Saturday, April 23, 2011
Growing Things
It has been a lifelong joy of mine to watch things grow. I am speaking of plants right now, but it really applies even more to my children! To see my son enjoying gardening is oddly satisfying. It's a hobby we can enjoy together and it's a life skill he can use.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Vorpal Blade
In her book Home Education, Charlotte Mason wrote that children should have “tales of the imagination, scenes laid out in other lands and other times, heroic adventures, hairbreadth escapes, delicious fairy tales…” (pg 152) These types of stories and books inspire the imagination.
We usually think of imagination as being something used to write fairy tales or during playtime. But Charlotte wrote that it is not only for amusement, but that it is a prerequisite for the ability to do heroic things.
What child does not take their vorpal sword in hand and slay the Jabberwock, snicker-snack, along with the protagonist as they read or hear Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky? In my house that beast is slain anew each time the poem is read! Charlotte wrote that without the ability to forget your own problems and identify with someone else’s struggles, you would never be able to do anything heroic. Perhaps this exercise in imagination will allow my children to brave the unknown or to stand up and fight for something they believe in. They may never do these things, but, in any case, this poem certainly encourages imagination.
One of my favorite childhood imaginations comes from The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read this book over and over when I was a child and could just see the horrible cold and ugly attic room turned into a lovely place filled with beautiful things. I imagined Sarah’s excitement when she sat down to the table full of delicious food and had her first real meal in months as well as her relief to sit and eat, warm and comfortable.
I don’t know if I am able to do heroic things because of the time I spent using my imagination as I read wonderful books as a child, but I do see in myself the ability to swim against the culture around me and follow my heart in many different areas of life. I hope to impart this same courage of conviction on to my children and that they will be able to live their lives as thinking persons rather than following the tide of our media-driven culture.
We usually think of imagination as being something used to write fairy tales or during playtime. But Charlotte wrote that it is not only for amusement, but that it is a prerequisite for the ability to do heroic things.
What child does not take their vorpal sword in hand and slay the Jabberwock, snicker-snack, along with the protagonist as they read or hear Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky? In my house that beast is slain anew each time the poem is read! Charlotte wrote that without the ability to forget your own problems and identify with someone else’s struggles, you would never be able to do anything heroic. Perhaps this exercise in imagination will allow my children to brave the unknown or to stand up and fight for something they believe in. They may never do these things, but, in any case, this poem certainly encourages imagination.
One of my favorite childhood imaginations comes from The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I read this book over and over when I was a child and could just see the horrible cold and ugly attic room turned into a lovely place filled with beautiful things. I imagined Sarah’s excitement when she sat down to the table full of delicious food and had her first real meal in months as well as her relief to sit and eat, warm and comfortable.
I don’t know if I am able to do heroic things because of the time I spent using my imagination as I read wonderful books as a child, but I do see in myself the ability to swim against the culture around me and follow my heart in many different areas of life. I hope to impart this same courage of conviction on to my children and that they will be able to live their lives as thinking persons rather than following the tide of our media-driven culture.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
the very bread of life
Education is a Life.
When I first read these words I imagined a life full of real experiences – visiting the zoo, watching seeds sprout and grow, singing together, etc.
Charlotte Mason meant something totally different!
Charlotte Mason’s concept of Education is a Life concerns the care and feeding of our minds. As we feed our bodies, we must also feed our minds. Charlotte wrote that the proper food for minds is ideas. Ideas supply energy. They nourish and feed our minds, just as wholesome food nourishes our bodies.
Now, ideas cannot be force-fed into anybody, least of all children. Certain thoughts will grab and animate them and others will be tossed aside. Charlotte recommended providing a great variety of ideas to children, from which they would be able to pick and choose. This is why she called for providing “much and varied humane reading, as well as human thought expressed in the forms of art.” (vol 6 pg 111)
This is such a relief and breath of fresh air to me. It expresses some of my deepest feelings about life and living it as a human, created in the image of God, rather than an animate being evolved from a rock…or even a fish. I crave art and beauty of all sorts. It feeds my soul. Our society seems to say that these things are worthless, unnecessary and maybe even stuck-up.
Some homeschoolers believe that children really only need the 3Rs and anything more is gravy. Well, Charlotte disagreed. She wrote that this so-called gravy “is not a luxury, a tit-bit, to be given to children now and then, but their very bread of life, which they must have in abundant portions and at regular periods.” (vol 6 pg 111)
Without the daily mind food of ideas, both I and my children will wilt and suffer under the load of daily academic drill and effort. Ideas lift us up from the mundane slog, providing vision and focus which will keep us well-nourished and encouraged to go on.
When I first read these words I imagined a life full of real experiences – visiting the zoo, watching seeds sprout and grow, singing together, etc.
Charlotte Mason meant something totally different!
Charlotte Mason’s concept of Education is a Life concerns the care and feeding of our minds. As we feed our bodies, we must also feed our minds. Charlotte wrote that the proper food for minds is ideas. Ideas supply energy. They nourish and feed our minds, just as wholesome food nourishes our bodies.
Now, ideas cannot be force-fed into anybody, least of all children. Certain thoughts will grab and animate them and others will be tossed aside. Charlotte recommended providing a great variety of ideas to children, from which they would be able to pick and choose. This is why she called for providing “much and varied humane reading, as well as human thought expressed in the forms of art.” (vol 6 pg 111)
This is such a relief and breath of fresh air to me. It expresses some of my deepest feelings about life and living it as a human, created in the image of God, rather than an animate being evolved from a rock…or even a fish. I crave art and beauty of all sorts. It feeds my soul. Our society seems to say that these things are worthless, unnecessary and maybe even stuck-up.
Some homeschoolers believe that children really only need the 3Rs and anything more is gravy. Well, Charlotte disagreed. She wrote that this so-called gravy “is not a luxury, a tit-bit, to be given to children now and then, but their very bread of life, which they must have in abundant portions and at regular periods.” (vol 6 pg 111)
Without the daily mind food of ideas, both I and my children will wilt and suffer under the load of daily academic drill and effort. Ideas lift us up from the mundane slog, providing vision and focus which will keep us well-nourished and encouraged to go on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)