Okay, I fixed a couple of things.
If you want to subscribe to this blog's RSS feed, you have to enter www.salvationsongs.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default into your reader. You can also click on "subscribe to feed" at the bottom of this post and copy the link.
If you don't use a reader, but would like each post e-mailed to you, let me know.
The comments are now enabled again. I'm sorry, I'm not sure how I messed that up.
In the future, I will post the summary and the discussion questions over the weekend and at the same time announce the reading for the following week.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Week 1 Summary
Here is a short summary of this week's reading, taken from http://amblesideonline.org/CM/Summary1.html
Part I––Some Preliminary Considerations pages 1-6
As education is more available to all classes of people, we see more women enter the workforce. Not all of those women work because of financial necessity, some just love the satisfaction of doing something really important. But the work that is most important to society is raising children, not just in schools, but, even more, in the home, because early home life influences the character of the future man or woman more than anything else. "It is a great thing to be a parent: there is no promotion, no dignity, to compare with it. The parents of but one child may be cherishing what shall prove a blessing to the world."
Charlotte Mason is correct, there is no higher calling than raising the next generation, and it is good to enter into it with some knowledge, and to realize that we don't just raise them to be a blessing to ourselves as parents, but to all of society as well.
There are natural laws that govern everything, including raising children. Parents have to observe certain laws (feed it, love it) just to keep a child alive. So long as the parent provides love, nutritious food, wholesome playmates and diversions, the child does well left to himself––for awhile. He will grow up perfectly happy. But parents, and indeed, all the adults in society, owe the child more than that––they must also train him to be a useful member of society.
I––A Method of Education pg. 6-10
Child-rearing has gone from one of two extremes––from a Spartan-like existence designed to toughen kids up for the real world to almost child-worship, where the parents bend over backwards to please the child's whims. In our society, we seem to have a bit different variation of the Spartan extreme. Some children are neglected and some are over-indulged. She mentions that using a slipper in her day was pretty much "disallowed," leaving us to assume that corporal punishment was discouraged then as it is in our society today.
Raising children, like any venture, is best done when you have some idea or vision of the end result you desire. It's easy to get so focused on one aspect of child-rearing that everything else is neglected. It's much harder to keep the whole child in our vision, to be balanced and not get obsessed about one area. Our end goal is a child who is useful to his world, is trained to choose rightly, and whose love for many different things brings joy to him all his life.
Once you know what you desire as your end result, you just have to plan how to get there. Since children are living beings with minds of their own, a rigid system where the teacher follows steps A, B and C to get the result of Child D, won't work. What's needed is a method, a plan to arrive at the desired destination and some guiding principles to keep in mind along the way.
Part I––Some Preliminary Considerations pages 1-6
As education is more available to all classes of people, we see more women enter the workforce. Not all of those women work because of financial necessity, some just love the satisfaction of doing something really important. But the work that is most important to society is raising children, not just in schools, but, even more, in the home, because early home life influences the character of the future man or woman more than anything else. "It is a great thing to be a parent: there is no promotion, no dignity, to compare with it. The parents of but one child may be cherishing what shall prove a blessing to the world."
Charlotte Mason is correct, there is no higher calling than raising the next generation, and it is good to enter into it with some knowledge, and to realize that we don't just raise them to be a blessing to ourselves as parents, but to all of society as well.
There are natural laws that govern everything, including raising children. Parents have to observe certain laws (feed it, love it) just to keep a child alive. So long as the parent provides love, nutritious food, wholesome playmates and diversions, the child does well left to himself––for awhile. He will grow up perfectly happy. But parents, and indeed, all the adults in society, owe the child more than that––they must also train him to be a useful member of society.
I––A Method of Education pg. 6-10
Child-rearing has gone from one of two extremes––from a Spartan-like existence designed to toughen kids up for the real world to almost child-worship, where the parents bend over backwards to please the child's whims. In our society, we seem to have a bit different variation of the Spartan extreme. Some children are neglected and some are over-indulged. She mentions that using a slipper in her day was pretty much "disallowed," leaving us to assume that corporal punishment was discouraged then as it is in our society today.
Raising children, like any venture, is best done when you have some idea or vision of the end result you desire. It's easy to get so focused on one aspect of child-rearing that everything else is neglected. It's much harder to keep the whole child in our vision, to be balanced and not get obsessed about one area. Our end goal is a child who is useful to his world, is trained to choose rightly, and whose love for many different things brings joy to him all his life.
Once you know what you desire as your end result, you just have to plan how to get there. Since children are living beings with minds of their own, a rigid system where the teacher follows steps A, B and C to get the result of Child D, won't work. What's needed is a method, a plan to arrive at the desired destination and some guiding principles to keep in mind along the way.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Week 1 Reading - Book 1, Chapter 1, Pages 1-10
Welcome to our first week! I was going to have this portion be twice as long, but when I got into the discussion questions, I realized we have more than enough things to discuss with only these 10 pages. It's probably about 15 minutes' worth of reading.
I will first post the discussion questions so we can begin discussing as soon as possible. Then, hopefully tomorrow, I will have the summary posted for those who are not able to actually read the book so they can join in as well.
1. CM says that "children are a public trust". Do you agree or disagree with this statement? She uses it in the sense that children do not belong to parents to do with as they please, but that they are to bring them up in a way that will make them fit members of society. What would be the Biblical perspective on that idea?
2. "What is to be expected when one of the most intricate of problems is undertaken by those who have given scarcely a thought to the principle on which its solution depends? For shoemaking or housebuilding, for the management of a ship or of a locomotive engine, a long apprenticeship is needful. Is it, then, that the unfolding of a human being in body and mind is so comparatively simple a process that any one may superintend and regulate it with no preparation whatever?" I know people joke that there should be qualifications for parents, but the world just doesn't work that way. It is interesting that people prepare for nearly every other career, but for mothering there is no formal training. When should people start thinking about how to parent? What can we do when we find ourselves already parenting and realize there are things we don't no?
3. Page 5 says, "Nothing is trivial that concerns a child; his foolish-seeming words and ways are pregnant with meaning for the wise. It is in the infinitely little we must study the infinitely great; and the vast possibilities, and the right direction of education, are indicated in the open book of the little child's thoughts." Charlotte Mason is using this to say that children are best left to blossom on their own, using her phrase "masterly inactivity" to describe the position of the parent - always overseeing, always watching, always having the materials for learning and growth available, but keeping the meddling to a minimum. Have you noticed things in your own life that were '"infinitely little" when you were small but still are a part of your character or personality or interests today? For example, my parents have a home video of me holding up a bag of animal crackers and telling the cameraman what a bargain they were at the store. Come to find out, I would still enjoy bargain shopping today. Have you noticed anything in your kids already that you think might be a glimpse of things to come, either positive or negative? What can we do to help them develop the good things that we see pieces of and nip the bad ones in the bud before they blossom into something we don't want to deal with later?
4. Pages 6-8 talk about methods of education in the past and whether it's right to be strict or loose with children. A child of 5 is quoted as saying "I shall never make a sailor if I can't face the wind and rain." In these days of wipe warmers, I think our culture leans towards the side of pampering children. Is this good or bad? How much hardship should they be allowed or encouraged to endure? What age should this start? (This may be controversial.)
5. On page 8, the question is asked, "What do you propose that education shall effect in and for your child?" How would you answer that?
6. Page 9 discusses methods vs. systems and the fact that systems try to pigeonhole people who are living, breathing beings. Have you seen any failures of the system method?
To begin the discussion, leave a comment on this post. To keep things organized, let's state the number of the question we're responding to before the response. That way you can respond to multiple things in one post if you wish and everyone can easily see what you are talking about. Of course, if you want to bring up something else, feel free to - just make it #7 and so forth.
I will first post the discussion questions so we can begin discussing as soon as possible. Then, hopefully tomorrow, I will have the summary posted for those who are not able to actually read the book so they can join in as well.
Discussion Questions
1. CM says that "children are a public trust". Do you agree or disagree with this statement? She uses it in the sense that children do not belong to parents to do with as they please, but that they are to bring them up in a way that will make them fit members of society. What would be the Biblical perspective on that idea?
2. "What is to be expected when one of the most intricate of problems is undertaken by those who have given scarcely a thought to the principle on which its solution depends? For shoemaking or housebuilding, for the management of a ship or of a locomotive engine, a long apprenticeship is needful. Is it, then, that the unfolding of a human being in body and mind is so comparatively simple a process that any one may superintend and regulate it with no preparation whatever?" I know people joke that there should be qualifications for parents, but the world just doesn't work that way. It is interesting that people prepare for nearly every other career, but for mothering there is no formal training. When should people start thinking about how to parent? What can we do when we find ourselves already parenting and realize there are things we don't no?
3. Page 5 says, "Nothing is trivial that concerns a child; his foolish-seeming words and ways are pregnant with meaning for the wise. It is in the infinitely little we must study the infinitely great; and the vast possibilities, and the right direction of education, are indicated in the open book of the little child's thoughts." Charlotte Mason is using this to say that children are best left to blossom on their own, using her phrase "masterly inactivity" to describe the position of the parent - always overseeing, always watching, always having the materials for learning and growth available, but keeping the meddling to a minimum. Have you noticed things in your own life that were '"infinitely little" when you were small but still are a part of your character or personality or interests today? For example, my parents have a home video of me holding up a bag of animal crackers and telling the cameraman what a bargain they were at the store. Come to find out, I would still enjoy bargain shopping today. Have you noticed anything in your kids already that you think might be a glimpse of things to come, either positive or negative? What can we do to help them develop the good things that we see pieces of and nip the bad ones in the bud before they blossom into something we don't want to deal with later?
4. Pages 6-8 talk about methods of education in the past and whether it's right to be strict or loose with children. A child of 5 is quoted as saying "I shall never make a sailor if I can't face the wind and rain." In these days of wipe warmers, I think our culture leans towards the side of pampering children. Is this good or bad? How much hardship should they be allowed or encouraged to endure? What age should this start? (This may be controversial.)
5. On page 8, the question is asked, "What do you propose that education shall effect in and for your child?" How would you answer that?
6. Page 9 discusses methods vs. systems and the fact that systems try to pigeonhole people who are living, breathing beings. Have you seen any failures of the system method?
To begin the discussion, leave a comment on this post. To keep things organized, let's state the number of the question we're responding to before the response. That way you can respond to multiple things in one post if you wish and everyone can easily see what you are talking about. Of course, if you want to bring up something else, feel free to - just make it #7 and so forth.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Introduction
Welcome to our blog, "Glad Songs of Salvation" (title taken from Psalm 118:15 describing the atmosphere in the homes of the righteous), which purposes to discuss the writings of Charlotte Mason in her "Original Homeschooling Series". The intent of this blog is to help those of us with children (or those of us who will one day have children) think more deeply about the things that we do to train them. To quote CM, "We are waking up to our duties, and in proportion as mothers become more highly educated and efficient, they will doubtless feel the more strongly that the education of their children during the first six years of life is an undertaking hardly to be entrusted to any hands but their own. And they will take it up as their profession - that is, with the diligence, regularity, and punctuality which men bestow on their professional labours." The task of training our children - not only academically, but more importantly spiritually, morally, and physically, is a job with consequences far greater than many others, and can perhaps become overwhelming at times. As someone told me this week, "I knew the soul of my child was hanging in the balance on how I handled this situation." That can be true for each one of us each day as we recognize the awesome responsibility God has given us to be His instrument in molding little hearts and minds to walk in the only way that they should go.
So, whether you plan to homeschool or not, you are the sole influence on your children for their early years and for those of us who will be homeschooling all the way through, we are going to be that main provider of instruction for many, many years. But either way, God will hold each of us responsible for all the education our children receive and it is our duty to think hard about the things we say and do each day. We are not babysitters that are dispensable or replaceable. We are mothers and fathers with a trust from the Lord of precious lives that are not to be dealt with lightly.
Lest you think this will be a serious, no-nonsense blog, allow me to let you in one of Charlotte Mason's main philosophies - life is learning and having joy in everyday life is one of the greatest things you can do to start your children off on a good foundation!
The way the blog will work is as follows:
Each week we will read and discuss a portion of Charlotte Mason's series, beginning with book 1, "Home Education: Training and Educating Children Under Nine". The section will be either a chapter or part of a chapter, which can be read in about 30 minutes. Over the weekend, I will post a detailed summary of the chapter (especially for any husbands that would like to particiapte in the discussion but may not have time to read the section). At the end of the summary, I will post some discussion questions, perhaps some personal thoughts, and then open up the comments for your participation, disagreement, or conversation. The following weekend we will start over with a new section.
These books are available on Amazon and at other retailers for a reasonable price, as well as perhaps at your local library. They can also be read for free online at: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html. Someone has kindly posted a version in modern English as well, in case you don't want to wade through the original: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/ModernEnglish.html.
So, for this week, why don't you work on locating a book or perhaps printing out the first chapter from the online version if you wish to do that, and then leave a comment here letting everyone know you would like to participate!
I look forward to some great conversations!
So, whether you plan to homeschool or not, you are the sole influence on your children for their early years and for those of us who will be homeschooling all the way through, we are going to be that main provider of instruction for many, many years. But either way, God will hold each of us responsible for all the education our children receive and it is our duty to think hard about the things we say and do each day. We are not babysitters that are dispensable or replaceable. We are mothers and fathers with a trust from the Lord of precious lives that are not to be dealt with lightly.
Lest you think this will be a serious, no-nonsense blog, allow me to let you in one of Charlotte Mason's main philosophies - life is learning and having joy in everyday life is one of the greatest things you can do to start your children off on a good foundation!
The way the blog will work is as follows:
Each week we will read and discuss a portion of Charlotte Mason's series, beginning with book 1, "Home Education: Training and Educating Children Under Nine". The section will be either a chapter or part of a chapter, which can be read in about 30 minutes. Over the weekend, I will post a detailed summary of the chapter (especially for any husbands that would like to particiapte in the discussion but may not have time to read the section). At the end of the summary, I will post some discussion questions, perhaps some personal thoughts, and then open up the comments for your participation, disagreement, or conversation. The following weekend we will start over with a new section.
These books are available on Amazon and at other retailers for a reasonable price, as well as perhaps at your local library. They can also be read for free online at: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html. Someone has kindly posted a version in modern English as well, in case you don't want to wade through the original: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/ModernEnglish.html.
So, for this week, why don't you work on locating a book or perhaps printing out the first chapter from the online version if you wish to do that, and then leave a comment here letting everyone know you would like to participate!
I look forward to some great conversations!
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