Education is the Science of Relations...Connections

We started learning the hymn St. Patrick's Breastplate last week. I usually make up my own schedule for hymns & folksongs but the hymn suggestion on the Ambleside Online rotation for September contains these beautiful words taken from a prayer of St. Patrick and I decided it was too good to miss:

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity

By invocation of the same

The three in one and one in three

 I bind unto myself today

the power of God to hold and lead,

God’s eye to watch, God’s might to stay,

God’s ear to hearken to my need,

the wisdom of my God to teach,

God’s hand to guide, God’s shield to ward,

the word of God to give me speech,

God’s heavenly host to be my guard.

The version I've posted here is different to the traditional tune and is used by the Celtic monks.
The complete words of this hymn and some explanations of its meaning are on this site also.
The hymn starts properly at about the 2 minute mark.

The words to this hymn have been running through my mind all week. I've been using Dawn's free study of Charlotte Mason's motto with Moozle - I am a child of God, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...and it ties in beautifully with this prayer of St Patrick's.





Recently I've seen more and more eidence that a child naturally connects with many things. Charlotte Mason called it the 'Science of Relations.' I looked up the definiton of 'relations' and found some words that I could substitute in its place which helps to make sense of her idea. Words such as: connections, links, bonds, associations.
I always feel quite excited when these connections or relations happen without me having anticipated  or planned them.
We were reading Age of Fable the other day and came to the story of Hero & Leander. This was Moozle's short synopsis of the story:

 'There lived in the town of Abydos, a youth by the name of Leander, who loved a maiden who lived across the other side of the Hellespont (Dardanelles), in the town of Sestos. Her name was Hero and he used to swim across to visit her. One day he was swimming across, when a storm arose, and it was so violent that he drowned. When Hero heard about it she threw herself into the sea.
Swimming across the Hellespont was thought impossible, until Lord Byron did it.'

The Hellespont had come up somewhere else and immediately she was able to associate some previously separate ideas and learn also that Lord Byron, the writer of The Destruction of Sennacherib, a poem we have used for memory work, was a pretty good swimmer as well as a famous poet.

In fact, on the 30th August each year, a traditional swim is held to commemorate Lord Byron's swim from Europe to Asia in 1810 which he did in honour of Leander. He wrote a poem about it afterwards.

This was Lord Byron's account, although I think the modern swim is more like 3 km and contestants are given one and a half hours to complete it:

 This morning I swam from Sestos to Abydos. The immediate distance is not above a mile, but the
current renders it hazardous...I attempted it a week ago, and failed, - owing to the north wind, and the wonderful rapidity of the tide, - though I have been from my childhood a strong swimmer. But, this morning being calmer, I succeeded, and crossed the 'broad Hellespont' in an hour and ten minutes. 

And another neat little connection for us was finding that the current artist we're studing (J.M.W. Turner) painted The Parting of Hero and Leander in 1837:

A highlight from Macbeth:

We've probably enjoyed Shakespeare's comedies more than his tragedies but this week we hit some fun when we read from Act 5: Scene 3. Some good insults were stored up for future use...

'Thou cream-faced loon!'

'Where got'st thou that goose-look?

'Thou lily-livered boy!'

A Philosophy of Education, Pg xxx:

"Education is the Science of Relations"; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we train him upon physical exercises, nature lore, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books...

Family lunch extravaganza ie. everyone turns up so there's quite a crowd. Benj & Moozle cooked & prepared all the food with help from their Aunty D & Donna Hay...

Nothing fancy yet, but Moozle can cast on & off by herself & knows the basic stitches...

Connecting maths with science...

Nature lore...

Linking up with Weekly Wrap-up.

Culture of Character

I've been slowly reading through Charlotte Mason's book, Formation of Character, for about a year now. Despite the fact that this book was written over a hundred years ago, her thoughts on the development and nurturing of children, and the shaping of their personalities, are timeless, practical and wise.

 '...many a peevish, jealous, exacting woman owes the shipwreck of her life to the fact that nobody in her youth taught her to think reasonably of herself and of other people.'

How do we teach our children to think reasonably of themselves?

Teaching our children to think reasonably of themselves requires them to have a proper perspective of others as well as themselves.
Last week we read in Ourselves (Book 1, pg. 144) about how to get this perspective:

Candour (openness, impartiality) is at our side, and presents us with glasses of unusual power, to bring far things near and make dim things clear. Wearing these, we can see round the corner, to the other side of the question. 

When our eldest was about nine years old, we discovered she was short-sighted and needed glasses. As we were driving home from the Optometrist after she got her new glasses, she kept up a running commentary on everything she was seeing clearly for the first time. She'd never complained about not seeing clearly and never had any trouble reading but when she put on her new glasses we realised that her vision had been only partial.

Prejudice also hands us some glasses...

...but these are not clear and open to the light of day, but are rose-coloured or black, green or yellow, as the case may be. We cannot see persons as they are through these spectacles...affection, envy, hatred, or jealousy creates a prejudice in our minds, through which we cannot judge justly of the character of another.

Sometimes our own prejudice towards our children renders us incapable of helping them gain a right perspective. Our spectacles are made ineffective by affection and we judge unjustly, perhaps shifting the blame for our children's faults to others. In this we do them an injury and we neglect to show them that they are able to use their wills to shape their character and personality.

We know that what we do or say matters less than what we will; for the Will is the man, and it is out of many acts of willing that our character, our personality, comes forth. 
(Ourselves: Book 2,  Pg 165)

I'm taking these well-loved and frequently quoted words by Charlotte Mason and putting them in a slightly different context, but one which I think fits with her overall philosophy:

The question is not, - how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education - but how much does he care?
(Volume 3 pg 170)

Our children have read great books - classics, living books.
They've kept detailed nature notebooks and appreciate the beauty of the natural world.
They are familiar with great works of art and classical music.
Their minds are furnished with poetry.
They've had a generous education and they know a great deal.
But do they care for others as much as they care for themselves?
Have they been taught to think reasonably (ie. have a sound judgement) of themselves?

...I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement.
Romans 12:3

Do they have a proper perspective of others?

One of the keys to the practical aspect of how we teach this is found on page 262 where Charlotte Mason quotes a poem by by James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) and connects it to love and service:

"Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase)
Awoke one night from a deep trance of peace,
And saw within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,––
'What writest thou?' The vision raised his head,
And in a voice, made all of sweet accord,
Answered, 'The names of all who love the Lord!'
'And is mine one?' Ben Adhem asked. 'Nay, not so,'
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, '
But cheerful still,––' I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men.'
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
He came again, with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's led the rest"

"Write me as one who loves his fellow-men!" is, indeed, the cry of the earnest-minded amongst ourselves; and to qualify (our child) for some definite line of service...to give (them) some object in life beyond (themselves) and having no bearing on (their) own advancement, is, perhaps, the kindest and wisest thing the mother can do for (them).

Giving our children something to do which doesn't pander to self - something that pushes them beyond their own interests, regardless of how unwilling they may be at the time, does pay dividends later on.
I used to get upset if my children were unmotivated about serving but it takes time, encouragement and maturity for our children to develop in these areas. We've had commitments short term and long term that required our children's involvement. Sometimes they were willing but often there was complaining & poor attitudes, but the work got done. It didn't kill them, and now some of them are older and work full time and willingly serve and have their own responsibilities. Somewhere along the way they acquired their own motivation to serve. I seriously doubt they would have developed this if we'd let them off the hook when they didn't feel like exerting themselves.

For it is only in doing, that we learn to do; through service, that we learn to serve...

Talk to any tradesman who employs apprentices and discover how difficult it is to find a young person who is reliable and will put in a decent day's work even when they're being paid to do it.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men...It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 
(Colossians 2:24)

Quotes from Formation of Character are taken from between pages 239 to 262.

 In my Commonplace...

A Peek into our Place - and a Girl Graduates

 A Learning Journey

Education is an Atmosphere

Education is a Discipline and a Life...
  
And yesterday - her reward for four years of hard work...Zana finished her degree in November last year and this was her 'official' graduation ceremony.

 

 It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1910 

An Impromtu Jam Session

 I really miss this. It used to happen most days but now with the older two married and three studying or working full-time, it only happens big time on the weekends. I didn't always feel like listening to the racket they made but it was worth the inconvenience and noise. My 'reading room' turned  into a music studio, but it is one of my greatest pleasures to have everyone playing music together.

 Benj has been reading through Isaac Asimov's, Understanding Physics in conjunction with Apologia Physical Science. This is an experiment he did on Newton's Third Law:

 

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This website reviews Asimov's books (he wrote many). This one is highly regarded and has some good reviews on Amazon. It also comes as three separate volumes:

Benj went to the Royal Easter Show with his older brother & a group of friends. He came home with hundreds of photos. He thought I'd appreciate this one:

And from Moozle after our reading of  Plutarch's Life of Timoleon...

 A Syracrusian's Soliloquy on a Tyrants Statue

A man stood looking at a statue in his house. He said, "O thou wicked thing! I am glad that I sell thee tomorrow! Indeed, I should have sold thee before, when the tyrant fled. But I waited too late, ah, never mind. I am indeed grateful that I sell thee on the morrow! Thee and the one who thou art made in likeness of have wronged me sorely. Tch, tch, he was a very bad man. I wonder who will buy thee, hm........Maybe... Aha! Malisianio Cornierio He was very attached to the tyrant! If he buys it.........I wonder........well, well! Glad am I to sell thee! T'will rid me of the memory of him! The tyrant was very ugly, and so are thee! The tyrant had a round face, with a nose like a hawk's beak,and large pale eyes, he hardly had any eyebrows! Thou art the very likeness of him! Tut, tut! If no one buys thee, I will reduce thee to a heap of rubble! I will denounce Cornierio if he buys thee!" So saying, he left the house leaving the idol sitting where it was. The next day people saw in the newspaper that Malisianio Cornierio had been denounced by Litianio Katierio, for aiding and abetting the tyrant in his work of being a cruel ruler. The newspapers said that Katierio had denounced Cornierio when Cornierio had come to buy his idol, saying, "Thou art a foul traitor, and I denounce thee in the name of the populace, for aiding and abetting the tyrant in his work of destroying the city!" Cornierio had replied, "Why dost thou accuse me of being a traitor, I helped the tyrant only to gain favour, and see if I could help the city, and thou dost accuse me now when I buy this idol only to gain pleasure when I reduce it to a heap of rubble!"

He was arrested and his statement searched, and was found that he was lying.

                                                                          THE END

(She hasn't quite got the idea about paragraphs.)

Linking to:

Finishing Strong and Weekly Wrap-Up