52 Weeks Book Challenge

This week I read Not A Sparrow Falls by Linda Nichols. The story begins with an elderly lady, Miss Hattie, who is awakened in the early morning hours to pray for someone but she doesn't know who. In the next chapter we are introduced to Mary Bridget Washburn as she is buying supplies at the local pharmacies in town for her boyfriend and his buddy to make methamphetamine. She is haunted by this lifestyle and one day, steals a duffel bag of money and boards a bus leaving this life behind. Or does she? One thing leads to another and she begins a life in Alexandria Virgina as "Bridie". Bridie gets a job as a check-out girl at the local grocery where she meets three sisters who are caring for their brother, a local pastor, and his family after the death of his wife. Little does she know how their lives will intersect and will her past life bring trouble to them all? This is the first book that I have read by Linda Nichols and I really enjoyed her writing style. Her character development and situations all were very true to life.

Five For Fun

This week we started off with a book called Keeping Up With Grandma by John Winch. Grandma is tired of what she "normally" does everyday- bake and Grandpa is just fine with his everyday activity- painting pictures. Well one thing leads to another and Grandma convinces Grandpa to join her on all sorts of adventures....will they keep up with their new hobbies or will they return to the life they once knew?

Next was Mr. Mosquito Put on His Tuxedo by Barbara Olenyik Morrow. This book is actually a poem describing Mr. Mosquito's activities as he goes to the "ball". All is going well until an unexpected guest threatens to "invade" the insect ball- Mr. Mosquito comes to the rescue but you will just have to read it to find out how.

Wednesday brought Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora. Tomas and his family live in Texas but during the summer they migrate to Iowa to work in the fields as hired labor. Tomas' grandfather is the family storyteller and each night entertains the family with a tail, until one day when he suggests that Tomas visit the local library to learn some new stories. At the library, Tomas meets the "Library Lady" who brings him books to read and even checks out some for him to borrow. This was a sweet story that has a great ending for all book lovers!

A Fire Engine for Ruthie was up next. Ruthie goes to visit Nana but they don't always like to play with the same things. On the way home from their outings each day they pass by Brian's house where Ruthie sees Brian playing with fire trucks and motorcycles and the like. Ruthie wonders why she can't play with toys like Brian has? Read and find out if Ruthie's question is ever answered.

Last but not least was The Secret of the King by Rachel Ann Nunes. This was a beautifully illustrated book taking place during the middle ages and the country is at war. Javan works with a blacksmith and Lia bakes bread but both would rather be knights in the kings army. But when the king reveals a secret Javan and Lia realize that there is more than one way to serve in the King's Army. This was a wonderful way to teach children that everyone's talents and giftings are special and important.

This was my pick of the week but can you guess which one was Abi's?  Yep! A Fire Engine for Ruthie gets her vote- she said it was because of the fire engine but I have a feeling it is that she and Ruthie have more in common than a love for fire engines.

The Philosophy of Education Vol. 6 Book II Ch. 3

The Scope of Continuation Schools

This chapter begins with Charlotte’s description of how the current educational systems came to be. In 1900 a man by the name of Dr. Kirschensteiner entered a contest that offered a prize for the best essay written on the best way of training youth. He won the contest and his essay went on to influence all of Western Europe, England, and the United States affecting the changes made to the methods of education that were in place. The essay supported the thought that “a utilitarian education should be universal and compulsory; child and adolescent should be saturated with the spirit of service and provided with the instruments of effective self-direction.” Those educators were not thinking that they were “sacrificing the individual youth to society” but they would “raise” them, give them opportunity and power to “climb the rungs of the ladder.” There was the belief that knowledge was gleaned by what we see with our eyes and from what we have handled. The mind does some work when it is used in a tactile way, which may give the thought that food and work for the mind is the same thing. With regards to the body this may be true, work brings pay and pay buys food but this is not true of the mind.

Education should make our children “rich” towards God, society, and themselves. Charlotte describes the difference between the continuation schools in Germany which were utilitarian in nature and “had no good effect upon morals or manners and no conspicuously good effect upon manufacturers” to the “People’s High Schools of Denmark” which began using works of great literature and studying history of their country as well as the world and produced people who not only enjoyed reading great works on their own, but had a “character and conduct, intelligence and initiative” which came from an “education in which the knowledge of God” was put first. These schools were called “winter schools” where young people between the ages of 18-25 attended and were residential schools. These countries were also largely agricultural countries and these students could spend five winter months for five years there, unlike England, which was a largely manufacturing nation.

Charlotte wanted to focus her efforts on the young adolescent, those from 14-18 years of age. She asks “how shall we spend those 7or 8 hours a day in which “education” is to do her part for the young citizen?” She believed that this time should not be dedicated to learning a technical skill for employment because those skills can be taught in a very short amount of time and they are learned through practice. The time set aside for education should be “dedicated to things of the mind”. Most educators take these 8 hours a day and realize there is too much to learn so a compromise is made. We want to make the students into “good citizens” and “good citizens” should have “sound opinions about law, duty, work, and wages” and so the teachers pour their opinions into the young students. The teachers and administrations decide on what material should be taught and what should be left out and this material is “poured “into the student “like a bucket”. Ground is covered each year and teachers are satisfied but students leave school discontented and their work bores them, as does every other area of their lives, because the schools have “failed to find them.” The solution they have come up with to the huge amount of things to know about is that if you know one thing well you have the power to learn more. Charlotte says this solution hasn’t totally failed but it didn’t fit what was wanting to be accomplished academically in the nation- “Enlightenment of the masses”.

What educators have failed to recognize is the “hunger for knowledge” also called curiosity that exists in everyone along with the great “power of attention” that everyone also has within; that all of us like to learn things in a literary way; what we learn should be wide and various giving the mind lots to reflect on. This type of learning only occurs by the “act of knowing” which grows through and tested by narration and later tested by the recorded exams. Charlotte gives and alphabetical list from an examination paper written by a 13 year old girl. There were 213 names of things, people, and places that used them all “accurately and with interest.” Charlotte concludes that when we give the students “the thoughts of the best minds we can secure on their part the conscious intellectual effort, the act of knowing, which bears fruit in capability, character, and conduct.”

52 Weeks Book Challenge

This week I read Finding Anna by Christine Schaub. This historical fiction novel opens during the Great Chicago fire and details the life of  Horatio Gates Spafford who wrote the Hymn It Is Well With My Soul. The story details the ministry to the Chicago community the Spafford's had following the fire. Their paths cross with the legendary D. L. Moody and His work to spread the Gospel message. I would love to say this was an incredible uplifting book, however I found it melancholy and at times, depressing, which does set the stage for the great hymn that was to be birthed out of so much sadness. It was worth reading just be prepared to not be jumping with joy at every turn of the page.

Five For Fun

After a week of vacation we were glad to get back to our Five For Fun books. This week's pics were:

Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds. This story is told from the viewpoint of a young boy who is riding the bus with his mother in Montgomery Alabama- "way in the back- right where they're supposed to be." He is enjoying playing with his marble and watching it roll up and down the aisle when the bus begins to fill up and he watches the historic act of Rosa Parks that changed our nation. It was a wonderful way to introduce this era in our countries history in a very gentle way.

Next on the list was Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman. This is a story of a shy groundhog who takes comfort in having his shadow close by. One day he and his shadow become seperated which makes Gregory feel all alone and what is even worse it is snowing and tomorrow is groundhog day. Will Gregory find his shadow in time? The story was cute but when I finished Abi said "well, that was silly." You be the judge.

In The Sparrow's Song by Ian Wallace young Katie finds an orphan sparrow while fishing at the creek only to discover her brother had killed the bird's mother. Katie takes the bird home to care for it and even lets her brother help! Then the day comes when they realize that they must let the bird go free. The story takes place near Niagra Falls and the impressionistic illustrations make this an enjoyable book.

How to Bake an American Pie by Karma Wilson is written in a delightful rhyming style. Blending purple mountains majesties with a measure of meekness and might, takes you on a journey through this great melting pot we call America. This was such a cute book- it reminded me of How to Bake an Apple Pie and See the World. This was my favorite book of the five. It would make great copy work or a fun memorization.

And last but not least....The Subway Mouse by Barbara Reid follows the journey of "Nib"- a mouse who lives in a subway station. Every night the mice tell stories about a far away place called "Tunnel's End" where "the air is sweet and the sky is blue, but where danger lurks." Then one day, despite the dangers fortold by the othe mice, Nib decides to set off and find this "Tunnel's End" and finds a new friend along the way. You guessed it- This was Abi's pick for the best of the five.

The Philosophy of Education Vol. 6 Book II Ch. 2

A liberal Education in Secondary Schools

“The real drawback to a teacher’s work and education is the monotonous drudgery of teaching continually what no one wants to learn.” Charlotte Mason.



The first and most important thing to teach the child is the knowledge of God and this should come through the Bible. Second is the knowledge of man, in which the child should learn through “History, Literature, Art, Civics, Ethics, Biography, Drama, and Languages.” Lastly, the knowledge of the universe should be taught. This should be learned from the natural world or nature and the sciences and mathematics. Charlotte Mason then asks “What is Knowledge” and defines it this way: “knowledge is that which we know and the learner knows only by a definite act of knowing which he performs for himself.” But unfortunately in Charlotte’s day, as in our own, she says “an appalling carelessness or neglect blocks the way (to knowledge). Boys and Girls do not want to know; therefore they do not know.”

Her schools discovered with the right materials there was “great avidity for knowledge” in all children no matter aged or social class. They all displayed remarkable attention, retention, and intellectual reaction to the material offered. Charlotte discovered that the mind doesn’t really “know” anything unless it comes in literary forms. She says anyone can get information out of the driest of textbooks for an exam but these kinds of facts don’t appear to touch the mind. She likens the mind to having an outer court, where matter can be “taken in and expelled without ever having entered the inner place where personality dwells.” This is what rote learning is.

Literary learning touches the mind and we know this by hearing the student tell all he has heard in a single reading in the form of narration. Charlotte stresses a single reading because she said we “can’t give full attention to something we have already heard.”

Academic success and knowledge are not the same thing. Many “schools” fail to give the students love for knowledge. A good school should impart knowledge or “high ideals” in a slow and “sinking-in” way. Let the material saturate the mind.

Children educated with this method are a delight to be around. They have many interests and can talk about them freely. Education that truly imparts knowledge produces magnanimous citizens. The teacher has a choice to make; whether education will be just a way to get on in life or the way to higher thinking and plain living that will ultimately benefit society.

Charlotte felt the end of term exams were of great importance because they were not just a test of knowledge but records that could be permanently kept.

The knowledge of God is the “principle knowledge” and the Bible is used to further that knowledge. The children read or are read a passage. If there is a geographical or cultural reference, the teacher points this out before the reading. Then a narration follows.

After knowledge of God- history is the “pivot” on which the curriculum turns. History is so rich- it increases the knowledge of man through lives and events and turns the students mind towards patriotism. The study of one’s own country’s history was always present in each grade but it was studied alone only in the earlier grades.

Literature was not studied separately but alongside history bringing out the current thought of the time period. Poetry from the time period was always included. Civics was taught as a separate subject but is closely tied to history and ethics, which we would call every-day morals, that there is not a big separation.

Science is taught in the same manner using good books putting the children in touch with great inventors or discoverers. Art, Music, and Foreign Languages are also part of the curriculum for all students. The children are not taught drawing put often draw scenes from something that have read about or seen. They learn to read and narrate in French, German, Italian, Latin, & Greek.

This last thought from Charlotte shows good reason to not just “teach for the test”. “Education must be in touch with life. We must learn what we desire to know. If we work for public examinations, the questions in which must be of a narrow academic cast, we get a narrow, accurate, somewhat sterile type of mind. We reap as we have sown.”