Vol 1 V11 The Reign of Law In education pg 37-41
You can just pick one or do all three:
1. What should be the method of all education?
2. Why are common sense and good intentions not sufficient?
3. What is the main point you took away from this weeks reading?
page 20-37 was so long they
1. "Narrate" this text :) or share what you feel is the point CM is
making in this text.
I feel this statement (below) sums up what she is saying.
From pg 37
"I fear the reader may be inclined to think that I am inviting his attention
for the most part to a few physiological matters--the lowest round of the
educational ladder. The lowest round it may be, but yet it is the lowest round,
the necessary step to all the rest. For it is not too much to say that, in our
present state of being, intellectual, moral, even spiritual life and progress
depend greatly upon physical conditions. That is to say, not that he who has a
fine physique is necessarily a good and clever man; but that the good and clever
man requires much animal substance to make up for the expenditure of tissue
brought about in the exercise of his virtue and his intellect. For example, is
it easier to be amiable, kindly, candid, with or without a headache or an attack
of neuralgia?"
In my own words: That a persons physical well being will effect every part of
their life. Therefore we need to be just as diligent if not more so in this area
(physical well being) of our dc life as we are in other areas.
"Do not let the children pass a day without
distinct efforts, intellectual, moral, volitional; let them brace
themselves to understand; let them compel themselves to do and to
bear; and let them do right at the sacrifice of ease and pleasure:
and this for many higher reasons, but, in the first and lowest
place, that the mere physical organ of mind and will may grow
vigorous with work."
This is my favorite passage from the text. Have you aver noticed that
when you start the day actively - doing chores, exercising - you have
more energy and motivation all day? I do. Recently my daughter was
sick for 4 days. We allowed her to lie around and rest of course.
This included TV time that is not normal for our household. When she
began feeling better it was hard to get her to "make efforts" again.
She kept asking to watch TV. Rather than "growing vigourous with
work" it was as though her mind was weakened along with her body.
This is a true example of the importance of daily work and the dangers
of TV!!!
CM Volume 1 - II. The Child's Estate/III. Offending The Children/IV Despising the Children/V Hindering the Children pg 11-20
It seems to me that Miss Mason is implying that children have an
inate sense of right and wrong and that this changes as we the
parents (or the environment) socialize them.
We offend their sense of right and wrong by reacting in a way
opposite to what would be desired. ie correcting bad language but
then using it ourselves, calling the child "bad" when its not the
child that is "bad", but the action "inappropriate.
We despise them by laughing and making light of their actions one
time and then discipline them the next- this shows lack of respect
for the child's progress in learning discipline.
We hinder them by not providing the learning environment. The
consitency, the kind and firm guidance that will help them
avoid "wrong" actions in the first place.
CM VOL 1 A Method of Education pgs 6-10
1. Per CM what is the difference between a Method of Education and a
System?
and or
2. Why is CM saying a Method of Education is better than a System?
As I understand it A method is a way of life...............it is
lasting............it will stand the test of time and it reaches the
heart or it is the heart of the matter. (IMHO)-Angie
> A system is just a program, it is temp, it is just some rules,
it's a quick fix, it just might fix the outside or the Flesh but it
won't capture the heart and when tested by "fire".....it burns up.
(IMHO)-Angie
> That's what I was going to say. We misapply CM's methods when
we turn it into a system - which can be done by using AO without
reading CM's books to understand the method behind the curriculum.-
Leslie
>So, for instance, if we try to take CM's principles and distill
them into lists of specific precepts (spend 4-6 hours outside each
day, no picture books before age 5, learn Spanish at age 3, or
whatever) rather than learning the guidelines and looking for
appropriate ways to apply them, we will not get the results we
desire. We will have perverted her method into a system.-Kathy
What I tried to say they said in a much simpler way :O)They gave a
straight forward example. Thanks Kathy & Leslie!!
I will only add to what I was trying to say with the example they
used. When you try to do CM without reading her books you leave out
the heart, the meat of what CM is,(The method) as they said you turn
CM into just a to do list (a sytem)which will not reach your dc
heart, you may get some good temp. results but we miss a wonderful
opportunity to reach our dc heart, we therefore miss out on
benefiting the "whole person".
I am so glad we have this group and are reading these CM books and
that we have the chance to "talk it out" with each other. Thank you
to all the ladies that are sharing. Everything that is being said is
really helping me get a "hold" of what she is saying (her method :O)
Don't forget you can always just share your favorite quote from the
weeks text and your thoughts on it.
Part 1 Some Preliminary Considerations Pg 1-6
1. What statement(s) in this text inspired ( "A Ha" moment) you
the most and why do you think it (or they) did?
2. How do you feel about the statements (and the relating text) : "Children are
a Public Trust" (pg 1) and "children are the property of the nation, to be
brought up for the nation as is best for the nation, and not according to the
whim of individual parents" (pg 6)?
vol 1 pg 5
"here, we may notice, the parents need only supply; the child knows
well enough how to appropriate. The parents' chief care is, that that
which they supply shall be wholesome and nourishing, whether in the way
of picture books, lessons, playmates, bread and milk, or mother's love.
This is education as most parents understand it, with more of meat,
more of love, more of culture, according to their kind and degree. They
let their children alone, allowing human nature to develop on its own
lines, modified by facts of environment and descent."
Miss Mason makes education sound so easy. Then why am I feeling that I
am not doing enough, what if I do something wrong?.... Someone was
telling me last month that mothers today have lost touch with their
ability to mother. Luckily paragraphs such as the above will help me to
bring out the 'mothering instincts' and help me relax in the face of
all the fears that society flings.
CM's Volume 1: Preface
Reading the 18 principles outlined here, which one or two most surprised you
or struck you as different from common wisdom today?
Which one or two seemd to you to be most in agreement with what you have
seen in your own experience?
I love this statement by CM that is in Vol 1 under preface of the
4th edition:
>In venturing to speak on this latter subject, I do so with the
sincerest deference to mothers, believing that, in the words of a
wise teacher of men, "the woman receives from the Spirit of God
Himself the intuitions into the child's character, the capacity of
appreciating its strength and its weakness, the faculty of calling
forth the one and sustaining the other, in which lies the mystery of
education, apart from which all its rules and measures are utterly
vain and ineffectual." <
Reading how CM shows such respect for the "mother" it makes me even
more confident in trusting CM and her method's. I feel that CM is
telling me she understands that I know my dc more than she does or
ever could and no matter the method and how good it appears and what
a "general" rule of thumb is for dc, in the end I am the "mom" and
I know what is best for my dc! As I said above....that she can say
this, that she understands this and acknowledges this it makes it
easier for me to acknowledge the wisdom that God himself has given
her about dc and about the best way to educate them!
So I was curious if anyone else felt the same way I did or if you
had any other feelings about this staement by CM?
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