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JennGM
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I was rereading When Children Love to Learn and the chapter on history by Jack Beckman, pp. 66-67 had something I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere...or I've missed it.
He says there are timelines and copybooks. He doesn't mention a Book of Centuries.
Jack Beckman wrote:
Students also keep copybooks of the time periods under consideration. Miss Mason was of the opinion that children must reproduce knowledge to show that they had indeed assimilated it. This is the purpose of narration and the purpose of copybooks as well. The copybook is used for the students to record her findings in an orderly and neat fashion, using beautiful handwriting and illustrations. It is a book that she herself has produced--not a collection of consumable worksheets--and will keep for her own. Copybooks begin as a bookmaking activity--either using wallpaper or fabric (many how-to books are on the market telling how to do this). The student illustrates the outside of her book relative to the time period--Egypt, Greece, Rome, and so on. The pages of the book are left out until the end of the study. Once they are fully edited, they are placed into the book for binding. A title page and a table of contents are also included.
And what are the contents of a copybook? The teacher and students identify the areas to be researched for copybook entries. For Egypt, the list of entries might include such things as religion, daily life, art and crafts, mummy making, the pharaohs, architecture, agriculture, science, family life, occupations, geography, and commerce and trade. These become the focus for study, reflection, and research. As information is found, it is recorded in rough draft form, edited, and then put into a final draft for placement into the copybook. As well, the student's narrations, timeline for Egypt, and any special projects are placed in the copybook. Once completed, the student has produced his own book of the particular time period under study. The book is of his own creation, reflective of his own imagination and personality, in combination with the knowledge gained from his readings. The capabilities of the student are illimitable:
Charlotte Mason wrote:
| Let a child have the meat he requires in his history readings, and in the literature which naturally gathers around this history, and imagination will bestir itself without any help of ours; the child will live out in detail a thousand scenes of which he only gets the merest hint. (A Philosophy of Education, p. 295) |
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This is very different than a Book of Centuries. Is this something unique to the Ambleside schools, or is this something I just missed somewhere?
Does anyone else do this?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Christine
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CHC's Tour a Country reminds me a little bit of this; although, it is not a copybook. In seventh grade, Seton has the children write about some aspect of what they have read in their history text. One of my daughters enjoyed doing so.
Last year, I enrolled my children in a virtual academy (we're not re-enrolling). Each week the children had to send an email about what they had learned to an assigned advisory teacher. My children's teacher was my U.S. History teacher in high school. He enjoyed reading what the children were learning in history and always tried to draw more out of them. I saw my eldest son writing more and more about history as the year progressed. Through his writing, I also saw him come to know and understand or own what he was reading. He knew a lot more than his textbook shared because he was interested in the subject and turned initially to the encyclopedia and then to literature for more information.
This child balks at writing. Yesterday, I told him that I was going to have him keep a journal about what he reads in history. He surprised me by responding, "Okay, I can do that." He would probably really like turning it into a book rather than just a journal.
I think that the reproducing of knowledge is an important aspect of learning.
Thank you for sharing Jenn.
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SallyT
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My kids have little copybooks (those Hygloss blank books from Dick Blick that Lindsey* mentioned in another thread) for each book they're reading independently, including history reading. They have the option of writing original sentences, but so far they're opting to choose passages to copy, which is fine with me. The little book fits inside the book they're reading as a bookmark, so that they can pull it out when they're finished reading and ready to write. My aim is for them to have a little "textbook"/memory book for each book they read.
So . . . they're doing that . . . in addition to "official" daily copywork of poems and other things I choose. Lots of copying! I don't know how CM-y/Ambleside this is, but it's what's happening here right now. We do loosely keep a Book of Centuries together as well; neither one of them is keeping an individual one.
Sally
*Sorry, I meant LindsAy, aka CrunchyMom! I always misspell her name when I first type it, but I usually catch myself in time!
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Grace&Chaos
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This is a great question Jenn. I've been having my kids keep a history copybook for a while now. Then when they reach the age of keeping a BOC they stop their copybook. I haven't kept all the time periods in one notebook, each year we start a new one. I also don't have a table of contents but they do decorate/title the outside covers. The idea is that once a week after their history reading(s) they will narrate to me and either right after or a day later they pick a few sentences to copy exactly as written from the original reading(s). There is plenty of room on the same page or the opposite for them to draw pictures about what they remember from the weeks reading(s) as well. This becomes a weekly history copywork place. I have kept these books and it is fun to go back and look what they chose to copy and draw. (I start these in 2nd grade, when we formally start/introduce history).
I feel it is a great way to help them use narration and copywork appropriate for their young minds into the more complex BOC and written narrations later.
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Mackfam
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SallyT wrote:
| My kids have little copybooks (those Hygloss blank books from Dick Blick that Lindsey mentioned in another thread) for each book they're reading independently, including history reading. They have the option of writing original sentences, but so far they're opting to choose passages to copy, which is fine with me. The little book fits inside the book they're reading as a bookmark, so that they can pull it out when they're finished reading and ready to write. |
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What a neat idea, Sally! Glad you shared this!
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lapazfarm
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JennGM wrote:
This is very different than a Book of Centuries. |
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Yeah, it sounds very much like notebooking to me. Not sure why it is called a "copybook", especially since it is not just copywork, but work that is researched, compiled, and written/edited, etc by the student.
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SallyT
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Predictably, my 3rd-grade daughter is loving our little copy/note/narration/whatever books more than her 4th-grade brother is. Hers are mostly illustrations from her reading, with captions. His so far are mostly copywork, though I note that he did write one original entry yesterday: "I hate it. The whole thing." This -- alas -- is the sum of his commentary so far on the story of Ruth in the Bible. Apparently he's annoyed that every time he opens the Bible, somebody is having a famine.
Sally
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CrunchyMom
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SallyT wrote:
| Apparently he's annoyed that every time he opens the Bible, somebody is having a famine. |
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SallyT
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"Annoyed" is probably an understatement. "Infuriated" would be closer to the mark. He was also infuriated that over and over again, you have some story with a parent and two children. Do those Bible people not realize how BORING this is?
Ten. I'm remembering what a fun age this is . . .
Sally
PS: But boy, do I love those little blank books!
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DominaCaeli
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I was wondering just this same thing, Jenn--in fact, I just wrote a blog post about it last week. In that chapter, Beckman talks quite a bit about the "copybook" they use but doesn't even mention the BofC, which I found sort of strange since it's such a staple of a CM history plan for the late elementary grades on. It sounds like they do it in lieu of a BofC, and I'm interested in why that would be. The copybook sounds mostly like a collection of written narration that have been illustrated by the child, but there sounds like there is extra research included too, as well as input from the teacher. I have been looking at all the different perspectives on timelines and BofCs recently, so this popped out at me.
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JennGM
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DominaCaeli wrote:
| I was wondering just this same thing, Jenn--in fact, I just wrote a blog post about it last week. In that chapter, Beckman talks quite a bit about the "copybook" they use but doesn't even mention the BofC, which I found sort of strange since it's such a staple of a CM history plan for the late elementary grades on. It sounds like they do it in lieu of a BofC, and I'm interested in why that would be. The copybook sounds mostly like a collection of written narration that have been illustrated by the child, but there sounds like there is extra research included too, as well as input from the teacher. I have been looking at all the different perspectives on timelines and BofCs recently, so this popped out at me. |
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I've been looking at all the perspectives for BoC and timelines, too, so we're on the same journey!
I missed that blog post. I just started reading the CM blog you and your friend are doing and enjoying it, but I need to go back and read the past posts.
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DominaCaeli
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Ha, Jenn--I don't think I add much to the discussion.  But it's an interesting omission in that Beckman chapter and it made me wonder why they're choosing to go the copybook route.
We're definitely not at the BoC point yet (my two oldest are in Year 1), but we don't have a good spot for a wall timeline, so I'm looking at options for organizing our historical readings in their minds while still keeping things light on busywork and in line with CM principles. For example, I came across this very simple timeline that I was thinking about doing in notebook form (just a few pages inserted into their binder or something). I've also been thinking about BoC ideas for the future...so many different formats out there! I think the copybook he talks about doesn't help with placing various periods in the grand scheme of time, which is part of what the BoC and timeline is ultimately for.
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I have given each of my middlers a composition notebook and in that book every day they copy something from their Classically Catholic Memory materials. They also draw things that go along, or just decorate them. My dd11 is enjoying it the most, but even the boys are grudgingly admitting they take great pride in it. It's greatly helping the memory work to stick and it saves me the expense of buying multiple student texts.;)
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SeaStar
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SallyT wrote:
Predictably, my 3rd-grade daughter is loving our little copy/note/narration/whatever books more than her 4th-grade brother is. Hers are mostly illustrations from her reading, with captions. His so far are mostly copywork, though I note that he did write one original entry yesterday: "I hate it. The whole thing." This -- alas -- is the sum of his commentary so far on the story of Ruth in the Bible. Apparently he's annoyed that every time he opens the Bible, somebody is having a famine.
Sally |
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Oh, yes- that type of original work would be highly appreciated by my own son, who can frequently muster the wherewithal to write: I hate math, etc on paper.
I frequently feel discouraged trying to do a CM-type education with a boy who is not going to write for the fun of it. Copywork- ok, that is short.
Nature notebook, BOC, history notebook, etc... torture for him.
He sees that as "busywork" and will not cough it up on demand. If he wants to write something or draw a picture of a butterfly he saw outside, he'll do it when the spirit moves him. The spirit is not named Mom, unfortunately.
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Angel
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SeaStar wrote:
SallyT wrote:
Predictably, my 3rd-grade daughter is loving our little copy/note/narration/whatever books more than her 4th-grade brother is. Hers are mostly illustrations from her reading, with captions. His so far are mostly copywork, though I note that he did write one original entry yesterday: "I hate it. The whole thing." This -- alas -- is the sum of his commentary so far on the story of Ruth in the Bible. Apparently he's annoyed that every time he opens the Bible, somebody is having a famine.
Sally |
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Oh, yes- that type of original work would be highly appreciated by my own son, who can frequently muster the wherewithal to write: I hate math, etc on paper.
I frequently feel discouraged trying to do a CM-type education with a boy who is not going to write for the fun of it. Copywork- ok, that is short.
Nature notebook, BOC, history notebook, etc... torture for him.
He sees that as "busywork" and will not cough it up on demand. If he wants to write something or draw a picture of a butterfly he saw outside, he'll do it when the spirit moves him. The spirit is not named Mom, unfortunately. |
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I'm having a sympathetic laugh right now. The spirit is not named Mom in my house either. But *I* like the idea of having little notebooks for history. Of course I like the idea of nature notebooks, too, and currently only my daughter keeps one... and I do, too, sometimes, when I get the chance. I made a little pro-click bound book of nature notebooking pages on the theme of "frogs and toads" (well, it was supposed to be amphibians, but it is really frogs and toads) and one of my 6 year olds is slowly working his way through it... "as the spirit moves him". I bet the boys might enjoy the same sort of thing related to our history studies, but I'm not at all sure that they would enjoy being *required* to work in it. But it might be worthwhile.
I, too, am a little confused as to the difference between a true copybook - a "notebook" - and a BOC. Seems like the dividing line between all these is rather fluid.
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SallyT
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I was thinking the same thing, Angela, re the fluidity of terms here. And in our own work, I'm deliberately keeping that open. And truly, Mr. Happy Cooperation Boy does seem to like going back to find a sentence to copy -- ok, he's looking for a *short* sentence, but he has to read back through what he's read and evaluate various sentences in order to find that perfect short sentence. It does give him what I think is a needed "out" - when pressed to be original, all he can say is, "I hate it." So, okay, I say, don't tell me anything original. Just copy something.
What I do notice is that both kids are keeping journals right now on their own. So even though this may not be an experience of joy-led learning, I think there's some kind of dynamic here that's working, on some level . . . I think . . .
With Mr. Happy, I really think I just have to persevere, because at the end of the day, I think he would grudgingly admit to being proud of some of his work. Today was a case in point: he had pitched a fit about having to read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch for New World history, because some friend of his had told him that it was a lousy book -- "The main character has a lot of bad luck, and it's a stupid book," I think was his summary of his friend's book review, verbatim. So, fine, too bad, you have to give it a go, punishment though it is. He groused and groused, then sat down and read the small allotment of pages I'd given him to read . . . then went and found a wooden sailing ship model upstairs, brought it down, set it on the table, and drew it -- he had to get a bigger piece of paper, because the book was too small -- in detail for his response to his reading. I kept my mouth shut, because I couldn't decide how much I wanted to laugh, or how much I just wanted to be totally impressed by this effort.
So clearly what we're doing is more like notebooking than purely copywork -- these are simply options on the table, and I'm willing to go with whatever somebody is willing to do (and hoping that we can get past our initial negative reaction to poor Ruth and Naomi and their famine). But I want us to try having this discipline of reading and then thinking about our reading with a pencil, or a gel pen, or a colored pencil, in our hand. This seems valuable, if sometimes contrived and Mom-driven. And I am trying to find a balance -- as always -- between what I really love about CM and the reality of my children, certain ones of them anyway, who can smell a method a mile away and resist it with all their might.
Sally
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Becky Parker
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I was thinking about how this might work in our family. My ds's all hate writing and I'm not sure they are going to be that thrilled, but I was thinking maybe I can make a set time, after dinner, that they all write about what they learned through their reading that day. DH wants us to have an evening reading time after dinner when the weather is less pleasant. Right now, unless it's raining, it's so lovely in the evenings the kids want to be outdoors but as winter sets in I can see that eventually this will be a nice routine to get into. Dinner clean up, then everyone in the living room with a book, followed by writing in their notebooks about what they have learned, or what struck them as important.
But, I also just got my kids a beautiful BofC notebook to use so I hope it's not overkill to have them do both. I'm thinking, maybe they could have a choice - BofC entry, or write in a copybook if what they want to write is not historical in nature. Does that make sense?
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lapazfarm
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SallyT wrote:
| Mr. Happy Cooperation Boy |
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BTW, if he hates all the death and famine in Ruth, he is really going to hate Mr Bowditch! Pretty much everybody dies in that book!
But, it is such a good book...
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SallyT
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Ay ay ay. Well, we survived Johnny Tremaine pouring molten silver over his hand, so maybe we'll make it through Mr. Bowditch, too.
This notebooking thing continues to be interesting. The same son's entry for the first page of Tree in the Trail today was a little picture of what I guess was a tomahawk. That was all. It looked really enigmatic. But he really, really liked what he read. He even told me so.
I'm sorry, Jenn, this is wandering far afield of what you were asking about. But I am watching with fascination what unfolds from the combination of my kids' reading and these little books. So far it's either cryptic pictures of tomahawks, or copying the chapter title without any indication of having registered what he read (though I know he does register what he reads), or "I hate it. The whole thing." I guess I shouldn't be finding this all kind of hilarious . . . It's that or weep. I have a feeling I'm learning more about my 10-year-old as a person, and my relationship to him, than anything pedagogical.
Sally
PS My 8yo daughter draws elaborate illustrations by way of narrations, and writes captions for them. All this while her brother is fuming about famines in the Bible. But then today she didn't want to read at all. Why is it that the longer I do this, the worse at it I become? Sometimes I think I should write a book entitled, "When Children DON'T Love to Learn."
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SeaStar
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Sally,
Maybe that book should be called "When children love to learn in different ways".
Admiring CM and loving her ideas does not make my ds love them. And still, he loves to learn in his own way. I know he absorbs things. After we listened to "By the Great Horn Spoon", he spent days wearing a silver cap gun and a little leather pouch of fake gold tied around his waist with a length of pink yarn his sister had crocheted into a long chain. And he searched through my baking tins to find just the right one to use for panning for gold in the backyard, which he very much enjoyed.
So, it wasn't written in a notebook, but I'd say he learned something. Can it be good enough that way- without having to have written evidence?
That is something I wonder about all the time....
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Copybooks for History?
