Our Home: A home striving to live by God\’s principles.

You are probably wondering why another entry on observation. This seems to be a subject the Lord has me ruminating on quite a bit this year. I borrowed a book through inter-library loan at the suggestion of another educator. It, too, is a book on observation, but this one challenges you to focus even closer. Though I’ve only gotten the first 1/5^th read, I’m finding valuable quotes that speak to me. Here are a few, “The world is full of magic things waiting patiently for our senses to grow sharper”-John Keats; “Genius…is the capacity to see ten things where the ordinary man sees one.” –Ezra Pound; “Scientist themselves believe, at heart-that behind the diversity lies a unity.”-Horace Freeland Judson; “Individuality is the true beginning and end of all art.”-Goethe; “…begin now to study the little things in your own door yard, going from the known to the nearest related unknown…”-George Washington Carver. Do you notice the familiar Principle Approach vocabulary?: individuality, diversity, and unity. I don’t know if any of these people are professed Christians, but one thing that does not change are the universal laws of God with which they write about.

So what is the name of this book that hopefully I have intrigued you with? “Private Eye”, by Kerry Reuf. The name says it all. As I mentioned earlier, this book challenges you to narrow your focus. This is encouraged by using a jeweler’s loupe, first one, and then two put together, allowing you to hone in even more. Having a paper and pencil close by to draw or write observations is a must. During this process it is good to continually ask yourself questions that encourage analogy: “What else does it remind me of?, What else does it look like?, What else? and What else?.” Questions like these “sustain wonder and inquiry”. Then ask: “Why is it like that?, What’s going on here? If it reminds me of….I wonder if it might function or work like that….” The author continues, “close observation-mixed with wonder- is essential for the development of artist, scientist, writer, as well as mathematician, humorist, inventor, and more.”, but I add to this always remembering that God is the author.

I believe it is Providence that has put this book in my reading schedule. I continually go over scriptures of observation in my head, “O taste and see that the LORD is good:[1], “because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.”[2], and there are many more through out the Word. If I would narrow my observations more in all areas of life, would it just put me in awe of who the Lord is? When I read His Word, do I ask why and what else questions? God is good whether one chooses to believe it or not, but it is not until we taste and see, that then we are able to internalize that goodness. Our joy in the Lord, obtained through our wonder and inquiry, lived out in life, is the best teacher. I want my children to develop a close relationship with the Lord, as they should see in me. We are a superficial society. Even our educational efforts can be like that as we lack patience for our children to develop a relationship and ask why and what else, with what they are learning.

Without realizing it, my informal study on observation is going through the 4 R process, as I am developing a relationship with it. I am continually Researching (Bible & informal reading), Reasoning (allowing time for it to ruminate), Relating (making connections) and Recording (I take notes, write significant quotes, and blog entries, record on my heart), hopefully for the purpose to draw me closer to God.

I look forward to sharing more, as I continue on this journey of observation.

[1] Psalm 34:8

[2] Genesis 16:11

It had been 6 months since I had last seen the aisles of a Good Will store. Because of a recent accident I had, it required the emergency room nurse to cut the arm off my beloved black turtleneck. I happened to be driving past the store and committed myself to stop on the way home and look for a shirt to replace my ruined one. Two steps into the store I realized I was being pulled in the direction of the used books. In the past 15 years, I don’t know if I’ve ever passed up the opportunity to glance at the books on a used bookshelf. It’s not that often I find something that excites me, but there to my amazement, a writing book written by Lucy Calkins. From the suggestion of Bravewriter, Julie Bogart, I borrowed “The Art of Writing” from our local library. I gleaned so much from Lucy’s book, so I can’t tell you how excited I was to find this treasure, “Living Between the Lines” for only 99 cents.

Writing has long been a thorn in my side. I took a writing course back in my early 20’s and ended up quitting. Having home educated 4 children, I never felt adequate teaching children to write. Since joining Bravewriter, Julie has encouraged me to start writing a blog and also helped me do something with my children’s writing even if it was only freewriting once a week. Lucy’s book has come at the right time, a time that I needed to advance a step, but not quite sure how or what. I look at this next progression as a building block added to what we have already been doing. Though I knew these things, and they seem quite simple, Lucy has given me the courage to believe in what I know to be right.

Allowing our children and ourselves to live life in whatever season we are in is so important. James Howe writes, “My greatest worry for children today is that they are losing their capacity to play, to create a city out of blocks, to find a world in a backyard, to dream an adventure on a rainy afternoon. My greatest fear for children today is they are losing the capacity to play”. This quote started to resonate within me. We live in such a technological world, TV, Xbox, computer, etc…many things that want to draw our attention away from things that can bring purpose to our lives. I won’t say that these technological “toys” are bad, but if they are used to the extreme, will they squelch the creative individuality in each of us? Are my children living life to its fullest? Am I living life to its fullest? Now that my youngest is going to be 12 this year it is easy for me to see this. I’ve passed up some of my children’s lives and my own.

I’ve spent the years trying to find the right curriculum, the right tools to learn. Do my children look at me as being a slave driver, that all I care about is getting the house cleaned and getting our “school work” done? I see now those are all externals. Do my children trust me to tell me what their life is about? Do I listen to what they have to say without always having to instruct? These are ideas that build on the internal. Trusting and knowing you’re being loved is the setting that is needed to make learning happen. My children should be sharing their observations of life, which gives opportunities to communicate. What life am I living that I find important to communicate to my children. “Joy is the best teacher”, says Julie Bogart. It seems I stopped living life to educate, when education is life.

Literature is an important way to pass on one’s stories. Fill your children’s lives with these instead of the dry textbooks. My boys are reading books written by people who love to share their observations of nature. We read wonderful classics that bring an imagination out in a child to hopefully stir something inside them that they can relate, which in turn provides ideas that can be written in a journal and there starts the cycle again.

Is writing really my thorn, or is it the lack of patience thereof, the patience to wait upon the Lord to work His ideas in my children and in me? I think it quite providential that I found this treasure of Lucy Calkins, though I am still without a black turtleneck. It is through people like her that I am encouraged to live my life to it’s fullest.

Well, we’re up and at it again. I must admit I entered it with a little fear and trepidation. Since I have 2 older children who are graduated, I am on my 2nd round of history. I spent the last 3-4 yrs in American history and for the 2nd time I am doing an Ancient History study. (The first I used Beautiful Feet.) Tuesday was our first day and so far so good. We are beginning our study with Genesis and tho I am following Ruth Beechick’s book “Genesis: Finding Our Roots” per Ambleside Online schedule, I am tweaking it to fit our family. I hope to review the 7 history principles in our reading of Genesis the next few weeks.

I purchased the old series “A Picturesque Tale of Progress” which will take us from our starting pt. of Egypt up to 800AD. Talk about fast! I don’t have a great interest in learning all the pharaohs of Egypt and dictators of Rome or a deep study of Grecian gods, but it gives us a good overview in light of our biblical principles. Before Christmas we discussed the Christian idea of man and government and will be using that as our guide to see the Pagan idea of man and gov’t. We are also reading Orwell’s “Animal Farm” for literature which ties in well with government thinking. (I hope we get to read this again in a few years, as it is an allegory of the Russian revolution of the early1900s.)

For a read aloud I am reading “Wind in the Willows”. It is a book which uses the literature style of imagery. I took a few minutes before one of our readings to share what imagery is and gave them an example. Now we can be on the look out for it as we read. I plant the seed, but I don’t have to overwater.

I have had a difficult time keeping my boys from gobbling their books. Per Charlotte Mason, I want us to take our time to build relations. Our learning this week has made for wonderful discussion!! I am so glad about the peace I have using biblical principles. It goes back to “my” education. The things I have learned in the past, I now feel comfortable implementing in discussion. I recognize that my learning is not done and feel the Lord pricking my heart to pick up where I left off on my rudiments course. I’m glad I took the time off, as it gave me an opportunity to relate what I learned. When we gobble a meal we lose the enjoyment of what we eat and we probably lose nutrition because of poor digestion. Our learning is the same. If we gobble books we lose out on all the nuggets that people have written from their heart. It has taken me many years to understand that.

T is intersted in so many hands on things. Trees, plants, fruit trees, … I found a series of books at the library that breaks down the principles of these subjects. We will start looking into some hands on projects that will help fulfill his science. Since we are starting in Genesis, maybe I’ll have my son copy the verse for when plants were formed and have him start building a biblical principle study/notebook. I want to be gentle, as I don’t want to discourage him from his interests by making it ‘work’.

To review:

What is working in our home? Living books.

How do I use living books? I found others that have better organizational skills that showed me how to take a book and schedule. We read and discuss.

How do I implement biblical principles? We search the scriptures and make charts for our notebook which builds the foundation for our future discussions.

Allow time to build own interests and allow for studies to come out of those interests.

My son just woke up and said “They should make a movie on “Animal Farm”. Hmmm. I think we are quietly building relations here. Before Christmas we read “The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe”, then watched the movie. That was a precious moment for a mother to hear ALL her children (22-11) discussing the movie and the favorite parts and why. Oh, it is wonderful to see the fruits of our labor! God is so good.

It’s that time of year now when I can look back and analyze our first four months of “school”. I ask myself the question “What worked and what do I need to fine tune?” I feel good about the route we are taking this year. We are using living books to learn from and it seems to be working well. T my 14ds will be starting vision therapy in January, so I’m looking to stream line many things.

Because of the difficulties T has with his left eye, it has affected his reading skills, so for me to make his studies more profitable, I have had to lean more towards interest. I found this quote on another blog and I think it reflects the direction I am going this year. “Learning can only happen when a child is interested. If he’s not interested it’s like throwing marshmallows at his head and calling it eating.” – Anonymous.

For science I am letting my children pick a topic of choice. T enjoys the topic of trees and I really struggled to make this a “notebook” study. He already knows how to identify trees and he didn’t seem too interested in making an ID book. In the fall we collected pine cones and come spring he plans on planting the seeds. He has transplanted acorn and maple shoots, planted garden seeds, but we have never done pine tree seeds. I found a series of books at the library that breaks down the rudiments of plants and trees. After reading Ambleside Online this summer and how they break down books, it encouraged me to take my choice of books and organize the reading. I must have one of the left brain/right brain issues, because I used to struggle with what to do with a book. It does require patience to plant seeds and watch a tree grow, so this will be an on going study of planting and transplanting. My 11ds devours books, so he is content using the Master books I already have on my shelf.

We study history chronologically and we just finished studying this past century. Tho my older 2 read books of this time period, we never did “study” it. Come January, we will pick up our studies in Ancients. It has been so many years it is alittle intimidating. I spent the past couple weeks going over the rudiments of the Christian Idea of man and government. As we start our reading I hope we can start making some comparisons to our rudiments chart and recognize the pagan ideas. The hard part for me as a mother is to keep up with the reading.

Some other things: I am always looking for ways to make our Bible study come alive, so that is an area I will be looking to refine in the new year. I have been implementing current events in our days. I have been using World magazine for this and it brings about good discussion for principles. We also sing hymns and it makes a great opportunity to not only praise God at home, but a chance for us to praise Him at church. We are involved in a speech class, but I see singing at church a wonderful way to develop communicating skills. This is something I am going to be pondering upon this coming year, as to make “speech” life application vs. “class”. I thank God for the opportunities He gives us.

There are two things that I have been doing this year which I think it has made a big difference for me and it too falls under communicating skills and that is narration and freewriting. I am not a person with a one track mind. I have difficulty paying “attention”. While teaching the habit of attention to my boys as they read, I am challenged myself to listen/pay attention as they share with me what it is they are learning that interests them so much. I also have them write something once a week that is of their choosing. I can help them choose a topic, but they don’t seem to have a problem finding something of interest. The boys took a 6 week writing course in the fall, and tho we haven’t done any finished writing projects since the class, they no longer have a fear of paper. Come January, our new discipline will be a monthly project of revising a selected piece.

Tho refining is an ongoing process, I think this past year has brought much peace to my life. I have a much better idea of what Principle Approach is and have found a more gentle approach in application that works in our family. For this I am thankful.

When people start reading about PA, they learn about the 4Rs. I don’t think the 4Rs were meant to be as legalistic as I’ve made them out to be. I thought in order to come to a conclusion I needed to literally 4R a subject. So, I would sit down and get out my 1828, concordance, and Bible. With pen in hand, I’d start writing (that was 10yrs ago, now I cut & paste) definitions and more definitions, underlining, & searching the scriptures so I can come to some conclusion to what God says about the topic. This is a valid activity, but there is more to research than books. What is the first thing we should do when we read our 1828 or Bible? Observe!

When I realized that research was observation, I started looking at other means to observe beside books. Word study is not an activity for young children to be doing (unless they are learning how to read), but observation as a whole is. I realized my children are partaking in PA when they are observing. It is a quite natural activity that we take for granted. I do believe the art of observation should be encouraged and fine tuned. Let me give a couple of examples:

Katherine Dang in her Cds mentions children learning to reason from the scriptures at a young age. “Thy Word is true from the beginning”. What do you observe? Let them draw their own ideas according to their observations. In order to declare they must observe. I am a work in progress in teaching my children this. When you do literature studies, you are training them to observe character, etc…

Here is an example that came quite by accident. I started having my sons reading natural history books. Books where the author writes about the creation around him. My 11ds just finished “Secret of the Woods” by Long. Long spends one or two chapters writing about his interactions with one animal. It is a downloaded book. This has encouraged my ds to start observing the world around him. He has been setting wild cherries out for chipmunks to eat. He watches their behaviors, such as how they wash themselves. He then runs to me and tells me. It is thro’ this discussion that I can lead him to discoveries of individuality, self government etc…This, too, is a work in progress for me.
I hope others are encouraged to look beyond books to observe, oops, I mean research. 4R’ing does NOT have to be a legalistic four step process. It is quite natural.

I have had the opportunity to discuss with my children the idea of private property and James Madison’s quote, “Conscience is the most sacred of all property”. It wasn’t till yesterday that I saw this principle REALLY mean something to my 14ds T.

T has a partnership with his brothers owning an Xbox. (Not my idea!) Since this purchase, he has purchased a game with his own money. This is not the first time he has bought something with his own money, but for some reason, yesterday it clicked. T was telling me how much he enjoyed owning something and what was so important about owning something. I must say, I had a hard time keeping quiet. I so badly wanted to jump in and throw a bucket of spiritual lessons on him, but I didn’t. I sat back and let him enjoy the moment of his new found idea of ownership.

I am learning in this process to let the Holy Spirit work and to remember the “science of relations” CM talks about. Line upon line, precept upon precept. You can be sure at some point in our Bible study we will look at Bible verses that encourage ownership.

I struggle at the end of the day and think, “What did I accomplish, today?” I am starting to reason part of my frustration is based on finding a rhythm, as someone shared with me and also making connections.

What does finding a rhythm mean? We take our summers off from doing any “school” work, but we do read, and spend a lot of time doing activities such as, gardening, getting firewood, and swinging on our swings. I noticed before this summer came I was feeling really good about the things my children were getting accomplished in the day. We had developed comfortable habits. We got into the swing of things, rhythm. We lost our rhythm this summer and it was pretty much whatever goes; though we did accomplish. Once we started up with “school” this fall, it was difficult to get that rhythm going again. Now, I am going to the beat of a different drum. I still have the same philosophy of teaching biblical principles, but I’m approaching that philosophy differently.

We are in the midst of studying the 20^th century. I give my children a chart to follow with all their living books listed and the pages for required reading. At the end of the day with a quick glance I can look and see what was accomplished. I’m realizing how this piece of paper can be legalistic. Is it a good thing to have this paper? Yes, we are to write the vision, so we can run with it.[1] But I see now that I have only been looking at it as a checklist. For the past month and a half we have been reading our books and I and my children are just this week starting to make connections. This to me is what education is about.

My boys are reading about the 20^th century from different resources, since they are different ages. For Bible, we do our quiet reading and also reasoning lessons from the scriptures. The past 2 weeks we have been making observations about the Word of God, such as: hiding it, it’s a lamp and a light, it’s better than gold etc…We are also doing a read aloud from The Hiding Place, The true story of Corrie Ten Boom. I am so thankful for the connections we have been making between our readings. Corrie’s father has a love for the Word of God that he is implanting in his children and we have found many instances of this principle in this book. Another connection we made was, today we were introduced to a new character, Otto. Otto is a member of the Hitler Youth. His belief system shows in his character by how he treats the elderly. The book states, “The old have no value to the state”. We had learned about this from the scriptures last year in our studies of the Christian and Pagan Idea of Man and Government. I just haven’t had time to review it this fall, but hope to do it in the near future. We have been able to discuss what we know about it and making connections to what we are learning in our history: The rise of fascist leaders in the 1920s and 30s, also, people looking to the state to solve their problems instead of God, who is better than gold, a light and a lamp.

I have learned today that marking off a checklist does not give me the peace that I desire, but discussing what kind of relationships we built with our learning. It is an ongoing process and I am enjoying the journey God is giving me.

[1] Habakkuk 2:2 – And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are always planting seeds. Good and bad. All seeds produce fruit of some kind so I must ask myself, “What kind of fruit do I want to see in my children?” Once I consider this, then I have to decide what kind of seeds are required to bring about that fruit.

Another term for planting seeds is leading ideas. That has always been a difficult concept for me to understand. An overwhelming process: to 4R, then pull out leading ideas, then how do you present it to your children? With the help of Katherine Dang, I have gotten a better understanding of how to go through the process of leading ideas.

What is the most important thing you would want your children to learn? The authority of God’s Word. Katherine Dang’s Bible lessons gives application to this principle in a very gentle way. She has already done the research in the 4R process of God’s Word as our authority by giving us verses that apply. Give your child one verse and ask them what ideas they observe from this verse. Through this process I am teaching my children how to observe the truth and how to reason from the truth. I don’t always go to the scriptures to plant seeds. As I said earlier, we are planting seeds whether we know it or not.

Now through what Charlotte Mason calls “the science of relations”, I will provide an atmosphere that my child can start making application in different ways. I like using living ideas to present principles. Jesus, as He looks to His heavenly Father, is my model in the authority of God’s Word, just as my children look to me to model the authority of God’s Word in my life. I mentioned in previous writings how Jesus would teach by using parables and stories. FACE calls these soil softeners. I can think of the example of King Josiah and the response he gave to the hearing of God’s Word.[1] He was willingly placing God’s Word as his authority. Is it necessary for me to tell my children Josiah’s response? Have you heard the saying, “actions speak louder than words?” They are more apt to reject force-feeding. The fruit I want to see is my child willingly accept the authority of God’s Word over all areas of their life. Will that fruit come over night? That is the hard part for me: patience. We are also reading the life of Corrie Ten Boom. We are only on the 2^nd chapter, but are already learning how the Boom family accepted the authority of God’s Word over their lives. These are seeds that are continually being planted in my children.

Another example of leading ideas I can personally share is my salvation. When I think about the principle of salvation, it is an ongoing process that I am working through. Years ago, I had made a decision to accept the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and believe He still lives. As I read and study His Word, He reveals to me new ideas for me to observe relating to my salvation. There is and should be a big difference (growth) of what I know today and when I first accepted the Lord as my Saviour. I must allow the same process to lead my children. Line upon line.

My son would like to study trees. I can take the same process as above and apply it by using verses I have previously found dealing with the creation of, the providence of, relating it to the tree of life and his own life, etc…I hope you get the idea. We can discuss it and have him write an essay about the things he knows to be true about trees.

Is it necessary for my children to write down everything? I don’t think this is a cut and dry answer. I believe it is great to have your children write down their observations. But I think we have to be careful we don’t set it up as a legalistic process. Discussing principles, and having your children verbally tell you (narrating) what they have gleaned from this process is a valid activity. Too much writing before children are ready can be burdensome and cause them to shut down. Sometimes they aren’t ready to write what they know. Remember, we want them to be able to write what they know is the truth. 

This is a gentle process in which you will eventually lead your children to self-study. Please don’t think this is something I have down pat. It has been years of thinking this through that I am beginning to understand. It’s like the beginning of planting seeds and not getting growth right away. Patience.

[1] 2 Kings 23:3 “And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.

I always thought that when I used the 3rd R , Relate, I was taking the results of the first two Rs, Research and Reason and applying it to my subject. It became a very legalistic process for me. If I do this and this, I will get this. It seems very analytical for me, but maybe not for someone else. I noticed in Charlotte Mason’s writings, she discusses the “science of relations”. She gave me a bigger picture of what relate means. Suddenly, the leading ideas of the past teachings of PA master teachers started to connect and make sense.

Webster’s 1828 defines relate as “to tell, recite, or narrate”. This almost sounds like what I discussed in my entry on Record, but it goes on to say, “ally by connection or kindred; also, not absolute or existing by itself”. I would conclude, if I am not going through the process of relating, then I am not recording my voice. I refer you back to my primary resource of Oswald Chambers.

Miss Mason helped me to understand this concept of relations. When I first think of relations, I think of the obvious… relatives. How am I related as cousins, in-laws, husband, wife, etc? My children already understand the concept of relations through discussion of who is such and such and how do we know them? I help them to make those connections by giving them the points to connect. Have you ever gone to a family reunion and had someone explain to you who all the people were, and how they were related to you? Do you have a difficult time making a connection in this setting? It is due to gluttony, too much at one time.

Let’s make the connection, oops, I mean relate that to our children’s education. Miss Dang says just teach a little. Leading ideas and planting seeds are key terms we’ve heard, also. This is an important element to building relations. We want to feed our children just a little and give them time to “chew the cud” so they can grow as an individual. It isn’t done all at one time either. We have the ability to pull something from our past and relate it to something in the present, “precept upon precept, line upon line”[1]. When a foundation is built, the block layer throws down a slab of mortar to help the blocks firmly connect. What about “cause and effect” or compare and contrast? Another example of relating in the PA is, the Chain of Christianity. We are placing hooks, so that our children, (me, too), can relate leading ideas to a time period.

When I plant a seed with one subject it doesn’t seem like there is much learning. If I plant seeds in different subjects, they are learning a wide variety, which allows relations to develop between subjects. How often are the seeds planted? I don’t have enough wisdom to offer of my own, but from what I glean from Ambleside2] schedules, the children read only a portion of a book each week (using your choice of books), instead of reading it all in one week. It permits the child the time to ruminate or ponder so as to make connections. When we come to understand the idea of relations, it should caution us in our search for curriculum.

We can learn from the methods Jesus used to teach truth. He used parables and stories! That is so inspiring. Why did Jesus use them? My conclusion would be, He used something of interest which provides a comfortable setting that gently encourages as Oswald Chambers says, struggling and suffering, to make those connections. Children and adults, both, love stories. I could give you more examples, but our discussion is leading into the 1st R, Research. As you read scriptures you will find yourself in that process of making relations. I think the “science of relations” is exciting. It is the light bulb moment when I say, “Oh, I get it!”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I always need a purpose. Why is it so important for us to make those connections? Ownership. When I think of the example I used with relatives, isn’t it wonderful that you can claim ownership to your family roots. What about the family of God! (internal) One of the 7 governmental principles of PA is “Conscience is the most sacred of all property”[3]. By going through the process of relating, it becomes my property and no one can take it away unless I choose. In my children’s education, if I eliminate the development of relations and just tell them everything, they cannot take ownership. Once we claim ownership, have it written on our heart, it is easy for us to declare to someone else as we’ve learned in Psalm 78: declare to the next generation so that we may give them hope.

[1] Isaiah 28:14

[2] http://amblesideonline.com/

[3] http://face.net/pamain.htm

Jeff Meyers of Myers Institute, who wrote Playpen to Podium and Secrets of Great Communicators, says that we spend 90% of our time verbally communicating. Why is it educators spend 90% of the time teaching reading and writing and only10% on speaking skills.

I had to stop and think about that. Not for long though, as I started to relate that to my study on recording. My interpretation of the 4^th R in Principle Approach had led me to believe it was only notebooking and writing essays. This has really been a stumbling block to me. I’ve felt like a failure, because we weren’t producing notebooks. Please hear me through tho as I think notebooking and essays are very good disciplines to learn.

I have had the wrong perception of what recording is. Webster’s 1828 states, recording is to write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving; To imprint deeply on the mind or memory; as, to record the sayings of another in the heart. What an eye opener! Not all recording has to be done on paper.

I have been reading from Charlotte Mason’s 6 series books on homeschooling. It has really been enlightening. From what I have been reading, though her teaching does not give biblical references, I believe her perspective on recording is biblical. She encourages a lot of discussion with your children. When a child reads a passage, have them narrate or tell you something about what they have observed in their reading. It is not necessary to write it down, because what you are working on is the discipline of attention to others writing: recording them on their heart. Also, I am now understanding that when I ask my children about what they read, what was imprinted on their heart maybe different then what was imprinted on mine. Does that make either one of us wrong? No, not as long as it is truth. I now see this is where workbooks are wrong, requiring fill in the blanks, multiple choice and true/false questions.

Charlotte Mason had her children use narration for every subject. The high school years it should be used extensively. Have your children talk to you about what they are reading/observing. Ask them reasoning questions that will raise their thinking to a higher level. The early years, if you would like a child’s narration for a long lasting memory, write it down for them. As they get older require a written narration 1xweek, then 2xweek, till they are writing one narration a day. I don’t think it is necessary to require a perfect paper. Julie Bogart of bravewriter.com, suggests taking one narration for four weeks and go through the writing process of writing, editing and publishing. Charlotte Mason isn’t the author of this. There is nothing new under the sun. [1]

Think of the purpose of recording. Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.[2] We are to declare to give others hope.[3] The habit of narration gently teaches that discipline. What is the purpose of going through the writing process? It is to be able to show a published piece. Not all writing is published. So why would I require it of all my children’s writing. I’m afraid I get too caught up in wanting to notebook everything for memories. Other recording ideas might be drawing and painting what is observed. Nature collections, music recordings you have made of yourself. The thought of recording music challenges my thinking. Would you record your child practicing everyday? I didn’t, but I did record when they presented a finished piece. I would appreciate any ideas you can add to this list.

My understanding has brought me to the conclusion that instead of using the term recording, I would prefer to teach communication skills. This could include many things, primarily discussion and speaking skills, then writing skills, journals, hand skills such as music, painting, drawing and handiwork. I want to encourage my children to observe the wonderful works of God and declare them to the next generation, which can be done in a way that is individual to them.

[1] Ecclesiastes 1:9

[2] Habakkuk 2:2

[3] Psalm 78:1-7