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“But we are considering, not the religious life of children, but their education by lessons; and their Bible lessons should help them to realise in early days that the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and, therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.” (Vol. 1, p. 251)
“Forms III-IV (12 to 15) read for themselves the whole of the Old Testament as produced by the Rev. Costley-White in his Old Testament History. Wise and necessary omissions in this work make it more possible to deal with Old Testament history…The footnotes which form the only commentary upon the text are commendably short and to the point.” (Vol. 6, pp. 164-65)
“The map of any country calls up in a child’s imagination a wonderful panorama of the diversities of the country, of the people, their history and occupations. It is evident that this kind of geographical image cannot be secured in any other way than by considering Europe country by country. They begin with a general survey of the seas and shores of the continent, of the countries and people, of the diversities of tongues and their historical origin, of the plains and mountains, of the rivers and their basins.” (Vol. 6, p. 225)
“The object of children’s literary studies is not to give them precise information as to who wrote what in the reign of whom?––but to give them a sense of the spaciousness of the days, not only of great Elizabeth, but of all those times of which poets, historians and the makers of tales, have left us living pictures.” (Vol. 6, p. 184)
Costley-White (Living Library Press)
Men, Microscopes and Living Things
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Episode 13: The Saviour of the World
Mathematics: An Instrument for Living Teaching
Episodes 56 and 57 with Richele Baburina
How Nicole modified CM’s streams of science
Looking at the PUS schedules, it says Form III has Euclid three times a week. One is 20 min, one is 10 min, and one is “Repetition: Euclid”. What exactly is that, does anyone know? How can they recite Euclid as if it were poetry or Bible? I thought he wrote geometric theorems. Why haven’t they been “reciting” other mathematical theorems up until now? I’m interested in incorporating Euclid next year so this has me very curious. Thank you.
Hi Tanya,
What a good question! Charlotte Mason used a book called “A First Step in Euclid” by Bradshaw which introduced Euclidean proofs by using practical illustrations so this differs from the classical teaching of Euclid and rote memorization. In CM math, students are not asked to memorize something they haven’t proven themselves or is already evident -this they are able to do via their constructions and also via reasoning.
In a CM education, mathematics is its own reward and it is hoped that students experience beauty, joy, truth and awe in their study. As a student of Mason’s applied philosophy (and having used this particular book with my own students), I imagine that if we were to take the Tardis back in time, we would find students in her classrooms reciting axioms (it is good to have them in mind as it helps in reasoning out propositions) and theorems. Charlotte considered math a melodious language and there are some that find equations and theorems every bit as elegant and as beautiful as sonnets. If you haven’t yet, you might want to listen to Episodes 56 & 57 where Liz and I discuss Euclidean geometry in CMs classrooms. The book I mention is linked in the show notes.
Up until this point in the programmes, students had only had elementary arithmetic and practical geometry so no theorems have been recited. Tables in the four operations were learned though (after the facts were proven) and spoken through in and out of order but they were not parroted together as a class.
Warmly,
Richele
Richele Baburina
I am sorry I didn’t replay sooner. Thank you so much for this. I have your book and plan to read it over Christmas break. I’ll take a listen to those ADE podcasts you mentioned. Thank you again. Merry Christmas!
How would you alter this if your child is just starting CM in Form 3?
Erin,
If your child has never narrated, that is the first and most important skill to address. I would not alter book choices or the subjects to be covered, but would begin with short readings of the passage with multiple narrations after each portion until the child is comfortable telling back. I would not be concerned with written narration or composition in the first six months. I think there is no time like the present to begin a CM education.
Liz