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Willa
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| Posted: March 08 2007 at 8:50am | IP Logged
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It can be found here
I thought we could open that one for discussion. I will try to post some thoughts later but if anyone else has some thoughts on the chapter please jump in.
The forum chapter-by-chapter method of discussion seems to be working well! I love how we can continue to build on the old topics even while we introduce new ones.
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 6:56am | IP Logged
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One quote I like in this chapter is:
"If we have not proved that a child is born a person with a mind as complete and as beautiful as his beautiful little body, we can at least show that he always has all the mind he requires for his occasions; that is, that his mind is the instrument of his education and that his education does not produce his mind."
I also like:
"for no one can make a child obey unless he wills to do so."
Oh, do I go through that with my 5yo at times!
Also:
"Our business is to give children the great ideas of life, of religion, history, science; but it is the ideas we must give, clothed upon with facts as they occur, and must leave the child to deal with these as he chooses."
And my favorite:
"Education, like faith, is the evidence of things not seen."
That quote for me sums up why to homeschool!
Really a great chapter!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Willa
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| Posted: March 14 2007 at 6:03pm | IP Logged
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I love those ones too.
Here is another:
<Traditional educators'> notion is that by means of a pull here, a push there, a compression elsewhere a person is at last turned out according to the pattern the educator has in his mind.
The other view is that the beautiful infant frame is but the setting of a jewel of such astonishing worth that, put the whole world in one scale and this jewel in the other, and the scale which holds the world flies up outbalanced.
She seems to be claiming that the children have:
Minds -- that need nourishment and pondering time in order to grow
Moral sense (consciences)
An aesthetic sense (understanding of beauty) and
An affectionate heart.
I suppose in our days, we aren't as much inclined to doubt this as people in the 19th century might have been. But I do think it's still hard to steer the balance between trusting children to do the work of thinking and feeling and using their will, and on the other hand, not leaving them TOO much to themselves.
She writes:
How the children have revelled in knowledge! and how good and interesting all their answers are! How well they spell on the whole and how well they write! We do not need the testimony of their teachers that the work of the term has been joyous; the verve with which the children tell what they know proves the fact. Every one of these children knows that there are hundreds of pleasant places for the mind to roam in. They are good and happy because some little care has been taken to know what they are and what they require; a care very amply rewarded by results which alter the whole outlook on education. In our Training College, the students are not taught how to stimulate attention, how to keep order, how to give marks, how to punish or even how to reward, how to manage a large class or a small school with children in different classes. All these things come by nature in a school where the teachers know something of the capacities and requirements of children
I know she was talking about schools, but has anyone seen these kinds of fruits at home? Personally, in the day to day I don't always notice it -- but in the long run there are definitely fruits from this method of education. The results differ from child to child, of course.
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Willa
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Joann in AL
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"He has not formed a just measure of a child's mind and bores his scholars with much talk about matters which they are able to understand for themselves much better than he does. How many teachers know that children require no pictures excepting the pictures of great artists, which have quite another function than that of illustration? They see for themselves in their own minds a far more glorious, and indeed more accurate, presentation than we can afford in our miserable daubs."
It occurred to me as I slowly reread this chapter that if I am not seeing the fruits of this method of education, perhaps it's ME! (Go figure...)
And then IT hit me!
IDEAS. It's all about IDEAS! Not facts, not "reality" but ideas. Expose a child to every good and beautiful and true thing you can and let him make his connections.
I mean I knew that, but this morning, it was just an AHA moment. Facts are the things that kids learn/formulate/deduce from their ideas. Ideas give meaning to facts.
In this chapter, there is that little bit about "What is the mind? No matter."
The mind is spirit! Ideas are food for the spirit. Duh. Oh it's so beautiful. So simple, so God. Ideas are what our minds, and consequently, our souls thrive on. This is oh so necessary in our utilitarian society. There is such a dearth of souls fed on beautiful ideas.
What do you think of this analogy?
The GIRM is fact. The Catechism is fact.
Sacrosanctum Concilium, Sacramentum Caritatis are idea. They are the fleshing out of the facts to enlighten our minds with all the beauty that the Mass/Sacraments are - or at least as much of it as our finite minds can grasp.
I hope this isn't too disjointed. I just don't have a lot of comp time. Be glad to try to discuss it further, though.
Blessings,
Joann
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Paula in MN
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[QUOTE=Joann in AL] It occurred to me as I slowly reread this chapter that if I am not seeing the fruits of this method of education, perhaps it's ME! (Go figure...) [QUOTE=Joann in AL]
I agree -- I thought the same thing, but really didn't want to admit it.
[QUOTE=Joann in AL] And then IT hit me!
IDEAS. It's all about IDEAS! Not facts, not "reality" but ideas. Expose a child to every good and beautiful and true thing you can and let him make his connections.
[QUOTE=Joann in AL]
Thanks to you, I am now having an AHA moment!
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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4Real Forums : Book Club
Topic: CM vol 6-- ch 2 Born Persons
