One of the definitions of the word art is "the creation of beautiful or significant things". Just like a master artist, the Lord Jesus creates beautiful and significant things in our lives when we give Him the time and space to work. I feel blessed to share what He is creating in my life with you.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
52 weeks book challenge.
This week I read the book "Help I am Married to a Homeschooled Mom" by Todd Wilson. This book is written by a homeschooling dad to encourage other homeschooling dads how they can help their wives with the task of educating their children. It focuses on what their wives need from them, from choosing curriculum to emotional support. From a homeschooling mom's point of view it was something that I think would really appeal to the homeschooling dad. First of all, it is short which lends itself to be read quickly by busy dads. Second, it is full of "guy" humor that,I must admit, even I enjoyed. Most importantly, it really said what I, as a home school mom, have often felt but could not express to my husband in a non-condemning way. I hope he enjoys it as much as I did.
Philosophy of Education vol 6 ch.3 pts 3-5
Just as the body has “appetites” the spiritual and intellectual parts of us do too. Children desire to “know” and it is our job to use this natural “appetite” or curiosity to educate them. It is the practice of “schools” to play on the child’s desire to be first or to win by offering prizes and other incentives. We think there is no harm in this because it looks like the children are stimulated to learn. This practice actually chokes out the desire to learn and is replaced by cramming just to get the best mark.
Another part of the mind to consider when educating are what some may call feelings. Basically, Charlotte says they are boiled down to two: love and justice. We should appeal to the natural desires for true justice and make the sole motivation for learning be “because this is right” and not just the want of approval from others.
We should not train a child morally by “hand feeding” them but by allowing them to “eat by themselves” from hearing about or seeing the conduct of others who act in positive moral ways. This is why a broad range of subjects and materials must be used. You never know what will capture the mind of a child and provide the example he needs. It is different for each child. Charlotte calls “moral lessons” which are predigested “worse than useless”. Instead, we should give the children “moral feedings” and let them draw the lessons themselves. We can see in children the natural ability they have for love, which includes expressions of kindness, generosity, gratitude, pity, etc. and they should therefore be given the best examples in art and literature and more importantly the examples in the Bible to strengthen them morally.
As educators we should also expound on the inborn sense of justice in our students. They should learn that what they think of others is “a matter of justice or injustice” and that truth is justice in the form of words. Good citizens have a mind that can discern the truth.
From this sense of justice, children should learn what their “duty” is. The example given was that it is our “duty” to our neighbor “to keep our hands from stealing”. From this sense of duty should flow the sense of honesty and from honesty, integrity of thought.
Lastly, education should have an effect on the soul of the child. Because of the inborn senses of love and justice, man will realize that we have an “irrepressible need” for God and not just a “serviceable religion.” “How should we prepare the child towards God?” Charlotte asks. They must learn and read and have knowledge of God through the Bible.
Another part of the mind to consider when educating are what some may call feelings. Basically, Charlotte says they are boiled down to two: love and justice. We should appeal to the natural desires for true justice and make the sole motivation for learning be “because this is right” and not just the want of approval from others.
We should not train a child morally by “hand feeding” them but by allowing them to “eat by themselves” from hearing about or seeing the conduct of others who act in positive moral ways. This is why a broad range of subjects and materials must be used. You never know what will capture the mind of a child and provide the example he needs. It is different for each child. Charlotte calls “moral lessons” which are predigested “worse than useless”. Instead, we should give the children “moral feedings” and let them draw the lessons themselves. We can see in children the natural ability they have for love, which includes expressions of kindness, generosity, gratitude, pity, etc. and they should therefore be given the best examples in art and literature and more importantly the examples in the Bible to strengthen them morally.
As educators we should also expound on the inborn sense of justice in our students. They should learn that what they think of others is “a matter of justice or injustice” and that truth is justice in the form of words. Good citizens have a mind that can discern the truth.
From this sense of justice, children should learn what their “duty” is. The example given was that it is our “duty” to our neighbor “to keep our hands from stealing”. From this sense of duty should flow the sense of honesty and from honesty, integrity of thought.
Lastly, education should have an effect on the soul of the child. Because of the inborn senses of love and justice, man will realize that we have an “irrepressible need” for God and not just a “serviceable religion.” “How should we prepare the child towards God?” Charlotte asks. They must learn and read and have knowledge of God through the Bible.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
52 weeks book challenge
The book I read this week was The Innocent Man by John Grisham. This was his first non-fiction book and was very different from his other work. It takes place in the town of Ada Oklahoma. A murder was committed and the law enforcement agencies convicted two innocent men, one of which received the death penalty as his sentence. It was interesting to see the errors made by the prosecution that were virtually ignored during the trials. If you are looking for typical Grisham suspense there was none, but the book was not intended to be a novel. It is the actual account of the wrongs done by the legal system.
Philosophy of Education vol. 6 ch.3
Parts 1&2
Children, like adults, are born with good and evil tendencies. The hope is to build up the good and reduce the evil. This, Charlotte says, will only happen when “education is put in her proper place- as the handmaiden to religion.” Parents know their children better than anyone. They know and understand each child’s bents and passions. It is important to figure these out, as well as what “dangers” or weaknesses might present themselves, in order to steer our children onto right paths. As a teacher, you need to understand the human nature that is in every child. The tendencies which are in every child towards “greediness, restlessness, sloth, impurity” could ruin the adult that they will become if let go undisciplined.
Every child has intellect even if the outward appearance looks inattentive. We can tap this through a fascinating pageant of historical characters and scientific readings because children have an amazing imagination, which is part of that intellect. When we introduce children to literature it gives them the keys to a “glorious kingdom, a continual holiday, or an exquisitely served feast.” We need to not underestimate the abilities of children. We don’t need to explain every word or phrase we read. This actually bores them. They can understand more than we realize. Another mistake we make is going over and over material so they “get it”. By doing this we can actually paralyze the result of progress.
The minds of children need a broad selection of subject matter not just specialization in one particular field or interest. We need to give our children beautiful things to feast upon in the form of words, pictures, music and nature. The function of these beautiful things is to “open up a paradise of pleasure” for us. This beauty is for all, not just the educational elite.
Children, like adults, are born with good and evil tendencies. The hope is to build up the good and reduce the evil. This, Charlotte says, will only happen when “education is put in her proper place- as the handmaiden to religion.” Parents know their children better than anyone. They know and understand each child’s bents and passions. It is important to figure these out, as well as what “dangers” or weaknesses might present themselves, in order to steer our children onto right paths. As a teacher, you need to understand the human nature that is in every child. The tendencies which are in every child towards “greediness, restlessness, sloth, impurity” could ruin the adult that they will become if let go undisciplined.
Every child has intellect even if the outward appearance looks inattentive. We can tap this through a fascinating pageant of historical characters and scientific readings because children have an amazing imagination, which is part of that intellect. When we introduce children to literature it gives them the keys to a “glorious kingdom, a continual holiday, or an exquisitely served feast.” We need to not underestimate the abilities of children. We don’t need to explain every word or phrase we read. This actually bores them. They can understand more than we realize. Another mistake we make is going over and over material so they “get it”. By doing this we can actually paralyze the result of progress.
The minds of children need a broad selection of subject matter not just specialization in one particular field or interest. We need to give our children beautiful things to feast upon in the form of words, pictures, music and nature. The function of these beautiful things is to “open up a paradise of pleasure” for us. This beauty is for all, not just the educational elite.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Snow Days
We have had so much snow in the past three weeks here that I am beginning to wonder if the books on "snow" we are reading had something to do with it. I have been using FIAR with Abigail but have been adding in various different topics each month depending on holidays or events that strike our fancy. When we went to the library for this last load of books at the end of Janurary, I decided to explore the topic of the winter olympics, which led naturally to the topic of snow. Little did I know that this would bring the onslaught! We have had plenty of hands on experience with snow. I didn't even have to look far for a field trip- just walk out the front door! We have enjoyed reading "The Snowy Day" and making footprints like Peter did. Eating snow cream- it was the first time I had made it for my kids. But the best, by far, has been the birds. We have several bird and suet feeders which have attracted so many birds we have not seen at our feeders before. We typically have Junco's, Cardinals, Nuthatches, and Chick-a-dees but this storm brought Red-Winged Black Birds, both male and female(which are not black at all),Cowbirds, Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Starlings, a Downey Woodpecker, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and Purple Finches. I also thought I saw a Gold Finch. Abigail made homemade suet with my mom and covered pinecones with peanut butter and birdseed. Britni has taken some beautiful pictures of the icicles we had hanging from the roof. We've gone for walks in the snow and took in the wonder of a snow covered frozen pond. This is not at all what I had planned in the lesson book but I can say that we learned so much more. This is not to say that I won't enjoy getting back to "normal" school days, but I am glad that we can look back on these past few weeks and know that all was not lost!
Philosophy of Education vol. 6 Chapter 2
Children Are Born Persons.
This chapter opens with a look at how wondrous a child is. That from birth to age three the amount of things they learn is amazing. Charlotte believes that within the first two years of life a child goes through more intellectual effort than any following two years. The child’s mind is the ‘instrument’ of his education and it is important to know that education does not produce the mind. From a young age the child displays imagination, reasoning by asking questions, displays of temper. Displays of temper are often mislabeled “strong will” but this is in fact the opposite. The ‘will’ is used when the child is able to stop these types of behaviors and restrain himself. Charlotte refers to this as “learning the art of obedience.” She says that “no one can make a child obey unless he wills to do so”
Charlotte gives the example of the brain being the “instrument’ of the mind just like a piano is not music but the instrument of music. Once we see this in young children we can get a better grasp of how to educate them when they are ready for formal schooling. In order to reach the “mind” to educate we do not need to focus on: the environment of the classroom, playing, or beautiful motion. All of these things are desirable to give children but to truly educate we need to give the mind contact with ideas from great minds of others. The “idea” is the thought: “how can this be?” and then the mind has the desire to figure it out. Children experience what they hear and read about. She says “these thoughts enter into them and are their life” This is how she explains how ‘ideas’ feed the mind.
We need to prepare their minds by showing children many pictures of great artists. This will feed the imagination so when we read a passage in a great book about crossing a mountain they can picture it in their minds.
Not only is a child’s mind fully active from birth but so are their hearts. They can display love to all. We see them show tenderness to family and friends and even to old beat up toys no one could love. We see that their conscience is alert: “is this true?” “Are they a good person?” It is this conscience that alerts him when he has disobeyed. Charlottes says that “as he is trained, the will, comes to his aid and he learns to order his life.”
When we begin to see our children as fully functional humans we begin to realize we must teach them differently. Dry lectures and textbooks are not going to feed their hunger for knowledge.
This chapter opens with a look at how wondrous a child is. That from birth to age three the amount of things they learn is amazing. Charlotte believes that within the first two years of life a child goes through more intellectual effort than any following two years. The child’s mind is the ‘instrument’ of his education and it is important to know that education does not produce the mind. From a young age the child displays imagination, reasoning by asking questions, displays of temper. Displays of temper are often mislabeled “strong will” but this is in fact the opposite. The ‘will’ is used when the child is able to stop these types of behaviors and restrain himself. Charlotte refers to this as “learning the art of obedience.” She says that “no one can make a child obey unless he wills to do so”
Charlotte gives the example of the brain being the “instrument’ of the mind just like a piano is not music but the instrument of music. Once we see this in young children we can get a better grasp of how to educate them when they are ready for formal schooling. In order to reach the “mind” to educate we do not need to focus on: the environment of the classroom, playing, or beautiful motion. All of these things are desirable to give children but to truly educate we need to give the mind contact with ideas from great minds of others. The “idea” is the thought: “how can this be?” and then the mind has the desire to figure it out. Children experience what they hear and read about. She says “these thoughts enter into them and are their life” This is how she explains how ‘ideas’ feed the mind.
We need to prepare their minds by showing children many pictures of great artists. This will feed the imagination so when we read a passage in a great book about crossing a mountain they can picture it in their minds.
Not only is a child’s mind fully active from birth but so are their hearts. They can display love to all. We see them show tenderness to family and friends and even to old beat up toys no one could love. We see that their conscience is alert: “is this true?” “Are they a good person?” It is this conscience that alerts him when he has disobeyed. Charlottes says that “as he is trained, the will, comes to his aid and he learns to order his life.”
When we begin to see our children as fully functional humans we begin to realize we must teach them differently. Dry lectures and textbooks are not going to feed their hunger for knowledge.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Philosophy of Education vol. 6 Chapter 1
‘Self Education’
From what I can gather there was a movement in the educational community in Charlotte’s day that started professing success in “self-education” for children. This probably included things like dance or other types of self expression. Charlotte doesn’t disagree with using some of these types of things, and even goes so far as to say that she looks forward to seeing the manner of citizen it produces, but in reality these “external educational appliances” “which are intended to mould his character are decorative and not vital”. The point being, that people are not ‘built up’ from without but from within. To accomplish this, Charlotte reminds us that the function of the mind is like the body and needs a quantity of nourishing food each day. That knowledge is not and should not be attained through sensation, but rather, by being “fed” the great thoughts from great minds is what makes one thoughtful. There are examples given of children who love learning and with a single reading of a passage can recall, point by point, in their own words, what was read. They can recall the details months later because the mind has been properly fed, material digested, and the thoughts have now become the child’s in the form of knowledge. She challenges us to look at a method of “self education” that is practical and pleasant and has produced capable men and women, with great character, over the past 30 years. In the final paragraph she likens the student’s education to a horse. A horse that is “light” rides over the ground using his own joyful will as opposed to the horse that is heavy in hand, which becomes a burden to the driver. Like the driver of the horse, the teacher then becomes one who is a guide to the student rather than someone who is forcibly feeding information.
From what I can gather there was a movement in the educational community in Charlotte’s day that started professing success in “self-education” for children. This probably included things like dance or other types of self expression. Charlotte doesn’t disagree with using some of these types of things, and even goes so far as to say that she looks forward to seeing the manner of citizen it produces, but in reality these “external educational appliances” “which are intended to mould his character are decorative and not vital”. The point being, that people are not ‘built up’ from without but from within. To accomplish this, Charlotte reminds us that the function of the mind is like the body and needs a quantity of nourishing food each day. That knowledge is not and should not be attained through sensation, but rather, by being “fed” the great thoughts from great minds is what makes one thoughtful. There are examples given of children who love learning and with a single reading of a passage can recall, point by point, in their own words, what was read. They can recall the details months later because the mind has been properly fed, material digested, and the thoughts have now become the child’s in the form of knowledge. She challenges us to look at a method of “self education” that is practical and pleasant and has produced capable men and women, with great character, over the past 30 years. In the final paragraph she likens the student’s education to a horse. A horse that is “light” rides over the ground using his own joyful will as opposed to the horse that is heavy in hand, which becomes a burden to the driver. Like the driver of the horse, the teacher then becomes one who is a guide to the student rather than someone who is forcibly feeding information.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Snow of 2010
Well, I thought I should blog about our winter weather. This year we have had several snow storms, which is uncommon in our area. We do get some snow each winter but it usually amounts to 3-5 inches and is cleared off the roads within a day. This year we have had a major snow storm two weekends in a row. I have not measured this weekend yet, but last weekend we got 9 inches of snow and probably around 12-14 inches this weekend. I have enjoyed watching the snow fall from inside a cozy, warm, house. We have spent the weekend drinking coffee and cocoa, watching movies, and playing games. In between these wonderful family activities, I have been working on a scrapbook and reading. I was able to take the girls for a walk in the snow on Friday afternoon. The pond down the street was beautiful. I am not a big fan of driving out in the snow but I am going to try to remember how beautiful my little piece of the world looks today when it is 99 degrees in the shade with 100% humidity in August.
52 weeks book challenge
This is my official starting of the 52 weeks book challenge. I thought I would be able to start last week but later realized it was going to have to wait a week. This week I have read two books. (trying to catch up with the challenge) The first book I read was "How to Get Your Child off the Refrigerator and on to Learning" by Carol Barnier. Carol is a homeschooling mom of an ADHD child and offers practical wisdom on teaching these children and recognizing the gift that ADHD is. I really enjoyed this book and felt so encouraged to apply her tactics with our ADHD child. The second book I read this week was "The Broker" by John Grisham. The story centers around a "power broker", Joel Backman, from Washington D.C. who is sent to prison and then pardoned by the President, in his final hour in office. The CIA whisks him away to Bologna Italy, undercover. Without out spoiling the plot, this book is filled with intrigue as you watch Joel become "Italian", while he figures out why he was received a presidential pardon and what he is going to do about it knowing he can trust no one.
It was enjoyed in true Grisham style.
It was enjoyed in true Grisham style.
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