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Eleanor
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| Posted: Feb 19 2010 at 7:15pm | IP Logged
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On the "Delayed Academics" thread, LucyP said:
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| As a bright child, I was pushed and allowed to run ahead at will, and it certainly seems to have an on-going impact that I can't switch off my head, can't be "in the moment" and have always been plagued by certain mental health issues that seem common in hot-housed children. Plus, like many other advanced children, I slumped big time as I entered adulthood! |
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This reminded me of something I was just reading in Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University. While the book is about higher learning, he does talk at length about elementary education, as that's what lays the foundation for university studies. I don't have the book at hand, but there's a long passage where Newman gives a made-up example of a typical (oral) university entrance examination. The examinee is a bright teenager who's been "hothoused" by his "homeschooling" father (though he doesn't use those exact words  ).
In those days, the curriculum was based on the Greek and Roman classics, and the father introduced his son to a wide range of historical and literary works -- far too many, Newman says. As a result, the boy ended up knowing a little about a lot, and didn't have the habits of mental discipline, or the contextual knowledge, that would allow him to actually understand the meaning and significance of what he was reading. He might have done well on "classical Jeopardy," but he couldn't put together a coherent argument, or even answer a very basic historical question related to a book he'd read. Newman says he's seen very many such young men.
I'm still reading and reflecting on this passage, but one take-home lesson for me is that formal learning in the early years should be focused on strengthening the basic implements in our children's "mental toolbox," i.e. mastery of language arts and logical reasoning. When history is introduced, rather than jumping hither and yon to whatever topic seems interesting, we should teach the basic events in a fairly rigorous way, to provide a framework for putting further learning into context (the "pegs," as I've seen them referred to on here).
For children who are unusually bright or quick learners, I think this approach would help to guard against the sort of excitement-seeking, flitting mentality that the OP mentioned. In fact, it might seem a little dull, compared to, say, doing a unit study on dinosaurs. But that wouldn't be so bad. Once their daily lessons were over, they wouldn't be clamoring for more books, more art projects, more activities, more everything... and instead of our getting burned out trying to keep up with them, we could just shoo them out the back door to play. 
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Feb 19 2010 at 7:44pm | IP Logged
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That's really interesting Eleanor.. wonder if my poor excuse of a library might have that book hmmmm.
I think there's probably a place for both directed and delight-lead learning.. more of the later in the early years and more of the former as they get older maybe.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Eleanor
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| Posted: Feb 19 2010 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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For us, at this point, our formal learning is going to focus on what we consider to be the basics, which will have a pre-existing structure of some kind (be it a standard curriculum, a list of books to read, a set of materials a la Montessori, or whatever). We're thinking that the children can follow their delights in their free time, after they've taken sufficient care of lessons, chores, and prayers. After all, this is what DH and I do. In addition, a lot of the "delightful" things can be done as a family, on the weekends or on vacation. We can go to the aquarium and just enjoy the experience, not feel any pressure to link it in to our studies (though I'm pretty sure connections will be made anyway).
This approach sits well with me. As our eldest ones begin to outgrow the stage where I'm constantly wiping something, I think our home is developing the sort of "learning atmosphere" that's described in the Real Learning book... good conversation, music, art supplies, high quality fiction and non-fiction books, etc. I'm not feeling a need to manage or plan our family's involvement with most of these things; they just sort of happen.
But then, they're still very little. Maybe I'll start to feel more pressured when we're approaching high school!
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: Card. Newman & bright/eager learners
