Okay, I thought I had posted up this reading last week when I was supposed to, but apparently I didn't. Whoops. At least it is short. Unless you want to hear about how every child needs a good portion of bacon fat every day to be healthy, I think it is fairly safe to skip - or at least just skim - pages 20-37. Basically she is saying that children need to be in a good healthy environment with good food and fresh air in order to have the optimum education. I think everyone would agree with this. I've noticed that with Jonah, of course. . . if he's thirsty or hungry or something obviously he's not going to be very happy or listen or concentrate well at all. Their physical needs must be met in order for their brains to be in their best working order.
Allright, I think there is plenty to discuss in pages 38-41!
1. At the top of p. 38, CM talks about parents leaving too much up to common sense and not paying enough attention to the laws of God. Where do you see that happening in parenting circles today? The first that comes to my mind is when people say "If I spank, they will learn to hit", thinking that that is great common sense. . . where else can you see common sense outranking God's laws in people's minds?
2. CM talks on page 38-39 about God's blessings being on those who are obedient to His laws, regardless of the level of their relationship to Him and the danger that comes from your children meeting those who are more moral than they even are, yet don't acknowledge God. What can we do to teach not only good doctrine to our children, but the obedience to God's laws that will bring the blessing of "morality"?
3. She then goes on to speak about those who think only the "spiritual" laws must be obeyed - she says yes, they receive the ultimate gift of eternal life, but they miss out on the gifts of science and the laws God has placed in the world in the way He ordered it. Does this have a bearing on the way we want our children to be educated? I think she is saying that we have to not only pray that our children will walk rightly, but teach them how to as well.
I admit that I find this last part a little hard to follow. Maybe someone else can help interpret what CM is saying and how it relates to our educational decisions?
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Week 2 Reading - Book 1, Chapter 1, Pages 11-20
I think this section is especially good . . and convicting for me personally. Once again, you can leave your thoughts as comments on this post - just put the number of the question by them so we know which ones you are discussing. The summary of the reading can be found at http://amblesideonline.org/CM/Summary1.html for those of you who don't have time to read.
1. Page 13 - I don't think CM means here so much "children are born law-abiding" as she does "children are born with a conscience", from what she offers as her explanation of that phrase. For anyone who has older children, what are you doing to help them in the area of conscience and how to confess their sin to God and to ask you for forgiveness? Is there any help you can offer those of us with younger children as we begin on this part of the road? What can we do specifically to help them understand the things they must not do because they're wrong and not because Mommy doesn't like them?
2. Page 15- How can we help our children to understand that we are law governed as well, under God's authority as we discipline them? Do we have options regarding the things we do or don't let them do or are there specific Scriptural principles that we have no choice but to follow? In other words, what are the laws that are governing us in disciplining our children?
3. Page 17 - "Children should have the best of their mothers" - obviously, this section was written during a time when many children had nurses to care for them, but how does this idea translate into our world today? How can we encourage each other to use our energy to make sure our children are getting the best of us?
4. Page 19-20 talks about the fact that children's faults are serious and they are capable of sinning as well as having a relationship with the Almighty God. How do you agree or disagree with these thoughts? What Scriptures relate to children's capacity for faith? If your church thinks differently than you do, how are you handling this?
1. Page 13 - I don't think CM means here so much "children are born law-abiding" as she does "children are born with a conscience", from what she offers as her explanation of that phrase. For anyone who has older children, what are you doing to help them in the area of conscience and how to confess their sin to God and to ask you for forgiveness? Is there any help you can offer those of us with younger children as we begin on this part of the road? What can we do specifically to help them understand the things they must not do because they're wrong and not because Mommy doesn't like them?
2. Page 15- How can we help our children to understand that we are law governed as well, under God's authority as we discipline them? Do we have options regarding the things we do or don't let them do or are there specific Scriptural principles that we have no choice but to follow? In other words, what are the laws that are governing us in disciplining our children?
3. Page 17 - "Children should have the best of their mothers" - obviously, this section was written during a time when many children had nurses to care for them, but how does this idea translate into our world today? How can we encourage each other to use our energy to make sure our children are getting the best of us?
4. Page 19-20 talks about the fact that children's faults are serious and they are capable of sinning as well as having a relationship with the Almighty God. How do you agree or disagree with these thoughts? What Scriptures relate to children's capacity for faith? If your church thinks differently than you do, how are you handling this?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
What do you propose that education will effect in and for your child?
This was a question from last week and one that was answered by several people. I think it's the most important question from this reading and since we haven't started the next section yet, I thought this worth belaboring.
I was rocking Jonah to sleep tonight, just for fun, and in my mind I was thinking about this question and what I would purpose to have the education I will give him effect in him. I was thinking about the state of the world and all the unknowns. We think teaching our kids to think is important and it is, teaching them how to learn, teaching them research and writing skills so that whatever comes along later they will be able to pick up and learn on their own and explain to others - all of these are important. But I am thinking of a little bigger picture, and one that I believe a complete reading of Charlotte Mason's whole series shows is her big picture too. What if our world goes to war? What if America crumbles tomorrow and all the Christians are sent to prison camps? What if China takes over and our children are in brainwashing sessions to teach them the ways of communism? Having taught them to think well for themselves will be helpful, certainly, to help them see through the lies, but I don't think it is a sufficient goal of education. In Haiti right now, if you were a mother crushed under the rubble and realized your children would survive, would you be thinking, "I hope they know how to learn"? The reason we are homeschooling, and the reason for those who aren't but are home with their children at this point, should not be to give our children a superior education. It should be to give them a solid faith.
Deuteronomy talks about teaching the laws of God to your children when you sit down, when you rise up, when you walk by the way - that is why we are with our kids 24/7 - not because we want them to get a good SAT score or be able to pick up and learn anything they want - and it's not because we love changing diapers or find a secret thrill in getting vomited on. It's because God has given these kids specifically to us as parents and He has given them with the trust that we are going to lay our lives down to bring them to the feet of the cross.
What should our goal of education be? It's to sing the praises of the Lord to the next generation. What do we propose that education will effect in our children? The ability to sing His praises to the next generation after that. What do we propose it will effect for our children? An eternal, internal strength that will give them hope in a world of tragedy, joy in a world of sorrow, and marble faith in a triune God in a world of pluralism and heathenism. I don't really care if my children fail the SAT. I do care if they think it's okay to not give a clerk back an extra quarter.
I think most of us would agree on this as our final goal. But let's not get distracted even for a minute thinking that academics are more important. If we lose sight of our goal of helping our children be like Christ even for a couple of hours, we're in trouble. If studying so hard for a science test means Jonah starts to snap at Betsy unkindly for making noise, out the door goes the science test. If getting a good score on a paper makes my kids prideful and cocky, I won't show them their scores (I know my mom rarely did!). I'm trying to help them towards godliness, not intelligence.
So, there's my two cents. Anyone else have any thoughts?
I was rocking Jonah to sleep tonight, just for fun, and in my mind I was thinking about this question and what I would purpose to have the education I will give him effect in him. I was thinking about the state of the world and all the unknowns. We think teaching our kids to think is important and it is, teaching them how to learn, teaching them research and writing skills so that whatever comes along later they will be able to pick up and learn on their own and explain to others - all of these are important. But I am thinking of a little bigger picture, and one that I believe a complete reading of Charlotte Mason's whole series shows is her big picture too. What if our world goes to war? What if America crumbles tomorrow and all the Christians are sent to prison camps? What if China takes over and our children are in brainwashing sessions to teach them the ways of communism? Having taught them to think well for themselves will be helpful, certainly, to help them see through the lies, but I don't think it is a sufficient goal of education. In Haiti right now, if you were a mother crushed under the rubble and realized your children would survive, would you be thinking, "I hope they know how to learn"? The reason we are homeschooling, and the reason for those who aren't but are home with their children at this point, should not be to give our children a superior education. It should be to give them a solid faith.
Deuteronomy talks about teaching the laws of God to your children when you sit down, when you rise up, when you walk by the way - that is why we are with our kids 24/7 - not because we want them to get a good SAT score or be able to pick up and learn anything they want - and it's not because we love changing diapers or find a secret thrill in getting vomited on. It's because God has given these kids specifically to us as parents and He has given them with the trust that we are going to lay our lives down to bring them to the feet of the cross.
What should our goal of education be? It's to sing the praises of the Lord to the next generation. What do we propose that education will effect in our children? The ability to sing His praises to the next generation after that. What do we propose it will effect for our children? An eternal, internal strength that will give them hope in a world of tragedy, joy in a world of sorrow, and marble faith in a triune God in a world of pluralism and heathenism. I don't really care if my children fail the SAT. I do care if they think it's okay to not give a clerk back an extra quarter.
I think most of us would agree on this as our final goal. But let's not get distracted even for a minute thinking that academics are more important. If we lose sight of our goal of helping our children be like Christ even for a couple of hours, we're in trouble. If studying so hard for a science test means Jonah starts to snap at Betsy unkindly for making noise, out the door goes the science test. If getting a good score on a paper makes my kids prideful and cocky, I won't show them their scores (I know my mom rarely did!). I'm trying to help them towards godliness, not intelligence.
So, there's my two cents. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Monday, February 1, 2010
Week 2 Reading
Because I need to be one week ahead of the readings in order to have the summary and discussion questions ready, this week will be used to catch up. So I will post the assignment on Monday as I plan to do in the future. Since today is Monday, I will tell you that the assignment is:
Page 11-20
There, now the suspense is over.
Page 11-20
There, now the suspense is over.
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