I have a question: have you heard of the homeschool co-op "classical conversations" and what do you think of it? Would you think it to be fine if one highly valued and practiced CM philosophy and tried to implement this in their academics? This is something I am struggling and praying through as a young homeschool mom. I would really appreciate your insight.
Kevin and Tara, I firmly believe that requiring intensive memorization of large amounts of historic facts is diametrically opposed to a Charlotte Mason education. We are trying to fill our children's minds with satisfying, worthy, thought-provoking IDEAS that grab the spirit and motivate the child to learn more, to act upon what he has heard through everyday play and imagination, to aspire to think and do great deeds.
Meaningless, rote memorization stuffed into a child's mind who only cares to memorize it for the outer praise and rewards received from parent, peers and teachers does not accomplish a love of learning for the right reasons. One of the arguments I have heard in favor of this method is 'it doesn't matter if the child doesn't understand what he is memorizing. He will care about the info later, just fill his mind with the info now because he has the capacity to memorize a lot of facts while young...' This saddens me. Children deserve better. Miss Mason believed that children are spiritual beings who crave meaningful ideas and can handle them just fine.
Here's another parent's perspective: http://a-large-room.blogspot.com/2009/02/homeschool-resource-review-classical.html
Oooooo...thank you!!! I *just* was talking to my sister today about this very topic!
ReplyDeleteYes...you said it best!
ReplyDeleteI have a question: have you heard of the homeschool co-op "classical conversations" and what do you think of it? Would you think it to be fine if one highly valued and practiced CM philosophy and tried to implement this in their academics? This is something I am struggling and praying through as a young homeschool mom. I would really appreciate your insight.
ReplyDeleteKevin and Tara,
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that requiring intensive memorization of large amounts of historic facts is diametrically opposed to a Charlotte Mason education. We are trying to fill our children's minds with satisfying, worthy, thought-provoking IDEAS that grab the spirit and motivate the child to learn more, to act upon what he has heard through everyday play and imagination, to aspire to think and do great deeds.
Meaningless, rote memorization stuffed into a child's mind who only cares to memorize it for the outer praise and rewards received from parent, peers and teachers does not accomplish a love of learning for the right reasons. One of the arguments I have heard in favor of this method is 'it doesn't matter if the child doesn't understand what he is memorizing. He will care about the info later, just fill his mind with the info now because he has the capacity to memorize a lot of facts while young...' This saddens me. Children deserve better. Miss Mason believed that children are spiritual beings who crave meaningful ideas and can handle them just fine.
Here's another parent's perspective:
http://a-large-room.blogspot.com/2009/02/homeschool-resource-review-classical.html
hth,
lindafay