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Syncletica
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| Posted: June 17 2007 at 3:23pm | IP Logged
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I'm wondering if anyone could give me a 'brief' run-down on the philosophies of these two women. I have not read any of their books, nor do I have the money to buy any. But, if anyone can give somewhat of a summary of their methods, or certain things they taught that 'stand out' to you, could you post them? That will help me a lot in understanding them... thank you so much.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph +
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chicken lady
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hmmmm meaty request! Can you check out from the library? They are both prolific authors that for me would be difficult to incapsulate. Both are wonderful summer reads. Perhaps someone more eloquent then I can help you out!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 18 2007 at 7:50am | IP Logged
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I would look them up on wikipedia. I like that they usually have a brief overview you can read for a general idea, and then follow up with a more in-depth article.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 18 2007 at 8:36am | IP Logged
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Here's a brief overview of CM and Montessori, with a little Edith Stein thrown in:
Maria Montessori was born to middle-class Catholic parents in Chiavalle, Italy in 1870. She decided to become a doctor - a scandalous, unheard of choice for a young lady in Italy at that time - and it was only through persistence and persuasion that she was permitted to enter the Medical School of the University of Rome. When she graduated at the age of 26, she received a double honors degree. She received permission to open a school to educated Down's Syndrome children using an approach that was sensory and concrete. Her success was so remarkable that these children were able to pass the regular state school examinations and enter normal classes. This led Montessori to speculate about the inferior education given to the normal child and she conceived the idea of applying her discoveries to another group of children considered beyond education - the slum children. Her success was repeated with even more remarkable results. Soon visitors from all over the world came to The Children's House and additional Casa dei Bambini were opened in other parts of Italy. Montessori was a disciplined observer who learned through doing and submitted herself to the child. Gradually she devised materials and equipment to realize her goals and formulated an underlying philosophy based on the dignity and spiritual worth of the child. Her Catholicism is evident in the materials she developed. She saw the rosary beads in the golden beads used for mathematics, and walking on the line served a purpose of preparing young children to walk to receive Holy Communion. The Holy Father is very supportive of her work and even of her beatification. &nbs p;
Charlotte Mason was a British woman of the nineteenth century who founded the “House of Education” in Ambleside, England, in the beautiful lake district. She was born in 1842; a Christian woman and a pioneer in educational reform. She founded the Parents National Educational Union or PNEU, perhaps the first homeschool support group ever. She also published the Parent’s Review to aid parents in educating children at home.
She loved mottoes and her motto for the parents of PNEU who were educating their children at home was “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” She wrote prolifically about the three educational instruments: the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit and the presentation of living ideas. A couple of years ago, I started writing a book that was supposed to be a “Catholic Charlotte Mason book” but while I was working on it, a friend introduced me to Edith Stein and I realized what a great gift the Church was giving us mothers by beatifying this incredible woman. Although ES was born to a Jewish family, she was an avowed atheist for the first part of her adult life. She was drawn to faith by both the living witness of a good friend and by the autobiography of St. Theresa of Avila.
She was intellectually brilliant, and was a renowned philosopher before her conversion in 1922 at the age of 31. For the 8 years following her conversion, she “retired to a quiet Dominican school where she taught high school girls, novices and nuns preparing to teach.” She did speak and write during this time and by 1931, she was in such high demand as a speaker that she left her post at the school. Two years later she became a Carmelite nun and adopted the name “Sister Teresa Blessed by the Cross.” She went from renowned to obscure. She continued her intellectual work which was taking an increasingly mystic bent. In 1938, she and the other sisters fled to Holland to escape Hitler. She was eventually arrested on August 2, 1942 because of her Jewish descent and was gassed at Auschwitz a week later.
Unlike CM, who was full of practical advice, ES was primarily a philosopher. Her works on education are primarily concerned with the education of females and are not specifically aimed at the Homeschool mother. Nevertheless, her works are very deep and profound and I believe easily applied to the education of both sexes and to the homeschool setting. Underlying ES’s philosophy of education is that each person reflects God’s image in a unique way.
he writes:
God's image is like a seed planted in the human soul. In order to bring this inner form to development, the human creature needs formative help of two sorts: the supernatural aid of grace and the natural help of the human educational process …This full development of personality implies a wholeness of personality because it is the whole person that is needed for God’s service. If pupils receive this help, they can by an inner dedication become more similar to the inborn ideal image” [that God has intended]
In other words, each person was created to reflect God’s image in a unique way. A child’s personality and personhood is God given. We can’t and shouldn’t try to make a child into “our own image” or into what we think he should be, or what we think some curriculum thinks he should be. All three women—Edith Stein, Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori—believed that it is the role of parent and educator to help a child become more like the “ideal image” that God has in mind for him.
Young children have amazing learning capabilities. How does a young child learning its first language speak it so perfectly, "even aquiring a precise national accent, a regional dialect, all the local idioms and even family idiosyncrasies?" No one but a one-to-three year old can accomplish this remarkable feat.
Montessori called it the Absorbent Mind, and it usually lasts from birth to six years. A baby in the living room of its home will absorb the complete and detailed actions and attitudes of all the different family members that surround him, even if all are carrying out different activities. A Montessori teacher once remarked that all the financial resources that are poured into our universities should be redirected to the 0-6 years because the young mind is so much more capable of learning than it will be in all the years that follow. ;
Children of this age go through a series of what Montessori termed "sensitive periods", which consist of sensory experiences (they seek them out as you may have noticed), order (if only they would all be as interested in order as a three year old), language, small detail, coordination of movement, and social relations(especially manners). During each sensitive period the child has an intense interest in that area of development. When the period is over, the interest is greatly diminished. With a thoughtfully prepared environment we can work within these sensitive periods to help the child develop that particular skill when he is most interested in it.
A Real Learning education gives us wonderfully short, intense lessons in the mornings with time free in afternoons for listening to classical music, looking at art books, crafts, free reading and time outside to experience the incredible sensorial delights of God's creation. A holy priest said that he first experienced God in his mother's flower garden pulling apart the flowers and examining their parts. This is included in Montessori and Real Learning curricula. What joy!
Another similarity is in the view of the purpose of the teacher in education. In institutional education, children are viewed as buckets to be filled; the teacher opens the mind and pours in the knowledge. The student passively accepts whatever the teacher feeds him, but rarely learns it—rarely makes it his own
In a Real Learning education, the teacher's role is lighting a fire, or watching the child to see which door he is ready to walk through and opening it for him. This is what Charlotte Mason called "masterly inactivity".
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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chicken lady
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| Posted: June 18 2007 at 8:54am | IP Logged
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Nice Elizabeth and might I say very eloquent 
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Elizabeth
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I admit to cheating, chickie. I cut and pasted from a talk I gave a few years ago...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 18 2007 at 9:25am | IP Logged
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Very nicely done, Elizabeth!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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hobbitmom
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Great intro, Elizabeth!
Syncletica, you can also get a good basic introduction to Charlotte Mason's ideas at Ambleside Online, a site that offers free web versions of her books, an explanation of her philosophy, and free curricula.
For a starting place on Maria Montessori, you may want to check out Montessori for Everyone. This site explains more about her theories, gives practical help in implementing her methods, and links to an online store where you can buy some Montessori materials.
Happy reading! It's been fascinating for me to learn more about both these women and their insights into how children learn.
Amy
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Montessorri and Charlotte Mason
