Reflections on Home Education - Part V, Post 4 - Natural Philosophy, Geography, and History....

Carrying on with the fourth installment of Part V in Vol. 1 of Home Education by Charlotte Mason, you can find the previous posts here, Post 1, Post 2, and Post 3.

Natural Philosophy

In Charlotte's day, Natural Philosophy was the study of nature and the universe. It began in the ancient world with Aristotle and continued throughout the 19th Century. It is considered the precursor to natural science, which can be divided into life science and physical science.  According to Oxford Dictionaries, Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. And, natural is defined as existing in or caused by nature, not made or caused by humankind. So, in my mind, Natural Philosophy is the basic knowledge of all things created by God.

Charlotte wrote extensively earlier in Vol. 1, about the importance of children being out of doors in the younger years so that they can encounter and gain knowledge of Natural Philosophy by their own observations. At the beginning of this section, she reiterates and summarizes her position...

Of the teaching of Natural Philosophy, I will only remind the reader of what was said in an earlier chapter - that there is no part of the child's education more important than that he should lay, by his own observation, a wide basis of facts towards scientific knowledge in the future. He must live hours daily in the open air, and, as far as possible, in the country; must look and touch and listen; must be quick to note, consciously, every peculiarity of habit or structure, in beast, bird, or insect; the manner of growth and fructification of every plant. He must be accustomed to ask why - Why does the wind blow? Why does the river flow? Why is a leaf-bud sticky? And do not hurry to answer his questions for him; let him think his difficulties out so far as his small experience will carry him. Above all, when you come to the rescue, let it not be in the 'cut and dried' formula of some miserable little text-book; let him have all the insight available, and you will find that on many scientific questions the child may be brought at once to the level of modern thought. Do not embarrass him with too much scientific nomenclature. If he discover for himself (helped, perhaps, by a leading question or two), by comparing an oyster and his cat, that some animals have backbones and some have not, it is less important that he should learn the terms vertebrate and invertebrate than that he should class the animals he meets with according to this difference. (p. 264-265)

Charlotte goes on to recommend a couple of books for reinforcing her method of teaching Natural Philosophy. These being the Eyes and No-eyes series in Evenings at Home by John Aikin and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld and The Sciences by Holden. Regarding the use of books in education, Charlotte says,

The general plan of the book is to awaken the imagination; to convey useful knowledge; to open the doors towards wisdom. Its special aim is to stimulate observation and to excite a living and lasting interest in the world that lies about us. (p. 267)

Therein, lies an excellent definition of a 'living book'!

Geography

Geography is, to my mind, a subject of high educational value; though not because it affords the means of scientific training....But the peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures. (p. 271-272)

Again, Charlotte recommends beginning geography through natural science and long hours in the out of doors. Keep in mind, Vol. 1 was recommended for the teaching of children under age nine. At this point, she does not recommend students learn the geography of any one particular country of continent, but rather places in their natural surroundings and ones they read about in their histories and well-written books on travel. She suggests children in Form I, between the ages of six and nine, have half a dozen well-chosen standard books of travel read to them.

In regard to maps, Charlotte states,

Maps must be carefully used in this kind of work, - a sketch-map following the traveller's progress, to be compared finally with a complete map of the region;.. (p. 275)

Once people and places have been introduced through a reading, Charlotte does recommend showing the child a big picture map and pointing out the location so they get a general idea of geography. However, this is only after the child learns the meaning of a map by drawing a floor plan of his bedroom or the school room or the neighborhood. This introduction of maps and their purpose serves as a base for later geographic knowledge.

History

I've written a great deal about the teaching of history in the past. Therefore, I will limit this section to a brief review and highlight any new quotes I've obtained here.

Much that has been said about the teaching of geography applies equally to that of history. Here, too, is a subject which should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic, and should form in him, insensibly, principles whereby he will hereafter judge of the behaviour of nations, and will rule his own conduct as one of a nation. (p. 279)

The study of history was used in moral teaching and to develop self-governance in children. The main method of teaching history was through the use of  living books. Charlotte used biographies, about noble characters in history, such as Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionhearted, and Henry V to name a few. She despised what she called, "outlines or a baby edition of the whole history." Charlotte also opposed history books written specifically for children as she felt they were watered down and without literary power. Charlotte further recommended early histories of a nation or older books written closer to the time period vs. modern books that didn't recognize the 'dignity of history'. She suggested chronicles, at the rate of one per year. Many of which are used in Ambleside Online today, like Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, Chronicles of the Kings of England, and Asser's Alfred. Charlotte also purported teaching myths and legends, such as Tennyson's Idylls of the King. She called for original sources....

...wherever practicable, the child should get his first notions of a given period, not from the modern historian, the commentator and reviewer, but from the original sources of history, the writings of contemporaries. (p. 286)

She used books like Plutarch's Lives in preparation for the study of Grecian or of Roman history. In addition, she taught classic myths. Charlotte devoted several pages in this section writing about her ideal of history books and the importance of having the right books.

In addition, Charlotte mentioned the century chart that young children kept. It was a timeline of sorts, divided into twenty columns, each representing a century, where the child wrote names of people he encountered in history.  Charlotte also talked about the importance of children narrating each of their history readings, whether orally or by illustration. She closed this section mentioning the importance of playing at history when the child has been fed a healthy diet of living ideas.

The mistake we make is to suppose that imagination is fed by nature, or that it works on the insipid diet of children's story-books. Let the child have the meat he requires in his history readings, an in the literature which naturally gathers round this history, and imagination will bestir itself without any help of ours the child will live out in detail a thousand scenes of which he only gets the merest hint. (p. 295)

Here are a few more quotes on History and Geography taken from Charlotte's writings. Also, last January, I wrote a response to a blog post titled, "The Perils of Teaching History Through Literature" by John De Gree, of the Classical Historian, which you can find here.  I found Mr. De Gree's claims inaccurate in comparison to Charlotte Mason's teachings on the study of history. He used an exaggerated example to decry a method that works. I have been using living books for history teaching in our homeschool since day one, back in 2007. My kids are all very passionate about history and will tell you it's their favorite subject. Here is one area, I know Mason's methods work!

Reflections on Home Education - Part V, Post 3 - Composing Thought, Bible Lessons, and Arithmetic...

This post will continue on in Part V of Vol. 1, Home Education by Charlotte Mason. You can view Part V, post one on the Kindergarten here, and post two on Teaching Reading here. Today's post will focus on the composition of thought through both narration and writing, as well as bible lessons and arithmetic for children age nine and under.

The Art of Narrating

Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in very child's mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any process of disciplinary education. (p. 231)

I have blogged on narration in the past, back in July of 2014 on The Art of Narration and in December of 2015 in Narration is Natural, while studying Charlotte's 20 Principles. Charlotte covers narration in Principles 14 and 15. I'm not going to go in depth on narration here, but if you are unfamiliar or want review, I would highly encourage you to read my other writings on the subject. Narration is a cornerstone of Charlotte's philosophy and I will go so far as to say, you can not implement a Charlotte Mason education without it. It's a method that works!

Writing

I can only offer a few hints on the teaching of writing, though much might be said. First, let the child accomplish something perfectly in every lesson - a stroke, a pothook, a letter. Let the writing lesson be short; it should not last more than five or ten minutes. Ease in writing comes by practice; but that must be secured later. In the meantime, the thing to be avoided is the habit of careless work...(p. 233-234)

I remember when RileyAnn was very young, most likely around age 5, and I was fairly new to home educating. I purchased a well known handwriting curricula, in which the child was expected to write a full page of the same letter each day. For example, they would write an entire page of the letter a, and then next day, an entire page of the letter b, and so on and so forth. I remember her focus and concentration on the first line of the letter. However, by the end of the page, her face began to contort in anxiety and frustration.

A few days in, I could see tears building in Riley's eyes. When I asked her what was wrong, the flood gates opened. She didn't want to tell me, but eventually, I coaxed out of her that all the writing was hurting her hand and she was worried that her last letters weren't as good as the first letters on the page. Riley is my Perfect Paula, who loves all things academic, and never complained. She'd take anything I gave her and then some. To see her so down trodden over her handwriting nearly broke my heart. At that point, a light went on for me.

I set that curricula aside and never thought twice about it. From that day on, I vowed to find a better way. Some where along the way, I read about this idea of copy work, where the parent/teacher begins by writing a letter and then the student imitates it a few times, maybe 3-4, giving best effort and then they're done for the day. Once letters are learned, you move on to words, then phrases, and then sentences, etc. It's a slow and steady process, but again, one that works. Charlotte writes in several places, "Do not hurry the child."

I learned quickly that handwriting curricula is not necessary and I haven't looked back since. Copy work, or transcription as described below, are excellent methods to teach not only penmanship, but to build a base for composition.

Transcription

Transcription is more commonly referred to as copy work. It's a written or printed representation of something.

The earliest practice in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter-writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work...

Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut, and then write from memory. (p. 238)

According to Charlotte, children should be allowed to transcribe their favorite passages. I would add caution to be sure the child is presented with the best writing and quality books so when they are choosing passages to transcribe, they have a superb model. Transcription should last no more than 10-15 minutes per lesson in the early Forms. Charlotte also suggested using a black board, or we now have white boards, in writing lessons, by both teacher and student by way of model and practice. So the teacher would model writing the letters on the blackboard and students would copy, eventually transitioning to pencil/paper.

Spelling and Dictation

...the gift of spelling depends upon the power the eye possesses to 'take' (in a photographic sense) a detailed picture of a word; and this is a power and habit which must be cultivated in children from the first. (p. 241)

Charlotte believed spelling should be taught through transcription and dictation. The child would read passages, copy them perfectly, committing to memory a picture of each word. Then the teacher/parent would dictate the passage for the child to write from memory. Care must be given that the child never sees a misspelled word as that image could remain in the child's mind, causing them to misspell the word for life.

She suggested a child of 8 or 9 years prepare a paragraph from dictation, while older children, one to three pages. Charlotte gives specific steps to a dictation lesson on pages 241-243 of Home Education.

Spelling must not be lost sight of in the children's other studies, though they should not be teased to spell....The whole secret of spelling lies in the habit of visualising words from memory, and children must be trained to visualise in the course of their reading. They enjoy this way to learning to spell. (p. 243)

Composition

Herein lies a battle for many home educators. However, I believe if more parents followed the developmentally appropriate methods of teaching composition that Charlotte Mason proposed, it is a battle they would not have to fight. Charlotte writes,

For children under nine, the question of composition resolves itself into that of narration, varied by some such simple exercise as to write a part and narrate a part, or write the whole account of a walk they have taken, a lesson they have studied, or of some simple matter that they know. Before they are ten, children who have been in the habit of using books will write good, vigorous English with ease and freedom; that is, if they have not been hampered by instructions. It is well for them not even to learn rules for the placing of full stops and capitals until they notice how these things occur in their books. Our business is to provide children with material in their lessons, and, leave the handling of such material to themselves. If we would believe it, composition is as natural as jumping and running to children who have been allowed due use of books. They should narrate in the first place, and they will compose, later, readily enough; but they should not be taught 'composition.' (p. 247)

There you have it! Composition begins with great books or a nature walk, followed by narration. It's that simple. Children under age nine should be read to, and if able, be reading the best books. Then they should be required to narrate, beginning orally, making the transition to written narrations only after the mastery of oral, which is often around age ten.

Bible Lessons

Children between the ages of six and nine should get a considerable knowledge of the Bible text. By nine they should have read the simple (and suitable) narrative portions of the Old Testament, and, say, two of the gospels. (p. 248)

Bible lessons were significant in Charlotte's schools. She recommended the Old Testament be read aloud to children. She advised us not to use a paraphrase text and she suggested the child's Bible lessons should help them realize that knowledge of God is principle knowledge and, therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.

Charlotte wrote we should read a few verses, covering an episode in one sitting. Then require the children of age six years and over to narrate. She also said Bible memorization and recitation should begin around age 6-7.

Arithmetic

Of all his early studies, perhaps none is more important to the child as a means of education than that of arithmetic. (p. 253-254)

I remember back when I first read this quote from Charlotte. I was extremely overwhelmed with math teaching at that time and went in search of a better means to my madness. Initially, I was not comforted in the least by her statement. However, after years of math research, then reading and re-reading these words, I am only now beginning to understand what Charlotte meant by that statement. First, let's look at what follows the above sentence...

That he should do sums is of comparatively small importance; but the use of those functions which 'summing' calls into play is a great part of education; so much that the advocates of mathematics and of language as instruments of education have, until recently, divided the field pretty equally between them.

The practical value of arithmetic to persons of every class goes without remark. But the use of the study in practical life is the least of its uses. The chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics, lies in the training  it affords to the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness, accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders. (p. 254 - bold mine)

Arithmetic is a means to truth. There is a right and wrong answer. Arithmetic, like mathematics, requires diligence. It depends upon the habits of attention and accuracy. As we read further into this section, we can see that Charlotte is not focused on drilling tables, when speaking of arithmetic. Instead, she's using it as a base for problem solving. She's concerned herself with mathematical reasoning. Further on, she writes...

Engage the child upon little problems within his comprehension from the first, rather than upon set sums....the child perceives what rules he must apply to get the required information....Care must be taken to give the child such problems as he can work, but yet which are difficult enough to cause him some little mental effort. (p. 254-255)

In arithmetic, strategies were taught and problems were given. The teacher was to then step aside and let the child work through the rules to find the answer. When instructing this way, Charlotte taught the why behind the how.

Manipulatives such as beans or buttons were always available and used. Again, pencil/paper wasn't introduced until much later in the process, once children understood the concepts or the why behind the problems. When the child began to think in terms of numbers rather than objects, they were ready to move on and begin mathematics.

Whether you're just beginning to home educate young children, are struggling with math, or want to try a new approach, I highly recommend reading pages 253-264 in Vol. 1, Home Education by Charlotte Mason, of which, you can find online at Ambleside Online by scrolling through this section. Read it slowly and carefully. Then you may even consider re-reading. There is much wisdom there. Another wonderful resource for math education is Mathematics: An Instrument for Teaching by Richele Baburina and Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason.

In case you are wondering, Part V of Home Education shows Lessons as Instruments of Education broke down by subject that support Charlotte's philosophy in teaching young children. I intend to write at least one more post regarding Part V of Home Education in the near future. The next of which will cover natural philosophy, geography, and history.

Reflections on Home Education - Part V, Post 2 - Teaching Reading

Continuing on with Part V of Vol. 1, Home Education by Charlotte Mason, let's take a look at what Charlotte says about teaching reading. You may go back and read Post 1, from Part V, on Kindergarten here.

To begin, Charlotte suggests the importance of learning to read, but acknowledges the opportune time to teach reading is an open mystery...

Reading presents itself first amongst the lessons to be used as instruments of education although it is open to discussion whether the child should acquire the art unconsciously, from his infancy upwards, or whether the effort should be deferred until he is, say, six or seven, and then made with vigour. (p. 199)

That first line above is of uber importance. "Reading presents itself first amongst the lessons to be used as instruments of education." Charlotte states the significant impact reading has on learning, suggesting that it's the number one tool or means of education. One must be able to read or to listen to the word in order to interpret knowledge. Now, this is not to say reading is the end all, be all. However, it is of highest importance in Charlotte's philosophy. The exact time of when this must begin is open ended because exactly how and when a child learns to read is unknown. What or when is that exact moment when one becomes cognizant of their ability to read? Does reading begin with spoken word or written word?

Many persons consider that to learn to read a language so full of anomalies and difficulties as our own is a task which should not be imposed too soon on the childish mind. But, as a matter of fact, few of us can recollect how or when we learned to read: for all we know, it came by nature, like the art of running; and not only so, but often mothers of the educated classes do not know how their children learned to read. 'Oh, he taught himself,' is all the account his mother can give of little Dick's proficiency. Whereby it is plain, that his notion of the extreme difficulty of learning to read is begotten by the elders rather than by the children.  (p. 200)

Charlotte even goes so far as to say that if tears are shed over a reading lesson, the fault rests with the teacher.  Rather than include a great amount of commentary and debate about the advent of reading here, I'm going to focus on notes and observations I made while reading each specific section on teaching reading. Keep in mind, Home Education is for the training and educating of children under age nine.

The Alphabet

As for his letters, the child usually teaches himself. (p. 201)

Apparently, it was expected that each child had a box of ivory letters and whenever that box began to interest the child is when reading instruction was to begin.

...learning of the alphabet should be made a means of cultivating the child's observations: he should be made to see what he looks at." (p. 201)

The teacher would trace the letters in the air and use a sand tray, in which the student would write letters.

There is no occasion to hurry the child. (p. 201)

Word-making

Short vowel "a" with a consonant such as "t" forms the syllable "at", of which many other consonants can be put in front to form words like fat, cat, sat, bat, rat, etc. Charlotte reminds us to keep these exercises light and pleasant.

Exercises treated as a game, which yet teach the powers of the letters, will be better to begin with than actual sentences. (p. 202)

Let the syllables all be actual words which he knows. (p. 202)

Begin with short vowels and consonants making short three letter words. When the child is comfortable with this exercise and doing the lesson for himself, it's time to move on. Again, Charlotte reminds us not to hurry the child. However, I am under the impression that the alphabet and word making exercises could begin informally at a preschool age.

Word-making with Long Vowels, etc.

When short vowel lessons become so easy that it is no longer interesting, let the long sounds of the vowels be learnt in the same way. Charlotte advocates using the same method as listed above, but now adding a final "e" to the words, turning rat into rate and pat into pate. Be sure the child pronounces each word they make to take advantage of the full multi-sensory experience. (ex. moving letters - kinesthetic; reading word - visual; hearing/saying word aloud - auditory)

This is not reading, but it is preparing the ground for reading; words will be no longer unfamiliar, perplexing objects, when the child meets with them in a line of print. (p. 203)

Early Spelling

Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word; and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do so without effort. (p. 203)

Unfortunately, all English words aren't made by the same patterns...

But many of our English words are, each, a law unto itself: there is nothing for it, but the child must learn to know them at sight:... (p. 203)

Charlotte recognizes sight words and suggests this idea of learning to see the letters in each word as a way to read and spell these non-traditional words. Words like: the, I, for, said, and was, need to be memorized or visualized in the mind's eye. Again, Charlotte suggests making lessons interesting and keeping them light to engage the child.

Reading at Sight

The teacher must be content to proceed very slowly, securing the ground under her feet as she goes. (p. 204)

Charlotte uses Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in her example of teaching reading. She advises to make sure the child can read each word independently before allowing him to read it all at once.

The Reading of Prose

Charlotte continued citing her reading example from Twinkle,Twinkle..., suggesting the use of prose and poetry to teach reading right from the start, saying...

At this stage, his reading lessons must advance so slowly that he may just as well learn his reading exercises, both prose and poetry, as recitation lesson..... Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children. (p. 204-205)

Careful Pronunciation

...another advantage of slow and steady progress - the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation. (p. 206)

A Year's Work

Charlotte continues to adamantly advise slow, unhurried lessons, suggesting mastery as the key to keeping the child's interest and desire for continued progress.

Ordinary Method

Charlotte suggests that other teaching methods bore children. Stating, it is likely the child will learn to read eventually, but most likely they will have a distaste for it.

Based on sample lessons as presented in sections above, it appears as though any type of phonics instruction could be considered pre-reading instruction. Once the child understood the alphabet as symbols with meaning, the teacher would introduce a few word families through word building exercises. From there, the child was presented a nursery rhyme, in which he/she could recognize a few words maybe based on the word family exercises. The child was then taught words in the rhyme by memorizing a visual picture of the word. Charlotte felt that teaching phonics or teaching reading on the sounds of the letters only hindered the child by causing mental confusion from analytic labour. Instead, she taught the whole word so the child could see the meaning and beauty of it as a whole, rather than its parts. It's almost as if she taught whole to part, instead of typical phonics instruction of part to whole. I would say Charlotte was fond of what we now call the Look/Say Method or Whole Language Method.

What we want is a bridge between the child's natural interests and those arbitrary symbols with which he must become acquainted, and which, as we have seen, are words, and not letters. (p. 216)

For more information or a curriculum on using Charlotte's methods of teaching reading, Simply Charlotte Mason has published Delightful Reading and Jennifer at Joyful Shepherdess created a series of blog posts.

In the next section of this part, The First Reading Lesson, Charlotte quotes two papers, which appeared in the Parents' Review, in an effort to make the reading lesson teaching method more clear. It's as though two mothers are discussing a reading lesson. In her example, Charlotte says, "spelling and reading are two things." and that a child must learn spelling in order to write. Based on her explanation, I feel as though Charlotte is likening spelling more to phonics, giving reading it's own rite. She advises beginning a new study on the child's birthday as if it's a privilege or a coming of age adventure.

In the footnotes, Charlotte writes,

Spirited nursery rhymes form the best material for such reading lessons. (p. 222)

- and -

It is desirable that 'Tommy' should not begin to 'read' until his intelligence is equal to the effort required by these lessons. (p. 222) 

Recitation and Memorization

Next, Charlotte touches on recitation and memorization, stating that the two are not necessarily the same thing. She cites Arthur Burrell's work, Recitation: The Children's Art as the best way to teach recitation. In regard to memorization, she recommends storing the child's memory with a good deal of poetry, but without labor. Charlotte gives two examples to support her method. One of which of a little girl learning a poem simply from hearing it at various times throughout the day, in play, while brushing her hair, etc. One day, the child was suddenly able to recall it with ease. The second was of a convalescent woman reading while bed ridden. She too was able to remember sections of the work after one reading because her mind was allowed focus with no preoccupation. To this Charlotte writes...

It is possible that the disengaged mind of a child is as free to take and as strong to hold beautiful images clothed in beautiful words as was that of this lady during her convalescence. But, let me again say, every effort of the kind, however unconscious, means wear and tear of brain substance. Let the child lie fallow till he is six, and then, in this matter of memorising, as in others, attempt only a little, and let the poems the child learns be simple and within the range of his own thought and imagination. At the same time, when there is so much noble poetry within a child's compass, the pity of it, that he should be allowed to learn twaddle! (p. 226)

Reading for Older Children

The child who has been taught to read with care and deliberation until he has mastered the words of a limited vocabulary, usually does the rest for himself. The attention of his teachers should be fixed on two points - that he acquired the habit of reading, and that he does not fall into slipshod habits of reading. (p. 226)

Charlotte recommends the child reading for themselves to themselves as soon as they are able. Also, the child should be trained from the start to narrate each reading after a single reading, as this will encourage the child in the habit of attention. The child's books should consist of history, legends, and fairy tales. He should also have practice in reading aloud, particularly poetry. Lesson books must not be twaddle.

A child has not begun his education until he has acquired the habit of reading to himself, with interest and pleasure, books fully on a level with his intelligence. (p. 229)

Charlotte further suggests, once a child can read independently, reading aloud to them only at bedtime or on special occasion as a treat. Her thought was if the child becomes dependent on someone reading aloud to them, they would become lazy in their reading and not want to do it for themselves.

Direct questioning about the reading and vocabulary quizzing should not be allowed. Instead, the child should narrate each passage to show understanding. At this age, narrations should all be oral, no written. In regard to vocabulary, a child gets the meaning of a word only in the context of reading, not by quizzing according to Charlotte.

Short lessons are the key to perfect attention. Also, as stated above, the teacher must require proper enunciation from the start.

Provincial pronunciation and slipshod enunciation must be guarded against. (p. 230)

There you have an outline of Charlotte's ideas for teaching reading. Again, please don't take my word as the final authority. Go and read her writing for yourself. Then come back. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to share in the comments below.

After the New Year, I plan to continue with Post 3 of Part V, covering Narration, Writing/Composition, Bible Lessons, and Arithmetic teaching for children under age nine.

Reflections on Home Education - Part V, Post 1, "Is the Kindergarten the best training-ground for a child?"...

I've been thinking a lot about Kindergarten lately since I have a 5-year old. As a result, I recently posted some Thoughts on Kindergarten based on my experience. Today, I'd like to share some thoughts on Kindergarten based on Charlotte Mason's writing in Vol. 1, Home Education. We are currently studying Part V in my CM Study Group, which is broken into eleven sections. I aim to cover the first three sections dealing with The Matter and Method of Lessons and Kindergarten here.

I. THE MATTER AND METHOD OF LESSONS

It seems to me that we live in an age of pedagogy; that we of the teaching profession are inclined to take too much upon ourselves, and that parents are ready to yield the responsibility of direction, as well as of actual instruction, more than is wholesome for the children. (p. 169)

Miss Mason's opening words immediately resonated with me. So often when parents find out we home educate our children, they say things like I could never homeschool because I'm not good at math. My child has an excellent teacher and they are a professional.  Or worse, I couldn't stand to be with my kids all day long...by the end of summer, I can't wait to send them back to school. Well, I suspect with an attitude like that, your child most certainly can't wait to go back to school either....ahem!

Interestingly, Miss Mason would be quite opposed to this modern manner of thinking as she goes on to say that home is the best growing-ground for young children and that mothers are the best Kindergarten teachers. Therefore, we ought not shirk our responsibilities, but rather, we must consider the three questions she poses:

1. Why must children learn at all?
2. What should they learn?
3. How should they learn it?

Why? 

Just as we must feed a child's body, we must feed their mind. We must offer pabulum to nourish it, as well as "appropriate exercise".

...we learn that we may know, not that we may grow... (p. 172)

Lessons must furnish ideas...

The child must learn, in the second place, in order that ideas may be freely sown in the fruitful soil of his mind. "Idea, the image or picture formed by the mind of anything external, whether sensible or spiritual,' - so, the dictionary; therefore, if the business of teaching be to furnish the child with ideas, any teaching which does not leave him possessed of a new mental image has, by so far, missed the mark. (p. 173)

Ideas vs. Information

...give your child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information; for the child who grows up with a few dominant ideas has his self-education provided for, his career marked out. (p. 174) 

We must provide the highest quality books. We should not talk "twaddle" or dumb down to the child. Charlotte gave four tests to apply to our children's lessons...

We see, then, that the children's lessons should provide material for their mental growth, should exercise the several powers of their minds, should furnish them with fruitful ideas, and should afford them knowledge, really valuable for its own sake, accurate, and interesting, of the kind that the child may recall as a man with profit and pleasure. (p. 177)

However, before applying these tests, she advised us to remember or review six points she previously considered...

(a) That the knowledge most valuable to the child is that which he gets with his own eyes and ears and fingers (under direction) in the open air.

(b) That the claims of the schoolroom should not be allowed to encroach on the child's right to long hours daily for exercise and investigation.

(c) That the child should be taken daily, if possible, to scenes - moor or meadow, park, common, or shore - where he may find new things to examine, and so add to his store of real knowledge. That the child's observation should be directed to flower or boulder, bird or tree; that, in fact, he should be employed in gathering the common information which is the basis of scientific knowledge. 

(d) That play, vigorous healthful play, is, in its turn, fully as important as lessons, as regards both bodily health and brain-power. 

(e) That the child, though under supervision, should be left much to himself - both that he may go to work in his own way on the ideas he receives, and also that he may be the more open to natural influences. 

(f) That the happiness of the child is the condition of his progress; that his lessons should be joyous, and that occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated.  (p. 177-178)

II. THE KINDERGARTEN AS A PLACE OF EDUCATION

What and How?

Miss Mason suggests that mothers have the needful tact, sympathy, common sense, and culture to be the best suited Kindergärtnerin, which is German for infant teacher, kindergarten teacher, or nursery-class teacher. She further states...

Indeed, the machinery of the Kindergarten is no more than a devise to ensure the carrying out of certain educational principles, and some of these it is the mother's business to get at, and work out according to Froebel's method - or her own. (p. 179)

Charlotte goes on to say...

...in the Kindergarten the child's senses are carefully and progressively trained: he looks, listens, learns by touch; gets ideas of size, colour, form, number; is taught to copy faithfully, express exactly. And in this training of the senses, the child is made to pursue the method the infant shapes for himself in his early studies of ring or ball. (p. 179

Charlotte further cautions us against a field of knowledge that's too restrictive, circumscribed by giving exact ideas rather than real knowledge. For example, telling or teaching the child about a tree, rather than letting them go out and explore it for themselves. By only reading a book about trees, we are giving exact ideas or telling him what to think about the tree. By taking him outside to see, feel, smell, and possibly climb the tree, he develops real knowledge for himself. This goes back to something Miss Mason said in Part II of Home Education, that a child learns through things, while adults learn through words, and that his sense of beauty comes through early contact with nature. We must allow our children those opportunities to assimilate real knowledge as much as possible in the early years without contriving.

Continued habit training, as in Part III, of Home Education, is also referenced in this section...

Training of a Just Eye and Faithful Hand ...in the home a thousand such opportunities occur; if only in such trifles as the straightening of a tablecloth or of a picture, the hanging of a towel, the packing of a parcel - every thoughtful mother invents a thousand ways of training in her child a just eye and a faithful hand. (p. 180)

'Sweetness and Light' in the Kindergarten ...Do not treat the child's small contumacy too seriously; do not assume that he is being naughty: just leave him out when he is not prepared to act in harmony with the rest. Avoid friction; and above all, do not let him disturb the moral atmosphere; in all gentleness and serenity, remove him from the company of the others, when he is being what nurses call 'tiresome'. 

On the whole, we may say that some of the principles which should govern Kindergarten training are precisely those in which every thoughtful mother endeavors to bring up her family; while the practices of the Kindergarten, being only ways, amongst others, of carrying out these principles, and being apt to become stereotyped and wooden, are unnecessary, but may be adopted so far as they fit in conveniently with the mother's general scheme for the education of her family. (p. 181) 

III. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF THE KINDERGARTEN

After reading and re-reading this section, I sense a bit of wit and sarcasm in Miss Mason's writing in regard to society's reverent indebtedness to Froebel. For she says,

So far as education is a science, the truth of even ten - much more, a hundred - years ago is not the whole truth of to-day. "Thoughts beyond their thought to those high seers were given"; and, in proportion as the urgency of educational effort presses upon us, will be the ardour of our appreciation, the diligence of our employment, of those truths which the great pioneers, Froebel and the rest, have won for us by no less than prophetic insight. But, alas, and alas, for the cravings of lazy human nature - we may not have an educational pope; we must think out for ourselves, as well as work out, those things that belong to the perfect bringing-up of our children. (p. 185)

Charlotte calls us out as parents. She encourages us to study a variety of educational thought, in order that we may decide for ourselves what is right and just for our children, rather than letting government, state schools, and any one pedagogy rule the education of our children.

Charlotte further credits Froebel for raising an altar to the enthusiasm of childhood upon which the flame has never since gone out. She then warns us not to throw caution to the wind, pointing out some flaws in Froebel's philosophy...

Our first care should be to preserve the individuality, give play to the personality, of children. Now persons do not grow in a garden, much less in a greenhouse. It is a doubtful boon to a person to have conditions too carefully adapted to his needs. The exactly due sunshine and shade, pruning and training, are good for a plant whose uses are subordinate, so to say, to the needs and pleasure of its owner. But a person has other uses in the world, and mother or teacher who regards him as a plant and herself as the gardener, will only be saved from grave mistakes by the force of human nature in herself and in her child. (p. 186)

Let us not forget Principle 1, Children are born persons. Here, again, we see Charlotte advising us to 'preserve the individuality' of our children, remembering that they are made in the image of Christ, holding the highest form of life. She also says we should not 'supplement Nature', but rather to leave children as much as may be to Nature, and the Most High God. Later in this section, Charlotte calls 'Kindergarten' a false analogy because to figure a person by any analogy is dangerous and misleading, as there is nothing measurably equal with that of a person.

Miss Mason goes on to write...

...I am inclined to question whether, in the interest of carrying out a system, the charming Kindergärtnerin is not in danger sometimes of greatly undervaluing the intelligence of her children. (p. 187)

More than once in this section, Charlotte anticipates her audience wondering what is wrong with all the pleasant and happy things in Kindergarten. To this she says...

It is a curious thing about human nature that we all like to be managed by persons who take the pains to play on our amiabilities. Even a dog can be made foolishly sentimental; and, if we who are older have our foibles in this kind, it is little wonder that children can be wooed to do anything by persons whose approaches to them are always charming.

Most of us are mislead by our virtues, and the entire zeal and enthusiasm of the Kindergärtnerin is perhaps her stone of stumbling. (p. 188)

Many parents are sucked into this thinking. Kindergarten is cute. It's fun! There are bright colored plastic toys and games. There are other kids to play with. Therefore, kids will like it. Miss Mason also references the songs and stories often made up for children in Kindergarten as being twaddle and self-serving the teacher. She says, 'Everything is directed, expected, suggested.' Society says our children should attend kindergarten. Hence, they must need it. However, after reading Charlotte's thoughts, I liken Kindergarten to cotton candy. It is a delightful treat, but too much gives a tummy ache.

Even apart form this element of charm, I doubt if the self-adjusting property of life in the Kindergarten is good for children. (p. 189)

The bright pink fluffy charm of cotton candy is enticing at first, but after a period of time, it has it's ill effects. It's certainly not the best form of nourishment in the long run.

Keeping on with further lures to Kindergarten, Miss Mason brings up a very important point regarding socialization. This seems to be a main concern for folks pondering home education. I have heard many parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and the like worry over the possibility of home educated children being unsocialized. Charlotte addresses the idea of socialization negatively in respect to children spending day after day with peers, when they have not even begun, let alone to master, the task of self-government. She suggests that 'the society of his equals is too stimulating for a child.' I couldn't agree more. Instead of children being solely with peers day in and day out, she suggests....

The clash and sparkle of our equals now and then stirs us up to health; but for everyday life, the mixed society of elders, juniors and equals, which we get in a family, gives at the same time the most repose and the most room for individual development. We have all wondered at the good sense, reasonableness, fun and resourcefulness shown by a child in his own home as compared with the same child in school life. (p. 191)

Now, if the thought of home educating your child seems too much to bear, keep this in mind...

Here we come to the real crux of the Kindergarten question. The busy mother says she has no leisure to be that somebody, and the child will run wild and get into bad habits; but we must not make a fetish of habit; education is a life as well as a discipline. Health, strength, and agility, bright eyes and alert movements, come of a free life, out-of-doors, if it may be; and as for habit, there is no habit or power so useful to man or woman as that of personal initiative. The resourcefulness, which will enable a family of children to invent their own games and occupations through the length of a summer's day is worth more in after life than a good deal of knowledge about cubes and hexagons, and this comes, not of continual intervention on the mother's part, but of much masterly inactivity. (p. 192)

Mason calls us to sow opportunities and get out of the way, until a guiding or restraining hand is necessary. I would also encourage you to start educating yourself in the meantime. It's very empowering!...but that's for another post.

Mothers shirk their work and put it, as they would say, into better hands than their own, because they do not recognise that wise letting alone is the chief thing asked of them, seeing that every mother has in Nature an all-sufficient handmaid, who arranges for due work and due rest of mind, muscles, and senses. (p. 193)

In closing, I would like to say dear mama, you are your child's best early childhood teacher! Mothers are vested in their children. A mother knows and loves her child like no other. Taking the next step to begin formal education, can and should be a very natural process. Provide opportunities, give living and real ideas through Nature and natural play. Then step aside.

Finally, Charlotte makes an alarming accusation against American Kindergarten...

...it is in America that the ideas of Froebel have received their greatest development, that the Kindergarten has become a cult, and the great teacher a prophet. (p. 197) 

If you are still reading, I thank you. I will leave you with the same final thought Miss Mason wrote on page 199, "Is the Kindergarten the best training-ground for a child?" I say not!

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

Reflections on Home Education - Part IV....

Charlotte continued Part IV of Vol. 1, Home Education with further discussion of habit training. You may remember she began writing about habit training in Part III, of which I wrote much in Post 1 and Post 2. Early on in Part IV Charlotte advocates for habit training in order to make life easier for mother, saying...

...habit....falls in with our natural love of an easy life.

-AND- 

The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children.  All day she is crying out, 'Do this!' and they do it not; 'Do that!' and they do the other. (p. 136)

Shortly thereafter, Charlotte acknowledges the difficult task of habit training and basically encourages us to put one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.  She says mother must acquire the habit of habit training so that it becomes not a burden, but rather pleasurable. Also, if we are performing habits ourselves because they are delightful and we value the results, then our children will pick up these habits upon observation and share in our delight.

You may also remember at the end of Part III, Charlotte wrote about "Infant Habits', or those that are easily taught at a young age to children learning to mimic mother in the home. Those infant habits being order, regularity, and neatness, which a child would obtain by example, through having a daily schedule or routine, including regular meal times, bath time, and bedtime. Also, in abiding by the rule of everything has a place or EHAP, which makes for a tidy home, picked up at the end of the day. In Part IV, Charlotte adds a few must have habits...

We have already considered a group of half-physical habits - order, regularity, neatness - which the child imbibes, so to speak, in this way. But this is not all: habits of gentleness, courtesy, kindness, candour, respect for other people, or - habits quite other than these, are inspired by the child as the very atmosphere of his home, the air he lives in and must grow by. (p. 137)

Next, Charlotte writes about mental habits, including the habit of attention, application, thinking, imagining, remembering, perfect execution, obedience, and truthfulness. She tells us that even children who have been trained in infant habits, can have difficulty transitioning to mental habits in the school room.

Even the child who has gained the habit of attention to things, finds words a weariness. (p. 141)

Habit training also falls under Charlotte's principle of Education is a Discipline, in which she is referring to the importance of instilling good habits in our children.

Habit of Attention

What is it?

Attention is hardly even an operation of the mind, but is simply the act by which the whole mental force is applied to the subject in hand.  (p. 145)

Why is it important?

First, we put the habit of Attention, because the highest intellectual gifts depend for their value upon the measure in which their owner has cultivated the habit of attention. (p. 137)

How do we obtain it?

In the first place, never let the child dawdle over copybook or sum, sit dreaming with his books before him. When a child grows stupid over a lesson, it is time to put it away. Let him do another lesson as unlike the last as possible, and then to go back with freshened wits to his unfinished task. (p. 141)

I have written much about the methods used in Charlotte's schools in regard to the habit of attention, namely in a post titled, Do You Really Know Charlotte Mason?..., which you can find here, so for the sake of this post becoming extremely lengthy, I will not re-write those methods outlined in Part IV.  One thing I missed in that post and picked up this time around was Charlotte's mention of the importance of a schedule for the student.

In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not 'as good as another'; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child's attention to this work. (p. 142)

Oh, how true this is! For years, I held Ruben's schedule, doling out one subject at a time. He would constantly ask questions like, "How much longer?", and "What do we have left?", which quickly grew to be an annoyance. Last year, I used a spiral bound notebook, giving him daily assignments all at once. What a game changer! Not only did the annoying questions stop, but he also gained greater independence. I saw the beginning signs of ownership. In addition, it greatly improved the habit of orderliness. Giving the child a schedule or at the least, allowing him to see the time-table, is very important!

Under this section, Charlotte also writes about the importance and effect of natural rewards and consequences. She talks about emulation and the negative effects of affection as motivation, which can lead to manipulation. Charlotte points out that the habit of attention goes hand in hand with maturity, stating...

....attention is, to a great extent, the product of an educated mind. (p. 145)

Lastly, in the section Habit of Attention, Charlotte shares some cautions and reasons for the development of inattention. These being over pressure and a lesson being too difficult for the child.

Habits of Application

Aim steadily at securing quickness of apprehension and execution...(p. 149)

.....steady, untiring application to work should be held up as honourable, while fitful, flagging attention and effort are scouted. (p. 150)

Habit of Thinking

What is thinking?

....let us mean a real conscious effort of mind, and not the fancies that flit without effort through the brain. (p. 150)

Here Charlotte gives an example from Archbishop Thompson in his work, Laws of Thought, which demonstrates the teaching of cause/effect and compare/contrast.  Charlotte states this type of teaching should be an important part of every school lesson.

Habit of Imagining

Charlotte writes briefly about the importance of alternating the lessons. In particular referring to a specific type of children's literature, stating that a little non-sense reading is all right, but too much is a pity when there's so much better out there, like tales and heroic adventures.

"They must have 'funny books', but do not give the children too much nonsense-reading," (p. 152)

"But let them have tales of the imagination, scenes laid in other lands and other times, heroic adventures, hairbreadth escapes, delicious fairy tales in which they never roughly pulled up by the impossible - even where all is impossible, and they know it, and yet believe." (p. 152)

Along with imagining, Charlotte closes this section with thinking, which she states comes by practice.

....thinking, like writing or skating, comes by practice. The child who never has thought, never does think, and probably never will think... (p. 153)

The child must think, get at the reason-why of things for himself, every day of his life, and more each day than the day before. (p. 154) 

Charlotte further advises that in order to aid in the child thinking, instead of waiting for the child to ask "why", the parents should ask "why". Then allow the child to ponder and think.

Habit of Remembering

Here, I will let Charlotte speak because there's so much goodness...

Much of what we have learned and experienced in childhood, and later, we cannot reproduce, and yet it has formed the groundwork of after-knowledge; later notions and opinions have grown out of what we once learned and knew. (p. 154)

 ...give an instants undivided attention to anything whatsoever, and that thing will be remembered. (p. 156)

But it is not enough to have a recollection flash across one incidentally; we want to have the power of recalling at will: and for this, something more is necessary than an occasional act of attention producing a solitary impression. (p. 157)

Let every lesson gain the child's entire attention, and let each new lesson be so interlaced with the last that the one must recall the other; that, again, recalls the one before it, and so on to the beginning. (p. 158) 

To secure such a record, there must be time; time for that full gaze of the mind we call attention, and for the growth of the brain tissue to the new idea. (p. 158) 

...to secure right-of-way to that record...imprinted on her brain, the path should have been kept open by frequent goings and comings. (p. 158)

To acquire any knowledge or power whatsoever, and then to leave it to grow rusty in a neglected corner of the brain, is practically useless. Where there is no chain of association to draw the bucket out of the well, it is all the same as if there were no water. (p. 158)

The link between any two things must be found in the nature of the things associated. (p. 159)  

Habit of Perfect Execution

In regard to perfect execution, Charlotte writes about the people of her own country being guilty of letting their children perform slipshod work under the notion that they will eventually improve. However, she states this about the Germans and French...

....know that if the children get the habit of turning out imperfect work, the men and women will undoubtedly keep that habit up. (p. 159)

This is why she says...

No work should be given to a child that he cannot execute perfectly, and then perfection should be required of him as a matter of course.  

She closes this section by writing about the importance of finishing what you start.

The child should rarely be allowed to set his hand to a new undertaking until the last is finished. (p. 160)

Habit of Obedience

According to Charlotte, the whole duty of a child is obedience, which is also the whole duty of man. God not only calls children to obey their parents, but he calls us to obey Him. She says, parents are the appointed agents to train up the child. The habit of obedience should be taught from birth. It must be a gradual building up and cannot be militant or bullied. If a child is always taught to obey, the child will always obey. In order to do this, mothers must be diligent and have follow through.

To secure this habit of obedience, the mother must exercise great self-restraint; she must never give a command which she does not intend to see csarried out of the full. And she must not lay upon her children burdens, grievious to be borne, of command heaped upon command. (p. 164)

Charlotte further states, that children trained in obedience should be given liberty to learn how to direct their own actions. I don't know about you, but I sure wish I could have a do over.

Habit of Truthfulness

There are three ways to be untruthful and all are vicious, says Charlotte.

1. Carelessness in ascertaining the truth
2. Carelessness in stating the truth
3. Deliberate intention to deceive.

However, children can be allowed the first two occasionally, but absolutely not the third. It is important for mothers to train their children in the accuracy of statement in order to avoid the first two if possible, as exaggeration and embellishments do tempt children. Again, mothers must be reverent in their duty.

Charlotte says children are not born with tempers, but rather tendencies and parents have the ability to train it out of them.

The root of evil, is not that these people were born sullen, or peevish, or envious - that might have been mended; but that they were permitted to grow up in these dispositions. (p. 167)

It is the force of habit that tendency becomes a temper; and it rests with the mother to hinder the formation of ill tempers, to force that of good tempers. (p.167)

Parents can change the child's thoughts before a bad temper has time to develop and become a rut by taking them outside or distracting them with a given task.

There is so much wisdom in Home Education! I wish I had read it before I had children or when they were younger, but one cannot wish for time that has past. I must simply move forward with this knowledge. How have you applied Charlotte's ideas to older children? How have you attempted to reverse bad habits, now that you have gained wisdom? I'd love to hear your ideas. Please feel free to share and open up discussion in the comments below.

Reflections on Home Education - Part III (Post 2)....

There are two important points I'd like to discuss further in Part III of Vol. 1, Home Education by Charlotte Mason, the 'Physiology of Habit' and the 'Forming of Habit'. You can find Post 1 dealing with Part III here.

First off, I found Charlotte's notions on habit and physical movement interesting. Certainly it was something I hadn't really thought too much about prior, but makes perfect sense...

Growing Tissues form themselves to Modes of Action.

Even those modes of muscular action which we regard as natural to us, as walking and standing erect, are in reality the results of a laborious education; quite as much so as many modes of action which we consciously acquire, as writing or dancing; but the acquired modes become perfectly easy and natural. Why? Because it is the law of the constantly growing tissues that they should form themselves according to the modes of action required of them. In a case where the brain is repeatedly sending down to the muscles under nervous control as they are, the message to have a certain action done, that action becomes automatic in the lower centre, and the faintest suggestion from outside comes to produce it without the intervention of the brain. Thus, the joints and muscles of the child's hand very soon accommodate themselves to the mode of action required of them in holding and guiding the pen. Observe, it is not that the child learns with his mind how to use his pen, in spite of his muscles; but that the newly growing muscles themselves take form according to the action required of them. (p. 112)

And here we have the reason why children should learn dancing, riding, swimming, calisthenics, every form of activity which requires a training of the muscles, at an early age: the fact being, that muscles and joints have not merely to conform themselves to new uses, but to grow to a modified pattern; and this growth and adaptation take place with the greatest facility in early youth. (p. 113)  

Charlotte makes an awesome case for early childhood play and physical activity. Most young children love physical movement. Here we see the importance of it for both gross and fine motor development. She also tells us this is when muscles are pliable and ready to be formed. Along these same lines, Charlotte writes on how moral and mental habits make their mark on physical tissues as well. They actually hard wire the brain.

Yet when we consider that the brain, the physical brain, is the exceedingly delicate organ by means of which we think and feel and desire, love and hate and worship, it is not surprising that the organ should be modified by the work it has to do; to put the matter picturesquely, it is as if every familiar train of thought made a rut in the nervous substance of the brain into which the thoughts run lightly of their own accord, and out of which they can only be got by an effort of will. 

Thus, the mistress of the house knows that when her thoughts are free to take their own course, they run to cares of the house or the larder, to to-morrow's dinner or the winter's clothing; that is, thought runs into the rut which has been, so to speak, worn for it by constant repetition. The mother's thoughts run on her children, the painter's on pictures, the poet's on poems; those of the anxious head of the house on money cares, it may be, until in times of unusual pressure the thoughts beat, beat, beat in that well-worn rut of ways and means, and decline to run in any other channel, till the poor man loses his reason, simply because he cannot get his thoughts out of that one channel made in the substance of his brain. And, indeed, "that way of madness lies" for every one of us, in the persistent preying of any one train of thought upon the brain tissue. Pride, resentment, jealousy, an invention that a man has laboured over, an opinion he has conceived, any line of thought which he has not longer the power to divert, will endanger a man's sanity. (p. 114-115)

How many times have I stewed over something that became a pattern of bad thinking, a rut, which in turn caused me great stress and turmoil, nearly driving me mad. Charlotte called me out here on my sinful way of thinking. Negative or obsessive thoughts do actually affect the brain long term just as I suspect positive thoughts could. A thought takes the known path or path of least resistance and because new brain tissue is being constantly regenerated, we have the power to redirect thoughts through habit training. One thinks or becomes what they repeatedly think and do. This supports the importance of speaking grammatically correct to our young children rather than using baby talk so they learn to speak grammatically correct with proper pronunciation. It also behooves our children to listen to the best music and read the best books so they acquire a taste for them at an early age.  Charlotte states this acquisition of good habits begins with the parents as they model them for their children.

...the actual conformation of the child's brain depends upon the habits which the parents permit or encourage; and that 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. Here is an end to the easy philosophy of, 'It doesn't matter,' 'Oh, he'll grow out of it,' 'He'll know better by-and-by,' 'He's so young, what can we expect?' and so on. Every day, every hour, the parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else, future character and conduct depend. 

Outside Influence. - And here comes in the consideration of outside influence. Nine times out of ten we begin to do a thing because we see some one else do it; we go on doing it, and - there is the habit! If it is so easy for ourselves to take up a new habit, it is tenfold as easy for the children ; and this is the real difficultly in the matter of the education of habit. It is necessary that the mother be always on the alert to nip in the bud the bad habit her children may be in the act of picking up from servants or from other children. (p. 118)

The Forming of a Habit - 'Shut the Door After You'

The effort of decision, we have seen, is the greatest effort of life; not the doing of the thing, but the making up of one's mind as to which thing to do first. It is commonly this sort of mental indolence, born of indecision, which leads to dawdling habits. (p. 119)

Amen!! In habit training, parents need to give clear expectations and few choices so as to spare the child the effort of decision. If the best choice has already been made for the child and is the only alternative, the child's thought takes that path of least resistance and a good habit is formed without room for an error in thinking.

Now I'm sure some will argue that we must let our children make mistakes in order for them to learn from them. However, keep in mind Charlotte was writing to parents of children under the age of nine, who most certainly should not have free range to make decisions like an adult, which may be part of the problem of our current society. There will be time for the child to practice independent decision making skills once the positive paths or habits have been laid. I don't allow my 5-year old the authority over decision that I give my 12 and 13-year old. Because the older children have had habit training in the early years, they are now capable of thinking and acting in a positive manner. This is not to say that they don't make mistakes or aren't still learning, but there is a difference in maturity that allows for a bit more freedom, for lack of a better word.

Even as an adult, I appreciate a decision that has been made for me ahead of time. This is why I take pains during our break in the summer months to create a plan or schedule for the following school year. It is not dated so as to bind me into feeling guilty if life happens and my plan doesn't. Instead, on days when I don't feel like doing school or life does happens, I can check my plan and do whatever comes next. There is no effort of decision because it's all laid out. The decision has already been made. It allows me to be consistent and maintain regularity. This makes it much easier for me to stick to my guns when a whining child is bucking the plan because isn't this the truth....

The habit of regularity is as attractive to older children as to the infant. The days when the usual programme falls through are, we know, the days when the children are apt to be naughty. (p. 132)

Children crave consistency and stability. It makes them feel safe.

If by chance, a bad habit has already been formed, no amount of time, punishment, or reward will change it. Instead, Charlotte says we must replace the bad habit with a new one in order to form a new pattern of thinking in the brain. Then the mother must guard that habit ceaselessly to be sure the child doesn't relapse into the old pattern of thinking. She says, "To form a good habit is the work of a few weeks; to guard it is a work of incessant, but by no means anxious care." Tact, watchfulness and persistence are qualities Charlotte advocates mothers cultivate in themselves to ensure good habits are not only formed in their children, but maintained.

Charlotte also goes on to explain how pleasurable it is when a child has formed a good habit...

Habit a Delight in itself. - Except for this one drawback the forming of habits in the children is no laborious task, for the reward goes hand in hand with the labour; so much so, that it is like the laying out of a penny with the certainty of the immediate return of a pound. For a habit is a delight in itself; poor human nature is conscious of the ease that it is to repeat the doing of anything without effort; and, therefore, the formation of a habit, the gradually lessening sense of effort in a given act, is pleasurable. (p. 121)

Charlotte then gives an example of steps we can follow to instill and ensure that good habits stick. She refers to some 'infant' habits that every child needs and on which everyday life depends. These being, cleanliness, order, neatness, regularity, and punctuality. All of which can be taught in the day to day through regular housekeeping, baths and hygiene, routine bedtimes, etc.

In the end, habit training will make for smooth and easy days. Charlotte says it allows us to leave our children alone and not pester them to do this and that.

In conclusion, let me say that the education of habit is successful in so far as it enables the mother to let her children alone, not teasing them with perpetual commands and directions - a running fire of Do and Don't; but letting them go their own way and grow, having first secured that they will go the right way, and grow to fruitful purpose. The gardener, it is true, 'digs about and dungs,' prunes and trains, his peach tree; but that occupies a small fraction of the tree's life: all the rest of the time the sweet airs and sunshine, the rains and dews, play about it and breathe upon it, get into its substance, and the result is - peaches. But let the gardener neglect his part, and the peaches will be no better than sloes. (p. 134)

There is so much wisdom in Part III, but I will stop there! I'm looking forward to carrying on with Part IV.

Reflections on Home Education - Part III (Post 1)....

Let's continue our discussion of Vol. 1, Home Education, by Charlotte Mason contemplating Part III. You can find thoughts on Part II here.

'Habit is Ten Natures'

...habit, in the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carver - the instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain. (p.97)

Up to this point, Charlotte has outlined key ideas that she felt must be included in order to properly educate young children. Those being:

1. Nourishing Healthy Brains with exercise, rest, and nutrition

2. Children spending hours daily in the out-of-doors

3. Forming habits, which is the focus of Part III and this post...

The formation of habits is education, and Education is the formation of habits. (p. 97)

Charlotte proclaims that habit is the instrument by which parents work, such as the wheel to the potter and knife to the carver as quoted above. She boldly asserts that she has come, "to look upon habit as the means whereby the parent may make almost anything he chooses of his child." Let's break this down.

The title of Part III is 'HABIT IS TEN NATURES'. Not too far in, Charlotte explains what she means or how she qualifies 'nature' and 'habit'. This was a question that kept coming up in our meeting. The question lay more on the side of habit. Does habit equate to character trait?

Recently, I found a two part post by Brandy Vencel at Afterthoughts Blog, where she flushed out 'habit is ten natures'. I wish I would have thought to search and read these before our meeting. For those of you interested, here is Brandy's Part I and Part II. She gives much food for thought. I have not yet read Ms. Mason's Vol. V, Formation of Character, but expect it would also be extremely helpful in understanding this concept.

What I gather is that heredity plays a factor in our character. We are all predisposed to certain genetic tendencies, which make up our human nature. However, Charlotte warns that a child must not be left to this human nature because they will most likely take the easy way out due to a feeble or immature will.

This is precisely what half the parents in the world, and three-fourths of the teachers are content to do; and what is the consequence? That the world is making advances, but the progress is, for the most part, amongst the few whose parents have taken their education seriously in hand; while the rest, who have been allowed to stay where they were, be no more, or no better than Nature made them, act as a heavy drag: for, indeed, the fact is, that they do not stay where they were; it is unchangeably true that the child who is not being constantly raised to a higher and a higher platform will sink to a lower and a lower. Wherefore, it is as much the parent's duty to educate his child into moral strength and purpose and intellectual activity as it is to feed him and clothe him; and that in spite of his nature, if it must be so....

The will of the child is pitifully feeble, weaker in the children of the weak, stronger in the children of the strong, but hardly ever to be counted upon as a power in education. (p. 102-103)

Instead, the educator should give the child control over his own nature, "to enable him to hold himself in hand as much in regard to the traits we call good, as to those we call evil."  In my mind, this is cultivating self-governance. Charlotte goes on to say that as strong as nature is, it is not invincible and should not be permitted to run rampant. So how does one help a child overcome his nature? By habit training! Charlotte suggests that as strong as nature is, "habit is not only as strong, but tenfold as strong."

I often say, "I am a creature of habit." I make decisions based on what I know to be true and due to a patterned thinking. Having habits in place helps ease the effort of decision. I don't have to think about it because it becomes automatic. For example, I cannot go to sleep in unkempt sheets. Therefore, I make my bed every morning so when I'm exhausted, I can fall into bed and sleep restfully without thinking about it. Making my bed daily is a habit.

Charlotte says all things are possible with habit training...

...there is nothing which a mother cannot bring her child up to,... (p. 105)

-AND-

...anything may be accomplished by training, that is, the cultivation of persistent habits. (p. 106)

Good habits can override nature. Charlotte's Principle 2 states all children are born with the possibilities for good and evil. If we acknowledge that a child's character is not determined by heredity, then the first task of education should be a moral one. We must guide children in their tendencies away from evil and toward the good. Charlotte likens these possibilities or tendencies to branches on a road and she says it is the parent's job to send the child down the right track... 

...to put the child on the right track for fulfillment of the possibilities inherent in him, is the vocation of the parent. (p. 109)

Charlotte advocated for parents being intentional about habit training. She writes about particular habits throughout her six volume set. If you need help or encouragement on how to form good habits over and above her writings, a useful resource is Laying Down the Rails by Simply Charlotte Mason. Their parent reference guide outlines everything Charlotte said about each habit and gives practical hands on ideas on how to implement them.

Tomorrow I will continue with thoughts on the rest of Part III, including the Physiology of Habit and the Effort of Decision.