This year Everyday Scholé is taking an in-depth look at the
eight essential principles of classical education. This month we are focusing
on educational virtues. You can check out the previous posts in this series as
well: Charlotte Mason and Classical Combined, Slow and Steady in Your Homeschool, Multum non Multa Exhibited in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool,
Practical Ways to Use Repetition to Memorize, and Why the Rabbit Trail is the Right Trail.
Probably the most revolutionary aspect of
Charlotte Mason’s teaching philosophy was her understanding of children and how
they learned. At a time when Great Britain and most of the world believed
teaching children should be methodical and stale, she recognized the natural
wonder and curiosity in children and their love of a well told story. Her
famous quote that ‘children are born persons’ showed her understanding of the
uniqueness and natural abilities each child possess from birth. Ms. Mason was
definitely on to something and to create true students in our homeschool, we
need to heed her words about habit training. The following practices that are
usually found in a Charlotte Mason homeschool lead to many of the educational
virtues (or habits) talked about in Dr. Perrin’s video.
If you’ve ever tried to teach a classroom of
students who aren’t used to classroom procedures and behavior, it is a
challenging task. Once upon a time this was the purpose of kindergarten, to
train children how to behave in a formal learning environment and get along
with others in the same environment. Charlotte Mason also believed in this
training aspect for young children, and it was a major focus with elementary
students in her schools. While I don’t think homeschool parents need to force
their children to sit at a desk for hours or practice raising their hand to
speak, there are some Charlotte Mason practices that will create true students
of educational virtue.
Practice:
Short Lessons
Habit:
Focus and Quality
One of the hallmarks of a CM educational style
is having short lessons with time slowly being added over the years and maxing
out at 45 minutes to an hour for core subjects in high school. While there are
a couple of benefits to scheduling your day this way, especially with lower
elementary children, the habits of focus and understanding are what Charlotte
Mason really wanted to teach children. Focus completely on your work for a
short amount of time and the quality of output from your children will be
greater. Instead of rushing through a page of handwriting just to complete it,
have your children focus on writing quality letters for ten minutes. It might
mean that they only finish one or two lines, but they are learning an important
skill of taking pride in a job well done. As they move up through the grades
and time increases for each class, they will naturally become faster at their
work while retaining quality because you taught them to focus at a young age.
Practice:
Living Books, Narrations, Art and Composer Study, Religious Education, and
Memory Work
Habit:
Recognizing Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
One of my funniest memories from a trip I took
in college to visit the Netherlands was when I decided to make myself a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich one afternoon for a snack. The family I was staying
with watched with equal parts fascination and horror as I assembled my sandwich
and took a bite. They couldn’t believe I would eat something so disgusting as
jelly and peanut butter together while I couldn’t believe they’d eat salted
herring. What was the difference? Our palates had been trained to like the
foods of our country of origin from a young age. Certain flavor combinations
tasted good to me that seemed disgusting to them and vice versa.
Likewise, we must train our children to
recognize truth, beauty, and goodness in literature, the arts, and our faith
while committing some of them to memory and making connections between them
all. It’s a challenge in this day and age for sure to mold their palate into
something that yearns for truth, beauty, and goodness instead of salacious
celebrity gossip, instant social media access, and funny cat video clips.
Charlotte Mason knew that teaching children using quality, well-written
narrative books, taking time to focus on beautiful artwork and musical
compositions, and learning how to narrate and examine ideas and information so
that it’s useful in their life will train our children’s eyes for life.
Practice:
Free Time in the Afternoons
Habit:
Leisure and Contemplation
One thing that almost all the grade levels in a
Charlotte Mason school had in common was free time in the afternoons. Some of
the higher grades did have one or two subjects to complete after lunch, but for
most students the afternoons were for their delight. Unfortunately most
homeschools aren’t much better about providing this down time than public
schools are. However I am slowly realizing how necessary this time is for
children and parents alike to restore our spirit with some time to pursue our
hobbies and ponder deep questions. Many times (myself included!) when we find ourselves
with moments to spare or time to fill, we grab for a remote, a tablet, a
laptop, or our phones to lose ourselves in the world of screens. It is becoming
clearer and clearer that immersing ourselves in this technological world is
causing detriment to our ability to think deeply and to create. The bad habit
of constantly reaching for a screen needs to be replaced in our children with
the enjoyment found in leisure and contemplation of free time every day to just
be.
Practice:
Nature Study
Habit:
Observation and Attention to Detail
The minute you hear the phrase ‘nature study’
you know there is a CM homeschooler around! We do love our nature study, but I’ll
be honest. I haven’t been the best at doing nature study around here. I always
felt like there had to be this big focus or list of supplies we needed to do it
correctly. Until I started to consider what my children are to learn from
nature study. Of course, you want your children to learn about the science to
be found in nature, the animals, plants, weather, habitats, geology, astronomy,
etc., but there is even more that I believe Charlotte Mason wanted children to
develop: the habit of observation and attention to detail. Now when we go
outside, I like to have the children find something interesting and then spend some
time talking with me about it, really examine it, possibly sketch it if they
wish. The amazing side benefit of this time outside observing our world is that
my children are now more honed at finding details and observations in other
areas of our school. Artwork that we look at is searched for hidden surprises,
math problems are read more carefully, and the microscope is pulled out more to
find the details to small to be detected with the human eye.
So what do these habits have to do with creating
a true student? A child who has learned to focus when needed, produce quality
work, find truth, beauty, and goodness in their studies, take time for leisure
and contemplation, and pay attention to the details is someone who will have nothing
to hinder them as they pursue whatever life holds for them. Charlotte Mason
knew this and designed her schools with practices that created true students
for life.
Don’t forget to visit my fellow Everyday Scholé
bloggers and get their take on the educational virtues. Just click the pictures
below.
What habits or virtues do you believe makes a true student?
Let me know in the comments below.
Chelli
