Today’s episode is a talk given by Liz at several conferences and events. She discusses the role parents play in the lives of their children–a topic much discussed by Charlotte Mason. We hope you enjoy this talk and are challenged and encouraged by the wisdom Miss Mason has to offer us parents.
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Charlotte Mason included the study of great works of art in her regular school curriculum. This episode explores the many options for making picture study and picture talk more robust, richer, and engaging for your children with examples and ideas straight from the P.N.E.U.–ideas beyond just “look and tell.”
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” In Forms V. and VI., a more organised study is begun with the help of books on the history and development of art. The girls may read to themselves a section on a certain say; then in class, after narration of the passage which has been read, we may take one of the principle painters. They study several reproductions of his works and then, choosing the one she prefers, each studies it for a few minutes, afterwards narrating it in writing or drawing. Later, an essay may be written on the particular school of painting with descriptions of some of the pictures.” (PR 42, pp. 443-444)
“Miss Parish advocated a variety in the manner of taking the ‘talk.’ Children might sometimes be allowed each to describe a picture so as to make the others see and recognise it.” (L’Umile Pianta 1907, p. 9)
Episode 34: Picture and Composer Study
Charlotte Mason insisted the teacher not take a “front and center” role, warned against the “talky-talky” teacher, etc. This episode addresses when it is appropriate for the teacher to explain, question, and even present the “oral lesson.”
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“When a child is reading, he should not be teased with questions as to the meaning of what he has read, the signification of this word or that; what is annoying to older people is equally annoying to children…He enjoys this sort of consecutive reproduction, but abominates every question in the nature of a riddle. If there must be riddles, let it be his to ask and the teacher’s to direct him to the answer.” (1/228)
“Of the means we employ to hinder the growth of mind perhaps none is more subtle than the questionnaire. It is as though one required a child to produce for inspection at its various stages of assimilation the food he consumed for his dinner ; we see at once how the digestive processes would be hindered , how, in a word, the child would cease to be fed. But the mind also requires its food and leave to carry on those quiet processes of digestion and assimilation which it must accomplish for itself. The child with capacity, which implies depth, is stupified by a long rigmarole on the lines of,-‘If John’s father is Tom’s son, what relation is Tom to John?’ The shallow child guesses the riddle and scores; and it is by the use of tests of this kind that we turn out young people sharp as needles but with no power of reflection, no intelligent interests, nothing but the aptness of the city gamin.” (6/54-55)
“…the teaching one hears and sees is more or less obtrusive. The oral lesson and the lecture, with their accompanying notes, give very little scope for the establishment of relations with great minds and various minds. The child who learns his science from a text-book, though he go to Nature for illustrations, and he who gets his information from object-lessons, has no chance of forming relations with things as they are, because his kindly obtrusive teacher makes him believe that to know about things is the same thing as knowing them personally ; though every child knows that to know about Prince Edward is by no means the same thing as knowing the boy-prince. We study in many ways the art of standing aside.” (3/66)
“…we believe intellectual spoon-meat to be the only food for what we are pleased to call ‘ little minds .'” (3/171)
“…an inspiring idea initiates a new habit of thought, and hence, a new habit of life; we perceive that the great work of education is to inspire children with vitalising ideas as to every relation of life, every department of knowledge, every subject of thought; and to give deliberate care to the formation of those habits of the good life which are the outcome of vitalising ideas.” (3/173)
“The oral lesson, which at its worst is very poor twaddle, and at its best is far below the ordered treatment of the same subject by an original mind in the right book…The lecture, commonly gathered from various books in rapid notes by the teacher ; and issuing in hasty notes, afterwards written out, and finally crammed up by the pupils. The lecture is often careful, thorough, and well-illustrated; but is it ever equal in educational value to direct contact with the original mind of one able thinker who has written his book on the subject?” (3/242)
“Though the part of the teacher should, in a general way, be that of the University tutor who “reads with” his men, the oral lesson, also, is indispensable, whether in introducing a course of reading or as bringing certain readings to a point. Oral lessons, too, give the teacher opportunities for the reading of passages from various books bearing on the subject in hand, a sure way to increase the desire of the children for extended knowledge. Some subjects, again, as Languages, Mathematics, Science, depend very largely upon oral teaching and demonstrations. It might be well if the lecture, with its accompaniments of note-taking and reports, were cut out of the ordinary curriculum, and the oral lesson made a channel for free intellectual sympathy between teacher and taught, and a means of widening the intellectual horizon of children.” (3/328-329)
“Thus it becomes a large part of the teacher’s work to help children to deal with their books; so that the oral lesson and lecture are but small matters m education, and are used chiefly to summarise or to expand or illustrate.” (3/226)
This Charlotte Mason episode is a brief look into some important, but less talked of subjects. Nicole briefly discusses the natural history lists, what kind, why, and how they are kept; Emily shares about the scope of this curriculum–is it broad or deep; and Liz discusses the importance of the preschool years and what we must guard for the younger children.
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“In Science, or rather, nature study, we attach great importance to recognition, believing that the power to recognise and name a plant or stone or constellation involves classification and includes a good deal of knowledge. To know a plant by its gesture and habitat, its time and its way of flowering and fruiting; a bird by its flight and song and its times of coming and going; to know when, year after year, you may come upon the redstart and the pied fly-catcher, means a good deal of interested observation, and of; at any rate, the material for science.” (3/236)
“It is a capital plan for the children to keep a calendar––the first oak-leaf, the first tadpole, the first cowslip, the first catkin, the first ripe blackberries, where seen, and when. The next year they will know when and where to look out for their favourites, and will, every year, be in a condition to add new observations. Think of the zest and interest, the object, which such a practice will give to daily walks and little excursions.” (1/54)
“11. But we, believing that the normal child has powers of mind which fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, give him a full and generous curriculum ; taking care only that all knowledge offered him is vital, that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas. Out of this conception comes our principle that,-
“12. Education is the Science of Relations “; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books, for we know that our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of-
“Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things.”
“13. In devising a SYLLABUS for a normal child, of whatever social class, three points must be considered:-
(a) He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as does the body.
(b) The knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create appetite (i.e., curiosity) .
(c) Knowledge should be communicated in well -chosen language, because his attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.” (From The Short Synopsis)
“It is a wide programme founded on the educational rights of man ; wide, but we may not say it is impossible nor may we pick and choose and educate him in this direction but not in that. We may not even make choice between science and the ‘ humanities.’ Our part it seems to me is to give a child a vital hold upon as many as possible of those wide relationships proper to him.” (6/157)
“Now the method that I am advocating has this advantage; it multiplies time. Each school period is quadrupled in time value and we find that we get through a surprising amount of history in a thorough way, in about the same time that in most schools affords no more than a skeleton of English History only. We know that young people are enormously interested in the subject and give concentrated attention if we give them the right books.” (6/171)
“…lessons which deal with words, only the signs of things, are not what the child wants. There is no knowledge so appropriate to the early years of a child as that of the name and look and behaviour in situ of every natural object he can get at.” (1/32)
“In his early years the child is all eyes ; he observes, or, more truly, he perceives, calling sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing to his aid, that he may learn all that is discoverable by him about every new thing that comes under his notice.” (1/65)
Sabbath Mood Homeschool post on Lists, with relevant pictures
The Bible is the most authoritative and ancient of all books and Mason considered its lessons to be the supreme lesson, leading most directly to knowledge of God. This podcast explores why she was of this opinion, why we must not neglect its lessons, and how those lessons should be presented.
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“Perhaps the main part of a child’s education should be concerned with the great human relationships. . . Before all these ranks Religion, including our relations of worship, loyalty, love and service to God; and next in order, perhaps, the intimate interpersonal relations implied in such terms as self-knowledge, self-control.” (Vol. 3, p. 234)
“The Bible is the chief lesson–“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)
“What is peculiar to the children in their nature and estate. ‘Of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ ‘Except ye become as little children ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.’ ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ ‘And He called a little child, and set him in the midst.’ Here is the Divine estimate of the child’s estate. It is worth while for parents to ponder every utterance in the Gospels about these children, divesting themselves of the notion that these sayings belong, in the first place, to the grown up people who have become as little children. What these profound sayings are, and how much they may mean, it is beyond us to discuss here; only they appear to cover far more than Wordsworth claims for the children in his sublimest reach “Trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home…. do no sort of injury to the children: Take heed that ye OFFEND not––DESPISE not––HINDER not––one of these little ones.” (Vol. 1, pg 12)
“The truth which interprets our own lives…” (Vol. 1, p. 251)
“But let the imaginations of children be stored with the pictures, their minds nourished upon the words, of the gradually unfolding story of the Scriptures, and they will come to look out upon a wide horizon within which persons and events take shape in their due place and due proportion. By degrees, they will see that the world is a stage whereon the goodness of God is continually striving with the willfulness of man; that some heroic men take sides with God; and that others, foolish and headstrong, oppose themselves to Him. The fire of enthusiasm will kindle in their breast, and the children, too, will take their side, without much exhortation, or any thought or talk of spiritual experience.” (Vol. 1, p. 249)
“But, here as elsewhere, the promises and threatenings of Bible will bear the searching light of inductive methods.” (Vol. 2, p. 21)
“The fact is, our religious life has suffered, and by-and-by our national character will suffer, through the discredit thrown upon the Bible by adverse critics. We rightly regard the Bible as the entire collection of our Sacred Books. We have absolutely nothing to teach but what we find written therein. But we no longer go to the Bible with the old confidence: our religion is fading into a sentiment not easy to impart; we wait until the young people shall conceive it for themselves. Meantime, we give them such æsthetic culture as should tend to develop those needs of the soul that find their satisfaction in worship. The whole superstructure of ‘liberal’ religious thought is miserably shaky and no wonder there is some shrinking from exposing it to the Ithuriel’s spear of the definite and searching young mind. For we love this flimsy habitation we have builded. It bears a shadowy resemblance to the old home of our souls, and we cling to it with a tender sentiment which the younger generation might not understand.” (Vol. 2, p. 96)
“It is well, by the way, that we should remember that we have as a nation an enormous loss to make good; time was, and not so long ago, when rich and poor were intimately familiar with one of the three great classical literatures. Men’s thoughts were coloured, their speech moulded, their conduct more or less governed, by the pastoral idylls called “Genesis,” the impassioned poetry of Isaiah, the divine philosophy of John, the rhetoric of Paul––all, writings, like the rest of the Bible, in what Matthew Arnold calls ‘the grand manner.’ Here is the well of English undefiled from which men have drawn the best that our literature holds, as well as their philosophy of life, their philosophy of history, and that principal knowledge we are practising to do without––the knowledge of God. And we wonder that the governing classes should forget how to rule as those who serve; and that the working man, brought up on “Readers” in lieu of a great literature, should act with the obstinate recklessness proper to ignorance.” (Vol. 6, pp. 309-310)
”That there is in the human breast an infallible sense of ‘ought’ is an error prolific of much evil.” The problem is that if we rely on ourselves or our culture’s norms to determine morality, then we can individually or collectively change our mind about what is right and what is wrong at any time. Instead, we must rely on God’s commands to determine right and wrong. Mason said, “To attempt to treat of morals without dealing with the sanctions of morality is to work from the circumference instead of from the center.” (Vol. 2, p. 103)
“To attempt to treat of morals without dealing with the sanctions of morality is to work from the circumference instead of from the center.” (Vol. 2, p. 103)
“The foundation of parental authority lies in the fact that parents hold office as deputies; and that in a two-fold sense. In the first place, they are the immediate and personally appointed deputies of the Almighty King, the sole Ruler of men; they have not only to fulfil his counsels regarding the children, but to represent his Person; his parents are as God to the little child; and, yet [a] more constraining thought, God is to him what his parents are; he has no power to conceive a greater and lovelier personality than that of the royal heads of his own home; he makes his first approach to the Infinite through them; they are measure for the highest; if the measure be easily his small compass, how shall he grow up with the reverent temper which is the condition of spiritual growth?” (Vol. 2, pp. 14-15)
“He should not be able to recall a time before the sweet stories of old filled his imagination; he should have heard the voice of the Lord God in the garden in the cool of the evening; should have been an awed spectator where the angels ascended and descended upon Jacob’s stony pillow; should have followed Christ through the cornfield on the Sabbath-day, and sat in the rows of the hungry multitudes––so long ago that such sacred scenes form the unconscious background of his thoughts. (Vol. 2, pp. 108-109)
“Their Bible lessons should help them to realize 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)
“Knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making.” (Vol. 6, p. 158)
If you would like to study along with us, here are some passages from The Home Education Series and other Parent’s Review articles that would be helpful for this episode’s topic. You may also read the series online here, or get the free Kindle version from Fisher Academy.
Home Education (Volume 1), Part IV, Chapter 3
Parents and Children (Volume 2), Chapters 10 and 11
School Education (Volume 3), Chapter 13
Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Chapter 10, Section I
Biblical Art Books:
Rembrandt and the Bible (Available in two separate volumes, here and here)
The Bible in Art: Old Testament
The Bible in Art: New Testament
Masterpieces of Biblical Art
Bible Atlases:
Holman Bible Atlas
Golden Bible Atlas
Commentaries by Canon Paterson-Smyth
The Acts of the Apostles, Knox
One Volume Bible Commentary, Dummelow
The Saviour of the World, Charlotte Mason (Hardcover editions of all six volumes available from Riverbend Press; softcover reprints found here, Vols. 1-3 currently available, remaining volumes are forthcoming)
The Gospel History, C.C. James
Bible Rotation Charts–this is a brand new resource as of December 2019, compiled for Forms 1-6 for both Old and New Testaments as well as The Saviour of the World, including supplemental resource suggestions used in the P.U.S.
Bible Passages Set for Recitations
Episode 13: Saviour of the World