Foreign language, craving for knowledge, preschoolers in winter.
A Charlotte Mason Education - Vol. 3, No. 3 -- January 2002
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DSimple@aol.comCopyright 2002 Deborah Taylor-Hough
ISSN: 1527-1277 All Rights Reserved
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IN THIS ISSUE:-- "Dear Readers"
-- Charlotte Mason Quote-able
-- Five Tips for Learning a Foreign Language
-- Children Have a Natural Craving for Knowledge
-- Winter Ideas for Preschoolers
-- Letters to the Editor / Reader Tips
-- Assorted Information (archives, retrieving back issues, etc.)
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Dear Readers,Hope you're having a wonderful New Year!
Catherine Levison, author of A Charlotte Mason Education, has an article on the Dollar Stretcher website this month about the formation of habit (one of Charlotte Mason's most valuable philosophies). If you're interested in reading Catherine's article, you can find it at:
The Power of Habit
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/011231c.cfmSimply Yours,
Debi
(Deborah Taylor-Hough)
Editor, Charlotte Mason Monthly Email Newsletter
Author, "Frozen Assets" and "A Simple Choice"
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CHARLOTTE MASON QUOTE-ABLE"Our whole system of school policy is largely a system of prods. Marks, prizes, exhibitions, are all prods; and a system of prodding is apt to obscure the meaning of 'must' and 'ought' for the boy or girl who gets into the habit of mental and moral lolling up against his prods."
--Charlotte Mason, "School Education," (Vol. 3)
From the Original Homeschooling Series (six volume set)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1889209007/simplepleasuresp/
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FIVE TIPS FOR LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGECopyright 2000-2002 John Andersen
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
http://unconventional.go.toMastering a foreign language can be a formidable task, particularly if you start as a teen or adult. But it can be done, and it's well worth the effort. So how does one do it? Here are five suggestions:
1) Learn the basics of grammar and build your vocabulary in the target language. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. You might get a good grammar book and do it on your own. You might enroll in a college course. Or you could borrow an audio program from the local library.
This needn't be an expensive venture, particularly if you are disciplined enough to chip away at it on your own. And it doesn't need to be a drudgery. You can make it fun by labeling household items in the language. Or perhaps every night before bed, you could listen to foreign radio broadcasts with a shortwave radio or on the Internet.
2) Join several e-mail discussion lists in the target language. If you're just starting out, look for lists which have native speakers. At the beginning, you might help them with their English. As you progress, you should be able to write more and more of your messages in the foreign language.
I can't stress enough the importance of daily e-mail correspondence with native speakers. Not only will this give you regular opportunities to read and write the language, you will also gain invaluable contacts, and learn fascinating things about foreign cultures.
3) Join a language club. You can sometimes find these at local colleges. I attended a university which had weekly "coffee hours" in several languages during which learners and native speakers could get together and chat. From time to time people from the local community would join us.
Take every opportunity to speak the language. Don't be afraid of mistakes. Just open your mouth and let it come out. You'll gradually get better at it. Nothing builds confidence more than discovering that you can successfully converse with people in a foreign language.
4) Consider taking a total immersion course. These are offered at many universities usually during the summer. You can find out what's available by doing an Internet search or consulting a college foreign language department.
5) If you can't move to the target country, try to visit often.These days, international travel is within the reach of more people than ever. If you have limited financial resources, you might consider finding a job in a restaurant, hotel, or on a farm in your country of choice. You may learn about these opportunities through regular e-mail correspondence with native speakers. Such working arrangements can provide enough income for room and board. All the while, you get your golden chance to immerse yourself in the culture.
If working abroad is impractical, try to save a bit each month, and then travel to the target country for a couple of weeks each year. Once you get the travel bug, and truly commit yourself to learning the language, you will likely need little motivation to put away the money for your annual jaunts.
VALUE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGEFew pursuits in life are more intellectually stimulating, and mind-broadening than that of learning a foreign language. I like to think that one of the best ways to understand yourself, your background, your culture, and your own country, is to see it through the eyes of an outsider.
Learning a foreign language is an excellent way to develop that sort of vision. I recommend it to everyone.
SUBMITTED BY: John Andersen--John is a self-employed carpet cleaner in Portland, Oregon. In his spare time he volunteers as a tour guide on a submarine. He grew up in Southern California. During college, he took an eighteen month break to work in Germany. Later, he spent four years in England as an aircraft maintenance officer. After that he moved to Indiana where he taught several college level German courses while working on a graduate degree in literature. John and his wife Mandy, homeschool their two children. Be sure to visit John's website:
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CHILDREN HAVE A NATURAL CRAVING FOR KNOWLEDGEby Charlotte M. Mason. Public Domain.
From: School Education -- Developing a Curriculum
Volume 3, pages 225-226
The normal mind is, we find, as able to deal with knowledge as are the normal digestive organs with food. Our concern is to give a child such knowledge as shall open up for him as large a share as may be of the world he lives in for his use and enjoyment.
As there are gymnastics for the body, so for the mind there are certain subjects whose use is chiefly disciplinary, and of these we avail ourselves. Again, as our various organs labour without our consciousness in the assimilation food, so judgment, imagination, and what not, deal of their own accord with knowledge, that it may be 'incorporated,' which is not the same thing as 'remembered.'
A further analogy -- as the digestive organs are incited by appetite, so children come into the world with a few inherent desires, some with more, some less, to incite them to their proper activities. These are, roughly speaking, the desire for power, for praise, for wealth, for distinction, for society, and for knowledge. It seems to me that education, which appeals to the desire for wealth (marks, prizes, scholarships, or the like), or to the desire of excelling (as in the taking of places, etc.), or to any other of the natural desires, except that for knowledge, destroys the balance of character; and, what is even more fatal, destroys by inanition that desire for and delight in knowledge which is meant for our joy and enrichment through the whole of life.
"A desire for knowledge," says Dr. Johnson, "is the natural feeling of mankind, and every human being whose mind is not debauched will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge."
Is it possible that what has been called 'mark-hunger' is a debauchery of the mind? The undebauched mind takes knowledge with avidity; and we find their studies are so interesting to children that they need no other stimulus.
EXCERPTED FROM: School Education by C. Mason--From the third volume of Charlotte Mason's six-volume set of educational writings, often referred to as The Original Home Schooling Series. Her entire work is in the public domain and can be reprinted and distributed freely, much to the benefit and delight of today's parents/educators.
The Original Homeschooling Series (six volume set)________________________________
WINTER IDEAS FOR PRESCHOOLERS Copyright 2000-2002 Deborah Taylor-Hough
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
hometown.aol.com/dsimple/It's always fun to use things in our children's everyday lives to spark discussion and easy educational activities. Since many of us are currently in the midst of winter, this can be a great topic of "study" for our littlest ones. Study times with preschoolers at home mainly consist of talking and laughing with them, helping them notice the details of the world around them. No pressure. Just fun time spent in the company of a loving adult.
To introduce the topic of "Winter," you might want to ask your child what she knows about the seasons. Is she aware of spring, summer, autumn and winter? Does she know what the differences are between the
seasons in your local area? Don't lecture. Just make conversation and find out what she knows already. Have her look out the window and tell you what she notices about the trees, bushes, flowers and gardens. Are there leaves visible? Buds? Flowers? Greenery? Bare branches? Brown stems?
Find a photo or painting or picture in a book of a winter scene. Ask your child if she knows what season it is in the picture. What things tell her what time of year it is? If she doesn't know, point things out to her that will give clues: bare branches, snow on the ground, no flowers, people in warm clothes, etc.
Read a winter-time picture book such as Ezra Jack Keat's
The Snowy Day or the Alaskan tale,
Momma, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse.
Ask your child how people stay warm in the winter (warm clothes, mittens, fireplaces, warm houses, etc.). Let her brainstorm for awhile. Then ask how animals stay warm in winter (thick fur, migrate to warmer climates, hibernate in a cave, etc.).
Sometimes a child might say things like, "Baby squirrels snuggle up in a tree with a warm blanket." Ask her gently if she's ever seen a real squirrel with a blanket. Does she think that's how they'll really stay warm in those cold, winter months? The line between fantasy and reality in preschoolers is sometimes thin ... don't harshly bring your child into reality, just gently coax her into thinking about how things really happen in nature.
But just so you don't think it all needs to be a serious dose of reality, have some fun and brainstorm about "pretend" ways animals might stay warm. For fun, read one of these wonderfully silly and beautiful winter-time books:
The Mitten or
The Hat by Jan Brett (one of my favorite children's illustrators).
For a fun activity, throw a collection of clothing and accessories into a bag or suitcase. Without looking, have your child reach into the bag, pull out a single clothing item and then tell you if the item they grabbed is appropriate to wear as winter clothing. Have them explain to you why each item is -- or isn't -- appropriate. Include a variety of things in the bag such as: a warm hat, a pair of gloves or mittens, an open-toed sandal, a swimsuit, summer shorts, a warm sweater, a snow boot, a woolen scarf, a tank top, etc.
Have your child finish the sentence, "Winter is ..." For example: Winter is ... cold; winter is ... snowmen; winter is ... mittens; winter is ... cocoa and marshmallows. Consider writing down your child's responses (she'll feel so official seeing her words written down on paper). If you're feeling particularly creative, you can even print out little "Winter is ..." booklets using clip-art found on your computer that coincides with your child's winter responses. Or have your child illustrate their own "Winter is ... " book. Or let her cut out winter photos from magazines and paste them onto a large sheet of paper as a "Winter is ..." collage.
Have a wonderful time as you explore the glories of winter with your preschooler!
Recommended Resources:
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats
Mama, Do You Love Me?, by Barbara M. Joosse
The Hat, by Jan Brett
The Mitten, by Jan Brett
SUBMITTED BY: Deborah Taylor-Hough--Debi is the long-time homeschooling parent of three, author of "Frozen Assets: How to cook for a day and eat for a month," and a free-lance writer. She also edits the
Bright-Kids email newsletter. Visit her online:
hometown.aol.com/dsimple/________________________________
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR / READERS' TIPS(Share your helpful tips, homeschooling ideas, or personal thoughts about Charlotte Mason's methods with other readers.)
Mailto:DSimple@aol.com
Re: Thank you for the webpage
Thanks for the effort that you have taken. I am a sole parent who has been thrust into the reality that a child's education is founded at home, and am on a learning curve ... actually I just fell off the cliff!
--Elsie M.
Re: Weekly prayer based on Christmas cards
I heard this idea at a workshop at my church. Starting after Christmas, place one of the Christmas cards that you received on the dinner table. Include that family in your mealtime prayer for one week. Do this every week until you run out of cards. This sounds so cool. I can't wait to start!
--Sheryl S., Henderson, NV
(Note from Editor: You could also send a note to the person or family that you prayed for to let them know they were in your prayers during the week. People always like to know they're being thought about. ~Debi)
Re: Christmas books
We have books that have collected for many years that are taken out every year at Christmas. They are the older stories and the kids love them. Heloise is one they love, in spite of having some archaic references. I wonder if the success of the Harry Potter books is a reflection of the fact that so much of the material written for children, in recent years, was boringly simplistic with little or no plots or real heroes. The copies of things like the Mary Poppins books, Oz books, Lassie, Hitty, etc. are still being read here.
--Sylvia
Re: Beginning homeschooler
My daughter has just started to home school her children for kindergarten and first grade. I found your site and have been giving a copy to her. I really like everything I have seen so far and believe much knowledge can be gained from it. Thank you for sharing it.
--Trudy
Re: Thrilled!
Just a quick note before I run to feed my family! I just want to say how THRILLED I am to find a site like this on the web! I have been a fan of Charlotte Mason for a couple of years, and have been reading everything I can find on her methods, but I didn't think of looking on the internet. WOW! Thanks! I have only browsed a couple of links, but I can tell you now, I'll be back after I put my five kids to bed to get some more encouragement and inspiration from your wonderful page.
--Kristi
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FAMILY "TWADDLE-FREE" READING LISTRecommended books for children and families
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THE EDITOR'S RESOURCESA Frugal, Simple Life
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Bright-Kids E-zine -- fun and easy educational ideas for families
mailto:subscribe-bright-kids@ds.xc.org
A Simple Choice: a practical guide for saving your time, money and sanity
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400495/simplepleasuresp/
Frozen Assets: how to cook for a day and eat for a month
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891400614/simplepleasuresp/
Frozen Assets Discussion Group and Archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frozen-assets
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The Charlotte Mason Monthly is published once a month by Deborah
Taylor-Hough, author of "Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day
and Eat for a Month" and "A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to
Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity" (Champion Press, Ltd.). For more info, go to: http://members.aol.com/dsimple/
