Thinking in French

In the last post I wrote about how I have not given up on incorporating Spanish into our homeschooling. But the truth is, I haven't been consistent with teaching Spanish simply because my heart is not in it. I studied Spanish in high school and college, and I want to take a risk and try something new. I had really wanted to learn French, but in the 8th grade when I chose what foreign language I would be taking in high school, the choices were only Spanish and Latin. And what the heck was Latin? So fate chose.

I do wish to learn Latin, and that day will come. But what gets me excited right now is the prospect of what Charlotte Mason wrote in Home Education, Volume 1 of her series:

"If you are all day long trying to work out a 'series' in French... you come to think in French, to 'dream in French,' to speak French" (p. 303). And, "You order your thoughts in the new language, and, having done so, the words which express these are an inalienable expression" (p. 304).

By learning any new language, your thinking changes in accordance with the particularities of that tongue. If I wish to more closely adopt a French lifestyle, which is, after all, a major theme of this blog, then it only makes sense to learn to speak French! And Charlotte Mason does advocate learning a new language only verbally first. "French should be acquired as English is, not as a grammar, but as a living speech. To train the ear to distinguish and the lips to produce the French vocabulary is a valuable part of the education of the senses, and one which can hardly be undertaken too soon" (Home Education, p. 300).

Beezy is perfectly fine with learning French rather than Spanish, and I have great plans for this new adventure which I can't wait to share with my readers! Whether you are a like-minded francophile or not, I hope you will join me on the journey.

Winter Semester Loop Schedule Updates

Not too much has changed in my Catholic Charlotte Mason loop schedule since the last time I posted about it. But I've been thinking a lot lately about the challenge of striking a balance between simplicity and "spreading the feast" of a liberal curriculum. I finally pulled off the shelf the book of Christina Rossetti's poetry that I've had checked out from the library for a long time and introduced it into our homeschooling lessons. I added the poetry subject to my Humanities Loop, and I also have not given up on Spanish.

I have been reading CM's Vol. 1, Home Education, in which Charlotte says that "all educated persons should be able to speak French." Part of my hesitation to get into a foreign language is the indecision about which one. French would be great, but I have no background, whereas I do in Spanish. Even with Spanish, however, I have to build my confidence back up where the pronunciations are concerned, and I never could trill my Rs! Happily, I found a woman on youtube who I believe can help me. Then there is Latin, which especially as a Catholic I would love to learn. If I were Charlotte Mason, maybe I'd just do all three! But I am not. So for now I'm choosing Spanish and have put that in the loop to alternate with poetry. It may very well be that all educated persons in America should be able to speak Spanish!

What encourages me in CM's writing about French is the method of teaching only orally in the beginning, with no written language, adding six new words per day. When I consider the idea of tackling only six words at a time, it seems perfectly doable.

The thing to keep in mind is to add a little at a time by way of subjects. Do not expect to start the six-year-old off with 20 subjects, and do beware of having unrealistic expectations for both yourself and your children starting out.

I added a spelling book to the writing loop, to replace the Montessori Movable Alphabet. Workbooks are not "banned" in a CM education, but they should not be relied upon heavily or take the place of the traditional CM methods. I added dancing to our Tea Time activities. I am hoping to get myself back into shape as an Oriental dance artist and teach my daughter some basics.

I am sorry to report that The Guiding Light vintage Catholic picture Bible I was using to have Beezy read the Old Testament stories from is not serving my purposes. It is a beautiful book, but so many details are taken out of the stories that they lose both literary value and clarity. As such, we will be returning to Hurlbut's Story of the Bible. The only issue I've had with this at all is the need to explain the Catholic interpretation of Jesus' brothers and sisters. That is done easily enough, and otherwise it's a wonderful living book, very well written.

As I've often done, I again want to encourage readers to design your own CM curriculum. The guides at Mater Amabilis, Ambleside Online, and Simply Charlotte Mason are a great help when you need ideas, but I've read accounts of many mothers feeling overwhelmed and "behind" when they try to keep up with the schedules. I get the most use out of Elizabeth Foss' cycles in Real Learning, but I never try to complete every book suggested for a particular month. I browse among all the cycles for a particular age group and put things together in my own way.

I'd love to hear how your current term is going, so please share in the comments! And now here is my updated loop schedule for the current winter term.

Daily Core:

American Cardinal Reader or chapter book (The Courage of Sarah Noble)

Math lesson

Piano practice

Literature read aloud: Leif Erickson the Lucky (for lesson time, with oral narration and/or discussion); Anne of the Island (bedtime)

Writing loop:

copy work

dictation

grammar workbook

written narration or spelling workbook

cursive

Extended Loops:

Religion loop:

The Baltimore Catechism or other religious lesson book

The Rosary in Art (picture studies)

New Testament Bible reading (Rosary mysteries and decade prayers)

Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible (Old Testament stories)

Saint Isaac and the Indians by Milton Lomask

Humanities Loop:

The Story Book of Science, One Small Square or Edible Chemistry Kit

A Child’s Geography of the World, map work or visual enrichment

Poetry or Spanish

Memory work/recitation

The Care & Keeping of You

Tea Time:  music, baking, correspondence, handicrafts, dance

Weekly:

Religious Ed. Class at parish church on Wednesdays

Gym and art classes at Catholic school & piano lessons on Thursdays

Art, lunch and recess at Catholic school on Fridays

R.H. Series, Day 10 (What's in a Name?)

This past Saturday my friend Renee from Keystone Co-op came to my house to share information on homeschooling with my chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), one of whose primary functions is to support education. Renee noted that she prefers the term "home education" to "homeschooling," which is a topic on which I have recently been reflecting.

Education is something that happens neither exclusively at home nor in a school building, though homeschooling is surely based in the home. Education is an integral part of life, from birth to death. Understanding it in this way allows the homeschooling parent to relax into the process of educating her children. Renee affirmed that attitude and character must come into place first, and then the academics follow.  This idea brings to my mind section 18 of Charlotte Mason's synopsis of her educational theory:

"We should allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and 'spiritual' life of children; but should teach them that the divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their continuous helper in all the interests, duties, and joys of life."

I have decided to try out my own term to reflect this philosophy, as I continue to explore the lifestyle of relaxed homeschooling, and refer for the rest of this series to "Home-Life Education." This term will encompass the broad curriculum of my educational goals for my child. As Maria Montessori instructed, we must educate a child for Life, and the edification of her spirit is the primary focus.

So that Beezy might come to understand such a broad view of education, I am no longer going to use the word "school time" to refer to our formal learning of the day, but rather call it "book learning time." For indeed, that is exactly what it is. The time spent learning from books, though perhaps a central element, is only one aspect of education. All of Life is the curriculum.

Relaxed Homeschool Series, Day 9

"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform."  - Susan B. Anthony

Today we had a reading breakthrough! Following Charlotte Mason's advice to incorporate "reading at sight," Beezy was able to read the first 10 words from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a real story rather than the twaddle of modern books designed for children learning to read. Up to now, when I incorporated sight words, they were written on note cards and learned using the Montessori "three period lesson." This is a valid technique as well. However, last week Beezy said with wistfulness, "I want to read." I knew what she meant. She had randomly been sounding words out that she came across but would become discouraged, for example, when she read "seen" for the word "sheen." Plodding along at sounding words out gets boring, and while learning to read phonetically is important, Charlotte Mason believed that "...his progress in the art of reading depends chiefly on the 'reading at sight' lessons."

According to Ms. Mason, once the child has a good handle on the sounds of the letters and the process of making words, he should begin to read literature, never books with only 3 or 4 letters in each word. The story or poem is to be taken only a couple lines at a time, 10 or a dozen words. The adult puts her finger under each word, going slowly and pronouncing clearly, and the child repeats along. The interest and intense focus this exercise of reading a real book inspired in Beezy was surprising and wonderful! She didn't yawn, like she often does reading BOB books. She was determined to master the lesson. Finally, reading was truly exciting! There were a few words she knew or could sound out; otherwise, she learned to read by sight, "Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and..." We worked on the whole sentence, which continues, "their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter." The 1st 10 words Beezy could read fluently, not merely by memory. Thank you, Charlotte Mason!


We are continuing to work through Dr. Christman's Learn to Read manual, and Beezy loves the Starfall online reading program. Slowly and surely, we will work through the Peter Rabbit book a couple of lines at a time, also searching for those familiar words elsewhere in the text so that they can be recognized and read anywhere. It may seem a slow way to go, but Charlotte says, "Not so slow, after all: a child will thus learn, without appreciable labour, from two to three thousand words in the course of a year; in other words, he will learn to read, for the mastery of this number of words will carry him with comfort through most of the books that fall in his way."

The above quotes and entire outline of Ms. Mason's reading technique can be found in volume 1 of her series, Home Education.