Charlotte
Mason in Modern English
Charlotte Mason's ideas are
too
important not to be
understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style
of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her
books. This is an imperfect
attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to
modern parents. You may read
these, print them out, share them freely--but they are copyrighted to
me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio
PART II
pg 43
Outdoor Life For Children
I.--A Growing Time
Meals
Outside
Country
dwellers already know what wonders fresh air can do for a person. Their
children practically live
outside when they aren't eating or sleeping. But even country people
don't make the most of their opportunity--when the weather is warm, why
not eat breakfast and lunch outside? We are so stressed from our hectic
lives, but time spent in the open air is great for the mind and body
and could even prolong our lives. Those who have been sick with fever
and headache and felt soothed by the deliciousness of fresh, cool air
often make it a rule never to be indoors
when they can be out.
Besides the benefit of an added hour or two of fresh air, meals eaten
outside are often delightful, and there's nothing like happiness to
convert food and drink
pg 43
into healthy blood and bodies. And, meanwhile, children are storing
lots of glad memories of a happy childhood. In their old age, the
memories of the shadows playing on the white tablecloth, the sunshine,
laughter, hum of insects, smells of flowers are being filed away in
their
minds to gladden their thoughts later.
For
Those Who Live in Towns and Suburbs
But
not everyone is lucky enough to live in the country where they can eat
outside. So, what about those of us who live in the city or suburbs?
How
much time should we dedicate to making our children stay outside? And
how can we pull it off? With all the pressure to give our children a
good education and adequate socialization, it's good to remember that a
mother's first duty should be
to provide a secure, quiet early childhood. For the first six years,
children should have low-key schedules so they can just be and grow,
and they should spend most of their waking hours outside enjoying the
fresh air. This is not just good for their bodies; their heart, soul
and mind are nourished with exactly what they need when we leave them
alone in a stress-free environment among happy influences that give
them no reason to rebel and misbehave.
Possibilities
of a Day in the Country
A
mother may brag, 'I make sure to send my children outside, weather
permitting, for an hour every day in the winter and two hours in the
summer.' That's a good start, but it's not enough. First of all, the
mother shouldn't send them,
she should take them. If at
all possible, she should take
them outside, because, although they need to be left to themselves much
of the time, there are still things that she needs to make sure get
done, and things she needs to prevent during their long days in the
open air. And they should be long days spent outside--
pg 44
not two, but four or even six hours on every tolerable day from April
til October. But a stressed, overworked mother may see no way to give
her children more than an hour on the neighborhood sidewalks. Well,
long hours in fresh air is the ideal
for children. It may not be practical for every family, but when
mothers understand the good that a measure can do, they will often work
miracles to provide it. A twenty minute trip with a picnic lunch can
make a day in the country accessible to almost anyone, but why do it
just one day? Why not do it lots of days? Or even every nice day?
But suppose we have those long days in the open air, what is to be done
with them so that they are pleasant days? There must be a plan, or else
it will be all work and no fun for the mother, and the children will be
bored. There is a lot to get accomplished in this large block of time.
The children must be kept in a good temper if they are to get the most
out of the refreshing, strengthening atmosphere of the great outdoors.
They must be left to themselves for a good part of the day to take in
their own impressions of nature's beauty. There's nothing worse than
children being deprived of every moment to wonder and dream within
their own minds because teachers and adults are constantly talking at
them, not leaving them a moment's peace. Yet, the mother must not miss
this opportunity of being outdoors to train the children to have seeing
eyes, hearing ears and seeds of truth deposited into their minds to
grow and blossom on their own in the secret chambers of their
imaginations. In addition to increasing their powers of observation,
children should spend an hour or two in free, active playing, and a
lesson or two should be done.
No
Story-Books
Once the mother
and children have arrived in a pleasant, breezy area, it is not the
mother's duty to entertain the children. No reading aloud or
storytelling--in fact, there should be as little talking from her as
possible, and what little there is should have a definite purpose.
After all, who worries about entertaining children with story books
during a puppet show, or at the circus?? And the great outdoors has
lots more to offer than either of those. A wise mother, upon arriving
at their spot, first sends the children off to run wild and play and
make as much noise as they want. No difference needs to be made between
big and little kids. In fact, the little ones tend to copy the older
kids in lessons, playing, and picking up anyway. As for the baby, when
he is put down, he will kick and crawl and grab at the grass, loving
every minute of his freedom as he takes in nature in his own way. He
should be dressed in something comfortable that can handle a bit of
dirt and play.
II.--Sight-Seeing
Soon the children return to their mother, and, while they are still
fresh and alert, she sends them on an exploring expedition to see who
can spot the most, and tell the most, about a farther hill or
pg 46
brook or thicket. This game delights children and endless variations
can be used. It's a fun way to teach exactness and attention to detail.
How
to See
The mother looks herself at what she's sent them to look at
while they're gone. When the children come back, they will excitedly
tell what they saw: 'There's a beehive.' 'Lots of bees were going in
it.' 'There's a long garden.' 'It had sunflowers.' 'And daisies and
pansies.' 'There were lots of pretty blue flowers with rough leaves;
what do think those were, Mom?' 'Probably borage, it's an herb that
attracts bees.' 'Oh, and there were apple trees and pear trees on one
side, and a path in the middle.' 'Which side were the trees on?' 'The
right. No, the left, wait, which hand do I write with? Yes, the right.'
'The apple tree had a million
apples on it!' 'A million??' 'Well, maybe not a million, but a whole
lot!' And so on, so that the mother gets the complete details little by
little.
Educational
Uses of Sight-Seeing
This
is just a game to the children, but the mother is actually doing some
very valuable teaching, training the children's powers of observation
pg 47
and their ability to articulate precise details. She is increasing
their vocabulary by giving them the name of the thing they need at the
right moment, when they ask, 'What was that?' She is also training them
to be accurately truthful by seeing that they tell exactly what they saw without leaving out any details or
exaggerating. A child who gives lots of details in his description such
as, 'A tall tree ending in a point with roundish leaves; it wouldn't be
good for shade because all the branches go up,' deserves to be told the
name of the tree and any facts about it that the mother knows. But a
careless observer who doesn't even know whether the tree was an elm or
beech shouldn't get any reward. The mother shouldn't move an inch to
even look at it or allow herself to be drawn into talking about it
until the child becomes discouraged and goes off to inspect and report
more accurate detail, such as whether the bark is rough or smooth and
how the leaves are shaped. Then the mother can show more interest and
allow the child to lead her to see it.
Discriminating
Observation
Little
by little, the children are learning to pick out important details
about every feature of the landscape around them. Imagine what a
treasure they will find when, years later, they're able to pull out
memories etched in full detail of the beautiful scenery from their
childhood home! The sad thing about most peoples' childhood memories is
that they are too vague and blurry to bring much enjoyment. Why? Not
because they were forgotten, but because the details of the scene were
never thoroughly seen. Even
at the time, the memory was only a hazy impression that certain main
objects were there. So, naturally, after
pg 48
decades, not much can be recalled because the child wasn't paying
enough attention to record the memory well at the time.
III.--'Picture-Painting'
The
Method of Picture Painting
The ability to take
a mental picture of the beauties of nature is so fulfilling that it is
well worth teaching our children how to do it. Keep in mind that
children tend to focus on what's right in front of them and have to be
coaxed to notice what's more distant. Have children look thoroughly at
some landscape, then ask them to close their eyes and bring up the
image in their minds. If any part of their image isn't clear, then they
should take another look at the actual landscape to fill in details,
and then try again. When their mental image is complete, have them
describe it, like this: 'I see a pond, it's shallow on the side closest
to me but deeper on the other side. There are trees along the water on
the deep side and you can see a reflection of the green leaves and
branches so clearly that it looks like there's a woods under the water.
Almost touching the trees in the water is some blue sky with a soft
white cloud. When you look up, you can see the same white cloud but
there's more sky because there are no trees up there. There are also
beautiful water lilies in the far edge of the pond and two or three of
the leaves are turned up so that they look like sails. Near where I am,
three cows have come to get a drink. One is already in the water nearly
up to her neck,' etc.
Strain
on the Attention
Mental
picture painting is a game that children enjoy, although it takes a
good bit of
pg 49
concentrated attention and is therefore tiring. It should only be done
once in a while. Still, it's good to have children memorize some scenic
landscape images because, while making the memory requires effort, the
habit of looking more closely at detail is learned as an unconscious
by-product when children are asked to make detailed mental images every
now and then.
Seeing
Fully and in Detail
In
the beginning, children will need help to get them started. So the
mother might show how it's done by saying, 'Look at the trees reflected
in the water. What do the leaves standing up remind you of?' until
children notice the main details. She should memorize a couple of
mental images and impress her children by closing her eyes and
describing it from memory. Children are such little mimics that they
will copy her example, even using variations of her own minute details
in their own versions.
Children will enjoy this game even more if the mother introduces it by
describing 'a wonderful gallery I've seen,' and then she goes on to
describe individual pictures of different landscapes, children playing,
an old lady sewing--and then she explains that these pictures don't
have frames and aren't painted on canvas. This gallery goes with her
everywhere inside her mind, and, every time she sees a pretty picture,
she studies it until she can make a mental image to add to her
collection. So now,
pg 50
these pictures are hers forever, wherever she goes, to look at anytime
she wants.
A
Means of Solace and Refreshment
The
habit of storing mental images can't be overrated. It can comfort us
and refresh us. Even in our busiest times, we can stop and take a
mini-vacation in our own piece of nature to be refreshed and gladdened
by 'the silence and calm of things that can't speak or feel.'
This kind of break is available to everyone, but not everyone is able
to carry away an impression strong enough to last. Only some can
revisit scenes from memory that have enough detail to stir the blood,
feel in the heart and bring peace. Yet this isn't the gift of a few
special poets; anyone who tries hard to really see can have it, and parents can
train their children to do this.
However, mothers must be careful not to spoil the child's innocent
delight in making mental pictures by showing him off in front of the
neighbors or Dad and making him perform from memory. She would be better
pg 51
not to say anything to anyone, even if the child has a poetic knack for
it, at least not when the child can hear.
IV. Flowers and Trees
Children
Should Know Local Field Crops
While
doing the mental image exercises, opportunities will come up to make
children familiar with rural tools and jobs. If there are farms around,
they should learn about meadows, pastures and crops like alfalfa,
potatoes and corn, in every stage from plowing the field to harvesting
the crops.
Wildflowers
and the Life-Cycles of
Plants
Myrtle, jewelweed, black-eyed Susan, every wildflower
that grows in the neighborhood should be well-known to children. They
should be able to describe the shape, size and placements of their
leaves and whether the flowers have a single blossom or a head of them.
When they know the flower so well that they could recognze it anywhere,
they should take a look at the area it grew in so that they'll know
what kind of terrain to look for it again in the future. 'We should be
able to find wild thyme here!' 'This is just the kind of place
marigolds grow in; we must come back here in spring to see if there are
any!' If the mother lacks a knowledge of plants, a good field guide
will be indispensable, especially if she can find one that includes
little facts and fun things about the plants. To
pg 52
collect flowers, press them and glue them to cardboard with the name in
English, what kind of habitat it grows in, and when it was found. This
is fun and educational. Even better is to have children make careful
watercolor paintings of their favorite flowers, or of the whole plant.
The
Study of Trees
Children
should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should
pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm,
a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year. In the winter
they will see the color of the bark, the way the branches grow and the
thickness of its build. They don't need to learn the name of each tree
yet, that can wait until leaves appear. They may notice that the
branches get stiffer and more alive-looking as spring approaches and
life stirs in the leaf buds. They can watch as the leaves unfold,
revealing many waterproof layers. Each species has its own unique way
of wrapping its leaves. The lime tree's buds are reddish, the ash bud
resembles a deer's foot and is not green but black. Tennyson's poem,
The Gardener's Daughter, refers to eyes 'more black than ashbuds at the
beginning of March.'
Seasonal
Changes Should be Followed
So
many wonders appear in spring that it's hard to keep up. There are
dangling flowers, and red-centered flowers on the hazel--both clusters
of flowers on the same tree! There are the festive
pg 53
leaves bursting out on all the trees, learning the shapes of the
leaves, the names of each tree, and learning to recognize them by
observing differences in them. And then come the flowers, each enclosed
in a pretty little bed of a bud, wrapped as intricately as the leaves
but less carefully guarded since they wait to come out until the ground
is warmer and the sun is out to welcome them.
Leigh
Hunt on Flowers
Leigh
Hunt said to imagine: What if we had never seen flowers, and they were
sent to us as a reward for our goodness? Imagine how carefully we'd
watch the growth of the stem and every unfolding of each leaf in
wonder. And then imagine our astonishment when a bud appeared, and
began to unfold in all its delicate, colorful beauty. Well, we have
been seeing flowers for years--but our children haven't. Flowers are
still new and wonderful to them., and it's the fault of grown-ups if
every new flower they see ceases to delight them.
And what about those six trees that the children were watching since
winter? Now children will
pg 54
see that they also flower, although those flowers may be as green as
the leaves. Some trees don't get their leaves until the flowers have
blossomed and fallen off. Soon there is fruit, and children witness
first-hand that every plant bears 'fruit and seed after his kind.' This
is old news to grown-ups, but a good teacher will present all knowledge
as new and exciting by imagining himself in the place of the child and
being amazed with him. Every small miracle that ceases to amaze us is
like a new discovery to our children, as exciting as the discovery of
gravity to Newton.
Calendars
It's a great idea to
have children keep a calendar to record when and where they saw the
first oak leaf, the first tadpole, the first primrose, the first ripe
blackberries. Then next year they can pull out the calendar and know
when to anticipate seeing these things again, and they can note new
discoveries. Imagine how this will add enthusiasm for daily walks and
nature hikes! A day won't go by when something isn't seen to excite
them.
Nature
Journals
As soon as a
child is old enough, he should keep his own nature notebook for his
enjoyment. Every day's walk will give something interesting to
add--three squirrels playing in a tree, a bluejay flying across a
field, a caterpillar crawling up a bush, a snail eating a cabbage leaf,
a spider suddenly dropping from a thread to the ground, where he found
ivy and how it was growing and what plants were growing with it, and
how ivy manages to climb.
pg 55
An intelligent child will think of millions of little things to record
in his nature notebook. At age 5 or 6, he can illustrate his notes with
watercolors. At first he may need a little help with knowing how to
work the medium in general terms, but he should be left to figure out
the rest in whatever way he wants. If he asks how to make purple, we
can tell him to use red and blue, but he should be allowed to mix it in
the proportions he wants to get the right shade. The skill of drawing
may be addressed in some other way, but not in his nature notebook,
that should be for him to fill as he sees fit. A six year old will add
pictures of dandelions, poppies and irises with enthusiasm and accuracy
for no other reason than because he wants to record what he sees.
An exercise book with a stiff cover can be used as a nature notebook,
but the paper inside should be suitable for both watercolor and drawing.
'I
Can't Stop Thinking'
One
little girl said, 'I can't stop thinking, I can't make my mind sit
down!' She speaks for many children. And we adults have very little
imagination; we think that a child's mind will rest when we send him
out to the yard to play after his lessons. But a child's mind is
constantly busy with ideas coming in and out, like a millstone turning
and turning that, if it has nothing to grind, will begin to gring up
itself.
A child should be given work to do to provide something for his mind to
grind, but he should be given
pg 56
things rather than abstract symbols, real things from nature in their
true habitat--in the meadows and woods and shorelines.
V. Living Creatures
Nature
is A Field of Interest and Fun
Live
animals are always interesting to children. Pets become beloved friends
even to children who live too far from the country to see squirrels and
wild rabbits. And usually one can find a pond nearby, even if it takes
a car drive to get to, where children can catch tadpoles, carry them
home and watch them change as their fins disappear, their tails get
shorter and disappear, and the tadpole is suddenly a frog. Turning over
any rock can reveal ants. Everyone knows how wise it is to consider the
ways of ants. If you need more persuasion, read ant specialist Lord
Avebury's account of a twelve-year-old ant. Bees are also interesting.
One teacher was giving a lesson based on the poem that begins, 'How
doth the busy little bee,' but the children weren't interested because
none of them had ever seen a bee! A child who has never known a bee or
birds or flowers is missing a lot, but
pg 57
children living in slums may be so unfamiliar with nature that they
wouldn't know a wasp from a honey bee!
Children
Should be Encouraged to Watch Nature
Children
should be encouraged to quietly and patiently watch the bee, spider,
ant, caterpillar or other wildlife that crosses their path. If this
seems dull to them, they just need to watch more closely, because their
alert eyes can catch the smallest ways of insects in ways that
grown-ups can't without magnifiers. Ants can be watched at home by
making [or buying] an ant
farm. Take twelve ants from an ant-hill (not red ants, they may bite!),
some eggs and a queen. The queen is easy to spot because she's bigger
than the other ants. Take some dirt from the ant hill and put it into
the ant farm with the ants. Leave a hole in a top corner plugged but
accessible. The ants may be restless for a couple of days, but will
then begin to resettle and start arranging the dirt. Once a week,
remove the stopper
pg 58
and put 2 or 3 drops of honey on it. Every 3 weeks, add 10 drops of
water. In the winter, the ants hibernate and won't need food or water.
An ant farm can last for years.
If children are terrified of bugs, it's usually because they caught the
fear of adults around them. Charles Kingsley's children ran after him
carrying creatures such as 'a lovely toad' or 'sweet beetle' in their
bare hands. Yet even Kingsley was horrified by spiders. A child who
spends an hour watching a grub won't be scared of it. Everything he
learns should be added to his nature notebook by him or, if he's too
little to write, his mother. He can include where he saw it, what it
was
doing, its color, how many legs, etc. Someday he will hear its
scientific name and
it will seem like an old friend.
The
Power of Impression in the Home
Some
children are born naturalists, but even those who weren't were born
with
natural curiosity about the world should be encouraged to observe
nature. Most children are influenced by the opinions of those around
them and if their parents don't care about nature, or are disgusted by
little creatures, they will pick up that attitude and all the wonders
of nature will pass them by. The book The
Natural History of
pg 59
Selborne would not exist if
Gilbert White's father had not taken him on daily discovery walks in
Selborne. John Audubon said that as soon as he began walking and
talking, his father constantly pointed out objects in nature. His
father would bring him birds and flowers and show him details such as
the birds' elegant movement, or the softness of the feathers, or how
they
showed fear or pleasure, or their perfect form. He would talk about
their seasonal migrations, where they lived and how they would change.
It was this early influence that excited Audubon and inspired him to
make birds his life's work and think about the God who created them
What
Town Children Can Do
Children
who live in town can watch sparrows by leaving them breadcrumbs. There
are lots of fun things to be done with sparrows. A man in the garden of
Tuileries tamed them to eat from his hands and come when he called a
pg 60
specific individual bird, even though most people couldn't tell them
apart.
A child who can't tell the difference between a thrush, a swallow, a
blackbird or a skylark is as sad as those children who had never seen a
bee. A nice first acquaintance with a critter is to find a furry
caterpillar shuffling along looking for a quiet place to rest. He can
be put in a box covered with netting that can be seen through. He won't
need food because he'll soon spin a cocoon, split his skin, and enter
the cocoon, where he'll stay for months. At last, he will break out of
the cocoon as a butterfly. Most six-year-olds have done this type of
science project. It isn't just fun, it's more educational than a whole
science book, or lessons in geography
pg 61
or Latin. It's no good when children get their knowledge of science
from books. They get so used to reading about marvels of nature and
never seeing it for themselves that nothing interests them. The way to
cure this is to let them alone for awhile and then start something
totally different. It's not the children's fault that nature bores
them; they are naturally curious and eager to explore the world and
everything in it. There's a poem that says that the person who can best
appreciate God is the one who is familiar with the natural world He
made.
Nature
Knowledge is Most Important
for Young Children
Adults should realize that the most valuable
thing children can learn is what they discover themselves about the
world they live in. Once they experience first-hand the wonder of
nature, they will want to make nature observation a life-long habit.
All people are supposed to be observers of nature and there's no excuse
for living in a world so full of amazing plants and animals and not be
interested in them.
Mental
Training of a Child Naturalist
Besides
appreciating the world, observing nature develops other mental
powers--ability to focus, to tell things apart, to patiently seek
answers. These things are useful in every facet of life. And, for the
person who observes nature, life is so
pg 62
interesting that there's no time to develop mischievous characteristics
that come from being bored. How can a person be irritable or sullen or
stubborn when he's always preoccupied with nature?
Nature
Observation Especially Valuable for
Girls
Nature study is even more important for girls because
girls are more apt to fall into ugly moods because they have so much
time
on their hands. Girls have less mental challenges and therefore need an
absorbing passion to keep their minds on. Their weaker bodies need the
strengthening of the great outdoors. Also, girls and women tend to be
self-centered and spend all their time thinking about petty matters and
worthless admirations, and nature study can lift their thoughts onto
bigger things. It's good to get girls thinking of something outside of
themselves since they're the ones who will be raising and teaching the
next generation.
VI.--Field-Lore and
Naturalists' Books
Reverence
for Life
Should
children study biology, botany and zoology by dissecting and taking
things apart? Not usually; a child younger than 6 or 8 years old
shouldn't be pulling flowers apart to study them at a time when they
should be learning to revere and protect life rather than destroy it
(mosquitoes and other pests excepted!) An awe for
pg 63
the precious gift of a life that can be destroyed by a cruel child, but
can never be brought back, is an important lesson for children. A poem
says that we should grow in knowledge, but it's more important to grow
in reverence.
The child who sees his mother reverently and softly kiss a snowdrop
flower
is learning something that no book can teach him. When they are older,
they will understand that all science is merely a study of God's
creation and that sometimes sacrifices must be made in the name of
knowledge for the good of others. Then, all the things they have seen,
and all the facts they have collected will form a great foundation for
studying science. Until then, let them 'consider the lilies of the
field and the fowls of the air.'
Rough
Classification Should be Made First Hand
Children
should know the correct name for parts of things, such as petals,
sepals, etc, to help them describe what they see. They should be
encouraged to group things together by leaf shape, or leaf vein
pattern, or number of flower petals, or whether they keep their leaves
all year, or animals that have a backbone, or animals that eat grass or
eat meat, etc. Collecting and sorting plant specimens is fun and good
practice
pg 64
in noticing similarities and differences in things. Any beginning book
of botany should be helpful in classifying leaves and flowers.
The ability to group things together by type and find differences is
one of the higher orders of intellect, and every opportunity to use it
first-hand should be encouraged. Learning classifications from a book
takes no mental power, except maybe rote memory. If the skill of rote
memory is deemed necessary, then the child might just as well memorize
some phrases in a foreign language to satisfy that requirement!
Naturalist
Books
If
children don't need to learn Latin names of things, then does that mean
they don't need books about nature? No, but their nature books should
be the kind that reveal the wonder of nature and inspire in children a
wish to make their own nature discoveries. Some examples of these are
books by Arabella Buckley, Thomas Seton and William J Long. Although
some of them are written by highly educated scientists, they are fun to
read and can be understood by laypeople.
Mothers
and Teachers Should Know about
Nature
A mother should read these kinds of books herself, not
just to collect little bits of knowledge to pass on to her children as
they come across things she's read about, but so that she can learn
enough to answer their questions and help the children with their
observations. Not only mothers, but anyone who spends
pg 65
time with children should learn about nature. Children will love a
person who knows the things they want to find out about and such a
person may influence a young mind to have a passion for nature that
will be retained for life, and might even make a discovery that will
benefit the whole world.
VII.--The Child Gets
Knowledge By Means Of His Senses
Nature's
Lessons
A child
watching something totally new to him, such as a farm plow at work, is
as
intently focused as a nursing baby. In fact, he is taking in nourishment--the kind
of mind food that his brain needs. A young child uses all of his senses
to find out every facet of knowledge he can about everything new that
comes his way. Everyone has seen how a baby, given a spoon to keep him
quiet, will look at it, feel it, put it in his mouth, and finally bang
it to see what kind of noise it will make. This is like school for him,
and he learns at a surprisingly fast rate when you consider how much
there is just in the act of seeing alone to a baby who still doesn't
know the difference between a flat object and a round one. Everything
is new to him and some concepts, such as flat and round, can only be
learned by experience.
pg 66
At first, a tiny baby will grasp at the air until it makes contact with
an object. That's how he learns where things are, since direction means
nothing to him yet. And the moon looks close enough to grab. He has no
idea that a horse or a housefly aren't toys--far and near are foreign
concepts to him, and it takes trial and error to understand the
relationship between what he sees and where things are. But he learns
naturally at his own pace, never tiring, and slowly learning just what
he needs to know about the world around him.
And this is exactly what a child should be doing for the first few
years. He should be getting familiar with the real things in his own
environment. Some day he will read about things he can't see; how will
he conceive of them without the knowledge of common objects in his
experience to relate them to? Some day he will reflect, contemplate,
reason. What will he have to think about without a file of knowledge
collected and stored in his memory? A child who has witnessed the sun
high in the sky on a summer's day at noon, and how much lower it is at
noon in the winter, will understand why a vertical sun makes the
tropics hot, and how the latitude of the horizon effects climate.
Too
Much Pressure
Many people worry
about putting young children under pressure and stress with too many
lessons. It is true that formal lessons may be too much for a very
young child because
pg 67
that's not what his mind is ready to handle yet. It would be like
expecting a toddler to bench press a hundred pounds. But his mind is
alert and active and has no problem handling what Nature intended.
Children never get tired of finding out, in their own way, about new
things. This is just the kind of thing they hunger for because that's
what their minds need to grow on.
Object
Lessons
Young children
crave knowledge about new things. But how do we satisfy their hunger?
Preschools and kindergartens use object lessons, which are as meager as
trying to feed a hungry horse on one bean a day. A child going about
his daily routine at home comes across lots of new things, although
with less formality than a school might schedule. Yet neither schools
nor most homes make a point of exposing the child to the kind of feast
his eyes crave.
A
Child Learns from Real Things
Grown-ups
are more mature and have been educated at school to get most knowledge
from words--either conversation or reading. But when we try to make
a child learn that way, he is slow to catch on because he doesn't have
enough life experiences to attach real meanings to very many words.
Most words are like the vocabulary of a foreign language, known only by
hearsay. But put a real object in front of a child, and he knows more
about than most grown-ups. His mind is made to absorb that kind of
knowledge. As his experiences with real things grows, his
knowledge of words grows because language is mankind's attempt to
express what we know. This is why
pg 68
children ask endless questions. They aren't trying to learn about
objects; they are trying to learn the words with which to express what
they already know. How sad that any child, with such a drive to learn,
should be confined within the walls of a house or humdrum streets of
his neighborhood. Even a child allowed to run free in the country
won't learn as much as he might if he just gets random observations
with no plan or direction. All that potential is wasted.
The
Sense of Beauty Comes From Early
Contact with Nature
Children can learn an unlimited amount of
things that they'll never forget before even beginning school. A child
is
ten times better off if he knows where to find the prettiest birch
trees, or the four best ash trees in his neighborhood, than a boy who
doesn't even know the difference between an elm and an oak. He is
not only likely to be more successful, but happier, too, because the
beauty of nature affects our feelings. Dr. Carpenter said that, when
our minds have contact with nature, our sense of sublime beauty and
order is touched. Dr. Morrell said that people who have learned to
appreciate form and beauty credit exposure to beauty in their
infancy, before they could even talk.
pg 69
Most
Grown-ups Lose the Habit of
Observation
Mary Ann Evans (pen name George Eliot) owes her
father for letting her go on long
business drives through the country with him. She would stand between
his knees, quietly observing everything. She used her memories of those
beautiful rural scenes when she wrote Adam Bede and The Mill on the
Floss. Wordsworth grew up on the mountains and wrote poems about
nature. Tennyson used imagery from his childhood. Dickens, speaking
philosophically in David Copperfield, said that he was a very observant
child. Before children can even speak, they're able to form images from
their surrounding. The ability to remember details comes naturally to
children; a few retain that skill as adults and keep a sense of
freshness and contentedness as well.
VIII.--The Child Should Be
Made Familiar With Natural Objects
An
Observant Child Should be Exposed to Things Worth Observing
What good is it to be
observant if
pg 70
nobody bothers to make sure there are things around to observe? And
here is the difference between town streets and the rich atmosphere of
the country. Towns have lots of things to see, and children who live in
town get street-smart, to be sure. But the kind of knowledge one gets
of the streets are bits and pieces that don't relate to anything else
in the wide world and are a dead end of information. Knowing one's way
around town might be convenient, but a person isn't really
larger-minded for knowing which side of the street Walmart is on, and
how to get to the grocery store.
Every
Object in Nature is a Member of a
Set
But take any object from nature, and it relates to
others like it, variations in a species or group. Whatever you learn
about it can be applied to the science of all the others like it. If
you break off a twig in the spring, you'll see a ring of wood around
the pithy center, and you have witnessed right there one of the
distinguishing characteristics of many plants. Or, pick up a pebble and
note that it's smooth and rounded from being worn by the weather and
water--and you have witnessed the concept of erosion, which is
responsible for most beautiful landscapes--valleys, canyons, and hills.
A child who spends time with nature doesn't need to have erosion
or dicotyledonous [two-leafed plants]
described to him; he sees it for himself. Difficult abstract ideas that
he might not have come face to face with will be easily illustrated to
him by their effects on very familiar objects.
pg 71
Power
will Increasingly Pass into
the Hands of Scientific Men
Mothers are obligated to make sure
their children spend time with nature and to help them develop the love
of investigation. Charles Kingsley said that those who understood
science would rule the world because nature would have taught them
their own true ignorance in light of the vastness of the universe. And
familiarity with the laws of nature would be knowledge that would help
them act wisely.
Intimacy
with Nature Encourages
Personal Well-being
But preparing them for a place in society
is only one benefit of early nature study. A child who loves nature
will have an interest that will enrich his life forever and keep him
healthy. Kingsley also said that he knew of some uncontrollably wild
and reckless people whose thirst for adventure was channeled into
constructive pursuits such as hunting for wild birds' eggs. A girl can
escape the vanity of silly, trivial luxury by keeping her mind occupied
on collecting shells,
pg 72
fossils and flowers. Thus, her mind and soul are protected from
worldliness by 'considering the lilies of the field, how they grow.'
IX.--Out-Of-Door Geography
Small
Things May Illustrate Bigger Things
We
detoured from our topic to impress on mothers how important it is to
inspire a love of nature in their children. A passion for natural
objects can be like a wellspring of refreshment to a dry heart.
Meanwhile, what about that mother from a few chapters back, who has
been outdoors with her children? What is she to do next? She mustn't
neglect teaching topography in her attempt to get children outside, as
one teacher did, who when asked how she had time to fit it all in,
said, 'Oh, I leave out subjects of no educational value; I do not teach
geography, for instance.'
Pictorial
Geography
But a
mother knows better. She will find lots of ways to sneak in geography
lessons. A duck pond can illustrate a big lake. A small brook can be
like the Nile River. A little hill can be the Swiss Alps. A copse of
trees can be the Amazon rainforest. A reedy swamp might be the rice
fields of China. A meadow could be like the western prairies. A field
of purple flowers might be the cotton fields of the south. Every kind
of geographical type can be illustrated casually this way. The concept
of maps can be taught in later years.
pg 73
The
Position of the Sun
Children
should also learn to tell the time by the sun's position in the sky.
They will undoubtedly ask if the sun ever gets tired, and then the
mother can talk about the relative sizes of the sun and earth and about
the orbits of bodies in the heavens.
Clouds,
Rain, Snow, and Hail
Clouds,
rain, snow, hail, wind and fog are all wonders of God that mothers will
be asked to explain to their children in simple terms. If children are
to understand any concepts of maps and geography at all, they will have
to begin by learning about what's right in their own environment.
Distance is something that children must first learn at home, and it's
fun for them to learn it. A child's pace [one step] can be measured and
compared to the paces of his siblings. Then he can count how many steps
it takes to walk to a certain point and multiply to get the
distance--so many steps equals so many yards distance. Various walks
around the home can be measured in this way. The time it takes to walk
one hundred steps can be calculated and used as a reference to estimate
other distances walked. If it takes two minutes for him to walk one
hundred yards, he can calculate
pg 74
how far he's gone after walking for 30 minutes or 35 minutes, and he
can figure out how long he has to walk to go one mile. The longer the
legs of a person, the bigger their pace. That's why most grown-ups can
walk a mile in just twenty minutes.
Direction
After the child is
comfortable with calculating distance, the concept of direction can be
introduced. The first step is making him aware of the progress of the
sun. If he observes where the sun rises and sets in the sky during the
year, he will have already learned something. He should be made aware
of how the sun's light reflects in different windows in morning and
evening, the differences in shadows at various times of day, how
shadows are made by playing with a figure between a screen and a
flashlight [or perhaps by making
hand shadows!] He should be made aware of the heat when the sun
is at its highest in the sky, and how the sun being lower in the sky
results in cooler temperatures. He can be reminded how he feels warmer
in a room while standing close to the source of the heat rather
than in a far-off corner. When he is familiar with all of these
observations related to the sun, he will be ready for the concept of
direction, since that depends entirely on the sun.
East
and West
The first ideas
to learn are that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Just
by knowing this he'll be able to tell in which direction nearby streets
and buildings are from his house or the town
pg 75
where he lives. Have him stand so that east is towards his right where
the sun rises and west is towards his left, where the sun sets.
Everything straight in front of him is north, everything behind him is
south. If he is in a certain place and wants to know in which direction
a certain road goes but he has never seen the sun rise or set there, he
can observe where his shadow falls at noon. At noon, all shadows fall a
little north. Then he just has to face north so that east is on his
right side and west is on his left side to tell which direction the
road goes.
Practice
in Finding Direction
Here's
a way to learn something about the names of England's great railways.
With a little practice, telling direction by the sun will get easier.
Let him practice by looking out windows at home or school to observe
which direction they face, or which direction rows of houses or church
walls face. Soon he'll be able to tell the direction of the wind by
observing smoke blowing from a chimney or branches or fields blowing in
the breeze. If the wind blows in from the north, it means colder
weather and perhaps some snow. If it's a west wind (from the west), it
may mean rain. Children should understand that a wind is named for
where it came from, not where
it's
pg 76
blowing to. In the same way,
he is English because he's from England. He doesn't become French
because he's going to France. Now the concepts of distance and
direction can be combined. A certain building might be judged to be 200
yards east of the gate, or a town might be two miles to the west. The
child will soon find that not everything is exactly north or south or
east or west. Let him figure out his own way of solving that
difficulty: 'It's more east than west,' or 'It's sort of east but not
quite,' or 'It's halfway between east and west.' He will appreciate the
value of exact expression when he comes across a need for it on his
own.
Later he can have a compass and observe how it marks all four
directions. The compass will display the in-between names for all those
difficult-to-pin-down directions he came across before.
Compass
Drill
Then he can do
compass exercises like this: Have him stand so that the compass points
north. Then have him turn towards the east and observe how the needle
moves in a different direction. However he turns, the needle follows
with a movement of its own. How does the compass know when he moves?
Have him walk straight in any direction and note that the needle isn't
perfectly still, because, no matter how hard he tries, he
pg 77
can't help walking a little to the right or to the left. Have him move
in a complete circle very slowly and watch the needle also make a
complete circle in the opposite direction as it tries to stay pointed
towards the north.
Boundaries
Once children
understand the concept of direction, the concept of boundaries comes
easily. A certain field, for example, is bounded by a road on the
south, by a fenced field on the south-east, a hedge on the north-east,
etc. By this, children come to understand that boundaries are no more
than a space marked out by whatever touches it. A field may touch
another without having any visible line between them, but it's still a
boundary. Children should have a clear understanding of this because,
later, they will come across countries in their geography lessons that
are 'bounded by such and such.' Whether a space is a village, town,
pond or field, children should be made to observe what kinds of crops
grow in their area and why the land was used for those crops, or
pasturing sheep, and what kinds of rocks are in the ground, and how
many different kinds of trees grow there. For every field or space they
examine, they should sketch it out in the dirt, drawing a rough outline
of the shape and lettering N, S, E and W.
Drawing
Plans
Once they have drawn a
few of these rough plans of outdoor spaces, they can sometimes pace the
length of a field and draw a kind of map to scale, allowing one inch
for every five or ten yards. Then they can sketch the lay-out of the
garden or barn or house.
pg 78
Local
Geography
A child's own
area may provide opportunities to learn what a hill is, or a dale,
pool, brook, watershed, current, bed, bank, tributary, and the relative
position of nearby towns. He should be able to sketch this roughly with
chalk or a rock or even a stick in the dirt, estimating the distances
of all those things.
X.--The Child And
Mother-Nature
The
Mother Must Resist Too Much
Talking
Does such an ambitious plan sound overwhelming for the
mother? Does she imagine herself having to talk for 6 hours and still
not able to get through all that's expected of her? On the contrary,
the less talking she does, the better. As for the amount of work to be
done, remember the fable of the pendulum. Yes, there are countless
tocks to be ticked, but there will always be a second of time to tick
in, and no more than one tick is expected in any one second.
Something
New Every Day
Children
are quick. In 15 minutes, they will have finished with their
sight-seeing exercise or imaginary picture painting. Other than that,
an occasional discovery that the mother shows them with a name and
maybe a dozen words about it at just the right time are all that's
needed; the children will have formed an interest in something they can
continue on their own. Just one
pg 79
or two of these discoveries should happen in any given day.
And the day still has lots of time to play. The hardest part for the
mother will be to keep from filling the time with her talking, and
keeping the children from spending their day listening to her instead
of going off on their own. Children love pleasant times chatting with
their mother, but communing with their greater Mother (earth) is more
important, and they should be left to themselves to do it. It should be
a peaceful time--the mother can read her book or write a letter,
resisting the impulse to chatter; the child stares up at a tree or down
at a flower, doing nothing in particular and thinking nothing in
particular. Or else the child pretends to be a bird in a tree, or just
runs in joyful abandon, as children like to do. And all the time,
Nature is doing its part to influence the child, vowing to do what
Wordsworth's poem says--to take the child as its own and make him a
child of Nature.
Two
Things a Mother May Do
There
is one thing the mother is allowed to do to come between Nature and her
children, but only once a week or once a month. And even then, it isn't
with lots of lecturing talk, but with a look and comment of delight as
she notices and draws the child's attention to some especially
beautiful color in the landscape or cloud formation. There is one
other thing she may do, but only rarely and with tender reverence. She
might do this as a prayer, since that
pg 80
is a softer and less direct way for the child to hear something. She
might point out some beautiful flower or especially grand tree as
something that isn't just a thing of beauty, but a beautiful thought of
God that he delights in and loves to see us enjoy. This kind of
sympathetic comment touches a child more than many sermons about
divinity.
XI.--Out-Of-Door Games, etc.
The day's obligations aren't over yet. There still needs to be an hour
or two of games in the afternoon and at least one lesson completed.
Just thinking about lessons may seem dull, but it only has to be a
short lesson, maybe ten minutes long. In fact, shorter is better, and
the little break and focused attention will give renewed zest to the
playtime after that.
The
French Lesson
The lesson
to be squeezed in during the ten minute break is French. Children
should learn French orally, by hearing and repeating French phrases.
They should begin when they're young enough that the difference in
accent doesn't sound so striking and unfamiliar, when they're young and
uninhibited enough not to be embarrassed to try saying the words. They
should learn a few new French words every day, maybe 2-6 words. Words
they've already learned should be kept in use so they don't forget
them. It is important to keep their tongues and
pg 81
ears accustomed to French words, so the lessons should be done every
day without fail. It might be easier to fit it in with whatever is
happening on that day's excursions--the new French words might be
leaves, branches, or trunk of a tree. Or they might be the colors of
flowers, ways a bird gets around, clouds, animals, children. In fact,
the new words should be just one more way for the child to express the
things that are in his mind.
Noisy
Games
Afternoon games
after lunch are important for older children, although the younger ones
will probably be worn out by then from the activity of the morning,
which is so good for their muscles. They can take a nap in the open air
and wake up refreshed. Meanwhile, the older children can play. The more
active they are, the better for their health. This is one reason why
the places they go should be a bit secluded--they can yell as loud as
they
want and not bother anyone. People rarely think of the muscles of the
internal organs, but the yelling and shouting that children love so
much, is nature's way of exercising their internal organs so that they
grow and develop properly. People complain about weak lungs or weak
chest, and it never occurs to anyone that strong lungs and a strong
chest come like everything else--by exercise and hard work. Still,
pg 82
children's yelling can be made to sound more pleasant by
encouraging them to make musical and rhythmic noise, like the French
children who dance and sing in their play. These kinds of games were
probably played at weddings and funerals, like the games children
played
in Jerusalem long ago.
Singing
Rhymes and Rounds
Before the Puritans
made people more serious, people of all ages used to dance out little
dramas on the village green while they sang little rhymes like the ones
French children still sing. Some of them still exist and can be heard
when children play--There came three dukes a-riding, Oranges and lemons
say the bells of St Clemons, Here we come gathering nuts in May, etc.
There are lots of these little sing-songy rhymes that get the feet to
tapping. And with topics like dukes, oranges, nuts--who can resist?
Kindergarten teachers teach little educational rhymes to children, but
theirs are usually pointless and don't grab the children's attention
and get passed down from one generation of children to the next in the
same way that the old ones have, even though they've never been written
down in books.
pg 83
Jumping-rope
and Badminton
Baseball,
tennis, and soccer are great games when children are old enough for
them. They help develop the muscles and teach children the discipline
of playing by the rules. But our mother with her small group of
children under nine won't be up for such organized games. They will
more likely be playing tag, follow the leader, racing, chasing and all
kinds of fun games that they'll make up. Even better is a hoop, a ball,
a
racquet, or a jump rope. The best kind of jump rope is a single
skipping rope. Jumping backwards through it is even healthier than
forward because the chest expands more. Badminton is a good game,
providing an opportunity to excel. It is worth noting that Jane Austen
was so good at shuttlecock (a game like badminton) that she impressed
her nieces and nephews. In badminton, practicing in order to get good
exercises many muscles and develops grace. It can be played indoors or
out. The best practice is to keep the birdie in the air with a racquet
in each hand to develop both arm muscles. But for me to arbitrarily
assign one game over another is pointless since games tend to change in
fashionable popularity as much as clothing styles.
Climbing
Mothers don't like
their children to climb very much. Ripped clothes, scraped knees,
pg 84
and toes making holes in shoes (and even worse accidents!) make it a
risky amusement. Yet it really is great exercise. Few skills use so
many muscle groups and yet develop grace. And the bravery and
resourcefulness it demands are so beneficial that even girls should be
encouraged to try it. Children learn to heed caution, too, which makes
them less prone to take foolish dares. Remember not to panic if a child
looks precarious--don't startle the child by yelling out 'Get down from
there!' or 'You'll break your neck!' because that could actually make
the child fall. Town children can also go boating or swimming by taking
a trip to the sea or the lake on a vacation. Or, they can use swimming
pools in town. Most children should learn to swim at age seven, not
just because it could keep them safe in the water, but because it's a
fun way to use their muscles.
Clothing
Children should be
dressed appropriately for their outings, preferably in wool, serge or
flannel. Wool is better than cotton and
pg 85
linen because it helps retain some body heat but doesn't attract the
sun's heat. So a child wearing wool who is hot from playing won't get a
sudden chill from losing heat too quickly like a child wearing linen.
And he stays cooler in the sun and warmer in the shade.
XII.--Walks In Bad Weather
Winter
Walks are as Necessary as Summer
Walks
So far, everything here has been for summer weather, but
it's not summer in our part of the world all year. But how to get fresh
air and exercise in wet or cold weather is more important since most
people don't need any encouragement to be outside when the weather is
nice. The best thing is for children to be outside in the winter for 2
or 3 hours a day, maybe broken up so that they're out for a while in
the morning and then again in the afternoon.
Pleasures
of Walks in Frost and Snow
When
there's frost or snow on the ground, children have fun sliding,
throwing snowballs and building from snow. But even when the snow is
slushy and dirty, or the sky is gray, they should have interesting
things to do outside so that their hearts are cheerful even when the
day is cold and dreary.
Observations
in Winter
Everything
that's already been mentioned about looking for sights, and painting
imaginary landscapes in the mind, and French lessons and discoveries to
be noted in
pg 86
the nature notebook can be done in the winter as well as summer, and
there is plenty to see then. A tree bare of leaves may be guessed to be
an oak by its trunk shape. That can be recorded in the nature notebook,
and then, when spring comes, the children can look at the leaves and
see if their guess was right. Birds driven to search for food are
abundant in the winter.
Various poems talk about observations that can be made in winter.
Cattle are still out, behind fences. The sun still rises and sets. Long
shadows can be seen from plants and trees. Sparrows come out of their
shelters. Robins [robins in England
are not the same as the American
robin] sing and flit from twig to twig, shaking snow from
tree branches.
There is enough to see outside in winter to satisfy any poet. In
fact, winter may be even better because there aren't so many things
going on in nature that they crowd each other out. It's easier to
notice what's there.
Habit
of Attention
Winter
walks, whether in town or in the country, afford many opportunities to
develop the child's habit of paying attention. The French magician
Robert Houdin said that he and his son used to play a game where they
would pass by a shop only long enough to get one good look at the shop
window. Then they'd go a few steps away and pull out paper and pencil
and start listing to see who could remember more
pg 87
items from the shop window. Houdin was surprised at his son's quick
memory. His son could often remember 40 objects, while Houdin could
only remember 30. When they went back to check their lists, his son was
rarely wrong. This is one idea you might try on your own winter walks.
Walks
in Wet Weather
But what
about rainy weather? Rain, unless it's really heavy, doesn't harm
children if they're dressed properly. They shouldn't wear waterproof
clothes because, although the rain will stay out, the skin won't be
able to breathe and being able to get rid of waste through the dampness
of the skin is a good way to ward off disease.
Outer
Garments
Children
should wear coarse woolen clothes that they can change as soon as they
get home so they don't catch a cold. This should be common sense. Wet
cloths are put on the forehead of someone with a fever to evaporate
heat from his body. But removing heat by evaporation is not what
you want to do when coming in from the rain. Being wet is no more risky
than taking a bath if the wet clothes aren't allowed to stay on as they
dry, because the drying process takes body heat with it as it
evaporates. It's the loss of body heat, not the wetness itself, that
causes colds.
pg 88
If a child is active and having fun, then a little rain won't hurt him.
But if the child already has a cold, then activity might increase any
inflammation, so the child should stay in.
Richter [presumably Jean Paul, the
poet who wrote Hesperus] said that spring rain was like an
electric bath and very healthy. Whether that's true or not, rain does
clear the air, which is healthy for the air of dirty cities. And, in
any case, rain won't hurt anyone. Lots of exercise in the open air is
so healthy that rain shouldn't stop children from going outside unless
they're sick. A wet walk tramping through rain is fun. Even the rain
beating down feels good. Jogging and running in the rain is excellent
as long children don't overtire themselves.
Precautions
Although being out
in the rain is fine, children shouldn't sit around in wet clothes. If
they're going on a visit or to school or church where they won't have a
chance to change, they should use waterproof wraps to keep their
clothes dry.
XIII.––'Red Indian' Life
Scouting
Baden Powell's book
Scouting inspired hundreds of
families to take to the great outdoors on
scouting expeditions.
pg 89
One of the exercises that can be fun is for four people to decide on a
place to ambush. The other team sends out a scout who must find the
ambush and then alert his comrades without being detected. Every family
should have a copy of Scouting to help recapture the kind of Indian
skills that we've lost by our civilized modern lives. It's good to know
how to be alert and able in the wild.
Bird-Watching
Stalking birds
for the purpose of watching them in their native environment is much
more challenging and exciting than stalking nests to collect the eggs.
It's also more humane. Being a good scout is useful in stalking birds
because it enables you to creep as silently as a shadow behind the
bushes on hands and knees without disturbing even a twig or pebble,
until you're almost face to face with a pair of sandpipers and you can
watch them run daintily, and hear their call. If children practice
familiarizing themselves with local bird calls in the winter, when
birds are fewer in number, it will be easier to recognize specific
calls in summer. There are so many bird calls in June that it can be
bewildering trying to isolate them. But if one song that is
recognizable from the winter can be singled out, and then another, it
will be easier. The key to recognizing birds is knowing their call, and
the only way to learn new ones is to single out and listen to one
that's new
pg 90
to you. There is a joy that is remembered forever from tracking a bird
call to its source and finally locating the bird itself.
But there are rules for bird-stalking. Not only must you be quiet so
the birds aren't scared away, but you can't even think the thoughts you can't say.
If you let yourself start thinking about anything else, then you will
be distracted and miss the birds. You might not even catch their calls.
Here are two experiences from one bird lover:
'We heard a note something like a copper finch, only slower. We looked
up into the branches of an ash tree to see if we could track the bird
by following the movement of twigs. We went up to a higher path where
we were almost level to the tree tops and then we saw it--a shy little
willow warbler looking for food. A bubbling bird call drew us to the
next tree, where we spotted a wood wren and watched him sing.'
'A joyful burst of song came from a nearby bush. We crept on and found
a blackcap warbler turning excitedly around and around, singing. We
watched, and then followed him to his next station by watching the
branches move lightly. A hoarse screech from another tree told us that
a green-finch was nearby. We chased him for a long time before catching
a glimpse of him. He came to a twig where we could see him, and then he
started to sing. I would never have matched him to his song if I hadn't
seen him myself. Then we heard a squeaky call along another tree, and
found a brown wren running up and around an ash while uttering his
single note.
'Another day we hid behind a wall
pg 91
watching a field by a lake. We saw a green plover, with his dashing
crest, running and pecking. We even caught sight of the red under his
tail. Plovers camouflage themselves so well that they seem to
disappear, but we watched, hoping for another look. But someone coughed
and a dozen of them flew up with a cry that seemed to say, 'Why don't
you leave us alone?' Their flight roused other birds. We saw a snipe
fly upwards from the edge of the marsh in a zigzag pattern, make a
circle in the sky, and land again near where it had been before. Then
two sandpipers flew up along the water's edge, whistling the whole
time. By a little ditch we watched a field wagtail. When he turned just
right in the sun, we saw by his yellow breast that he was a yellow
wagtail. We heard a loud, 'tiss-sick' from near the wall and spotted a
black and white pied dishwasher with food in his beak for his babies.
He was waiting for us to leave before giving away his nest. So we crept
out of view behind a tree and, after a few minutes, we saw him go into
his hole. An angry chatter that sounded like a broom on Venetian blinds
directed our eyes to a little brown wren. In a minute, he disappeared
over the side.'
From another bird lover:
'Now the children are more interested in seeing the birds than
collecting eggs. Now, instead of asking what the eggs are like, they
want to know what the bird is
like. We've been using a field guide to identify birds and learn a few
things about them.
pg 92
'But now, about the birds we've seen. There are lots of stonechats [a thrush whose call resembles the sound
of falling pebbles] who live on the moor. I got prickles all
over my lower legs from standing in a patch of thorny shrub the first
time I saw a stonechat. As I watched, I was rewarded by seeing at least
four pairs at the same time! Do you know which birds I'm talking about?
The males are so pretty, with a black head and face, white neck,
reddish breast and dark back. They have a sweet little song, longer
than a copper finch's, and they make a chit-chat cry when you disturb
them. They don't make long flights, but can hover in the air like a
flycatcher. There are also sand martins that make holes in the cliffs.
We tried to see how deep they burrowed to make their nests. I put my
arm in all the way up to my elbow in some deserted holes and still
didn't reach the end! I think my favorites are the reed warblers. I
know of at least four pairs, and when I could get both children to stop
talking for a few minutes, we could see them hopping up the down the
reeds and singing right in full view.'
These are the kinds of treasures that bird-stalkers find. How sad for
children who never learn the gentle art of bird-stalking, which
satisfies the eyes, discourages the greed of collecting, kills no
living thing, and yet gives a wonderful possession to enjoy forever.
XIV.--Children Need
Country Air
The
Essential Proportion of Oxygen
Everyone
knows that breathing air that has plenty of oxygen is the key to a
strong life and healthy body.
pg 93
Also, anything that produces heat--living bodies, fireplace, candle,
gas
lamp--uses up some oxygen in the air. Think of the atmosphere as a
savings bank and everything that breathes or burns air is drawing some
oxygen out of the account. Where there are a lot of people and animals
breathing, and fire burning, there may be such a drain on the oxygen
that there's not enough to support life, and death occurs. Where the
drain is less urgent, animals may be fine, but people survive in a weak
state of health.
Excess
of Carbon Dioxide
Also,
everything that breathes or burns expels a harmful gas called carbonic
acid. [I'm guessing that Charlotte
Mason was thinking of carbon dioxide; carbonic acid is a weak acid
formed when you dissolve carbon dioxide in water.] Even the
purest air has a little bit of carbon dioxide, and that
tiny bit is healthy. But if you increase it with furnaces, fires, and
living beings, the air becomes unhealthy. The more carbon dioxide in
the
room, the worse the air is. If there's an unusually high amount of
carbon dioxide, as there may be when too many people huddle together in
an unventilated room, they may all quickly die of suffocation.
Fresh
Oxygenated Air
That's
why you can't enjoy fullness of life living in the city. For grown-ups,
the stimulation and excitement of city life may compensate for the
impure air in the same way that country people may trade off the
advantages of a slow rural life for a lack of stimulation and mental
sluggishness if they allow it. But for children who aren't just
breathing but growing, and therefore require more oxygen
pg 94
than adults to keep their internal organs running, it is cruel to keep
them from getting lots and lots of fresh, pure air every day, or at
least, very frequently. This kind of air isn't found in town.
Solar
Rays from Sunshine
This is only one
reason why it's so important for children to spend long days in the
country. Another reason is that they need sunshine. Country people have
a healthy, rosy color. But miners who spend all day underground have a
sickly yellow complexion. So do people who live in cellars and dark
valleys. The reason is that the ruddiness of health comes from lots of
red blood cells developing in the blood and that happens mostly in the
abundance of sunlight. Scientists are also beginning to suspect that
not only the visible rays of the sun by which we see colors, but also
invisible heat rays and chemical rays [ultraviolet?]
have some necessary effect on our health that we still don't understand.
An
Ideal Physical Model for a Child
There
was a cute picture in a recent Punch
magazine of two little boys trying out their French on their mother's
new maid. The boys were straight and tall, lean, bright-eyed, alert,
their bodies energetic and full of bounce even while they were still.
It was a delightful picture, even if only to illustrate what a healthy
child should look like. Of course, children inherit many physical
traits from their parents, but this shows what
pg 95
the proper bringing-up can do, with some limitations. Children are born
with certain inherited tendencies and, depending on how the child is
brought up, each tendency may become a weakness of character, or a
strength and blessing. Even in regards to health, it's worthwhile to
have an ideal to aim for. For example, it's a myth that a fat child is
a
healthy child. It's easy to get a child fat. But the bright eyes, open
nature, bounce in the step, clear voice, coordinated, graceful
movements that characterize a healthy child aren't just the result of
feeding or even just physical health. They are the result of a sound,
well mind and soul as well. They signify a
child who has been trained to have a quick, alert mind and a morality
that is accustomed to being happy and self controlled.
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct
any comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.