A few months ago I posted a few of my favorite children’s
books in response to some young moms requesting ideas for quality literature
for their little guys. I had just given
a talk about moms (and children) being whole persons that need vital ideas to
think about. You can find the list of
resources and books here: Living Books for Little Ones. (Below are a few living books for different age levels that cover geography). The topic of quality literature and living
books seems to come up often. I will be giving a couple of workshop sessions next month at the Central Illinois Home Educators Convention. One is on Great Literature and Living Books: Breathing New Life and Interest Into Any Curriculum. Though this will not be specifically Charlotte Mason Philosophy, I will be discussing the qualities that distinguish a living book and why and how we can incorporate this approach ‘across the curriculum’. (You CMers will see a lot of familiar methodologies!)
What are living books anyway? Let’s consider it…
I recently came across a follow-up post from several years
ago to our local study group. I will
share it with you as an introduction to a series of posts over the next few months on the topic of
Living Books.
Through our discussion and readings
we learned that a living book must be… well written WITH literary language AND
present ideas - not teacher determined facts or pre-digested opinions - AND they
must be able to be narrated with the understanding that what a student doesn’t
work for in mental thought, he doesn’t appropriate as knowledge for himself.
So, one of the end questions for
this chapter (“Living Books” from Karen Andreola’s A Charlotte Mason Companion) asks: (#8) How can living books be
used for science, geography, history, or literature?
[I challenged our group to consider how they were using living
books and asked for others to share their favorites]: In light of our study, would anyone like to describe some
particulars for a given subject above?
For my response, I would suggest that living books are an
essential requirement of all disciplines of curriculum (and life :) ). They are not just
a nice to have story, but a necessity for acquiring real knowledge and finding
“captain ideas” in all areas of education.
Education is a life and our minds must be fed with the proper
nourishment!
For our question above, I have a couple of favorite living
books on geography. The first is
elementary through high school level and is actually a living textbook; it is The Book of Marvels by Richard
Halliburton. His travel books are
wonderful – especially the ones written to children. (CAUTION: Be aware that
the life style of this individual may not be something you want to have your
student look up on a biography sketch.)
There are other books he wrote that might be objectionable in a couple
of areas or need a little real time editing-just so
you know. The next is a lovely book
about an American family with a British family background and the true story of
how they decided to visit England and search out the places from familiar
British children’s literature: How the
Heather Looks by Joan Bodger (also not an author you necessarily want to
read her other works). Last, late
Victorian British author, Jerome K. Jerome, wrote a book, Three Men in a Boat: to say nothing of the dog, about a trip down
the Thames River that is anecdotal and each chapter is a very funny and
engaging episode of this adventure. His
other works are very good.
Living books are a distinctive part of what gives a
Charlotte Mason Education vitality. I
would challenge us in the coming preparation days for the upcoming school year
to work very hard to keep replacing that dry twaddle with living books and try
to incorporate them in all areas of study.
In Volume 3 page 231, Miss Mason states “the aim in education is to give children vital interests in as many directions as possible – to set their feet in a large room [Ps 31:8] – because the crying evil of the day is, as it seems to me, intellectual inanition” (or perhaps as we might label it today, the “dumbing down” of education and stunted, low intellectual and moral expectations).
Happy reading & Grace for the day
In Volume 3 page 231, Miss Mason states “the aim in education is to give children vital interests in as many directions as possible – to set their feet in a large room [Ps 31:8] – because the crying evil of the day is, as it seems to me, intellectual inanition” (or perhaps as we might label it today, the “dumbing down” of education and stunted, low intellectual and moral expectations).
Happy reading & Grace for the day
