Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival - Poetry

Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival!

And thanks for joining us all the way out in California this time where we are going to talk about Poetry, a subject near and dear to many a Charlotte Masoner's heart!

If there's anything we have learned through implementing the Charlotte Mason method, it is that words are so very significant. There is meaning behind those words that dance along a page, revealing picture, story, thought, ideas, and impacting our lives evermore. Poetry takes those words and elevates them forming new dimensions between the one who gives and the one who seeks to know; another avenue from one mind to another. It is beautiful.

We hope you enjoy the carnival!

...so with poetry you must believe that a child is capable of enjoying and admiring the very best, if only you show him how to begin. You must let him see that you yourself delight in well chosen epithets and true pieces of word painting; you must let him feel that you only care for poems which put a pleasant thought into your mind or a pleasant picture before your eyes; you must let him realize that when you go with him for a country walk, you can add a charm to the brook or the meadow, or the oak tree, or the wild rose, by a familiar quotation, and his taste will not be long in forming itself. ~J.G. Simpson, The Teaching of Poetry to Children

Nancy Kelly shares her daughter's assignment to write an alliterative verse as modeled in Sir Gawain in Intellectual Culture - Poetry over at Sage Parnassus. She has also announced The Seventh Annual Living Education Retreat which you will not want to miss! The theme this year is "Pursuit and Passion: Charlotte Mason and Science".
Amy at Fisher Academy International shares some excellent resources for Poetry study in her post Poetry: What We Do

Rachael over at Homeschooling Kiwi Style shares a poem by Edgar Allan Poe in her post Tintinnabulation and then, thankfully, tells us what it means! Oh, and if you enjoy fun words, don't miss Jeanne's comment following the post :)

Here is Tammy's post (corrected!) Telling it Slant over at Aut-2B-Home in Carolina.

Cori shares her insight as she notices with her boys that It has to Matter over at Wonder in the Woods.

Dana shares Teaching Poetry to High School: Anne Bradstreet Puritan Poet at Epi Kardia

We shall not then, perhaps, be far astray if we conclude that the purpose of poetry is to communicate or extend the joy of life by quickening our emotions. How it does so, by what magic of art or nature, we should require to be poets to know. But this is what it does: it teaches us how to feel, by expressing for us, in the most perfect way, right human emotions, which we recognise as right, and come ourselves to share. ~Rev. H. C. Beeching, An Address on the Teaching of Poetry

Patti lists some of her favorite Poetry books in her post Poetry over at School Days Scrapbook and shares two poems from her favorite poet Amy Carmichael over at All Things Bright and Beautiful

Lanaya tells us how her friendship with a yellow flower began in line at Legoland in her post On Overcoming Boredom at Gore Family News.

And Sarah at All That's Good talks about the bio books and pockets she puts together to teach Ancient Egyptian Kings and Queens Pockets.

Leah shares Poetry, the simple way over at Home Grown Babies.

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It seems a few posts managed to get bumbled in the jumble of things in the last CM Carnival themed "Education is an Atmosphere". Amy asked that I send you all her apologies for the mixup, but really what I want to do is thank her for all she does to run this Carnival for us and for shining her light so bright. Thank you Amy, bless your sweet, sweet soul.

So here now are the missed posts in our...

After-The-Carnival, Carnival!

Kathy clarifies for us what a Charlotte Mason Education looks like during the Preschool years over at Piney Woods Homeschool and explains her thoughts on teaching children to use money wisely in A Penny Earned.

Sarah at Over and Around Us shares a post on Nature Study:: Local Conifers and includes her little ones' nature journal observations.

Allison shares a post about Artist Studies with samples of her children's culminating "masterpieces" at Adding to the Beauty.

Tiger's Mum shares a post Learning from Literature at The Tiger Chronicle discussing Tiger's transition from reading lessons to literature lessons and how she utilizes text and study guide while avoiding busy work.

That's all for this month's Carnival!

Next month's Carnival will be on March 20th. The theme next month is "Education is a Discipline" over at Epi Kardia. Here is the optional reading:
* Vol.2 pgs 60-68 and 173-177
* PR article: Discipline

Thank you for stopping by!

The Poet's Song
Lord Alfred Tennyson

The rain had fallen, the Poet arose,
He passed by the town, and out of the street,
A light wind blew from the gates of the sun,
And waves of shadow went over the wheat,
And he set him down in a lonely place,
And chanted a melody loud and sweet,
That made the wild-swan pause in her cloud,
And the lark drop down at his feet.

The swallow stopt as he hunted the bee,
The snake slipt under a spray,
The hawk stood with the down on his beak

And stared, with his foot on the prey

And the nightingale thought, “I have sung many songs,
But never a one so gay,
For he sings of what the world will be
When the years have died away.

Big Bear, San Bernardino National Forest

I think it's been over two years since our kids have seen snow, so when some friends said they were renting a cabin for the weekend and invited us up to Big Bear in the San Bernardino National Forest, we didn't think twice.



For Orange County folk Big Bear is a quick two hour jaunt to snow, mountain forests, lake and an escape from the hustle and bustle down below.

Once off of the freeway, the drive is just beautiful. It's hard to see here, but there were sunflowers in bloom all along the sides of the road.



Higher up there are breathtaking views and at some points you're right at the edge of nothingness. My daughter, bless her heart, felt she was helping me as she reasoned that gripping the door handle and console would do nothing for me if we were to fall off the edge.



Snow is such a rarity you often see people pulled over on the side of the road to play in it.


Just walking through the neighborhoods you'll find all kinds of curiously decorated cabins.



We managed to squeeze in a hike up the Woodland Trail which starts right across the street from Big Bear Lake. It's a 1 1/2 mile loop through mixed conifer and Pinyon-Juniper woodland habitats. We saw Mountain Chickadees and Woodpeckers and Steller Jays and an American Robin along the trail muddied from all the melting snow. The trees and sights were breathtaking.





































Isn't it beautiful!? I hope we can return again soon :)

First Compositions

Charlotte Mason's ideas on composition are an incredible paradigm shift for anyone involved in education. Here is what she says in Vol. 6 about composition for children aged 9-12...

"...Composition is not an adjunct but an integral part of their education in every subject. The exercise affords very great pleasure to children, perhaps we all like to tell what we know, and in proportion as their composition is entirely artless, it is in the same degree artistic and any child is apt to produce a style to be envied for its vigour and grace. But let me again say there must be no attempt to teach composition. Our failure as teachers is that we place too little dependence on the intellectual power of our scholars, and as they are modest little souls what the teacher kindly volunteers to do for them, they feel that they cannot do for themselves. But give them a fair field and no favour and they will describe their favourite scene from the play they have read, and much besides." Charlotte Mason ~Vol. 6, p.192


Let me repeat that what is called 'composition' is an inevitable consequence of this free yet exact use of books and requires no special attention until the pupil is old enough to take naturally a critical interest in the use of words. ~Vol.6, p.274

I can't tell you how many times I have read posts by people questioning this idea of not teaching composition to young children. And so for me, as it so often is with Charlotte's methods, it's a leap of faith to trust this process.

My oldest is now in YR4 and only half a year into written narrations. Scanning through her work, her writing has been brief and lacking in style so I've wondered about it. We have never studied sentences or paragraphs or how to write anything.

I think they must have found some notebooks they received as gifts at my last baby shower this morning because when I woke up, they both handed me their first little compositions that they'd been working on for fun. They had pen and book in hand during their spare time for the rest of the day and even took them to bed with them tonight asking if they could stay up and write for a few minutes longer.

Below is what my YR4 daughter wrote - the spelling and punctuation are indicative of my lack of focus in that area - I'm trusting CM on spelling through dictation, but our lessons have been sparse. The kids have had talks with me to teach them more spelling, which I will. I have told my daughter not to worry about spelling or punctuation in her written narrations for now, just to write freely. We'll be working on those areas more in the months to come and I'm confident with a little attention, we'll see quick improvement. For the time being, it's seeing unrestricted movement from her mind through her hand onto paper that is thrilling.














My husband wasn't too happy that the son left the father in the story. I wasn't too happy the mother plotted a lie to her husband!

But I was pleased with the thoughtfulness behind it all and the fact that she's enjoying writing. The only input I gave her was that I felt it was wrong for the 4 men and the mother not to have any consequence for their actions. I have a feeling there will be more chapters to come as she left room for a table of contents.

Here's her younger YR2 brother's page:



In a recent post in the AmblesideOnline Yahoo Group, Anne White, in speaking about writing curricula and its emphasis on rules said:

"It's much more important to have something to say and to say it well than to worry about whether or not you can fit the piece of writing into some pre-approved format."

I agree with her. I don't think my daughter would ever have written this story if we'd approached writing from the other side - the rules side. We'll keep you posted on our progress.

How about you? Are any of you trusting the process? What are you finding? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

The Relevance of Handicrafts in Today's World

A discussion came up at our monthly meeting about handicrafts and their relevance today and I thought I'd post a continuation here to add my thoughts and also for anyone else to do the same.

In today's technologically driven world, are handicrafts, like wood-working or knitting, still relevant? Wouldn't it serve our children better to learn how to type and use a computer? Or what about HTML, CSS or PHP for that matter? Aren't these things more important to know than knitting or wood working? I think it's an excellent and valid question.

In our home, since I am proficient in typing, blogging, web design, etc., I am holding off on teaching them any of those things because I know that, by default, they will learn them as we work on projects together in the future. I also think they are a hugely distracting and I'm just not willing to open up that kind of distraction to them until they have a foundation of worthy knowledge and the ability to govern their own selves in the face of such distractions. Every technology seems to me to open up added streams of things I just prefer not to have to filter out and monitor at this point.

I think it's good to look at what value Charlotte Mason saw in handcrafts. In regards to curriculum, she advised against utilitarian ends. In Vol. 3, p.241 she wrote:

"I should be inclined to say of education ... To educate children for any immediate end––towards commercial or manufacturing aptitude, for example––is to put a premium upon general ignorance with a view to such special aptitude. ... Excellent work of whatever kind is produced by a person of character and intelligence, and we who teach cannot do better for the nation than to prepare such persons for its uses. He who has intelligent relations with life will produce good work."

In a Parent's Review Article titled, Notes of Lessons, we find the outline of a handicraft lesson and it's purpose:

IV. Subject: Clay-modelling.

Group: Handicrafts. Class II. Time: half-hour.

By B. M. Dismoor.

Objects.

I. To introduce the children to a new handicraft, and to show them how to deal with a new material by modelling a plant pot and saucer.

II. To increase observation and appreciation of beauty in form.

III. To give the children the pleasure of creating.

IV. To concentrate the children's attention and to increase their patience and perseverance.

This seems to coincide with what Ambleside Online claims in their FAQ section: First and foremost, Charlotte Mason is a 12-year Christian Character Building curriculum.

Here is another Parent's Review article, this one titled "Our Work", points to developing their inventive faculty:

With regard to sloyd work, the fact that it encourages children to invent and carry out models of their own speaks greatly in its favor. It is the inventive faculty in children we all wish to encourage and cultivate. The same may be said of Basket-making. Children soon begin to invent their own patterns, and if along with pretty designs we get careful and accurate work the educational value of these employments soon shows itself.

So I guess the question then becomes: couldn't character be taught just as easily through technological craft? Or, why is knitting or wood-working a better option in building character than typing or HTML?

Another good point CM made about handicrafts is that:

"...intellectual occupation seems to make for chastity in thought and life."

"The children I am speaking of are much occupied with things as well as with books ... He practises various handicrafts that he may know the feel of wood, clay, leather, and the joy of handling tools, that is, that he may establish a due relation with materials. But, always, it is the book, the knowledge, the clay, the bird or blossom, he thinks of, not his own place or his own progress. "

What do you think?

I also posted this discussion on the ning here: http://charlottemasoneducation.ning.com/forum/topics/are-handicrafts-still-relevant-in-today-s-technologically-driven-?xg_source=activity

The Wild Wood

Reading Wind in the Willows for the second time around, I can't help but wonder if I really ever did read this book before! I just don't remember ever knowing how wonderful it truly is. I felt the same way about Winnie the Pooh when we picked up that old friend again.



The language and the characters are so rich and exquisite that, as I read to my 8yo son, he commented "Wind in the Willows is getting really good now!" and my 10yo daughter, who was previously playing, crawled up on the couch to cuddle close and hang on every word.

Today Mole ventured off into the Wild Wood alone in the midst of winter. It was one of those chapters that made me want to stick my head out of the window, wave the book in the air and yell to anyone that happened to be passing by, "Words, words, oh glorious words! You must read this!" Which is what I'm doing here I suppose.

Read for yourself a little bit of Kenneth Grahame's wonder. Here he is describing Mole's impression of the winter wood:

The country air lay bare and entirely leafless around him, and he thought that he had never seen so far and so intimately into the insides of things as on that winter day when Nature was deep in her annual slumber and seemed to have kicked the clothes off. Copses, dells, quarries and all hidden places, which had been mysterious mines for exploration in leafy summer, now exposed themselves and their secrets pathetically, and seemed to ask him to overlook their shabby poverty for a while, till they could riot in rich masquerade as before, and trick and entice him with the old deceptions. It was pitiful in a way, and yet cheering - even exhilarating. He was glad that he liked the country undecorated, hard, and stripped of its finery. He had got down to the bare bones of it, and they were fine and strong and simple.

This is the Science of Relations at its finest, don't you think?

Later, when Ratty joins Mole who gets cut with a door scraper, a comical exchange ensues between the one, who knows a door-scraper naturally leads to a door, and the latter, whose thick-headedness prevents him from discovering the same. When at last Mole does put it all together, Graeme treats us to his ever so delicious wit:

"Rat!" he cried in penitence, "you're a wonder! A real wonder, that's what you are. I see it all now! You argued it out, step by step, in that wise head of yours, from the very moment that I fell and cut my shin, and you looked at the cut, and at once your majestic mind said to itself, 'Door-scraper!' And then you turned to and found the very door-scraper that done it! Did you stop there? No. Some people would have been quite satisfied; but not you. Your intellect went on working. 'Let me only just find a door-mat,' says you to yourself, 'and my theory is proved!' And of course you found your door-mat. You're so clever, I believe you could find anything you liked. 'Now,' says you, 'that door exists, as plain as if I saw it. There's nothing else remains to be done but to find it!' Well, I've read about that sort of things in books, but I've never come across it before in real life. You ought to go where you'll be properly appreciated. You're simply wasted here, among us fellows. If I only had your head, Ratty-"

"But as you haven't," interrupted the Rat...

...and off we are with AO's YR2 living literature.