C.S. Lewis on Teaching Fewer Subjects

"I think this wise; the greatest service we can do to education is to teachfewer subjects. No one has time to do more than a very few things wellbefore he is twenty, and when we force a boy to be a mediocrity in a dozensubjects we destroy his standards, perhaps for life."C. S. Lewis

Friday Freebie: Beginning Geography Lessons

The material is too basic for Jed now. But, if you're the mommy (or daddy) of a 5 to 7 year old child, this is a lot of fun!

The first 12 pages are free with permission to print. Goody.

Beginning Geography by Evan-Moore publishing

Classical Education: An Overview

"The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. This classical pattern is called the trivium."

What is Classical Education? 

Classical education is a three part system of training the mind.

These three stages are called the Trivium, which is Latin for "where three roads meet".  The ancients called them Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. The Bible calls it Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom. 

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. —Proverbs 2:6

The first stage is called the Grammar stage. Here, a child must first memorize information as a way of building to his knowledge, just as learning grammar is the building block to learning language. The young child enjoys learning facts and rules: spelling, phonics, grammar, math addition, multiplication table, history facts, etc.

The second stage is called the Logic stage. Here, the child begins to understand cause and effect. His capacity for abstract thought and logic begins to grow. He begins to learn the Logic of reading, including a criticism of texts; the Logic of Writing, such as paragraph construction; and the Logic of History, why a war was carried out instead of just memorizing the what, when, where of the war. The logic of science is to learn the scientific method: observe, make a hypothesis, experiment, conclude.

When a child moves from the grammar stage to the dialectic stage, they begin making connections and asking lots of "Why?" questions. This happens usually around the fourth or fifth grade, although it can happen much earlier or 

The third stage is called the rhetoric stage. It is the Socratic level. Here, the child learns to be self-thinking, self-learning. In the previous two stages, he was given the facts, then taught to catgorize the facts. Now, he must begin to internalize those facts so he can express his own opinion and thoughts. 

What is the goal of classical education? 

The goal of classical education is for the student to surpass the teacher. He learns to teach himself. This is the ultimate goal of all teaching. 

Thus, the Trivium is not so much a kind of learning, as it is a way of teaching the child how to learn. 

Thus, the student is equipped to join the "Great Conversation" - the ongoing conversation of great minds down through the ages. 

“The beauty of the classical curriculum,” writes classical schoolmaster David Hicks, “is that it dwells on one problem, one author, or one epoch long enough to allow even the youngest student a chance to exercise his mind in a scholarly way: to make connections and to trace developments, lines of reasoning, patterns of action, recurring symbolisms, plots, and motifs.”

We need more than academics to make a complete education. We need to balance academics with the three goals pursued in a classical Hebrew education. These are: 1) teaching children the Word of God, 2) preparing them for marriage, and 3) training young men for a practical trade and young women for managing their household.

Some very good readings on Classical Education
The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers

The Well-Trained Mind

The Three Pillars of Classical Education

Best Way to Teach Math

"Teaching reading is best done with a child on someone’s lap. Teaching math is best done sitting near a student as they work through a text. Teaching writing is best done through sharing the joy of words on paper."
- Echo in Celebration: A Call in Celebration

Looking Back on a Homeschool Year of Reading and Spelling

I posted about Spelling City which we will continue for Jed's second homeschooling year.

This is a free online tool and a deceptively simple but very powerful one at that.

I prime the page up by typing a series of words for Jed, between 15 to 20 words usually. Then, the computer speaks each word clearly and uses each word in a sentence. Jed loves it because it is an online game. He will often do a list twice or thrice to make sure he gets a perfect score, without any prompting from me.

It takes Jed a good half-hour to go through the list. I use this half-hour to check emails or tidy up the kitchen, while keeping an ear out for any words that are too difficult for him.

I gave Jed a spelling inventory last week and was glad to see that Jed did waaay better that I expected. I asked him how he knew to spell so well and he answered nonchalantly, "I just know. I cant explain it."

I think this is because last year, I focused on a lot of reading for Jed. And kept the spelling to three, four and five letter words. Just like a computer program, this little boy needed a lot of word input so he could process them and then create output in the form of well-spelled words.

At the start of the school year, Jed's mind could not read the words and make sense of them at the same time. He would struggle to understand the sentence and lose himself in the middle of a paragraph. What worked for us was that I (not him) would read aloud and his eyes would follow along with my finger to the words on the book.

After a few months, we read paragraphs alternately. From paragraphs, we progressed to alternating pages with Jed bargaining for him to read one page for every two I read. Fine by me, except I always stopped at the very exciting parts. Jed would read aloud and get so engrossed that he would go on to read three pages without realizing it. I enjoyed tricking him in this way.

Jed tore through a lot of books. We went through the illustrated Bible, my Narnia and Oz collection and several devotionals. Jed eagerly lost himself in these sessions and I often had to beg to continue the next day because I was exhausted.

It was just like giving Jed an audiobook. Except I was the audiobook. And better, because we got lots of cuddling and bonding time, too.

Later in the school year, as Jed got the hang of reading, he gained confidence to start reading comics by himself. The Tomo collection which was lent (donated?) by Uncle Jerson, who was just 2 years older than him, is a great book that shadows the Gospel. I also indulged his request for Avatar: The Last Airbender books. The Geronimo Stilton: Kingdom of Fantasy books were a godsend and I had to hunt all over to complete the collection, but it is so worth it.

I indulge Jed in comics if they espouse bravery, courage, combat, heroism and honor. All worthy subjects for a young man to read.

But, when he brought home an Archie comics, I drew a firm line. I will not allow that kind of literary trash into my house.

I am excited for Jed to start reading books without photos in them. I cant wait to share with him my well-loved copies of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, and Little Men and Wrinkle in Time.

All in good time, no rush.

(Thanks to ninang Gingging and Tita Boots for the new-to-us books. Jed has started digging in already!)

Settlers of Catan

Finally, thanks to the world's best auntie - Anti Eve-, we finally get to see what all the fuss is about.

We opened the box at 8pm, tore through the manual and ended at one in the morning. There is a lot of inherent strategy and logical analysis and addition, multiplication and division going on during the game. So, the boys without knowing it, got a huge dose of practical learning while having loads of fun.

Best fun ever! Cant wait for the next round!

Patience and Silk Chinese Pajamas

A certain young man, who will remain nameless in this post, was naughty today.

In a last bid to make mama happy before lights out, he put on his authentic silk China costume as jammies. The same costume he had pronounced as "ugh!" while in China and which I had to bribe him to wear back in March.

As we drifted off to sleep, he also remembered to say, "Congratulations, Mom! Thank you for being very patient today."

(I struggle with patience on days like these and have asked him to congratulate me whenever he thinks I have done a great job of being patient. We try to actively practice the habit of catching ourselves doing what is right, instead of pointing out our mistakes.) 

The best thing about homeschooling is that my son and I can learn from each other. He learns his math and I get to practice my patience. We both learn to build our character. 

Which Shape is Best for Flying?

Which Shape is Best for Flying? from the Big Book of Science Experiments.

The blue airplane sailed 50 meters into the sky and landed on the construction site beside us. Well-made, Jed!

I love that Jed has this "lets-try-this-and-see-what-happens-then-try-something-else" gusto approach to Science. He truly is a little scientist.

Sock Puppet

When Jed pulls out his craft box, I never know what he's going to come up with.

Today, it seems, we are in for a puppet show.

Tartin et Chocolat

While Jed had his haircut at the barber store, I waited at the nearby thrift store.

And found a thick oh-so-soft bath towel. I sent it to the laundry shop and instructed them to dose it with lots of bleach and disinfectant.

I'm a simple mama but I know quality stuff when I see one. I especially love the extra lace bib that came embroidered and attached to the towel. I snipped the bib off and tucked the buttons away into my sewing box.

Looked up Catherine Painvin online, and found myself inspired.

A soft bath towel, some lace and embroidery and an inspiring story. That's very, very good for thirty five pesos (80c). I suddenly find myself looking forward to Jed's next haircut.

Bedtime reading

Absolutely, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt,

Jed loves to read.

Loud Bang inside the Airplane

The plane taking us back to Cebu suddenly lurched and a loud bang was heard inside the plane, rudely interrupting my nap. 

The intercom crackled to life. "This is your pilot speaking. I have checked our instrument panel and everything looks... " and then came the longest pause in my life "... normal". 

I calmly asked Jed to show me the brace-for-impact position and corrected him. "Hands on your nape, Jed, not over your head." And we patiently waited.

In about thirty minutes, we touched down and everyone in the airplane chuckled loudly in relief as Jed shouted, "Yehey! We're alive!!!"

"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain... for to depart and be with Christ is so much better." Philippians 1: 21, 23.