Characteristics of a Living Book

At the Simply Charlotte Mason that I attended earlier this month Sonya Shafer helped us to understand the characteristics of a living book. This was eye opening to me as I've always found myself wondering how to determine if a book is worthy of the children or not. Here's what she said:

1. Make the subject come alive. A living book allows the child to live in personalities that he finds in the books. A living book entices the child's emotions. It helps you form an emotion with the event. She said that if you open the book and look over a portion of it, and you want to keep reading then you've probably found a living book. It's not a book full of dates, statistics, etc. Basically, as far away from a text book as you can get.

2. Get in touch with great ideas from great men. A mind feeds on ideas. We need to feed the children's minds with good ideas, what is beautiful, noble, and bright.

3. Well-written. CM says the books must have:
-literary power
-worthy thoughts well put
-inspiring tales well told
-good simple English with a certain charm of style

4. Not childish twaddle. Twaddle is described by Miss Mason as "not diluted". Books should not talk down to the child. Look at the length of sentences. Check out the very first sentence on the first page and that should be an indicator. A lot of the "reading made easy" books are twaddle says Sonya.

5. Give the child the idea that knowledge is supremely attractive and that reading is delightful.

6. The best you can find. CM admitted for some subjects it is hard to find a good living book. Do the best you can.

7. Can they narrate it? This was a major test that CM gave as to whether a book was a living book or not.

8. Meets your personal standards. Just because a book is on a certain book list doesn't mean you have to use it. Does it have a Biblical worldview? What attitudes are endorsed? Magic or not? Note: CM used fairy tales with kids. It helps to spur on the imagination. But again, it's a personal decision.

Basically, choose your books before God- you have to answer only to Him! CM education is not child directed, but the child should enjoy the books.

I hope this helps us all to be able to discern a good living book from twaddle. I personally don't have a problem with my dd7 reading a little twaddle every now and then. I grew up loving to read and mom let me read anything I wanted. If I had to read only more difficult and tiring books I doubt I'd have the love of reading that I have now. For school and bed time we make sure we have good living books. But in spare time I'm not going to stop her from reading a little twaddle if I have approved the book first.

Well, we're leaving tomorrow for a much needed and much anticipated family vacation. The best part?? The kids don't know yet! We're going to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and then we're leaving on Friday for Disney World! I'll post a couple of pics when I return. I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!! Even those of you not in the US...let's all remember to be thankful to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! We have so many blessings!!! God bless!

Jill

Simply Charlotte Mason Conference

A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to be able to attend a SCM conference by Sonya Shafer. What a sweet, precious woman who is such a wonderful resource in learning about the CM style of education. She has many different seminars, however I attended the Books &Things Seminar (which is the one I would have chosen, given the chance)!

She started out with a quote from Miss Mason herself.

"Education is the Science of Relations; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we must train him upon physical exercises, nature, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books; for we know that our business is, not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid, as many as may be of 'Those first-born affinities, that fit our new existence to existing things' " (Preface to the Home Education series).

I love the part of the quote that stated "our business is not to teach him all about anything...". Doesn't that relieve a lot of the pressure that we, as homeschooling mothers, put on ourselves? Our role is to show them a little about a lot, in my opinion. We are to teach them how to teach themselves to become lifelong learners. Let's tickle their fancy about a lot of subjects and see what comes of it. I really liked that quote.

Sonya placed the three types of relations that we, as humans, have onto a chart:

Relation to God
Relation to Man
Relation to Universe

Then under each of those three she placed the school subjects that we study:

God: Bible
Man (past and present men): History, Literature, Morals and Economics, Citizenship,
Composition, Languages, Art
Universe (God's creation): Science, Geography, Math, Physical Development/Handicrafts

I love seeing these laid out in this way. Each subject is taught as a relation to one of the three things. I've just never thought of that in this way. This was the conclusion of her introduction (haha!). I'll post Session 1 in another post. Hope you're enjoying it!

Jill

Simply Charlotte Mason

I had such an amazing time at the Simply Charlotte Mason conference this past weekend. Sonya Shafer was the speaker and it was wonderful to put a face to her name. I've always respected her and her work, now I was able to see and hear her. What a sweet and knowledgable lady! I have so much that I want to share, now I have to get my thoughts organized and figure out what to share first!

I want to thank my wonderful mother for first finding the conference and then driving 5 hours to attend it with me. Also, she bought all of my Christmas presents in the form of SCM books! Yay! Like I said, I have lots of resources and thoughts to share. But for now you'll have to settle for a few pictures. Until tomorrow...

Jill

Simply Charlotte Mason

I'm so excited about this upcoming weekend. I just had to share it with everyone. My mom and I are going to be attending a Simply Charlotte Mason conference in Montgomery, AL. Mom stumbled upon the conference date a couple of months ago and I honestly thought that there would be no way for me to be able to go. My in-laws are from Montgomery but I didn't see how I could slip away from home for an entire weekend and go 5 hours away to attend. It turns out that we're visiting the grandparents this weekend anyway and mom and I are blessed to be able to attend! Oh, I can't wait. I'll be sure to share some of the "pearls of wisdom" that I gain. Mom's need times like these, times to rejuvinate, re-energize, and just relax while someone else does all of the work for a while. I pray everyone has a very blessed safe rest of the week! God bless!

Jill