I have been quite busy lately with all sorts of preparing so there hasn’t been much time for blogging. So many events, including the Living Education Retreat and Living Education Lessons, that there is something coming up for just about anyone interested in learning more about relational education a la Charlotte Mason! This is a wonderful thing.
Here is a fun, autobiographical piece that I wrote for Leah Boden’s blog, Living Soul Deep, a few months back. It is a selective account of how books have been part of my life. If I left in all the outtakes, you would hear about how I didn’t like the first D’aulaire book that I read or that I threw away a few Opal Wheelers after having used them for car books (car books = books that stayed in our vehicles which were doubles or titles I didn’t think were worth much). Or how about the books I have thrown down? There have been 3. No, I’m not telling. And I am thankful that while living in southern California, the warehouse-style store nearby was selling complete sets of Beatrix Potter books in a cute little holder. A few sets landed in our home as baby gifts. Little things add up to flourishing lives. Without further ado…
My mom tells a story of when I was hospitalized at age nine with spinal
meningitis. She says that when the nurse leaned over the bed and asked
what I wanted to have – and I could have anything – I whispered, “My
books, please.” I like that story, and always remember that I loved books,
but I’m not sure what books I was reading at that age. Some Little
House on the Prairie with some Nancy Drew on the side, most likely.
Pretty sure I didn’t do any reading that day after the spinal tap.
living books began when I moved from California to my husband’s small hometown
in Minnesota in 1993. With only preschoolers in tow at the time, I really
didn’t have much of a library. But then
came a call from a retiring school librarian which changed things. That sweet lady had heard that I might be
homeschooling and so wouldn’t I need books?
And would I like to come pick through the stacks and take what I think
might be useful? They were pruning most books printed before 1975. Truth is, I didn’t even know what to look for
and there was no time (or internet!) for research. So I filled up a dozen boxes
with what looked like they might make for good reading – Landmarks, Signatures,
Messners, as well as books by McClung, Wheeler, Earle, Petersham, the
D’aulaires and many more. Then I giddily threw myself into the author research,
the library sales, the donations, 4 more children and a 3 story house that
happily creaks with all those books today.
life, I was reading all about Charlotte Mason and her ideas of what a living
book actually is. I could see that it needed to be well-written, engaging, by a
passionate author, and that it should stir the emotions. But I think there is something else going on
with living books, something spiritual between each individual child and
certain books that makes them living.
for hours reading The Chronicles of
Narnia to my two young sons. I
watched and observed how those precious children responded with excitement and
wonder, acting out scenes and describing episodes to their father at the end of
the day. Whatever was going on with their strong reaction to the story is
exactly what I wanted more of for them, for their education, and for their
lives.
will move which child, variety is important.
Just because one daughter has read the 12 books from the Arthur
Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons twice,
doesn’t mean the next child will be interested in them. Why one son wants every Jim Kjelgaard ever
printed and the other prefers Leonard Wibberley, I can’t say. Why the quiet
child consumes everything by Roald Dahl and the loud one prefers Ursula Le Guin
is a mystery to me.
about the child and living books:
new, easy or hard, written by a great man or a lesser man, and yet be the
living book which finds its way to the mind of a young reader. The expert is
not the person to choose; the children themselves are the experts in this
case.” (School Education, p. 228)
me cry. Years later I read it aloud in school (unabridged) and it took almost 2 years. No one minded. I cried that time, too. As a family we have enjoyed dozens of titles
out loud such as Roller Skates by
Ruth Sawyer, Incident at Hawk’s Hill
by Allan Eckert , the Silver Sword by
Ian Serraillier, A Family of Foxes by
Ellis Dillon, The Hiding Place by
Corrie Ten Boom, and Oliver Twist by Charles
Dickens, to name just a few.
has been forever enriched by reading slowly, surely, and widely. Think the
turtle, not the hare! I’ve enjoyed all the Miss Read titles, old books about my
favorite president James A. Garfield, theology from N.T. Wright, Richard
Foster, and John Piper and my current interest – beautiful vintage collections
of devotions, prayers, and poetry that follow the church year (see my reprint
of The Cloud of Witness). By
establishing an atmosphere filled with books and an expectation of learning,
every family member has been positively and eternally enriched. With a living
book to look forward to every evening when I crawl into bed, alongside my
morning devotions, and during the school day with my children, I invite and
ensure that new ideas will be at the ready in my mind on a daily basis. That, I have found, leads to a living a very
full life.
I enjoyed reading this!
Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Alright, now I need to go find out why Garfield was your favorite!
-Mary
I just love that ED poem. 🙂 Love, love this post! I really wanna know what 3 books you threw down. LOL! 😉
This is so good Nancy!
Thanks, Bonnie! You should write up a bit of a retrospective on your journey. The early years would be most interesting to me.
Warmly,
Nancy