Part III in Book I, is solely about humility. She begins,

Pride of Life.––The Apostle points out three causes of offence in men––the lust of the flesh, that is, the desire to satisfy the cravings of what we call 'human nature'; the lust of the eye, which makes the pursuit of the delight of beauty, not a part, but the whole of life; and, the pride of life. Of the three, perhaps, the last is the most deadly, because it is the most deceitful. People born in, and brought up upon, principles of self-control and self-restraint are on the watch against the lusts of the flesh. The lust of the eye does not make too fascinating an appeal to all of us; but who can be aware of the approaches of the pride of life? Still, Pride, mighty as he is, and manifold as are his forms, is but the Dæmon, the more or less subject Dæmon, of a mightier power than himself.

Humility is Born in us all.––Humility is born in us all, a Lord of the Bosom, gracious and beautiful, strong to subdue. That is why our Lord told the Jews that except they should humble themselves and become as a little child they could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, the state where humble souls have their dwelling. We think of little children as being innocent and simple rather than humble; and it is only by examining this quality of children that we shall find out what Humility is in the divine thought. We have but two types of Humility to guide us––Christ, for 'He humbled Himself,' and little children, for He pronounced them humble. An old writer who has pondered on this matter says that, as there is only one Sanctification and one Redemption, so also there is only one Humility.

Glass writes, "Sometimes we consider humility a spiritual virtue, but it is an intellectual virtue as well." (p.28) There are many biblical references to humility.  However, upon combing through, there are several that particularly relate humility to wisdom and intellect, including...

Proverbs 11:2 (KJV)
When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

James 3:13 (KJV)
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

Psalm 25:9 (NASB)
He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.

Later in Chapter 4, Glass says, "Humility is not a lesson that can be learned from a textbook or a lecture, but if we want to make the traditions of classical education our aim, we must find a way to instill this attitude in ourselves and in our pupils."

Ms. Mason proposes, "We are all born humble. Humility sits within us all, waiting for pride to be silent that he may speak and be heard. What must we do to get rid of pride and give place to Humility?"

In Ourselves, Book I, Part III, Chapter X, she then answers her own proposed question and declares the way to humility....

The Way of Humility.––In the first place, we must not try to be humble. That is all make-believe, and a bad sort of pride. We do not wish to become like Uriah Heep, and that is what comes of trying to be humble. The thing is, not to think of ourselves at all, for if we only think how bad we are, we are playing at Uriah Heep. There are many ways of getting away from the thought of ourselves; the love and knowledge of birds and flowers, of clouds and stones, of all that nature has to show us; pictures, books, people, anything outside of us, will help us to escape from the tyrant who attacks our hearts. One rather good plan is, when we are talking or writing to our friends, not to talk or write about 'thou and I.' There are so many interesting things in the world to discuss that it is a waste of time to talk about ourselves. All the same, it is well to be up to the ways of those tiresome selves, and that is why you are invited to read these chapters. It is very well, too, to know that Humility, who takes no thought of himself, is really at home in each of us:––

"If that in sight of God is great
Which counts itself for small,
We by that law humility
The chiefest grace must call;
Which being such, not knows itself
To be a grace at all."
––TRENCH.

Glass closes Chapter 4 of Consider This with...

...We do not list "humility" among our school subjects or put it on a transcript, but that is actually the little secret of classical education.  The things that make it truly classical, truly worthwhile to pursue, aren't school subjects at all, but principles that add depth and cohesion to everything we study in all areas of the curriculum. 

Chapter 4 of Consider This prompted me to ask myself whether I approach every object, person, or book as if I can learn something from it. Humility is a necessary component to education. The opposite of humility is conceit, haughtiness, and pride. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride comes before destruction. If one believes they already know it all, the mind is closed. Learning cannot happen. We must be humble to be teachable.