Crayons' Year 5: A quiet Friday

On today's homeschool menu:

Singing "Holy Holy Holy" (not the Heber hymn, the Schubert Sanctus that I learned during a brief stint in the Presbyterian Church of Canada)



Singing "Ontari-ari-ari-o" (we usually sing something Canadian on Friday mornings)

Online math game

Reading about William Tyndale in Makers of the English Bible

Short keyboard (music) lesson

Plutarch's Life of Dion, half of lesson 4. King Dionysius keeps the philosopher Plato trapped in his palace in Syracuse, and sends Plato's older friend Dion off to Greece, because he wants Plato to be his (and only his) best friend forever. 300ish B.C. is not that far removed from the experience of some ten-year-olds!

(short break here)

Picture study: Mary Cassatt, Woman and Child Driving.

Cursive writing practice

Silas Marner, most of chapter 10, and written narration

Lunchtime:  reheated minestrone, bagels, and Magic Milkshakes (Mama Squirrel recently received the lovely gift of a Ninja blender, so we're making things we haven't had for awhile)

Helping shovel snow, and sliding down our hill

That's about where we're at now...some things left to do like laundry and cleaning.  Also we're going to work in a chapter of Ballet Shoes.

And it's the weekend!

Written narration by Crayons: Silas Marner

Silas Marner's comfortably isolated existence has been interrupted by the theft of all his savings.  Although the robbery devastates him, it also brings him into closer contact with his neighbours. This narration is from a section near the end of chapter 10.

Dolly Winthrop came to Silas’s cottage one afternoon with her little son Aaron and a basket full of lard cakes Silas greeted her a little shyly “I suppose you didn’t hear the church bells?” she asked “I did.” He said “but don’t you know this is Sunday?” she asked “I do.” He said “but you were working!” she accused “well I always do.” He said

“Um well yes…” she said slowly “I brought you these!” she handed him the box of lard cakes. “Thanks” he said then she talked for a while about church and then she said: “Well now Aaron get up and sing your song!” Aaron did and the only thing Silas thought he could do was give the boy a lard cake then she talked some more about church then said: “Well we most be going. Do consider church. Goodbye. Aaron, bow!” Aaron bowed and then they left Silas was a rather glad they had gone.

Illustration found here

Mama Squirrel's Reading List, 2011

I didn't have a particular goal for this year's reading, so the list is pretty eclectic. This is the year I discovered George Eliot and Lloyd Alexander (I read through the Prydain Chronicles twice, once myself and once with Ponytails).   It was also a good year for art-inspired fiction.  (R) means it was a re-read.  § means I actually finished it.  A few of the books I didn't finish or didn't like have been left off the list..

Classic-type stuff

On the Art of Writing, by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Meno, by Plato (and I started reading a couple of other dialogues) §
"Lancelot and Elaine," by Alfred Lord Tennyson §
"Self-Reliance," by Ralph Waldo Emerson §
Parts of Plutarch's Lives (R)
Silas Marner, by George Eliot §
Scenes of Clerical Life, by George Eliot §
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Great Expectations (R) (re-read with Crayons) §
The Abbot, by Sir Walter Scott §
Guy Mannering, by Sir Walter Scott §
The Incredulity of Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton §
The Innocence of Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton (R) §
The Scarlet Pimpernel (R) §
Candide, by Voltaire §

Science-type stuff
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory...., by Peter Woit

Theology-type stuff
The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer
Making Men Whole, by J.B. Phillips §
The Call, by Os Guinness (R) §
Serious Times: Making Your Life Matter in an Urgent Day, by James Emery White §
Lessons I Learned in the Light, by Jennifer Rothschild §
One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp §
Parts of the Bible (RRRRR)

Old-favourites-type stuff
Shepherds Abiding, by Jan Karon (R) §
At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon (R) §
Light from Heaven, by Jan Karon (R) §
The Trail of the Conestoga (R) (re-read with Crayons) §
Meet the Malones (R) (re-read with Crayons) §
Beany Malone (R) (re-read with Crayons) §
Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey (R) §
An Episode of Sparrows, by Rumer Godden (R) §
In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden (R) §
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, by Anne Tyler (R) §
84, Charing Cross Road / The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff (R) §

Teaching-type stuff
Norms and Nobility, by David V. Hicks (R) §
Marva Collins' Way (R) §
"Ordinary" Children, Extraordinary Teachers, by Marva Collins §
Read & Grow Rich, by Burke Hedges §
Homeschooling Only One (R), by Donna Conner §
Schoolproof, by Mary Pride (R) §
Parts of Charlotte Mason's books  (R) 

Gurgi stuff
The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander §
The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander §
The Black Cauldron, by Lloyd Alexander §
The Castle of Llyr, by Lloyd Alexander §
Taran Wanderer, by Lloyd Alexander §
The High King, by Lloyd Alexander §

Madeleine stuff
Walking on Water, by Madeleine L'Engle (R) §
A Wind in the Door, by Madeleine L'Engle §
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle §
A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L'Engle §
Two-Part Invention, by Madeleine L'Engle (R) §

More space-and-time stuff
C.S. Lewis: A Biography, by A.N. Wilson §
Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis (R) §
The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis §
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis §
Perelandra, by C.S. Lewis §
That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis §
Prince Caspian (R) §

Homey stuff
More Make it Fast, Cook It Slow, by Stephanie O'Dea §
Canada's Slow Cooker Winners, by Donna-Marie Pye §
Hooked: A Crocheter's Stash of Wit and Wisdom, ed. by Kari Cornell §
other craft books that I can't remember
Creating a Beautiful Home, by Alexandra Stoddard (R) §
two other books by Alexandra Stoddard §
Flanagan's Smart Home, by Barbara Flanagan §
Does This Clutter Make My B---- Look Fat?, by Peter Walsh §

Miscellaneous
Madam How and Lady Why, by Charles Kingsley (R) §
The Long-Ago Lake, by Marne Wilkins
A Passion for the Impossible (bio of Lilias Trotter), by Miriam Huffman Rockness §
Trial and Error, by Anthony Berkeley §)
Detectives in Togas, by Henry Winterfeld §
Roman Ransom, by Henry Winterfeld §
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, by Harriet Chessman §
Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier §
Out of the Storm, by Grace Livingston Hill §
Not Under the Law, by Grace Livingston Hill §
Beauty for Ashes, by Grace Livingston Hill §

A Month with Charlotte Mason, #14

"For people who want to do the "living books" thing that Susan Macaulay has popularized, here is the kindergarten program all worked out for them.""--Dr. Ruth Beechick, review of a preschool-K curriculum

I use some of Ruth Beechick's books in our homeschool, and she has many good, practical ideas, especially (perhaps ironically) in using real books to teach language skills. However, I also think this comment is typical of the general misunderstanding around Charlotte Mason and "living books" in particular. In both fiction and non-fiction, the term “living books” has been overused, abused and confused, to the point that almost any chapter book set in some other era is now considered quality historical fiction...and, in the review above, "classic" picture books also suddenly join the list. Some people may take offense at that, and please understand that I am not discouraging the reading of picture books in general--only saying that these were not "living books" in the way that Charlotte Mason used the word.

If we’re going to be faithful to Charlotte Mason’s literary standards, we need to understand that she wasn’t exaggerating when she talked about little children playing Robinson Crusoe, or a schoolboy spending his whole Easter break reading Southey’s poems. It wasn’t so strange that Anne of Green Gables and her friends chose to act out "The Lily Maid" in 1908. Authors like Scott, Pyle, Kipling, Bunyan, Defoe, Kingsley, even George Eliot, were just considered The Books That There Were. They were the standards of the time, and children in "literate" households grew up familiar with Those Books, along with the Bible. If you look at the books Charlotte Mason refers to in the second half of Ourselves, which is meant to be read by older high school students, there are casual references to George Eliot's novels and other books that most of us are lucky even to get around to reading in college. For her students, they were common currency.

Now there must have been hundreds or thousands of books published over the last century, and most of us have gotten much worse at reading and at making time for reading. We’re hesitant, like Joyce McGechan, to put this kind of meal in front of our children because we’re not even sure we’d want to eat it ourselves. We’re in an era where, in a lesson plan for fourth graders, it’s expected that you should define words like “average” and “develop” before reading a book to them—and the lesson plan I found that in is for a picture book.

So I’m very aware in saying this, that the verbal and cultural gap between CM’s students and ours can seem insurmountable. But the fact is that there’s very little being published now, especially for children, that has both the literary power and the idea power of the books from the earlier eras, so we will often find ourselves turning back to them, not exclusively, but as a solid foundation.

Remember this from the third post? "Despising children is not doing the good that we should do in loving them or teaching them, because we undervalue their intelligence, their value as persons, their capacity for good, or even their capacity for bad."

And why are we using these hard books again? Is it because children develop character by chewing on gristle?

"Let us imagine an author at his craft, say, Herman Melville while writing Moby Dick, or Jane Austen working on Pride and Prejudice. Now assuredly what these literary artists hoped above all else was that a century or two from their own time students in high schools would be using their great works not better to understand love or honor or revenge or nobility or happiness, but to “analyze how multiple themes or central ideas in a text interact, build on, and, in some cases, conflict with one another”; as well as to “analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).""--Terrence Moore, "Dressing up Standards, Dumbing Down Schools," quoted by the Deputy Headmistress

Children, if they’re exposed to rich language from an early age, even if we find ourselves stumbling through some of the books, will get it, and will want more. Remember the little girl at Bending the Twigs who threw a sentence about Cerberus into her grammar lesson?

A leisurely education means having the freedom (time, space, opportunity) to discover what makes us fully human.