Highlights of Charlotte Mason’s Volume I, Part VI- The Will

Have you ever asked yourself, “Can’t you  make yourself do what you wish to do?” (p 323)  Or do you ever find yourself agreeing with Paul in Romans 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate”?

There are so many areas in which we must exercise discipline- that is, exercise our will to determine and carry out what our mind and heart says is good.  We get into bad habits in our daily routine, in eating, in training and caring for our children and those bad habits make grooves in our inner man that are very difficult to escape.

Here we come to the very last Part of Home Education.  In Miss Mason’s words, “We have now to consider a subject of unspeakable importance to every being called upon to sustain a reasonable life here, with the hope of the fuller life hereafter; I mean, the government of the kingdom of Mansoul.” (p 317)

In reading and taking notes on this section (the first section of Part VI), I find myself personally convicted and inspired- and not just about training my children.  These points are valuable for anyone wishing to strengthen his or her own will and not just for those who are homeschooling children.

The highlights of this section of Part VI-

1.  What is the Will?

• First of all, people may go through life well enough without ever developing strength of will.  These people may be intelligent,  endowed with great skill of some kind, kind and easy-going so that they have been obedient, well-mannered children.

“He may reflect and imagine; be stirred by the desire of knowledge, of power, of distinction; may love and esteem; may form habits of attention, obedience, diligence, sloth, involuntarily– that is, without ever intending, purposing, willing these things for himself.” (p 318)

•  However, strength of will and character do go hand in hand.

Willfulness is not strength of will

“In fact, character is the result of conduct regulated by will.” (p 319)

•  Many people think that ‘willfulness’ is a sign of a strong will, when actually, it is not.

A toddler described as screaming for something forbidden or monopolize other’s toys “is in a state of absolute ‘willfulness’- the rather unfortunate word we use to describe the state in which the will has no controlling power; willessness, if there were such a word, would describe this state more truly.” (p 321)

2. Why do we want to develop the Will?

• Because it is what assists us to become what we want to become and do what we wish to do.

“… most of us desire to do well; what we want to know is, how to make ourselves do what we desire. And here is the line which divides the effective from the non-effective people, the great from the small , the good from the the well-intentioned and respectable; it is in proportion as a man has self-controlling, self-compelling power that he is able to do, even of his own pleasure; that he can depend upon himself, and be sure of his own action in emergencies.” (p 323)

3. How does the Will Work?

• One key way to work your will- to persevere in a difficult task or to refrain from temptation- is to change your thoughts.  These thoughts you should prepare beforehand- decide what you will think of, what motivates you, what distracts you.  Then when a situation comes up where you wish to persevere or refrain- change your thoughts!

Diversion and incentive

“It is by force of will that a man can ‘change his thoughts,’ transfer his attention from one subject of thought to another, and that, with a shock of mental force of which he is distinctly conscious. And this is enough to save a man and to make a man, this power of making himself think only of those things which he has beforehand decided that it is good to think upon.” (p 324)

Incentives- “His thoughts are wandering on forbidden pleasures, to the hindrance of his work; he pulls himself up, and deliberately fixes his attention on those incentives which have most power to make him work… His thoughts run in the groove he wills them to run in, and work is no longer an effort.” (p 324)

Diversion- “he just compels himself to think of something else… anything interesting enough to divert his thoughts…” and when he gets back to considering the offense or temptation, it has lost its sting.

In routine, boring tasks, “give himself something pleasant… to think of, and …no work is laborious.” (p325)

“… the knowledge of this way of the will is so far the secret of a happy life, that it is well worth imparting to the children.” (p 325)  In difficult situations- when the child is grumpy, longing for some forbidden thing, tired of trying- he can change his thoughts and things will run more smoothly for him.

“…this is the sole secret of the power over himself which the strong man wields- he can compel himself to think of what he chooses…” (p326)

4. How can we Train the Will?

• Start by training the habit of attention.  You must be able to pay attention for a period of time to the thoughts you wish to think of.

“…before the parent can begin to train the will of the child, he must have begun to form in him the habit of attention.” (p 326)

• You must understand the value or motivation behind the actions you wish to carry out.  Or understand the danger or problems behind the actions you wish to avoid.

Strengthened by exercise

“If his understanding does not show good cause why he should do some [thing]… -the movement of his will will be feeble and fluctuating, and very barren of results.” (p 327)

• Train children in the habit of obedience while gaining his cooperation in the endeavor.  To gain his cooperation, give him the motivation behind learning to obey.  If he knows why he should obey- that this will make his life easier and more delightful- he will be more inclined to cooperate and use his own will in the process.

“Now, obedience is valuable only in so far as it helps the child towards making himself do that which he knows he ought to do.  Every effort of obedience which does not give him a sense of conquest over his own inclinations, helps to enslave him, and he will resent the loss of his liberty by running into license when he can…. But invite his co-operation, let him heartily intend and purpose to do the thing he is bidden, and then it is his own will that is compelling him, and not yours; he has begun the greatest effort, the highest accomplishment of human life- the making, the compelling of himself.” (p 328)

Teach the child “…the secret of willing…”- that is that with a force of will he can turn his thought to what he ought to think of and that when he is feeling upset or angry, he should turn his thoughts to something he likes.

• Will,  like the body, is nourished and strengthened by exercise.

Shaping the will influences his destiny

“…it becomes vigorous and capable in proportion as it is duly nourished and fitly employed.” (p 319)

5.  How Important is the Will?

• Our duty to develop our own will and our duty to train the will of our children is of far greater importance than our educational pursuits and efforts.

“Let me add one or two wise thoughts from Dr Morell’s Introduction to Mental Philosophy: ‘The education of the will is really of far greater importance, as shaping the destiny of the individual, than that of the intellect.'”

Homemade Alphabet Book: N

N is for newspaper, nothing, and noses.

Highlights of Charlotte Mason’s Volume 1, Part V- A Variety of Subjects

Several months ago, I started rereading Charlotte Mason’s Home Education, the first volume in her series about education.  I have been recording my observations and points to remember here.  In the last 2 months, we have had Easter, company, birthdays, and illness that have impeded my progress in my reading.  So, finally, I’ve had a chance to read and take notes on the last section of Part V.

In this section, Miss Mason outlines her ideas for a variety of subjects, including Bible, math, geography, history, grammar, French, art, handicrafts, and drills (exercise).

The points that struck me:

The Chief Lessons

1.  Bible Lessons- “Bible lessons should help them realize in early days that the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.” (p 251)

Miss Mason prescribes a certain method for these chief of lessons: “Read aloud to the children a few verses covering, if possible, an episode.  Read reverently, carefully, and with just expression.” (p 251)  Then, require narration, show pictures and illustrations, and discuss it with them.

Finally, “The learning by heart of Bible passages should begin while the children are quite young… It is a delightful thing to have the memory stored with beautiful, comforting, and inspiring passages, and we cannot tell when and how this manner of seed may spring up, grow, and bear fruit…” (p 253).

In our house, we do our Bible lesson first, sometimes with breakfast.  We sing a hymn, practice our memory verse, and listen to a story from the Bible.  I usually read the story from the Bible and use flannelgraph to illustrate it.  Betty Lukens flannelgraph is truly beautiful.  It was hard work to cut out all 600 figures, but it was worth the effort.  My children enjoy playing with it (though I rarely allow them to play with it and I am always around to monitor this play) and there is such a variety of figures and backgrounds that any story can be illustrated.

I agree that memorizing verses should begin quite young.  She recommends 6 or 7, but I have had great success when the children were as young as 2 and 3.  When my oldest two children were that age, we went quite slowly and took 4 or 5 months to memorize Psalm 23.  It started with me reading the first verse a couple of times a day and I used hand motions as I read it.  I encouraged the children to say it with me as soon as they could.  Then we went to the next verse, repeating the previous verse at least once a day.  Eventually, they had all of Psalm 23 memorized and it was adorable.

I agree that memorizing verses stores the memory with ‘beautiful, comforting and inspiring passages’ and verses should be selected with these criteria in mind.  While “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16) it is good to select passages for memorization that either give the mind great ideas and truths about who God is or give the mind good defense against sin and the attacks of the enemy.  This past year, our memory verses have been the kids’ Awana verses, and I am glad that they do a good job of selecting important truths for the children to memorize.

2.  Mathematics– “Of all his early studies, perhaps none is more important to the child as a means of education than that of arithmetic.  …The practical value of arithmetic to persons in every class of life goes without remark. But the use of the study in practical life is the leas of its uses.  The chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics, lies in the training it affords to the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness, accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders.” (p 253-254)

“Care must be taken to give the child such problems as he can work, but yet which are difficult enough to cause him some little mental effort.” (p 255)

“Arithmetic becomes an elementary mathematical training only in so far as the reason why of every process is clear to the child.” (p 255-256) (emphasis mine)

“Arithmetic is valuable as a means of training children in habits of strict accuracy…” (p 260).

“Let his arithmetic lesson be to the child a daily exercise in clear thinking and rapid, careful execution, and his mental growth will be as obvious as the sprouting of seedlings in the spring.” (p 261)

It is very important to be sure that the daily math work is at the correct level.  It needs to be within reach, and yet challenging enough that it requires hard work.  Too hard, and they give up in frustration.  Too easy, and they never really progress and never develop the habit of putting forth good effort to learn something.  There is great satisfaction to be had when you put forth effort and achieve your goal.

Another important ingredient in math lessons is Miss Mason’s advice to hold short lessons.  Our math lessons are generally 20 minutes long.  This means that the children work hard for 20 minutes and then we do something completely different so as to give that part of their brain a break.  It is like high intensity interval training for the brain.

3.  Geography & History- “The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures.” (p 272)

Charlotte Mason encourages teachers not to give to the child to learn dry, boring facts about heights, length, populations or endless names of capital cities, and so on.  Rather, the geography lessons should be interesting.

“We begin to see the lines we must go upon in teaching geography: for educative purposes, the child must learn geography, and in such a way, that his mind shall thereby be stored with ideas, his imagination with images; for practical purposes he must learn such geography only as, the nature of his mind considered, he will able to remember; in other words, he must learn what interests him.”

How to begin with geography lessons?  “In the first place, the child gets his rudimentary notions of geography as he gets his first notions of natural science, in those long hours out of doors…”  (p 273).   Observing a pond can teach about the nature of a lake, watching a stream flow can reveal truths about rivers.

“But let him be at home in any single region; let him see, with the mind’s eye, the people at their work and at their play, the flowers and fruits in their seasons, the beasts, each in its habitat; and let him see all sympathetically, that is, let him follow the adventures of a traveler; and he knows more, is better furnished with ideas, than if he had learnt all the names on all the maps.” (p 275)

This year, we have been spending time reading tales and stories from a variety of countries and also learning about what foods they eat and what animals live in their region and what they do for work and for fun.  I will point out the country on our world map that hangs on our wall and trace a path from the country we studied last to the current one.  They have greatly enjoyed learning about these details of the countries we ‘visit’ and I have been impressed with what they remember.  They know that Canada is cold and Greece is full of islands.  It is fun to witness their growth and learning.

Regarding the subject of history, Charlotte Mason says, “Here, too, is a subject which should be to the child an inexhaustible storehouse of ideas, should enrich the chambers of his House Beautiful with a thousand tableaux, pathetic and heroic, and should form in him, insensibly, principles whereby he will hereafter judge of the behavior of nations, and will rule his own conduct as one of a nation.” (p 279)

“The fatal mistake is the notion that he must learn ‘outlines,’ or a baby edition of the whole history of England, or of Rome, just as he must cover the geography of all the world.  Let him, on the contrary, linger pleasantly over the history of a single man, a short period, until he thinks the thoughts of that man, is at home in the ways of that period.  Though he is reading and thinking of the lifetime of a single man, he is really getting intimately acquainted with the history of a whole nation for a whole age.” (p 280)

“The early history of a nation is far better fitted than its later records for the study of children because the story moves on a few broad, simple lines…” (p 281-282)

Again, a child will learn best and remember best that which interests them.  A story of a great person who shaped the course of history or a story of an ordinary person who lived in such different times but is intrinsically so similar to them will be interesting and engaging to the child, and to the adult, for that matter.

My mother is an excellent history teacher.  Students often tell her later that they learned so much more in her class than in any other history class.  The secret of her magic is in her stories.  She makes history come alive with stories of real, live people.

This is the secret of history for us as well.  We do not need to require memorization of dry facts, dates, random lists of names.  I really feel like such effort is a sad waste of time and mental energy.  We have the internet, after all.  All the facts we could ever need, at our fingertips in moments.  But if we spend time in the stories, we have heroes to emulate or characteristics to shun.

A few things that can be done after reading a story from history: narration, illustration, and acting out the episode.

“A child’s individuality  plays about what he enjoys, and the story comes from his lips, not precisely as the author tells it, but with a certain spirit and coloring which expresses the narrator…. A narration should be original as it comes from a child- that is, his own mind should have acted upon the matter it has received.” (p 289)

“They love, too, to make illustrations…. Of course that which they visualize, or imagine clearly, they know; it is a life possession.” (p 292)

“Let a child have the meat he requires in his history readings, and in the literature which naturally gathers round this history, and imagination will bestir itself without any help  of ours; the child will live out in detail a thousand scenes of which he only gets the merest hint.” (p 295)

My kids demonstrated this a few months ago.  It was cool outside and though our study of Canada was months ago, they decided to “play Canada” and they used couch pillows as icebergs and were chased by a scary polar bear.  You can imagine my delight in this play.

4.  Language- 

Grammar: “Grammar, being a study of words and not of things, is by no means attractive to the child, nor should he be hurried into it.”

Elsewhere, I have read that Miss Mason recommended that the subject of grammar be studied when the child is ten.  This seems like a very good suggestion.  Why burden the child with abstract ideas of nouns, verbs, and sentence conjugations while they are young.  It does seem very good to wait on this subject until they are older and ready for thinking about words in abstract ways.

Foreign Language: (the foreign language Miss Mason’s students learned was French, as it was an important language to learn in their time and in their region of the world)

“French should be acquired as English is, not as a grammar, but as a living speech.  To train the ear to distinguish and the lips to the French vocables is a valuable part of the education of the senses, and one which can hardly be undertaken too soon.” (p 300)

“The child should never see French words in print until he has learned to say them with as much ease and readiness as if they were English.” (p 301)

The principles for me then, are to start early and focus on hearing and speaking first.  We would like to teach the children Spanish, as it makes more sense in California, where we are.  As I do not speak Spanish, I am hoping to find a good computer or DVD program that will aid in teaching the language to us all.

5.  Art and Exercise-

“The art training of children should proceed on two lines.  The six year old child should begin both to express himself and to appreciate, and his appreciation should be well in advance of his power to express what he sees or imagines.” (p 307)

“When the children have begun regular lessons…this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of a term.” (p 308-309)

She then outlines the steps to take in this picture study lesson which have the students observe, discuss, describe, and recreate the picture.

She encourages art expression in drawing, piano, singing, and handicrafts.  The children should be taught faithfully, given quality materials to use, and encouraged to work hard and produce excellent work.  Miss Mason thinks that exercise (or drills) and this art expression should be a regular part of the child’s daily schedule.

Homemade Alphabet Book: M

M is for mulberry, monkey, midnight blue and Mario.

Memorable Moments: Week 28- India

This past week Baby Shortstop and I were pretty sick.  He also had a birthday this past week and a party on Saturday,  so altogether, not much school happened.

Here is a very brief summary of our week:

Ruth gleaning in Boaz’s fields

Bible- Scotty read the story of Samson to them and I started the story of Ruth.  One morning, later in the week, when I was starting to feel a little bit better, I used pasta and some little toys to demonstrate the kindness Boaz showed Ruth.  That was actually pretty cool.

“Trip Around the World”-  Last week, we read a book about India and the story Monsoon about a young girl and her family waiting for the rain to come after a long, hot, dusty summer.  Scotty read the kids Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which was apparently a little bit scary for the Princess, but otherwise well-received.  Then I read Once a Mouse, a little tale about big and little and pride and gratefulness.  Lastly we read The Story of Little Babaji, a story my children greatly enjoyed and thought was very funny.

Other Stuff- I had X-man reread the first page of Billy and Blaze, to keep the ground secured under his feet so that when we return to regular school lessons and phonics, he will be ready for it.  We also did a page in the Victory Drill Book for the same purpose.  Other than this, nothing got done.  They did play creatively together as usual, spend a lot of time outside, and watch some LeapFrog videos.

We celebrated Shortstop’s birthday- as much as we could with a poor, sick baby.   And this weekend, we threw a Mickey Mouse party for him!  That was a whole bunch of fun we all enjoyed.

Happy 1st Birthday, Shortstop!

Now I better go order my books for next week!

Memorable Moments: Weeks 25, 26, 27- The Middle East

The last few weeks have been quite fun!  We’ve had birthdays and company, outings and adventures, and of course, some school fit in there somewhere too.

The highlights of the last few weeks:

Bible– We read the stories about Esther (which fit right into our Persian studies!), Gideon and some stories in their Awana books and memorized their Awana verses.  Tomorrow is the last day of Awana for this year!  How time flies!  We’ve been reviewing all the hymns we’ve learned so far and I think we’ll go with “Crown Him with Many Crowns” next.  My princess will like that.

“Trip Around the World”-

In my last Memorable Moments post, I mentioned that I planned to read Never Ending Greenness to finish up our Israel studies.  What a great story and lesson that was!  I started by showing them pictures on the computer of a desert and a forest.  We discussed the differences between these two habitats and where we would rather live.  We all agreed that we’d rather live in a forest.  Then I read the book about a boy who has a dream to plant trees in Israel and fulfills his own dream with persistence, patience and hard work.  The kids then decided that they needed to go care for our baby orange tree and so that is what they did.  They worked the ground and gave it water.  They had a blast.

Where would you rather live- desert or forest?

Caring for baby orange tree

Then we started our studies of the other countries of the Middle East.  We read several fun books:

The Tale of Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves– A bit of a violent tale, but one my children enjoyed.  They liked the magic and the happy ending.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp– A long story we split up into three readings.  It was quite a fun story of adventure and magic and the transformation of a bad boy into a good prince.

The Three Princes– A good story of wonders and wisdom and love.

Golden Sandal- A Cinderella tale that my daughter enjoyed.

Persian Cinderella– Another sweet Cinderella story.

The Legend of the Persian Carpet– A story of color and the love of a people for their good king.

Another CM-style reading lesson

Phonics, Math & Copywork– We continue to practice words with the Victory Drill Book.  We also added in a Charlotte Mason lesson.  We are going to go through Billy and Blaze -a book my son received for Christmas and hasn’t read in awhile, but enjoyed.  Now I am helping him to learn to read it himself.  We used the foam magnetic letters and cut out words to learn the words.  Then I had him create the first sentence of the story with the cut out words.  Lastly, I had him read from the book.  He did not realize until he was able to read from the book that he had learned these words.  Boy, his face when he read directly out of the book was priceless and precious!  Worth the effort it took to put the lesson together!  We’ll keep on going with these.

We’ve been working on adding with tally marks and counting by tens in math.  We’ve been continuing the work through Delightful Handwriting and I’m so pleased to notice an improvement in my children’s handwriting.  It is very encouraging.

We also took a couple trips to the zoo (with our new membership!), enjoyed the spring weather and climbed trees, and celebrated X-man’s 6th birthday!  Earlier today, I posted a complete description of his Star Wars party.

Climbing the Cherry Tree

Outing to the zoo

He loved his Angry Birds Star Wars jammies from his Auntie and his Angry Birds Star Wars Jenga from his uncle- this is one hapy birthday boy!

We have started our books for India already and plan to continue this week.

 

Outdoor Hour at the Zoo

They seem a bit perplexed

A few weeks ago, on a rather drizzly Saturday morning, we took a family field trip to the zoo.  We saw a variety of animals, but spent most of our time in the Children’s Zoo section with the prairie dogs and the reptiles. Conveniently, this corresponded to the April’s focus over at the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Our Outdoor Hour at the Zoo began with a ride on the carousel for the older two while the younger two watched.  We did offer to Z-urchin the chance to ride as well, but he was not at all interested.

Kickin’ back with the map- trying to memorize the route to the dinosaur maze, which is his favorite activity at the zoo

Z-urchin is wearing my sweater because it was a little colder than we were expecting and Princess K- whose jacket we forget- was wearing his jacket.   Next, we headed over to the Children’s Zoo section and stayed a long time watching the prairie dogs.    We were all enchanted by the sweet baby prairie dog and fascinated watching them dig and forage around for things to munch on. The zoo had a model of a burrow, depicting the different rooms the prairie dogs build for different purposes.  They have a nursery, bedrooms, a listening spot, and even a restroom.  One thing I learned that I found quite interesting is that several generations of a family might live in a burrow for 20 years or more; which makes me wonder why they end up moving.  Is it destruction or disintegration of their home?  Enemies?  Troubles with food or water supply? The zoo also has kid-sized prairie dog tunnels in which to walk, crawl, and play.  We were in no hurry, so the kids spent plenty of time exploring these.

Prairie Dogs

After the kids were finished playing and watching the prairie dogs, we wandered over to the bird and reptile area of the Children’s Zoo.  They have a fun place to take pictures, a little statue of a tortoise, a grassy area where several large birds and birds of prey rest, and buildings that contain a baby American alligator, a tortoise, the cutest little baby turtles, an iguana, and a California king snake. The kids had fun getting their pictures taken.

My cute kids

I was fascinated by this baby American alligator- even though we were separated by a wall of glass, a little tendril of fright zipped through me.  He looks like he is smiling- but those teeth!  Perhaps it was the creepiness of a predator smiling while staring me down- like he was eagerly anticipating his lunch. Princess K really loved the baby turtles and stood watching them for a long time.  We learned how to tell a turtle from a tortoise: look at their feet!  Turtles feet are equipped for swimming in the water, where they live; tortoises have club shaped feet to handle walking- slowly- on land, where they live.

Turtles and Tortoises

We saw several large birds: an owl, a hawk, and a turkey.

Large birds

Next, we wandered over to the petting zoo.  The kids got to pet goats and sheep, try out getting up on saddles, and see donkey.   I saw the funniest thing- a goat resting on a bench.  That is definitely a first for me.

A goat on a bench and a sheep in a barn

Saddle up your horses, we’ve got a trail to blaze

Finally, we had lunch by a rope web the kids loved climbing in and on and Z-urchin found a new hat.

A new hat for Z

Fun on the web

That was our Outdoor Hour field trip to the zoo!  We did go outside a number of times in April, but unfortunately, did not have a nature study or walk time.  We had birthdays, company, and life get in the way.

I look forward to getting back into nature study this next month with garden flowers and crops as our focus.  Speaking of flowers, one thing that delighted me was that X-man noticed a Bermuda Buttercup at the zoo- a flower (weed) we have growing in our backyard that he drew in his nature journal last month!

One of my favorite parts about nature study and nature journaling (though it’s true that I have many favorite parts) and truly, one of my favorite parts of homeschooling itself is getting to see the growth and development blossom before my eyes and I get to see the result of his learning.  It is exciting and a great blessing to me.

Many heads turned in our direction as Daddy strolled our four children on our way back to the car.  We didn’t care!  We were having fun!  Though it was drizzly and a little cold- it was a beautiful day!

Four kids on a stroller- I love my Joovy Caboose!