"a brave and good woman"

Enjoy one of my favorite stories from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book - The Nettle Spinner 

The Nettle Spinner

Job Description - Home School Mom

In honor of home school moms, I wrote up a sample job description:

Applicant must demonstrate skill, experience, or aptitude in many of the following areas (Amateurs preferred):

• Spiritual Guide
• Nurse
• Chef
• Historian
• Mathematician
• Bus Driver
• Literary Critic
• Poet
• Artist
• Janitor
• Musician
• Naturalist
• Plumber
• Coach
• Scientist

Degrees required from institutions of higher learning:  NONE

Personality traits:  adventuresome, loves children, loves to learn

Job Title:  Home School Mom

Stolen Wisdom

   A Friend once brought her brother to see Mother Macrina.  He was a well-known theologian, a university professor, and an author of many books.  He was not very keen on coming at first, for he did not think highly of holy women and had no patience with fools.  But his sister persisted and once he came, he seemed to enjoy himself and was in no hurry to leave.
   His sister later told Mother Macrina that when she asked her brother what he thought of the visit, he replied that Mother seemed to be a very intelligent and well-read woman, but that nothing she said was in fact new, for it was taken from the writings of the Fathers of the Church and the saints.
   When she heard this, Mother burst out laughing and said, "Your brother is perfectly right, of course.  Everything I know, I steal from the saints!  But this does not worry me at all, for they themselves stole everything they knew from God."
(from God Is Not Reasonable and Other Tales of Mother Macrina)

The Best Children's Toys

Most toys stifle the imagination instead of encouraging it.  Have you noticed how kids prefer "real" things, stuff they see Mom and Dad using? Here are some "toys" that allow a child's imagination to play:

1) A big cardboard box.  May have a couple of windows cut out. (makes a house, car, sled, fort, castle, cave, etc.)

2) A stick.  (makes a gun, sword, torch, staff, etc.)

3) Dress-up clothes.

4) Kitchen cabinet or shelf with containers of various sizes.

5) Dolls/Stuffed Animals

6) Lego.  Lots of plain legos. (makes almost anything)

What a lot of books! Have you read them all?

If you have a substantial library, you will inevitably get the question "have you read them all?"  Umberto Eco provides my favorite answers to the question:
"In the past I adopted a tone of contemptuous sarcasm. ’I haven’t read any of them; otherwise, why would I keep them here?’ But this is a dangerous answer because it invites the obvious follow-up: ’And where do you put them after you’ve read them?’ The best answer is the one always used by Roberto Leydi: ’And more, dear sir, many more,’ which freezes the adversary and plunges him into a state of awed admiration. But I find it merciless and angst-generating. Now I have fallen back upon the riposte: ’No, these are the ones I have to read by the end of the month. I keep the others in my office,’ a reply that on the one hand suggests a sublime ergonomic strategy, and on the other hand leads the visitor to hasten the moment of his departure." 
From A Passion For Books: A Book Lover's Treasury

A Question Journal?

One of the great benefits of home schooling is the flexibility it provides for learning.  Instead of trying to make our home look like a school, we try to allow enough space for the interests of the child and make learning a part of everyday activities for all of us.  I've begun to ask my children to make a list of questions they have (about anything) and a list of things they want to know or learn.  I may even have them keep a journal specifically to record their questions as they come up.  As a result of their lists so far, my 8 year old and I are studying our Church's liturgy and my 10 year old wants to learn about the inner working of computers.  So, we're off to the library.  I hope they keep the questions coming.

Free Conference Recordings Related to Education

Eighth Day Symposium - Imagination and Soul

The Climacus Conference 2011

The Climacus Conference 2010

If God Became a Cat

For a real treat, take a look at Peter Kreeft's book Before I Go: Letters to Our Children About What Really Matters.  In the book he passes along his words of wisdom to his children and we get to listen along.  Here is one of the short letters, and not particularly representative of the rest, but I thought it was interesting:

"If God became a cat instead of a man, wouldn't you revere cats?

Well, God became a man.  Why don't we revere man  more?

If He had said, "Whatever you do to one of the least of these my cats, you do to me," would we go around dissing and dismissing cats?  No, we'd see God every time we looked at the littlest kitty cat.

Too bad we don't revere each other as well as we'd revere cats."

Home Schooling - What Can A Working Dad Do?

How can a working dad be more active in their home schooled children's education?  This is a question I have often thought about.  As a team, my wife and I have established and tweaked our "home education philosophy" over the years and chosen our curriculum.  I provide a small measure of accountability and support for my wife; the master teacher of our home school.  We have also committed to eating breakfast and dinner together.  Breakfast time includes a brief devotional reading, a hymn, and prayer.  Dinner time may include reading an Aesop's fable or perhaps some discussion.  And of course there is Dad's evening read-a-loud session.

This morning we also implemented something more:

Each of my three boys will individually join me at 6:30am for a time of prayer and individual study (about 30 or 40 minutes total) once a week.  This morning promptly at 6:30am, my 6 year old made his way out to my office (I work from home in an office behind my house).  We said our prayers by candle light together.  Then I read the story of King Alfred and the Cakes from Fifty Famous Stories Retold.  Then, with a little coaching on standing still and speaking clearly, my son proceeded to narrate the story back to me.  We talked a little and  he returned to the house with a spring in his step to rejoin his siblings.  When I later came in for breakfast, his older brother (7 years old) said that he could hardly sleep the night before since he knew he got to come to my office on the following day to study together.  Initially, we will be looking into some of his questions about the liturgy at church for our study session.  Finally, my 10 year old and I are reading Plutarch's Lives together.

I think this is going to be good for all of us, especially Dad.

  

How Not to Talk to Your Kids

Teachers and Parents should read this article about the power of (correct) praise.

Andrew Kern on Teaching Literature

A Good Use for Bad Books?

Historian Otto Scott tells the story of a Cambridge educated tutor hired by his family when he was thirteen.  This story has stuck with me over the years, here it is:

    "The next step came when he handed me a book to read.  'Finish it by the next session,' he said, and left leaving me somewhat shaken.
    On the next occasion he said, 'Did you read the book?' I nodded.  'Did you like it?' I said, 'Yes.'  He said 'Why?'
    It had not, until then, occurred to me that I could dislike a book.  A nonfiction book was to be obeyed, not disputed.  The tutor disabused me.
    'You stupid little boy,' he said.  'It is a foolish book.  A boring book.  A worthless book.'  He then proceeded to demolish the book.  It had, obviously, been a test - and one that I had failed.  He handed me another book and said, 'Read it and report on it the next time.'
    He left, and I realized that I was supposed to evaluate what I read.  My next book report was much more careful.  I read and I thought or tried to think.  My comments were more deliberate, but still favorable.  The tutor then said, 'Have you thought of this?  Or that?'  I had not, but I was not willing to be humiliated again, and I argued, somewhat ineptly.  For the first time he smiled at me.  'That's better,' he said, and we began to discuss the book in more reasonable terms.  He agreed that what I liked had merit.  I listened to his criticisms with a sense of being taught what was interesting to learn.  My tutoring had begun."

(from the forward to The Great Christian Revolution by Otto Scott)

Of Kings' Treasuries

The free home school curriculum at Ambleside Online is full of great books carefully selected.  It will be years before my children get to many of them, but that hasn't stopped me from perusing a few.  One in particular caught my eye recently; John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies.  I knew Ruskin was a Victorian art critic, but had no idea what this particular work was about.  It turned out to be two lectures published in 1865.  The first lecture, Of King's Treasuries, was about reading great books.

In beautiful imagery, Ruskin speaks of great books as a way for anyone to enter into the aristocracy of the great leaders, statesmen, thinkers, and saints - an entrance right into the King's treasuries.  All that is needed is a "true desire to be taught by them, and to enter into their thoughts.  To enter into thiers, observe; not to find your own expressed by them.  If the person who wrote the book is not wiser than you, you need not read it; if he be, he will think differently from you in many respects."

Then he describes how to do this, using the image of an Australian miner: "..the metal you are in search of being the author's mind or meaning, his words are as the rock which you have to crush and smelt in order to get at it.  And your pickaxes are your own care, wit, and learning; your smelting furnace is your own thoughtful soul.  Do not hope to get at the author's meaning without those tools and that fire; often you will need the sharpest, finest chiseling, and patient fusing, before you can gain one grain of metal."

Ruskin then goes on to demonstrate his methods with examples from the Bible and Milton, wrapping it all up with a rant (there is no other way to describe it) about his own age and its inability to read well.
  

Montaigne - Of the Education of Children

All quotes from the wonderful essay Of the Education of Children by Michel de Montaigne:

On the Beginning of Education - "For it seems to me that the first lessons in which we should steep his mind must be those that regulate his behavior and his sense, that will teach him to know himself and to die well and live well.  Among the liberal arts, let us begin with the art that liberates us."

On Teaching History - "But let my guide remember the object of his task, and let him not impress on his pupil so much the date of the destruction of Carthage as the characters of Hannibal and Scipio, nor so much where Marcellus died as why his death there showed him unworthy of his duty.  Let him be taught not so much the histories as how to judge them."

On Truth - "Let him be taught above all to surrender and throw down his arms before truth as soon as he perceives it, whether it be found in the hands of his opponents, or in himself through reconsideration."

On Mass Schooling - "If, as is our custom, the teachers undertake to regulate many minds of such different capacities and forms with the same lesson and a similar measure of guidance, it is no wonder if in a whole race of children they find barely two or three who reap any proper fruit from their teaching."

To think that one knows does not allow one to advance in knowledge

"If you want to become judicious and moderate and no servant of the passion of conceit, always seek in things what is hidden from your knowledge. You will indeed find a great many diverse things which have eluded you, and you will be astonished at your own ignorance and temper your pride. And in knowing yourself, you will understand many great and wonderful things, since to think that one knows does not allow one to advance in knowledge."
(St. Maximus the Confessor, 400 Chapters on Love, 3.81)

Logic Resources

These are the ones I am planning to use at the present:

Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery is a very unique approach to teaching logic and discussion skills at around the age of eleven. It is a narrative story with characters who "discover" and test each other's thinking. Designed for students to read aloud and discuss with other children and with an adult who basically guides the discussion (not as a teacher). Students are to do their own learning, ask their own questions, and test their own thoughts.



For a fun way to do more practice on the important topic of informal fallacies:



Peter Kreeft has written a comprehensive logic for older students. The great thing is that he uses real examples, many from great works of Western Civilization. I'll let this comprehensive review do my talking.

Covering Ground or Contemplation

I step into the museum with an hour to spare.  It’s a rather large museum, so I’ve got to be efficient to cover all the ground.  Some rooms are laid out so that I can stand in the middle and slowly turn and take it all in.  Other rooms are laid out so that I have to go to each painting individually, giving my attention for a few seconds at a stop, perhaps even reading a few of the titles and histories.  Finally, I reach the exit, glance down at my watch and notice that I actually saw everything in only thirty-five minutes.  But I’ve already seen everything - so I guess I’ll have time to run into the used bookstore on the way home.

I step into the museum with an hour to spare.  It’s a rather large museum, so I’ve got to select my subjects with care.  But not to worry, I can always come back again.  I select a few paintings, sit down, taking the time to observe - perhaps taking out my sketch book or notepad.  I glance at my watch and notice how fast the time has flown.  I gather my things and think about what I saw all the way home.  I’ll have to plan a return visit soon.

It is a real temptation for both classical and home school curriculums to cover as much ground as possible.  There is an anxiety about missing something essential or not getting through the entire history of the world.  Unfortunately, there are some serious ramifications from this approach to the curriculum.  “Covering ground” tends to become an end in itself.  I think the better approach is to cover a few things well, and whet the appetite for more.

What are our classical schools producing?  Do students graduate and say either of the following:  “I never want to read another ‘great’ book again” or perhaps even more harmful thinking, “I’ve already read the great books of the western world”.   If so, we have a problem.  Students should graduate with a joy for learning, still wanting to know more.  Considerable time and effort should go into thinking how this can be accomplished in our schools. 

There have been a few times in my teaching career that I experienced something like deep satisfaction.  On one such occasion, the class had been reading Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton slowly and carefully, discussing as we went.  We had gotten to know the author through anecdotes about his life.  We took note of how Chesterton saw the world in different and more beautiful ways than most of us had before.  As the Christmas break approached, several students asked me what other Chesterton books they should read over the break.  Something wonderful had happened.  Under most school circumstances, this would not have been able to occur.  It required time to get to know the author, to experience his work together, to simply enjoy - it took time.

It Worked So Well It Had to be Stopped

I've recently posted links to several articles by John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Nelick.  These three professors created the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program (IHP) at the University of Kansas in the 1970's.  The program was a  two year course of study in humanities for freshman and sophomores.  It included:

• Reading and discussion of some of the great books of Western civilization (The entire student body would attend a discussion between the three professors, then students would have their own smaller group discussions during the week with one of the three professors in attendance.  I've often thought this model could work very well in a high school setting; providing many benefits to both faculty and students )
• Poetry memorization
• Latin
• Calligraphy
• Stargazing
• And a formal dance

The program became quite popular and actually changed the lives of many students.  So, the school administration had to step in and destroy it.

It is well worth tracking down an out of print book written about the IHP: Truth On Trial - Liberal Education Be Hanged.  Here and here are reviews of the book.  The book Poetic Knowledge also includes a chapter about the program.

If you are interested in classical education, take the time to learn more about the IHP. 

       

[used book prices are very high on this book - you might try inter-library loan from your local library]

1000 Good Books or What Everyone Should Have Read

John Senior, in the appendix of his book The Death of Christian Culture, provides a large list of "good" books.  He argues that in order to read the "great" books of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine and St. Thomas, we need to "replenish the cultural soil that has been depleted" and create a place where those works can thrive by cultivating "an imaginative ground saturated with fables, fairy tales, stories, rhymes and adventures: the thousand books of Grimm, Anderson, Stevenson, Dickens, Scott, Dumas and the rest."

Take a look at Senior's list (and the rest of the book is well worth reading).  [Amazon.com allows one to view most of the list through its "Look Inside" function]

Update: You can now find the book list in its entirety here.

Education by the Muses

Education by the Muses is pre-scientific; it does not engage in measurement or analysis or inquiry into causes. “How I wonder what you are!” is not a question; it ends with an exclamation mark, or as Shakespeare called it, a point of admiration.  Before studying scientific astronomy one must admire and delight in the splendor of the heavens; before anatomizing the frog, one must make acquaintance with him in the celebrated and amusing frog who went a-wooing.

from Education by the Muses by Dennis Quinn

The Several Storied Tower

Teaching, Plato says, is a species of friendship, whose highest degree is love, in which persons see each other as integral parts of something greater than themselves, a marriage, a family, a college, a nation, a faith.

From The Several-Storied Tower by John Senior

The Risk of Education - Chapter II

Chapter II explores the meaning of the ideas of crisis and dialogue in the testing of tradition; the "risk" which leads to conviction.  Giussani states that "to be in crisis means to become aware of the reality from which we are shaped."  This awareness of our "tradition" must then be tested.  For the Christian it means the following:

"This engagement, even at the level of a working hypothesis, implies the need to throw our whole life into the community of the church and to identify the life of the Christian community with our life.  Only then we shall see, only then shall we realize what the Christian proposal means to us."