Education is a discipline: It starts with us

At the L'Harmas retreat, Tammy Glaser did a demonstration lesson using "The Story of Grandpa's Sled and the Pig," from Little House in the Big Woods. In the book, Pa uses this family story not only to teach Laura to behave herself on Sundays, but to make the point that his Sabbath-keeping expectations are not nearly as strict as those of previous generations. In other words, she has it comparatively easy.

As do we, around here, in homeschooling.  Non-homeschoolers are downright shocked when I tell them that no, we don't have to send in curriculum reports or have our children write standardized tests. In Ontario, it's more than enough to just send in names and ages. That's good for personal liberty, and I wouldn't have it otherwise, but it can be risky for the parents' self-discipline. There is very little accountability to anyone outside the family.

"What Mary does shows intelligence and pleasure in her work; but then she has done so little. She has only attempted one-third of the questions, and, even so, two of her answers are incomplete."  "She does not know as much as Bessie?"  "She knows six times as much. I believe she could have answered every question had she been able to pull herself together and get the work done in the time." ~~ Charlotte Mason, "The Parents' Review School," in the Parents' Review, Volume 2, 1891/92, pg. 308-317

And Ambleside Online, being a resource, a project, and a community, but not an umbrella school, has no authority either, if one-third or two-thirds of the exam questions get answered, or if the nature notebook stays empty. It's up to the teaching parent. Charlotte Mason conceived the "Parents' Review School" as a means of increasing accountability and discipline in home schools, and AO functions as that for us, to some extent.  But when some of what should be done, doesn't get done, what then? And how does a parent know how much to push?  To require?  How does one actually get Mary to work up to Bessie's example?

"But while we all think that our parents and guardians made gross mistakes with us, and that our turning out so well is entirely due to our superior natural dispositions, we fancy that our children at least will have no cause to complain of their training, and no pretext for making their forbears accountable for their failings and follies." ~~ Mrs. Ward, "'Grit,' Or Raising and Educating our Children," in The Parents' Review,Volume 2, no. 2, 1891/92, pg. 49

Well, first off we want to be examples of what we expect.  Why should we require self-discipline from our children but not from ourselves?

But if it's up to the students to learn good habits and eventually practice the Way of the Will (CM's theory of self-discipline), how do we get them there?

Maybe we start with a story.

(Another Treehouse post you might like: Get Some Grit.)

Friday School Plans...and Crayons' Epiphany Gala

What's up today for the Squirrelings?

Well, that's after we get enough clothes on to go out and shovel the steps and help Mr. Fixit clear the driveway.

We have been reading Little Town on the Prairie together this week before starting other classes--just something that got started on kind of a whim.  And we usually start with a hymn or O Canada--sometimes with the hymn books, sometimes with You-tube.

Then Crayons has table work with me--she has just started Math Mammoth Light Blue Grade 4 (thanks, Mr. Fixit, for printing it out), so she's doing addition and subtraction review in that book.  And I have to put a few dates together for her to paste into her timeline book--we are doing a Book of the Centuries but in a format that doesn't take as much writing.  Oh, and we have a science experiment involving popcorn.  And four pages of Robinson Crusoe.

Ponytails has ongoing work in math and science; she is doing an outline of a magazine article (from one of the units in Write with the Best) and studying nouns in Easy Grammar Plus.  Today is Canadian History day (we usually read that together) and she also has half a chapter of Story of the World Book 4 to read.  And some assigned pages from The Accidental Voyage (the last Mr. Pipes book of hymns and history).

Group times:  we are continuing our French lessons together, reading Louisa May Alcott's Jack and Jill, reading a couple of pages from It Couldn't Just Happen, and doing a picture study.  Except that it's now Friday morning and I'm not sure what picture we're doing.  I guess that will have to wait until after lunch.

Making stuff:  Ponytails has a couple of current projects; she'll probably post them on her blog when she's done.  Crayons has been extremely busy over the last few days since she arranged a Twelfth Night/Epiphany party for her Only Hearts Club doll (who's Hispanic), the little sister of the Only Hearts Club doll, the same-sized friends of the Only Hearts Club doll, and the rest of us human beings, who felt a bit like we'd been invited to the Miss Happiness and Miss Flower housewarming in Rumer Godden's book.  She made decorations, gave a speech, gave EVERYONE tiny Sculpey presents, gave us paper hats, and read us the Three Kings Day chapter of The Happy Orpheline.   I love it when the Squirrelings get old enough to think of things like that all by themselves.  Thanks, Crayons!

What's in your hand: Extreme Edition

"What's in your hand" is a favourite phrase of the Deputy Headmistress. Just to give proper credit.

Do you remember that Little House Christmas chapter where things are in a bad state, gift-wise and otherwise? As Laura falls asleep that Christmas Eve, she hears Ma saying something like "there's still the white sugar." The bag of white sugar is a huge treat, usually hoarded and saved for company. But the next morning, in their stockings they each find a sugar-topped cookie. (Apologies to Birdie.)

I get a similar impulse around this time of year, usually in the last week or so before Christmas when the present list seems a little thin (and it's almost too late to start making things). Use it up! Pour it out! What good is it doing just sitting around if we could use it for something? And I don't mean just the butter and sugar...although I did finish off the part-bag of brown sugar and the whole box of raw sugar, two pounds of butter, and all the eggs. (Groceries today.)

Without trying to give away too many secrets, we used up the last of the tacky craft glue, a package of black pompoms (bought several years ago) plus a few leftover coloured ones, most of the cotton yarn, some dollar-store scrapbooking paper bought last February, several vintage hankies, the last of several spools of thread, and a couple of large pieces of fabric that were sitting...just sitting, not pulling their weight. Not to mention that green cord and the glitzy napkins. And some other things I'm not allowed to name.

We bought a roll of white paper at the toy store in the summer (to make a Pilgrim's Progress scroll and also a life-size paper girl; last week Crayons noticed the Snowman Factory idea (think giant paper dolls) on the Canadian Living website. Perfect!--four large snowmen now in progress. (That's where the pompoms and scrapbooking paper are going.) She also wants to make some smaller paper-chain snowmen like the ones she saw on the wall at Ponytails' school.

Last year's last-minute making was much the same: I used up all the craft stuffing we had plus a big piece of quilt batting and most of our yard-saled bulky yarn to make The Apprentice a sausage-shaped pillow. That doesn't mean I went right out and bought more stuffing, either; actually we didn't buy any until last week.

At certain times in your life you might go through a "nesting" phase--a time to gather it all up, acquire, stock the shelves. At Christmas my instinct is to do the opposite: not with a feeling of using up unwanted rags, not scrounging, but rather using the best that we have, and all of it if necessary. Enjoying it, sharing it, --the most beautiful treasures and the favourite ingredients, used and given freely. Some of it, we'll replace quickly: eggs and brown sugar are easy to come by, and we can get more glue. Other things we may do without for awhile...I don't know if or when I'll ever have a whole package of black pompoms around again.

But next year we'll make something else.

The Answers

Here are the answers to I Made You a Game. If you haven't played yet, avert your eyes. I've filled the names back into the quotes.

Here we go...

1. “Some Christmas,” remarked Rush in a satisfied tone at the end of the day. He was playing Randy’s Funeral March for her, very quietly in the dusk. “I bet we’re just about the only kids in the county, maybe even the whole state, that got such a big live alligator for a Christmas present.”

The Four-Story Mistake, by Elizabeth Enright

2. “Breakfast seems so commonplace at such an exciting moment. I’d rather feast my eyes on that dress….I feel that I ought to be a very good girl indeed. It’s at times like this I’m sorry I’m not a model little girl; and I always resolve that I will be in future. But somehow it’s hard to carry out your resolutions when irresistible temptations come. Still, I really will make an extra effort after this.”

Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

3. “That was a wonderful day. It was a treasure, and no mistake! I never saw such heaps and heaps of presents, like things out of a fairy-tale—and even Eliza had a shawl. Perhaps she deserved it, for she did cook the rabbit and the pudding; and Oswald says it is not her fault if her nose turns up and she does not brush her hair. I do not think Eliza likes brushing things. It is the same with the carpets. But Oswald tries to make allowances even for people who do not wash their ears.”

The Story of the Treasure Seekers, by E. Nesbit (the first Bastable book)

4. “For ere one half of the night was gone,
Sudden a star has led us on,
Raining bliss and benison—
Bliss tomorrow and more anon,
Joy for every morning!”

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

5. “And next day they rounded up the mice with the loudest voices. They spent the whole morning practicing their scales and the whole afternoon sorting out the pronunciation of Wenceslas, and by the time it was dark, they were ready.”

The Church Mice at Christmas, by Graham Oakley (one of the funniest Christmas picture books around)

6. (a Christmas list): “Tony—a jack-knife (his has only one blade.) Mr. Gilligan—a clay pipe and tobacco. Mrs. Gilligan—a tomato pin-cushion. Mr. Night-Owl—a cake of soap.”

Roller Skates, by Ruth Sawyer

7. “Don’t you have any tree?” Joey asked.
“Oh, it isn’t worth while just for me,” Mrs. Verduz said. “I don’t usually make any fuss over Christmas. But when I heard you singing I thought it was really awfully dull staying down there in my room all by myself. And you see, I’ve brought a few things with me.”

The Ark, by Margot Benary-Isbert

8. “'A hand-knit muffler! How warm it looks. I must try it on right now,' said Mr. Bear. He wrapped it around his neck…There was rather a lot left over.”

A Gift from the Lonely Doll, by Dare Wright

9. “There had never been such a Christmas as this. It was such a large, rich Christmas, the whole church full of Christmas. There were so many lamps, so many people, so much noise and laughter, and so many happinesses in it. Laura felt full and bursting, as if that whole big rich Christmas were inside her, and her mittens and her beautiful jewel-box with the wee gold cup-and-saucer and teapot, and her candy and her popcorn ball.”

On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

10. “She did not even hug to her heart that moment when, finally, she had become Mama’s ‘dearest, dearest child'. In her heart it was Christmas, and she was busy singing.”

From Anna, by Jean Little

Bonus Quote:
"All the ponies are at the war."

The Middle Moffat, by Eleanor Estes