(From Daugherty's Poor Richard)
Both this Founding Father and Charlotte Mason believed in two simple yet profound learning tools: books and narration. When we read this today, I said, "Girls, look! How did Ben prove to himself that he knew the material?" To which they responded, "Narration!" He read, then tested his knowledge of the information....Charlotte Mason's "art of knowing."
This way of teaching is radically counterculture! It's the complete opposite of how I learned in school, which was, "Memorize these dry facts, then choose the correct one on the multiple choice test." Most so-called "learning" was neither interesting nor worth retaining. I had nothing on which to base ideas of my own. We don't need silly songs or colorful gimmicks that wear us out to "entertain" our kids. The old method of reading and narration is working wonders, not just for my children, but for me. I'm a student right along with them!
I recommend this book to make genetics come alive:
Did you know that Mendel experimented with over 28,000 plants in order to come to his conclusions about genetics, only to have his research rejected? It wasn't until 35 years after his death that his findings were dusted off and taken seriously. What I love about Charlotte Mason's methods is that not only do they teach students to know, but students will care. School is fun not because of a prize or incentive; ideas and true learning are the prize.
We are spending twelve weeks on the poetry of Tennyson, who I didn't hear of until high school, and by that time, I didn't much care. What a joy to really experience his words and poetry!
So far, I think our most challenging reading is Plutarch's Lives. We get to spend twelve weeks on Julius Caesar. I read some lines and think, "I'm not sure I even understood much of that!" What I do tell them is that they aren't going to understand 100% of all we read. I ask them to take what they do get, even if it's only a word here or there, and hang on to that. I believe the more we read Plutarch, the more we'll start to comprehend. Some passages are easier than others, like anything else.
Another especially meaty work this year is Thomas Bulfinch's Age of Fable, a book on mythology. So far, we've only read the author's preface. I love this selection:
If only our culture were indeed a "cultivated" one in which allusions in this book were occasionally referenced! Boy, do I wish such allusions happened in "polite conversation." May we not completely lose the depth of ideas derived from rich literature and a feast of topics! Benjamin Franklin and Charlotte Mason both felt this way, I have no doubt.
As for math, the feast is also varied and taken in small bits. A young friend told my girls that she is required to complete fifty problems in seven minutes. Why? What if a kid does only five of those same problems in that time? Is this a contest in rushing through material and not caring, or should they linger over the problems and care about why math is useful?
Did you actually know what "volume" meant, or were you just given a formula and told to spit out a number? Did you care, or were you trying to just get a hundred? Did you truly understand, as a child, what fractions meant...or were they just numbers above and below a line, that you were told to learn to "reduce," just for reduction's sake? Math has to mean something. I remember having to "know" (but not really know) a lot of stuff that didn't make sense, which made me not care about much except filling in blanks and passing a test.
The highlight of our school day is reading Robinson Crusoe. Charlotte didn't believe in watered-down versions, so this is the real, unabridged work. I think it's important to remember that such stories were, in fact, written for children! We read four pages four days a week, and I keep the globe handy. One thing I enjoy most about Robinson is his humanity, how he struggles mightily like Paul in Romans 7, torn between knowing right and wrong, yet doing what he hates.
Ben and Charlotte were on to something. This kind of teaching and learning is for everyone. Each individual has the autonomy to take his or her own tidbits from the vast feast, rather than having to robotically regurgitate one-size-fits-all material. There is freedom in learning Ben-style!
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