A needed reform in many Christain schools

"At school Marjorie had been taught what I may best describe as Muffled Christianity - a temperate and discreet system designed primarily not to irritate parents, in which the painful symbol of the crucifixion and the riddle of what Salvation was to save her from, and indeed, the coarser aspects of religion generally, were entirely subordinate to images of amiable perambulations, and a rich mist of finer feelings. She had been shielded, not only from arguments against her religion, but from arguments for it - the two things go together - and I do not think it was particularly her fault if she was now growing up like the great majority of respectable English people, with her religious faculty, as it were, artificially faded, and an acquired disposition to regard any speculation of why she was, and whence and whither, as rather foolish, not very important, and in the very worst possible taste."

-H.G. Wells, Marriage

I wish I could say differently of my Christian school education. Thank God for the few great teachers who rose above this description. Thank God for teachers (such as my brother) who push young adults in their thoughts and provide them with a rock to stand on as they prepare to meet the real world.

*Post note: I am indeed grateful for the education I received, and not in the least putting Christian schools at the bottom of the educational list. Each system of education requires the diligence of the parent to oversee and guide that education. There are certainly dangers and flaws wherever our children are educated...including the home, private school or public school.
That said, I did identify with this quote. It is a battle to fight and not ignore; but worth fighting...and I believe it can be changed.

Life in the Midst of Winter

Pattern

Some believe the slumber
Of trees is in December
When timber's naked under sky
And squirrel keeps his chamber.

But I believe their fibers
Awake to life and labour
When turbulence comes roaring up
The land in loud October,

And plunders, strips, and sunders
And sends the leaves to wander
And undisguises prickly shapes
Beneath the golden splendour.

Then form returns. In warmer,
Seductive days, disarming
Its firmer will, the wood grew soft
And put forth dreams to murmur.

Into earnest winter
With spirit alert it enters;
The hunter wind and the hound frost
Have quelled the green enchanter.

-CS Lewis

Quote

"The kids (goats) and the flowers were as much her delight as ever, and she made as much friendship with the miners' children she met on the mountain as Lootie would permit; but Lootie had very foolish notions concerning the dignity of a princess, not understanding that the truest princess is just the one who loves all her brothers and sisters best, and who is most able to do them good by being humble toward them."

-George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin

“When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become.” - Louis Pasteur

A Farewell Walk by a Cold River

Saying "goodbye" (or rather, "you will now be neglected") to an old friend.

My new friend arrived yesterday!

Canon S3IS, the 63,543 memories we made together will never be forgotten.





And this picture is to go with the following poem. It seemed fitting, and I am to be meditating on it for the CS Lewis Poetry class I am taking (which, by the way, you are all invited to if you live close! A great four week class by Logos ministries.)

My heart is empty. All the fountains that should run
With longing, are in me
Dried up. In all my countryside there is not one
That drips to find the sea.
I have no care for anything thy love can grant
Except the moment's vain
And hardly noticed filling of the moment's want
And to be free from pain.
Oh, thou that are unwearying, that dost neither sleep
Nor slumber, who dist take
All care for Lazarus in the careless tomb, oh keep
Watch for me till I wake.
If thou think for me what I cannot think, if thou
Desire for me what I
Cannot desire, my soul's interior Form, though now
Deep-burried, will not die,
-No more than the insensible dropp'd seed which grows
Through winter ripe for birth
Because, while it forgets, the heaven remembering throws
Sweet influence still on earth,
-Because the heaven, moved moth-like by thy beauty, goes
Still turning round the earth.

Childhood is Reason's Sleep

Excerpt from Emile

"Respect childhood, and do not hurry to judge it, either for good or for ill. Let the exceptional children show themselves, be proved, and be confirmed for a long time before you get involved with acting in its place, lest you impede its operations. You know, you say, the value of time and do not want to waste any of it? You do not see that using time badly wastes time far more than doing nothing with it and that a badly instructed child is farther from wisdom than one who as not been instructed at all. You are alarmed to see him consume his early years in doing nothing. What? Is it nothing to be happy? Is it nothing to jump, play and run all day? He will never be so busy in his life...Therefore, do not be overly frightened by this alleged idleness. What would you say of a man who, on order to profit from his while life, never wanted to sleep? You would day, 'That man is crazy; he does not gain time for his joy; he deprives himself of it. To flee sleep, he races toward death.' Be aware, then, that we have here the same thing and that childhood is reason's sleep."

Emile Quote

I have put in bold some nuggets for those who will undoubtedly skim this quote.

"What, then, must be thought of that barbarous education which sacrifices the present to an uncertain future, which burdens a child with chains of every sort and begins by making him miserable in order to prepare him from afar for I know not what pretended happiness which it is to be believed he will never enjoy? Even if I were to suppose this education reasonable in its object, how can one without indignation see poor unfortunates submitted to an unbearable yoke and condemned to continual labor like galley slaves, without any assurance that so many efforts will ever be useful to them? The age of gaity passes amidst tears, punishments, threats, and slavery. The unlucky fellow is tormented for his own good; and the death that is being summoned is unseen, the death which is going to seize him in the midst of this gloomy setup. Who knows how many children perish victims of a father's or a master's extravagant wisdom? Happy to escape his cruelty, the only advantage they get from the ills he has made them suffer is to die without regretting life, of which they knew only the torments.
Men, be humane. This is your first duty. Be humane with every station, every age, everything which is not alien to man. What wisdom is there for you save humanity?
Love childhood; promote its games, its pleasures, its amiable instincts. Who among you has not sometimes regretted that age when a laugh is always on the lips and the soul is always at peace? Why do you want to deprive these little innocents of the enjoyment of a time so short which escapes them and of a good so precious which they do not know how to abuse? Why do you want to fill with bitterness and pains these first years which go by so rapidly and can return no more for them than they can for you? Fathers, do you know the moment when death awaits your children? Do not prepare regrets for yourself in depriving them of the few instants nature gives them.

As soon as they can sense the pleasure of being, arrange it so that they can enjoy it, arrange it so that at whatever hour God summons then they do not die without having tasted life."

Pedagogical Thoughts

The art or science of being a teacher: Pedagogy.

Literally, to lead a child.

Is there any wonder, then, why these books should have resurrected themselves from the corner of my mind...hidden away with the other rather useless information I received in my early education classes?

The art or science of being a teacher; I liked that. It is worthy of pondering on it's own.

Pondering, however, was getting me nowhere as I tried to sort through curriculum packets, lesson plans, teaching methods, teaching styles, handwriting styles, traditional vs. classical vs. Montessori vs. who knows what! It gave me a headache and I quickly realized that if I wanted to be informed with what methods I was going to be following, I needed to go to the sources.

And that is where I am.

Fortunately, Jake's "sit down schooling" at this point takes no more than 40 min. per day. And for a wiggling, imaginative kid...I think he is thankful for the short spurts of constrained activity. This leaves me time to sit down with the great thinkers of pedagogy and let them present their arguments to me.

I think I may be making a mistake by reading two such books at the same time...what do you think? Oh well. I begin this way, but I am sure that one will grab my attention over the other before too long.

If there is one thing that I have come away with in the beginnings of the books, it is that teaching and learning are found in the entirety of our days. It is the water of everyday living that, when combined with the educational ingredients, make a savory stew with which we feed our children. Learning must not be reduced or boiled down to classroom work and model curriculum. Doing such is, I am afraid, the equivalent of feeding our children with vitamin capsules. The knowledge may be going in, but where is the pleasure? The substance? And can it really sustain a child as they enter adulthood?

Who knows where I will be headed with the education of my children. I do know that it will not be accomplished through the "sit down" times but in the everyday moments.

I pray God will continue to bless me in allowing me the honor of leading my children down their educational path, and for grace to lead their minds to Him.

If you made it this far, here is a quote I found particularly interesting from Paulo Freire's book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" (who, by the way, is Brazilian)

"In order to understand the meaning of dialogical practice, we have to put aside the simplistic understanding of dialogue as a mere technique. Dialogue does not represent a somewhat false path that I attempt to elaborate on and realize in the sense of involving the ingenuity of the other. On the contrary, dialogue characterizes an epistemological relationship. Thus, in this sense, dialogue is a way of knowing and should never be viewed as a mere tactic to involve students in a particular task. We have to make this point very clear. I engage in dialogue because I recognize the social and not merely the individualistic character of the process of knowing. In this sense, dialogue presents itself as an indispensable component of the process of both learning and knowing"

Hope

If you put your hope in someone who can't walk on water, don't be surprised if he sinks.

A little bit of highchair theology

Ma and God by Shel Silverstein


God gave us fingers -- Ma says, "Use your fork."
God gave us voices -- Ma says, "Don't scream."
Ma says eat broccoli, ceral and carrots.
But God gave us tasteys for maple ice cream.

God gave us fingers -- Ma says, "Use your hanky."
God gave us puddles -- Ma says, "Don't splash."
Ma says, "Be quiet, your father is sleeping."
But God gave us garbage can covers to crash.

God gave us fingers -- Ma says, "put your gloves on."
God gave us raindrops -- Ma says, "Don't get wet."
Ma says be careful, and don't get too near to
Those strange lovely dogs that God gave us to pet.

God gave us fingers -- Ma says, "Go wash 'em."
But God gave us coal bins and nice dirty bodies.
And I ain't too smart, but there's one thing for certain --
Either Ma's wrong or else God is."

This was followed by this comment by daddy -
"God gives you moms to tell you how to use the things God gave you."

But still...to a child...a paradox.

Quote from Emile

"The first tears of children are prayers. If one is not careful, they soon become orders. Children begin by getting themselves assisted; they end by getting themselves served...

When the child stretches out his hand without saying anything, he believes he will reach the object because he does not estimate the distance. He is mistaken. But when he complains and screams in reaching out his hand, he is no longer deceived as to the distance; he is ordering the object to approach or you to bring it to him. In the first case, carry him to the object slowly and with small steps. In the second act as though you do not even hear him...

It is important to accustom him early not to give orders ether to men, for he is not their master, or to things, for they do not hear him."

I thought this both humorous and true...especially in the light of my little assertive one, Oliver. This photo, by the way, was taken on exactly such an occasion.

Quote

"It is to you that I address myself, tender and foresighted mother,* who are capable of keeping the nascent shrub away from the highway and securing it from the impact of human opinions! Cultivate and water the young plant before it dies. Its fruits will one day be your delights. Form an enclosure around your child's soul at an early date. Someone else can draw its circumference, but you alone must build the fence."

*The first education is the most important, and this first education belongs incontestable to women; if the Author of nature had wanted it to belong to men, He would have given them milk with which to nurse the children.

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile

Quote

"Once we are grown, marriage and family relationships become the focus of our love. Although based on love, lasting relationships require work: adaptations to the needs and desires of the other person. They also require learning about ourselves and the other person. Lasting relationships also require playfulness and a sense of humor, which keep us from taking ourselves too seriously and enable us to enjoy our relationship.
With the birth of children, love is coupled with the work but also the pleasure and joy of parenting. Again, a sense of humor and playful attitude make parenting more enjoyable for both parents and children. Fortunately our children often show us the way to be playful. I wrote this book partly to help parents appreciate how humor and playfulness contribute to the well being of children--and parents as well."

-David Elkind, The Power of Play
On the harmony of play, love and work

For Aidan

Dear Aidan,

We were reading today and Jake got a kick out of this poem. He thought it sounded like something you would also find funny and he requested that I put it on our blog for you. I hope you enjoy:

The Lost Cat

We can't find the cat,
We don't know where she's at,
Oh where did she go?
Does anyone know?
Let's ask that walking hat.

The Things Ya Hear! (Comments to our Conspicuous Family)

"Looks like that one's been playin' in the dust!"

-Man at the blueberry fields

Hmm....

Good News/Bad News

"Mom, I've got some good news and some bad news."

"What's the bad news, Jake?"

"The bad news is: I've forgotten the good news."

The funny thing is: he wasn't kidding.

Quote

"I said, 'If I were a negro girl--'...
'We can't think of changing our skin,' he said. "Change the world -- that's how we've gotta think.'"

-The Secret Life of Bees

Quote

"How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?"
She laughed. "That was May's doing. She was with me the day I went to the paint store to pick out the color. I had a nice tan color in mind, but May latched on to this sample called Caribbean Pink. She said it made her feel like dancing a Spanish flamenco. I thought 'Well, this is the tackiest color I've seen, and we'll have half the town talking about us, but if it can lift May's heart like that, I guess she ought to live inside it.'"
"All this time I just figured you liked pink," I said.
She laughed again. "You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart -- now that matters."

--The Secret Life of Bees

"The grace that is the health of creatures can only be held in common.

In healing the scattered members come together.

In health the flesh is graced, the holy enters the world."

-Wendell Berry, Healing I


Please comment. Especially in relation to the church family.