This October I began my search for a children's Bible for my children. Not a big deal, I thought. Pick a translation (husband's favorite NIV or my favorite ESV?), pick the features appropriate for their ages, and bingo... an easy Birthday or Christmas present.
Not so easy, after all! Shortly into my search, the reviews of the NIV revealed that this would not be the same translation that my husband uses, from which our pastor preaches, and that we all grew up reading & listening to from the pulpit. No, the only NIV being sold these days is the 2011 version - very different from our 1984 versions. Since the NIV's original charter included the goal to have continual updates to "modernize" it to match modern English usage, Zondervan is no longer publishing the older version - so I can't purchase this for my children. The 1984 version is simply not an option (unless, of course, I decide to find a used copy, which honestly would only be a temporary fix, since in time churches will switch over from the 1984 NIV to some other translation, since their members won't be able to purchase it for personal study).
I found to my dismay that the 2011NIV translation has inspired a HUGE debate over translation philosophy, gender-neutral language in Bible translation, and evangelical egalitarian interpretations of several small but key passages in the theological debate over women's roles in the church (as opposed to the traditional complementarian translations). Further dismay: the Christian dis-unity caused by the debate.
Who drew lines in the sand? The first line was drawn by Zondervan, when they decided to discontinue publication of the 1984 NIV, thus forcing churches to take a side and either use or disown the 2011 NIV (which they knew might continue to be controversial, after their releases of several earlier versions which included gender-neutral language and were not well received). The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood followed when they issued a report (which I honestly cannot condemn, as it voices their heartfelt concerns about the NIV2011) concluding: "We regret, therefore, that we cannot recommend the 2011 NIV as a sufficiently reliable English translation. And unless Zondervan changes its mind and keeps the current edition of the 1984 NIV in print, the 2011 NIV will soon be the only edition of the NIV that is available. Therefore, unless Zondervan changes its mind, we cannot recommend the NIV itself."(1) Some denominations followed their lead and switched away from NIV2011 to other versions, such as the Southern Baptists and many churches within the Presbyterian Church in America, some condemning the translation in the process. And finally, in response, there has been backlash against the CBMW article.
Who to believe & which concerns to agree with? Should Christians seek for a Bible translation that will be palpable to the unchurched masses and an easy read, but possibly have some theological issues (for traditional conservative evangelicals)? Or should they seek for one which is beautifully written & allows in-depth word study, but which might be a little more difficult for the average person to decipher at a glance?
This is definitely an issue each person should decide for himself. Here are the articles (they'll take quite a bit of reading - give yourself a few days or weeks):
The Committee on Bible Translation's Website (CBT), with many links to any questions you have about their translation of the NIV2011: http://www.niv-cbt.org/
The Report by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW):
http://web.archive.org/web/20120722135149/http://www.cbmw.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/cbmw-final-analysis-of-2011-niv.pdf
Additional CBMW article: https://www.cbmw.org/wp-content/uploads/jbmw_pdf/16_1/burk.pdf
The response by the CBT: http://www.niv-cbt.org/wp-content/uploads/cbt-response-to-cbmw-review.pdf
CBMW response: https://www.cbmw.org/wp-content/uploads/jbmw_pdf/16_2/02%20editorial.pdf
Counter to CBMW report by Dr. Rod Decker, a professor at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clark's Summit, PA: http://ntresources.com/blog/?p=1232
I personally lean more to the conservative side, and will probably never
love the 2011NIV, according to the concerns listed in the CBMW report. However, I think it's important
to understand the "other side" of the issue and as Christians, try to
have unity & overlook disagreements wherever possible. Not agreeing with
the 2011NIV translation is probably not a platform I would "die on" so to speak, and, who knows - maybe I would use select verses from it in some evangelism situations (which is the best use I can see for the translation). Whether a church will use it is certainly a decision that should at least elicit research from their governing boards.
Moving on from the strictly theological aspect of the debate, I would like to look at the NIV 2011 from an educational standpoint. Is it a translation which should be used to bring up the next generation within the church? Is it a translation which should be used in a Christian school or home school setting?
First let's look at the Christian school or home school setting. I would like to offer a passage written by Charlotte Mason, a Christian educational philosopher whom I highly respect, written about the King James Version of the Bible roughly 80 years ago:
"We are apt to believe that
children cannot be interested in the Bible unless its pages be watered down––turned into the slipshod
English we prefer to offer them. Here is a suggestive anecdote of the
childhood of Mrs Harrison, one of the pair of little Quaker maidens
introduced to us in the Autobiography of Mary Howitt, the
better known of the sisters. "One day she found her way into a lumber
room. There she caught sight of an old Bible and turning over its
yellow leaves she came upon words that she had not heard at the usual
morning readings, the opening chapters of St Luke––which her father
objected to read aloud––and the closing chapter of Revelation. The
exquisite picture of the Great Child's birth in the one chapter and the
beauty of the description of the New Jerusalem in the other, were
seized
upon by the eager little girl of six years old with a rapture which,
she used to say, no novel in after years ever produced."...
"It is a mistake to use paraphrases
of the text; the fine roll of Bible English appeals to children with a
compelling music, and they will probably retain through life their
first conception of the Bible scenes, and, also, the very words in
which these scenes are portrayed. This is a great possession...
"But let the imaginations of children be stored with the pictures,
their minds nourished upon the words, of the gradually unfolding story
of the Scriptures, and they will come to look out upon a wide horizon
within which persons and events take shape in their due place and due
proportion. By degrees, they will see that the world is a stage whereon
the goodness of God is continually striving with the wilfulness of man;
that some heroic men take sides with God; and that others, foolish and
headstrong, oppose themselves to Him. The fire of enthusiasm will
kindle in their breast, and the children, too, will take their side,
without much exhortation, or any thought or talk of spiritual
experience."(2)
Charlotte Mason believed that children are people made in the image of God - fully capable of understanding and enjoying high quality literature, and bored with the same things adults would be bored with (such as dumbed-down books). I agree with her!
Where there are a wealth of excellent, complex English translations of the Bible, I believe it is a mistake to use an easy-read too-modernized version (yes, that's my personal description of the NIV2011) as the primary text for teaching our children as they are growing up. Why not use the Bible - hopefully the book that your child will read and re-read the most - as a teaching tool? Why not choose a version that has some (or even many) complex, even archaic phrases; which requires the understanding of male pronouns and phrases as standing for male & female; which trains the eye and ear in the cadence of beautiful literary form? Hopefully the parent will be the child's primary teacher here, and have many opportunities to explain "why" when the child has a question. And the benefits of learning the complexities of the English language are great.
Choosing a complex translation means that a child will grow up understanding a high level of English. He will be able to read other, easier translations with no problem. This may not be the case if the child grows up reading an extreme modern-English translation, like the NIV2011. What if the child is used to the "gender neutral" language of the NIV2011? Will he understand if he tries to delve deeper into in-depth study with a different translation that does not use gender-neutral translation philosophy?
From another angle: The Bible is the very definition of A Classic. Does it not seem incongruous to anyone that it should be written in gender-neutral cutting-edge modern English? That makes no sense. Do people try to rewrite Shakespeare using gender neutrals? Milton? Bunyan? Austen?
Further. Hopefully, the education you are giving your child includes classics and other books that are more than 20 years old. If you are, then your child should be able to understand the non-gender-neutral use of pronouns such as "he" and "his" and thus be able to understand a traditional translation of the Bible.
Let's be clear about this: The stated main reason the translators used gender-neutral English in the 2011NIV was because they believed people didn't understand that when the Bible makes generic statements using male pronouns, many of the statements apply to all of humankind or can be applied as general wisdom. If you are around to explain this concept to your child, it's not an issue for you! Your child will get it! There is absolutely no need for you to use the 2011NIV and deal with the confusing grammar when "they" is used as a singular pronoun, or the possible confusing theological implications of using plural gender-neutral pronouns when the original singular versions implied personal application (see the CBMW report for details of these). As I am home educating my children, the English teacher in me says... no NIV 2011 until they've learned all their grammar rules! (Probably late high-school or college age!) I prefer my children not to have poor grammatical examples while they are growing up and learning about how to write - it may hinder their writing style. If you are sending your child to school - do you think their English teacher will listen to him when he says, "but my Bible is written this way!" She might still mark his English paper down for mixing singular and plural pronouns!
Children's minds have great capacity. And their best window for learning language is when they are young. They benefit greatly by being given literature that is "above their level." It helps their minds to grow and expand. It enlarges their vocabulary. Just because a piece of literature has words in it the child doesn't know, doesn't mean he shouldn't read it - just the opposite. Children learn what words mean primarily through reading! There are thousands of English words which are not used in speech or from TV or radio. They learn those only in books, from the context of what they read. Giving your child a Bible with a wide range of even archaic vocabulary will be a helpful, not hindering experience for him.
"But will my child understand the Bible I give him?" you may ask. Yes. A child can understand even the King James Version at a young age if the parent answers his questions about it and reads it in short enough sections, or reads it in parallel with another version. There are more modern translations, such as the English Standard Version, which still use many of the cadences of the KJV but do update the English. I personally have used the KJV, the NIV (1984), and the ESV with my own children - and they have understood all three. When it comes time for a child to read the Bible for himself, it's true that the KJV may be a bit too hard, unless your child has been given the best of educations. Fortunately, there are many modern versions that are easier to understand, such as the ESV (or RSV or many other translations - that's a topic for another article) and that do not have the issues of the NIV2011.
Memorization is another reason I do not want to use the NIV2011 with my children. Already, the NIV2011 is different from the version of the NIV I memorized growing up. What changes will future versions of the NIV bring? I prefer to choose a translation that is not going to change so drastically every 30 years, so that my children are not attempting to memorize a moving target. I could go with KJV for memorization, as that will always be around. Or, I can choose a different modern translation. (In my case, it would probably be ESV).
I hope I have convinced you that it is a good choice to use a different translation of the Bible for educational purposes than the NIV 2011.
What about using the NIV2011 for child and youth education in churches? Well, obviously most churches will use whatever translation they are using for the adults. But I hope that churches will consider the possible implications of using the NIV2011.
Churches who hold to a complementarian view of scripture need to seriously evaluate their use of the NIV2011 as a primary text for church members. Why? Because several of the passages which have traditionally been the center of debate over whether or not women should teach and hold authority over men in churches are translated in favor of the egalitarian viewpoint in the NIV2011, or at least in a manner that leaves the topic open to debate.(3) Several of these verses even omit any footnote about the traditional, complementarian translation.(3) Thus, the next generation of children raised on the NIV2011 are likely to come to an egalitarian understanding of the role of women in the church.
Many may counter, "no, not if they are taught correctly and the various interpretations of the verses are explained to them." But I would ask you - when is the last time you heard a sermon on women's roles in the church? It is a topic most pastors stay away from because it is so controversial. It's easy to alienate people in your church if you preach on this topic. Better to stay away from it all together. I honestly can't remember the last time I heard a sermon on this topic.
Thus it is that the only way most Christians come to their understanding of women's roles in the church is from reading their Bible, and reading their Bible alone. If all of the scripture passages have been translated in favor of the egalitarian viewpoint, it makes sense that the next generation will come to agree with that.
On the other hand, egalitarian churches will have no problem with this translation. And in fact, I would expect most of them to adopt it.
I find it sad that this new NIV translation is another issue for the Christian community to divide over. In all likelihood, many traditional conservative churches will disavow the NIV as a result of this most recent translation, while middle and liberal evangelical churches will continue to use the NIV. Over time, the two will grow further and further apart.
Well, this is all just some food for thought. I know many people will disagree with my opinions on education - and that's OK! I've just been thinking about this so much, I had to get it out somewhere. And for those of you who had no idea that the NIV had changed, maybe it has inspired you to look into it for yourself. I hope someone somewhere finds my thoughts helpful, and if not - consider them dross, and just leave them.
Ephesians 4:2-3 (NIV 1984): 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Lord, I pray that Christians' discussions about this topic will be in the spirit of peace so that Your Kingdom may be furthered on this earth! Amen.
(1) “An
Evaluation of Gender Language in the 2011 Edition of the NIV Bible,” A
report from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (2011). page 23
(2) Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series Volume 1 pages 248-249.
(3) Denny
Burk, et al., “The Translation of Gender Terminology in the NIV 2011″
Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 16.1 (2011): 17-33.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Friday, 5 October 2012
For the Beauty of the Earth - AO October Hymn
This month I'm going to "cheat" and direct everyone over to The Center for Church Worship to download their MP3 of For the Beauty of the Earth. It's beautiful! Just go here: http://www.songsandhymns.org/hymns/detail/for-the-beauty-of-the-earth I realize it doesn't have all of the verses, but it has all the verses you'll ever sing in a church.
October is a difficult month for me to record because it's SO busy. We have 4 immediate family birthdays this month, and this year a bit of traveling (Paris, here I come!). So I hope no one minds me not recording too much!
My Mom has agreed to help me record by recording the piano accompaniment. When we are able to get to that, hopefully I'll also record this month's hymn. But it will probably not be in October.
Here are some YouTube links:
My playlist of hymns for the year: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693
Fairest Lord Jesus from Little Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsp3p16lONI&list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693&index=3&feature=plpp_video
Mormon Tabernacle Choir version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG7uPrs0YGM&list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693&index=4&feature=plpp_video
Blog post with printable lyrics: http://agenerouseducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/for-beauty-of-earth.html
Cyberhymnal PDF sheet music for piano (no words): http://www.hymntime.com/tch/pdf/d/i/x/Dix.pdf
October is a difficult month for me to record because it's SO busy. We have 4 immediate family birthdays this month, and this year a bit of traveling (Paris, here I come!). So I hope no one minds me not recording too much!
My Mom has agreed to help me record by recording the piano accompaniment. When we are able to get to that, hopefully I'll also record this month's hymn. But it will probably not be in October.
Here are some YouTube links:
My playlist of hymns for the year: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693
Fairest Lord Jesus from Little Women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsp3p16lONI&list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693&index=3&feature=plpp_video
Mormon Tabernacle Choir version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG7uPrs0YGM&list=PLF0AA995DF9F7D693&index=4&feature=plpp_video
Blog post with printable lyrics: http://agenerouseducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/for-beauty-of-earth.html
Cyberhymnal PDF sheet music for piano (no words): http://www.hymntime.com/tch/pdf/d/i/x/Dix.pdf
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Support Cub Scouts!
My son, who is a Wolf Cub this year in the Scouts, decided he wanted to go all out this year with his
popcorn sales - he has been out selling in neighborhoods for the past 6
weeks and working really hard at it. I promised I'd post this online sales link in case any of my friends would like to support him, the scouts, and possibly our troops.
http://www.trails-end.com/shop/scouts/email_referral.jsp?id=17442861
Cub/Boy Scouts was the most positive secular influence in my husband's life during his childhood. We strongly believe in the great work they do with life skills and character formation in youth. So it's a great cause to support! Plus, if you want to support another great cause in the process, you can buy popcorn for our troops and the scouts will deliver it to military bases and ships all over the world as encouragement to them.
[Disclaimer - if you're looking for cheap popcorn, this is not the place to get it. The purchase is basically a donation to support the Scouts and you get some popcorn out of the deal. :) ]
Use the link above and the sale will be credited to my son's account. He is getting very close to hitting his sales goal - if he hits it, then the Scouts open a college savings account for him which will receive 6% of all of his proceeds!
Or if you live locally, contact us & we can show you the local sales sheet & hand deliver it to you, so you won't pay for shipping.
These sales will enable my son's "pack" to do educational projects, service, & fun activities this year. Some of it will also go to "headquarters" to support the administration of the Scouts.
http://www.trails-end.com/shop/scouts/email_referral.jsp?id=17442861
Cub/Boy Scouts was the most positive secular influence in my husband's life during his childhood. We strongly believe in the great work they do with life skills and character formation in youth. So it's a great cause to support! Plus, if you want to support another great cause in the process, you can buy popcorn for our troops and the scouts will deliver it to military bases and ships all over the world as encouragement to them.
[Disclaimer - if you're looking for cheap popcorn, this is not the place to get it. The purchase is basically a donation to support the Scouts and you get some popcorn out of the deal. :) ]
Use the link above and the sale will be credited to my son's account. He is getting very close to hitting his sales goal - if he hits it, then the Scouts open a college savings account for him which will receive 6% of all of his proceeds!
Or if you live locally, contact us & we can show you the local sales sheet & hand deliver it to you, so you won't pay for shipping.
These sales will enable my son's "pack" to do educational projects, service, & fun activities this year. Some of it will also go to "headquarters" to support the administration of the Scouts.
Thanks for thinking about it!
:) Jen
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Reading Post 5 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: Reading by Sight & Sound: Additional Principles
Here
are some other points of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy behind Reading
Lessons by Sight and Sound. It’s important to go over these before we
start an example of an actual reading lesson sequence, so you understand
the “why” behind the lessons. Sorry it's so long - unfortunately there is no helping it!
Don’t forget - these “Reading by Sight and Sound” lessons are actually not the beginning of reading lessons. They come after the introduction of the Alphabet & basic word building - see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3. Also make sure to read my 1st introduction containing overarching principles about Reading by Sight and Sound. I personally prefer to work from one or two leading principles when homeschooling my children - and Charlotte Mason’s make a lot of sense!
I've taken these quotes from Charlotte Mason's section on learning to read from Volume 1, pages 199-222. Read it for yourself here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
1. Learning to read can be difficult, and is not “natural” for most children.
“We forget how contrary to Nature it is for a little child to occupy himself with dreary hieroglyphics––all so dreadfully alike!––when the world is teeming with interesting objects which he is agog to know... It is quite necessary he should know how to read; and not only so––the discipline of the task is altogether wholesome for the little man... Let us recognise that learning to read is to many children hard work, and let us do what we can to make the task easy and inviting.” (p. 214)
2. Charlotte Mason does not claim to hold the perfect “recipe” for learning how to read.
- “Let us bear in mind that reading is not a science nor an art” (p. 215)
- “There are absolutely no right and necessary 'steps' to reading, each of which leads to the next; there is no true beginning, middle, or end.” (p. 215)
3. Reading instruction should be personalized to each child.
“The children must still be the first consideration with the educator.
4. The point of reading lessons is to learn the symbols for the spoken word;
- “Learning to read is no more than picking up, how we can, a knowledge of certain arbitrary symbols for objects and ideas.” (p. 215)
5. This is best accomplished using interesting whole words as the basis for the reading lessons (and secondly learning the phonetic components of those words for further instruction).
- “What we want is a bridge between the child's natural interests and those arbitrary symbols with which he must become acquainted, and which, as we have seen, are words, and not (meaningless phonetic combinations of) letters.” (p. 216)
6. Goal: DELIGHT your child with the reading lessons, and your child is set for a long-term love of reading!
- "Reading is to him a delight henceforth, and it will require very bad management indeed to make him hate it." (p. 219)
CHARLOTTE MASON’S USE OF PHONETIC INSTRUCTION:
(Warning: Charlotte Mason sounds very anti-phonics in her writing here. Please don’t forget all of the phonetic groundwork she has laid which we have already discussed. In truth, her approach to reading is a blended approach using both whole-word and phonetic instruction. Since the whole-word vs. phonics debate has continued throughout this century, I’ve concluded personally that probably a blend is best - it takes some of both types of instruction for a child to truly learn to read. If your child is weak in one area or the other, by all means, focus on the type of instruction which your child needs.)
1. Charlotte Mason does not agree in endless phonics instruction which is disconnected from words.
“No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him.” (p. 215)
2. The next step in language learning (after speaking) is the recognition of the written symbol of the entire word. Phonetic sounds are meaningless, and thus should not be the sole basis of reading instruction.
- “The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea of full of interest.” (p. 215)
- “We forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain... It's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him... Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea." (p. 208-209)
- “All this (the movement to spell words phonetically rather than historically) goes on the mistaken idea that in reading we look at the letters which compose a word, think of their sounds, combine these, and form the word. We do nothing of the kind; we accept a word, written or printed, simply as the symbol of a word we are accustomed to say. If the word is new to us we may try to make something of the letters, but we know so well that this is a shot in the dark, that we are careful not to say the new word until we have heard someone else say it." (p. 210)
- “First, as last, they (children) learn to know a word by the look of it, and the more striking it looks the easier it is to recognise; provided always that the printed word is one which they already know very well by sound and by sense.” (p. 211, emphasis mine)
3. Charlotte Mason believes there is a “moral strain” in teaching reading lessons from a purely phonetic basis, and also that it is too laborious a task for young children.
“For the arbitrary symbols we must know in order to read are not letters, but words. By way of illustration, consider the delicate differences of sound represented by the letter 'o' in the last sentence; to analyse and classify the sounds of 'o' in 'for,' 'symbols,' 'know,' 'order,' 'to,' 'not,' and 'words,' is a curious, not especially useful, study for a philologist, but a laborious and inappropriate one for a child. It is time we faced the fact that the letters which compose an English word are full of philological interest, and that their study will be a valuable part of education by-and-by; but meantime, sound and letter-sign are so loosely wedded in English, that to base the teaching of reading on the sounds of the letters only, is to lay up for the child much analytic labour, much mental confusion, due to the irregularities of the language; and some little moral strain in making the sound of a letter in a given word fall under any of the 'sounds' he has been taught.” (p. 215)
- “We could, if we liked, break up a word into its sounds, or put certain sounds together to make a word. But these are efforts beyond the range of children.” (p. 210-211)
4. Charlotte Mason focused on phonics for pre-reading lessons (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3) and will continue to do so in her “Word-Building” or “Spelling” lessons. The difference between these & a purely phonetic approach is that she derives her phonetic instruction from the words of the reading lesson, rather than teaching phonetic sounds and then basing words off of those.
- “Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
- “For the second, and less important, part of our task, the child must know the sounds of the letters, and acquire power to throw given sounds into new combinations.” (p. 216)
- “Though many of our English words are each a law unto itself, others offer a key to a whole group, as arrow gives us sp arrow, m arrow, h arrow; but we have alternate days––one for reading, the other for word-building––and that is one way to secure variety, and, so, the joyous interest which is the real secret of success." (p. 214)
THE PRACTICAL SIDE: WHEN & HOW LONG?
1. Age: Whenever a child is ready. Make sure you have covered this ground first (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3). An average child will probably be ready around age 6 (the age reading lessons are scheduled on Charlotte Mason’s PNEU school schedules). Some gifted children will be ready earlier, or may even teach themselves; some late bloomers will be ready later. No need to push - anywhere from age 3 to 8 is considered “normal” from a developmental perspective (this from my personal studies, not Charlotte Mason).
- “Time of Teaching to Read, an Open Question.––Reading presents itself first amongst the lessons to be used as instruments of education, although it is open to discussion whether the child should acquire the art unconsciously, from his infancy upwards, or whether the effort should be deferred until he is, say, six or seven, and then made with vigour.” (p. 199)
2. Attitude: As a special privilege.
- “I think it's rather a good idea to begin a new study with a child on his birthday, or some great day; he begins by thinking the new study a privilege.”
- "His reading lesson is a delight, of which he is deprived when he comes to his lesson in a lazy, drawling mood." (p. 222)
3. How long will it take to teach my child how to read?:
- “Let him learn ten new words a day, and in twenty weeks he will be to some extent able to read, without any question as to the number of letters in a word.” (pages 215-216)
- “Every day increases the number of words he is able to read at sight, and the more words he knows already, the longer his reading lesson becomes in order to afford the ten or dozen new words which he should master every day.
A Year's Work.––'But what a snail's progress!' you are inclined to say. Not so slow, after all: a child will thus learn, without appreciable labour, from two to three thousand words in the course of a year; in other words, he will learn to read, for the mastery of this number of words will carry him with comfort through most of the books that fall in his way.” (p. 206)
- Not all children will learn 10 words a day; some will learn fewer, some more. So it may take more or less than a year for an individual child.
GENERAL “HOW TO”
1. Use high quality literature. Prose primarily, poetry secondarily.
“At this stage, his reading lessons must advance so slowly that he may just as well learn his reading exercises, both prose and poetry, as recitation lessons. Little poems suitable to be learned in this way will suggest themselves at once; but perhaps prose is better, on the whole, as offering more of the words in everyday use, of Saxon origin, and of anomalous spelling. Short fables, and such graceful, simple prose as we have in Mrs Gatty's Parables from Nature, and, still better, in Mrs Barbauld's prose poems, are very suitable. Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children” (p. 204-205)
- Note: I personally am thrilled with the Treadwell Primer and subsequent Readers. I suggest purchasing a hard copy (as opposed to e-reader) because it will get a lot of use! I like that the stories are high quality classics, yet use a limited number of interesting words to begin with. Subsequent stories add to the store of words, but not too many at a time. The Primer is all prose. Poems are added to The First Reader. These are public domain, so any reading lessons we create based on these books can be shared for free with other homeschooling families. They are fun & interesting classics, definitely not Twaddle. Case in point: my son likes to go back and reread the stories he has already learned just for fun.
- When you’re done with the Treadwell Primer, you could learn some easy readers for fun, if you wish. Little Bear, Frog & Toad, Sydney Hoff books, Henry & Mudge are all high quality, though definitely not required.
2. At this point, you may teach your child very long words. Don’t stick with “easy” one- or two- syllable words. (But make sure to cover this ground first! see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3)
- Here is a fictional conversation between a mother & Charlotte Mason (pages 208-209):
MOM: "But the reading! I can't get over three syllables in the first lesson. Why, it's like teaching a twelve-months old child to waltz."
CM: "You say that because we forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain."
MOM: "Yes, the darlings! and it's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him."
CM: "That's just it. Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea."
MOM: "That may be, but when he gets into words of three or four syllables; but what would you do while he's in words of one syllable––indeed, of two or three letters?"
CM: "I should never put him into words of one syllable at all. The bigger the word, the more striking the look of it, and, therefore, the easier it is to read, provided always that the idea it conveys is interesting to a child. It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
MOM: “You are taking high moral ground!”
3. Opportunity to teach careful pronunciation:
- “Careful Pronunciation.––The little people will probably have to be pulled up on the score of pronunciation. They must render 'high,' sky,' 'like,' 'world,' with delicate precision; 'diamond,' they will no doubt wish to hurry over, and say as 'di'mond,' just as they will reduce 'history' to 'hist'ry.' But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation.” (p. 206)
4. Check your child’s comprehension.
- This is a step Charlotte Mason does not dictate in her three examples only because she assumes it will not be a problem.
- “As for understanding what they read, the children will be full of bright, intelligent remarks and questions, and will take this part of the lesson into their own hands; indeed, the teacher will have to be on her guard not to let them carry her away from the subject.”
- Do double check that your child is understanding what they are reading to catch any problems early.
5. Goal of Reading at Sight lessons: To know each word thoroughly.
- “And he is to know those nine words so well that he will be able to read them wherever they may occur henceforth and for evermore.”
- You’ll see how this works in Charlotte Mason’s 3 examples.
6. Length of Reading at Sight lessons: About 20 minutes max. Stop before your child’s interest runs out, while he’s still wanting more.
"The first lesson must have been long?"
"I'm sorry to say it lasted half an hour. The child's interest tempted me to do more than I should." (p. 213)
- I've personally found that my younger readers have a shorter attention span. Don't be afraid to stop after 5 or 10 minutes. 20 is the normal attention span of a 6 year old early in the day.
7. Other Materials:
- Alphabet letters (as described in previous posts)
- Blackboard & chalk
- Possibly word manipulatives from the reading material (more about these later)
- Word notebook. Your child should write all the new words he learns in here daily.
“By this time he has eighteen new words on the blackboard of which to make sentences with the nine loose words of 'pussy’... Tommy's new words are written in his 'note-book' in print hand, so that he can take stock of his possessions in the way of words.” (p. 221)
(Note: A very young child may not be capable of keeping a word notebook. Please don’t start this unless your child is at least 6. The fine motor skill requirement here may cause more harm than good before then. Focus on air writing the new words if you have a younger child.)
- Phonics resources. I suggest printing out Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery from Don’ Potter’s website and purchasing either The ABCs and All their Tricks or Handy English Encoder Decoder. Also see Post 3 for more phonics resources.
What Charlotte Mason is reacting against:
1. Ugly reading & mistakes in pronunciation due to purely sounding out new words.
“Ordinary Method.––Now, compare the steady progress and constant interest and liveliness of such lessons with the deadly weariness of the ordinary reading lesson. The child blunders through a page or two in a dreary monotone without expression, with imperfect enunciation. He comes to a word he does not know, and he spells it; that throws no light on the subject, and he is told the word: he repeats it, but as he has made no mental effort to secure the word, the next time he meets with it the same process is gone through. The reading lesson for that day comes to an end. The pupil has been miserably bored, and has not acquired one new word. Eventually, he learns to read, somehow, by mere dint of repetition; but consider what an abuse of his intelligence is a system of teaching which makes him undergo daily labour with little or no result, and gives him a distaste for books before he has learned to use them.” (p. 206-207)
2. Boredom through endless pure-phonetic instruction (“spellers” of the olden days - take a look at an old Webster speller for an example - there are some at www.donpotter.net).
“It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
Next post: Actual Reading-At-Sight lessons!
Please feel free to leave comments, especially if I've interpreted any of Charlotte Mason's suggestions incorrectly!
Don’t forget - these “Reading by Sight and Sound” lessons are actually not the beginning of reading lessons. They come after the introduction of the Alphabet & basic word building - see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3. Also make sure to read my 1st introduction containing overarching principles about Reading by Sight and Sound. I personally prefer to work from one or two leading principles when homeschooling my children - and Charlotte Mason’s make a lot of sense!
I've taken these quotes from Charlotte Mason's section on learning to read from Volume 1, pages 199-222. Read it for yourself here: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
1. Learning to read can be difficult, and is not “natural” for most children.
“We forget how contrary to Nature it is for a little child to occupy himself with dreary hieroglyphics––all so dreadfully alike!––when the world is teeming with interesting objects which he is agog to know... It is quite necessary he should know how to read; and not only so––the discipline of the task is altogether wholesome for the little man... Let us recognise that learning to read is to many children hard work, and let us do what we can to make the task easy and inviting.” (p. 214)
2. Charlotte Mason does not claim to hold the perfect “recipe” for learning how to read.
- “Let us bear in mind that reading is not a science nor an art” (p. 215)
- “There are absolutely no right and necessary 'steps' to reading, each of which leads to the next; there is no true beginning, middle, or end.” (p. 215)
3. Reading instruction should be personalized to each child.
“The children must still be the first consideration with the educator.
4. The point of reading lessons is to learn the symbols for the spoken word;
- “Learning to read is no more than picking up, how we can, a knowledge of certain arbitrary symbols for objects and ideas.” (p. 215)
5. This is best accomplished using interesting whole words as the basis for the reading lessons (and secondly learning the phonetic components of those words for further instruction).
- “What we want is a bridge between the child's natural interests and those arbitrary symbols with which he must become acquainted, and which, as we have seen, are words, and not (meaningless phonetic combinations of) letters.” (p. 216)
6. Goal: DELIGHT your child with the reading lessons, and your child is set for a long-term love of reading!
- "Reading is to him a delight henceforth, and it will require very bad management indeed to make him hate it." (p. 219)
CHARLOTTE MASON’S USE OF PHONETIC INSTRUCTION:
(Warning: Charlotte Mason sounds very anti-phonics in her writing here. Please don’t forget all of the phonetic groundwork she has laid which we have already discussed. In truth, her approach to reading is a blended approach using both whole-word and phonetic instruction. Since the whole-word vs. phonics debate has continued throughout this century, I’ve concluded personally that probably a blend is best - it takes some of both types of instruction for a child to truly learn to read. If your child is weak in one area or the other, by all means, focus on the type of instruction which your child needs.)
1. Charlotte Mason does not agree in endless phonics instruction which is disconnected from words.
“No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him.” (p. 215)
2. The next step in language learning (after speaking) is the recognition of the written symbol of the entire word. Phonetic sounds are meaningless, and thus should not be the sole basis of reading instruction.
- “The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea of full of interest.” (p. 215)
- “We forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain... It's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him... Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea." (p. 208-209)
- “All this (the movement to spell words phonetically rather than historically) goes on the mistaken idea that in reading we look at the letters which compose a word, think of their sounds, combine these, and form the word. We do nothing of the kind; we accept a word, written or printed, simply as the symbol of a word we are accustomed to say. If the word is new to us we may try to make something of the letters, but we know so well that this is a shot in the dark, that we are careful not to say the new word until we have heard someone else say it." (p. 210)
- “First, as last, they (children) learn to know a word by the look of it, and the more striking it looks the easier it is to recognise; provided always that the printed word is one which they already know very well by sound and by sense.” (p. 211, emphasis mine)
3. Charlotte Mason believes there is a “moral strain” in teaching reading lessons from a purely phonetic basis, and also that it is too laborious a task for young children.
“For the arbitrary symbols we must know in order to read are not letters, but words. By way of illustration, consider the delicate differences of sound represented by the letter 'o' in the last sentence; to analyse and classify the sounds of 'o' in 'for,' 'symbols,' 'know,' 'order,' 'to,' 'not,' and 'words,' is a curious, not especially useful, study for a philologist, but a laborious and inappropriate one for a child. It is time we faced the fact that the letters which compose an English word are full of philological interest, and that their study will be a valuable part of education by-and-by; but meantime, sound and letter-sign are so loosely wedded in English, that to base the teaching of reading on the sounds of the letters only, is to lay up for the child much analytic labour, much mental confusion, due to the irregularities of the language; and some little moral strain in making the sound of a letter in a given word fall under any of the 'sounds' he has been taught.” (p. 215)
- “We could, if we liked, break up a word into its sounds, or put certain sounds together to make a word. But these are efforts beyond the range of children.” (p. 210-211)
4. Charlotte Mason focused on phonics for pre-reading lessons (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3) and will continue to do so in her “Word-Building” or “Spelling” lessons. The difference between these & a purely phonetic approach is that she derives her phonetic instruction from the words of the reading lesson, rather than teaching phonetic sounds and then basing words off of those.
- “Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
- “For the second, and less important, part of our task, the child must know the sounds of the letters, and acquire power to throw given sounds into new combinations.” (p. 216)
- “Though many of our English words are each a law unto itself, others offer a key to a whole group, as arrow gives us sp arrow, m arrow, h arrow; but we have alternate days––one for reading, the other for word-building––and that is one way to secure variety, and, so, the joyous interest which is the real secret of success." (p. 214)
THE PRACTICAL SIDE: WHEN & HOW LONG?
1. Age: Whenever a child is ready. Make sure you have covered this ground first (see Post 1 Post 2 Post 3). An average child will probably be ready around age 6 (the age reading lessons are scheduled on Charlotte Mason’s PNEU school schedules). Some gifted children will be ready earlier, or may even teach themselves; some late bloomers will be ready later. No need to push - anywhere from age 3 to 8 is considered “normal” from a developmental perspective (this from my personal studies, not Charlotte Mason).
- “Time of Teaching to Read, an Open Question.––Reading presents itself first amongst the lessons to be used as instruments of education, although it is open to discussion whether the child should acquire the art unconsciously, from his infancy upwards, or whether the effort should be deferred until he is, say, six or seven, and then made with vigour.” (p. 199)
2. Attitude: As a special privilege.
- “I think it's rather a good idea to begin a new study with a child on his birthday, or some great day; he begins by thinking the new study a privilege.”
- "His reading lesson is a delight, of which he is deprived when he comes to his lesson in a lazy, drawling mood." (p. 222)
3. How long will it take to teach my child how to read?:
- “Let him learn ten new words a day, and in twenty weeks he will be to some extent able to read, without any question as to the number of letters in a word.” (pages 215-216)
- “Every day increases the number of words he is able to read at sight, and the more words he knows already, the longer his reading lesson becomes in order to afford the ten or dozen new words which he should master every day.
A Year's Work.––'But what a snail's progress!' you are inclined to say. Not so slow, after all: a child will thus learn, without appreciable labour, from two to three thousand words in the course of a year; in other words, he will learn to read, for the mastery of this number of words will carry him with comfort through most of the books that fall in his way.” (p. 206)
- Not all children will learn 10 words a day; some will learn fewer, some more. So it may take more or less than a year for an individual child.
GENERAL “HOW TO”
1. Use high quality literature. Prose primarily, poetry secondarily.
“At this stage, his reading lessons must advance so slowly that he may just as well learn his reading exercises, both prose and poetry, as recitation lessons. Little poems suitable to be learned in this way will suggest themselves at once; but perhaps prose is better, on the whole, as offering more of the words in everyday use, of Saxon origin, and of anomalous spelling. Short fables, and such graceful, simple prose as we have in Mrs Gatty's Parables from Nature, and, still better, in Mrs Barbauld's prose poems, are very suitable. Even for their earliest reading lessons, it is unnecessary to put twaddle into the hands of children” (p. 204-205)
- Note: I personally am thrilled with the Treadwell Primer and subsequent Readers. I suggest purchasing a hard copy (as opposed to e-reader) because it will get a lot of use! I like that the stories are high quality classics, yet use a limited number of interesting words to begin with. Subsequent stories add to the store of words, but not too many at a time. The Primer is all prose. Poems are added to The First Reader. These are public domain, so any reading lessons we create based on these books can be shared for free with other homeschooling families. They are fun & interesting classics, definitely not Twaddle. Case in point: my son likes to go back and reread the stories he has already learned just for fun.
- When you’re done with the Treadwell Primer, you could learn some easy readers for fun, if you wish. Little Bear, Frog & Toad, Sydney Hoff books, Henry & Mudge are all high quality, though definitely not required.
2. At this point, you may teach your child very long words. Don’t stick with “easy” one- or two- syllable words. (But make sure to cover this ground first! see Post 1 Post 2 & Post 3)
- Here is a fictional conversation between a mother & Charlotte Mason (pages 208-209):
MOM: "But the reading! I can't get over three syllables in the first lesson. Why, it's like teaching a twelve-months old child to waltz."
CM: "You say that because we forget that a group of letters is no more than the sign of a word, while a word is only the vocal sign of a thing or an act. This is how the child learns. First, he gets the notion of the table; he sees several tables; he finds they have legs, by which you can scramble up; very often covers which you may pull off; and on them many things lie, good and pleasant for a baby to enjoy; sometimes, too, you can pull these things off the table, and they go down with a bang, which is nice. The grown-up people call this pleasant thing, full of many interests, 'table,' and, by-and-by, baby says 'table' too; and the word 'table' comes to mean, in a vague way, all this to him. 'Around table,' 'on the table,' and so on, form part of the idea of 'table' to him. In the same way baby chimes in when his mother sings. She says, 'Baby, sing,' and, by-and-by, notions of 'sing,' 'kiss,' 'love,' dawn on his brain."
MOM: "Yes, the darlings! and it's surprising how many words a child knows even before he can speak them; 'pussy,' 'dolly,' 'carriage,' soon convey interesting ideas to him."
CM: "That's just it. Interest the child in the thing, and he soon learns the sound-sign for it––that is, its name. Now, I maintain that, when he is a little older, he should learn the form-sign––that is, the printed word––on the same principle. It is far easier for a child to read plum-pudding than to read 'to, to,' because 'plum-pudding' conveys a far more interesting idea."
MOM: "That may be, but when he gets into words of three or four syllables; but what would you do while he's in words of one syllable––indeed, of two or three letters?"
CM: "I should never put him into words of one syllable at all. The bigger the word, the more striking the look of it, and, therefore, the easier it is to read, provided always that the idea it conveys is interesting to a child. It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
MOM: “You are taking high moral ground!”
3. Opportunity to teach careful pronunciation:
- “Careful Pronunciation.––The little people will probably have to be pulled up on the score of pronunciation. They must render 'high,' sky,' 'like,' 'world,' with delicate precision; 'diamond,' they will no doubt wish to hurry over, and say as 'di'mond,' just as they will reduce 'history' to 'hist'ry.' But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation.” (p. 206)
4. Check your child’s comprehension.
- This is a step Charlotte Mason does not dictate in her three examples only because she assumes it will not be a problem.
- “As for understanding what they read, the children will be full of bright, intelligent remarks and questions, and will take this part of the lesson into their own hands; indeed, the teacher will have to be on her guard not to let them carry her away from the subject.”
- Do double check that your child is understanding what they are reading to catch any problems early.
5. Goal of Reading at Sight lessons: To know each word thoroughly.
- “And he is to know those nine words so well that he will be able to read them wherever they may occur henceforth and for evermore.”
- You’ll see how this works in Charlotte Mason’s 3 examples.
6. Length of Reading at Sight lessons: About 20 minutes max. Stop before your child’s interest runs out, while he’s still wanting more.
"The first lesson must have been long?"
"I'm sorry to say it lasted half an hour. The child's interest tempted me to do more than I should." (p. 213)
- I've personally found that my younger readers have a shorter attention span. Don't be afraid to stop after 5 or 10 minutes. 20 is the normal attention span of a 6 year old early in the day.
7. Other Materials:
- Alphabet letters (as described in previous posts)
- Blackboard & chalk
- Possibly word manipulatives from the reading material (more about these later)
- Word notebook. Your child should write all the new words he learns in here daily.
“By this time he has eighteen new words on the blackboard of which to make sentences with the nine loose words of 'pussy’... Tommy's new words are written in his 'note-book' in print hand, so that he can take stock of his possessions in the way of words.” (p. 221)
(Note: A very young child may not be capable of keeping a word notebook. Please don’t start this unless your child is at least 6. The fine motor skill requirement here may cause more harm than good before then. Focus on air writing the new words if you have a younger child.)
- Phonics resources. I suggest printing out Florence Akin's 1913 Word Mastery from Don’ Potter’s website and purchasing either The ABCs and All their Tricks or Handy English Encoder Decoder. Also see Post 3 for more phonics resources.
What Charlotte Mason is reacting against:
1. Ugly reading & mistakes in pronunciation due to purely sounding out new words.
“Ordinary Method.––Now, compare the steady progress and constant interest and liveliness of such lessons with the deadly weariness of the ordinary reading lesson. The child blunders through a page or two in a dreary monotone without expression, with imperfect enunciation. He comes to a word he does not know, and he spells it; that throws no light on the subject, and he is told the word: he repeats it, but as he has made no mental effort to secure the word, the next time he meets with it the same process is gone through. The reading lesson for that day comes to an end. The pupil has been miserably bored, and has not acquired one new word. Eventually, he learns to read, somehow, by mere dint of repetition; but consider what an abuse of his intelligence is a system of teaching which makes him undergo daily labour with little or no result, and gives him a distaste for books before he has learned to use them.” (p. 206-207)
2. Boredom through endless pure-phonetic instruction (“spellers” of the olden days - take a look at an old Webster speller for an example - there are some at www.donpotter.net).
“It is sad to see an intelligent child toiling over a reading lesson infinitely below his capacity––ath, eth, ith, oth, uth––or, at the very best, 'The cat sat on the mat.' How should we like to begin to read German, for example, by toiling over all conceivable combinations of letters, arranged on no principle but similarity of sound; or, worse still, that our readings should be graduated according to the number of letters each word contains? We should be lost in a hopeless fog before a page of words of three letters all drearily like one another, with no distinctive features for the eye to seize upon; but the child? 'oh, well––children are different; no doubt it is good for the child to grind in this mill!' But this is only one of many ways in which children are needlessly and cruelly oppressed!"
Next post: Actual Reading-At-Sight lessons!
Please feel free to leave comments, especially if I've interpreted any of Charlotte Mason's suggestions incorrectly!
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Reading Post 4 of 7: Charlotte Mason Reading Stage 3: Reading by Sight & Sound: Two Leading Principles
Charlotte
Mason devotes twenty-two pages to the topic of “reading at sight”
lessons and all that they entail. Wow! Even for a prolific reader, it
is difficult to get through this section of Volume 1 without some
confusion. It took me several reads to understand what Charlotte was
really getting at, and why she gave three different examples of “first”
reading lessons. With this series I hope I can clear up some of the confusion for my readers!
So let’s dig in! You can find this section of Charlotte’s Volume 1, Home Education at AmblesideOnline here: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html Scroll down to page 204, “Reading at Sight” and read through page 226 (stop before “Recitation”). Over the next few months, I will dig in to these pages.
The driving IDEAS behind Charlotte Mason’s reading lessons:
Charlotte Mason buries the two key thoughts which unify her reading lesson process in the middle of this section - but it would be helpful if you understand it right from the beginning. So let’s begin, for today, by skipping ahead to page 214, “Reading By Sight and Sound.” Read through page 216, stopping before “Tommy’s First Lesson.” And take your time! Soak it up! Hint: the key paragraph is, “These Symbols Should Be Interesting.”
Done?
OK, let’s review the beginning of that key paragraph:
The child cares for things, not words; his analytic power is very small, his observing faculty is exceedingly quick and keen... But the thing he learns to know by looking at it, is a thing which interests him. Here we have the key to reading. No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him. The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea of full of interest. How easy to read 'robin redbreast,' 'buttercups and daisies'; the number of letters in the words is no matter; the words themselves convey such interesting ideas that the general form and look of them fixes itself on the child's brain by the same law of association of ideas which makes it easy to couple the objects with their spoken names. (page 216)
WOW! So here we have it. Charlotte Mason focused on whole words as a basis for learning (rather than on little phonetic pieces) because she realized that it is the word itself that is interesting to a child. The child is not really interested in the study of phonics. Little letter combinations are, let’s face it, boring and meaningless. BUT the word that all the letters together represent is vividly interesting! (Note that language experts, such as Berlitz, confirm that the word-symbol is the next step in learning a language after mastering a spoken word.) This is why we are going to use a full word as our starting point for advanced reading lessons. (After all of the groundwork of phonics has been laid to a good extent - read my previous three posts! Post 1 Post 2 Post 3)
The partner idea follows at the end of the paragraph:
Having got a word fixed on the sure peg of the idea it conveys, the child will use his knowledge of the sounds of the letters to make up other words containing the same elements with great interest. When he knows 'butter' he is quite ready to make 'mutter' by changing the b for an m. (page 216)
A HA! Finally, the way to introduce new words. Once these advanced reading lessons have begun, the child has the opportunity to use his knowledge of the phonetic sounds of the letters to make up new word using pieces of the words he already knows - the words you teach him in his reading-at-sight lessons. Charlotte Mason knew that a child will learn to read new words by comparing their structure with words he already knows. Here she states very clearly that sounds (phonics) have an important place in the learning-to-read process.
So let's recap these two vital ideas:
1. A Charlotte Mason reading program will use an interesting word (as opposed to phonics piece) within a high-quality, attention-getting literary context, for day 1 of a reading lesson. Why? This is far more interesting to a child than working endlessly through phonics and only phonics.
2. A Charlotte Mason reading program will follow up that attention-grabbing introduction with additional phonetic work using that word's phonetic structure as a teaching tool (day 2). The child will be introduced to entirely new words (new to him) using this process. He will still be interested because it came from a word he (hopefully) loves, or at the very least, a word which arouses his interest.
The principles in her own words:
“Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
These are the basic principles you must grasp before you start your own Charlotte Mason reading lessons with your child! You can also use these to evaluate other reading programs to determine how "Charlotte Mason friendly" they are.
I'll post more when I can!
So let’s dig in! You can find this section of Charlotte’s Volume 1, Home Education at AmblesideOnline here: http://amblesideonline.org/CM/1_5b.html Scroll down to page 204, “Reading at Sight” and read through page 226 (stop before “Recitation”). Over the next few months, I will dig in to these pages.
The driving IDEAS behind Charlotte Mason’s reading lessons:
Charlotte Mason buries the two key thoughts which unify her reading lesson process in the middle of this section - but it would be helpful if you understand it right from the beginning. So let’s begin, for today, by skipping ahead to page 214, “Reading By Sight and Sound.” Read through page 216, stopping before “Tommy’s First Lesson.” And take your time! Soak it up! Hint: the key paragraph is, “These Symbols Should Be Interesting.”
Done?
OK, let’s review the beginning of that key paragraph:
The child cares for things, not words; his analytic power is very small, his observing faculty is exceedingly quick and keen... But the thing he learns to know by looking at it, is a thing which interests him. Here we have the key to reading. No meaningless combinations of letters, no cla, cle, cli, clo, clu, no ath, eth, ith, oth, uth, should be presented to him. The child should be taught from the first to regard the printed word as he already regards the spoken word, as the symbol of fact or idea of full of interest. How easy to read 'robin redbreast,' 'buttercups and daisies'; the number of letters in the words is no matter; the words themselves convey such interesting ideas that the general form and look of them fixes itself on the child's brain by the same law of association of ideas which makes it easy to couple the objects with their spoken names. (page 216)
WOW! So here we have it. Charlotte Mason focused on whole words as a basis for learning (rather than on little phonetic pieces) because she realized that it is the word itself that is interesting to a child. The child is not really interested in the study of phonics. Little letter combinations are, let’s face it, boring and meaningless. BUT the word that all the letters together represent is vividly interesting! (Note that language experts, such as Berlitz, confirm that the word-symbol is the next step in learning a language after mastering a spoken word.) This is why we are going to use a full word as our starting point for advanced reading lessons. (After all of the groundwork of phonics has been laid to a good extent - read my previous three posts! Post 1 Post 2 Post 3)
The partner idea follows at the end of the paragraph:
Having got a word fixed on the sure peg of the idea it conveys, the child will use his knowledge of the sounds of the letters to make up other words containing the same elements with great interest. When he knows 'butter' he is quite ready to make 'mutter' by changing the b for an m. (page 216)
A HA! Finally, the way to introduce new words. Once these advanced reading lessons have begun, the child has the opportunity to use his knowledge of the phonetic sounds of the letters to make up new word using pieces of the words he already knows - the words you teach him in his reading-at-sight lessons. Charlotte Mason knew that a child will learn to read new words by comparing their structure with words he already knows. Here she states very clearly that sounds (phonics) have an important place in the learning-to-read process.
So let's recap these two vital ideas:
1. A Charlotte Mason reading program will use an interesting word (as opposed to phonics piece) within a high-quality, attention-getting literary context, for day 1 of a reading lesson. Why? This is far more interesting to a child than working endlessly through phonics and only phonics.
2. A Charlotte Mason reading program will follow up that attention-grabbing introduction with additional phonetic work using that word's phonetic structure as a teaching tool (day 2). The child will be introduced to entirely new words (new to him) using this process. He will still be interested because it came from a word he (hopefully) loves, or at the very least, a word which arouses his interest.
The principles in her own words:
“Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these.” (p. 216)
These are the basic principles you must grasp before you start your own Charlotte Mason reading lessons with your child! You can also use these to evaluate other reading programs to determine how "Charlotte Mason friendly" they are.
I'll post more when I can!
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Getting Ready for Hymn Study this year & For All the Saints
What a beautiful hymn is September's For All the Saints! Here is my homemade recording: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bzn5JnBFIS3TUEdneXpac2NrU1k. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Cyber Hymnal for use of the midi file in the accompaniment (which I use according to their fair use guidelines). There are eleven verses (whew!) but it goes quickly. It's worth it to take time to consider the words.
Here are You Tube links:
With Words on Screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAz0EUZqu0
Beautiful British version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBrq-C5VYE
We enjoy following Ambleside Online's hymn schedule during the year for our morning worship time as a family. I print out the PDF files of each hymn from Cyber Hymnal's website (although this month's does not contain the words, so I print those out separately), copy for each reading member of our family, and use during our hymn time every morning. They also usually have a short description of the hymn and the author.
Here are the PDFs I am printing out this year (when they don't have words, I print the words separately):
Sept: For All the Saints: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Oct: For the Beauty of the Earth: http://www.hymntime.com/TCH/
Nov: Anywhere with Jesus: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Dec: Praise God to Whom all Blessings Flow: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Feb: This is My Father's World: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Mar: Ah, Holy Jesus: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Apr: Count Your Blessings: http://www.hymntime.com/TCH/
May: All Creatures of Our God & King: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
June: Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
July: Holy, Holy Holy: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Aug: Sun of My Soul:http://www.hymntime.com/
For the PDFs without words, please let me know if you happen to find a different source somewhere with the words in addition to the music! I would love to be able to share with everyone. :) I personally have a few hymnals we can pull from - but I'm sure not everyone has hymnals just lying around their house! (Thank you, used book sales!)
Copyright: I claim copyright for the voice on all of my recordings. However, you may feel free to use them for private, educational, or church use. Please contact me if you would like to use them for any for-profit endeavor. Also, please ask permission to play on your website (you may always link to the recording, if you like).
Thanks!
:) Jen
Here are You Tube links:
With Words on Screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAz0EUZqu0
Beautiful British version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBrq-C5VYE
We enjoy following Ambleside Online's hymn schedule during the year for our morning worship time as a family. I print out the PDF files of each hymn from Cyber Hymnal's website (although this month's does not contain the words, so I print those out separately), copy for each reading member of our family, and use during our hymn time every morning. They also usually have a short description of the hymn and the author.
Here are the PDFs I am printing out this year (when they don't have words, I print the words separately):
Sept: For All the Saints: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Oct: For the Beauty of the Earth: http://www.hymntime.com/TCH/
Nov: Anywhere with Jesus: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Dec: Praise God to Whom all Blessings Flow: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Feb: This is My Father's World: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Mar: Ah, Holy Jesus: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Apr: Count Your Blessings: http://www.hymntime.com/TCH/
May: All Creatures of Our God & King: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
June: Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
July: Holy, Holy Holy: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/
Aug: Sun of My Soul:http://www.hymntime.com/
For the PDFs without words, please let me know if you happen to find a different source somewhere with the words in addition to the music! I would love to be able to share with everyone. :) I personally have a few hymnals we can pull from - but I'm sure not everyone has hymnals just lying around their house! (Thank you, used book sales!)
Copyright: I claim copyright for the voice on all of my recordings. However, you may feel free to use them for private, educational, or church use. Please contact me if you would like to use them for any for-profit endeavor. Also, please ask permission to play on your website (you may always link to the recording, if you like).
Thanks!
:) Jen
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