Knowledge vs wisdom: Why you need the seven liberal arts

During a conversation about the difference between the liberal arts and the humanities, a friend sent me this article to read yesterday, called "The Great Books... Enemies of Wisdom."

At first, I was taken aback by the title. I glanced at it briefly.
I almost skipped it, thinking to myself.... yeah, yeah, yeah.
It doesn't take too many reads around the homeschool forums to realize that the most verbal advocates of a non-Great Books education actually love the so-called Great Books, and frequently teach/ use their authors.... in context.

But I read it, and I'm so glad I did. It was like the missing puzzle piece that I was looking for to help me connect the ideas in my mind about education, as well as the nail in the coffin for me when it came to other "classical" homeschooling ideas I watch mothers who home educate throw around.

Making a case for a true classical education in the Catholic tradition.... an education where the ability to THINK is the precursor to anything, the article points out so clearly what we homeschooling mothers keep trying to put our finger on when we grasp at "educating" our children. We don't like the modern education system because it is obviously a fact-dumping ground.
We want a "classical" education because it trains our children to think clearly.
We know and understand that great ideas are what counts.
We know they are to be found in books. But if we're honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that just reading these authors is only half the picture. Following a train of thought is one thing. Adding to it is another. Having your own, original train of thought? A feat that can't possibly be taught just by reading a booklist. (For those of you who do ambleside, you could compare this to teaching the booklist without teaching grammar, latin, arithmetic, etc. It's half an education, which is no education at all.)

That's because a Classical Education is a set of skills taught to the student-- reasoning skills that inevitably lead to seeing the world around oneself clearly.

Without these skills, the "Great Books" are only a shadow of the possibilities of a child's education. I know, because I'm married to a man with these skills. He studied philosophy, whereas I was raised on the Great Books. I "know" the humanities, but I don't always understand the ideas being shared without tremendous effort on my part.
My husband, on the other hand, understands whatever ideas come at him very clearly, and is able to use reason to quickly reject or apply these ideas on the basis of truth-- But he has less of a general knowledge of names and faces. Whenever we grapple with ideas, he sees the big picture, and I often see only what is right in front of me. I often know something is important, whereas he understands WHY it is important.

I wanted something better for my kids than the education I received, which though enjoyable and much better than what I saw others around me doing, was not thorough enough to help me be WISE, only knowledgeable.

I wanted for my children to experience the type of education that will help them to follow in the footsteps of their father, who is able to reason. Reason leads to truth, and if my greatest concern is that they know the truth and thus be free, then I need to teach them to reason, not just to know facts.

This is why a liberal arts education became so important to me.... but not a "liberal arts" education in the modern sense. I love a good book discussion, but only when the minds holding the discussion are sharpened tools at the ready.

The real liberal arts, of which there are seven (Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music), are the instruments which sharpen the tool of the mind. Once formed, the mind can attack any idea and seek out the truth and effectively find it.

Back in 2008, The Classical Liberal Arts academy put out a similar article, titled "Why the Great Books Aren't so Great." I remember reading it and I would ask you, if you liked the above article, to read it yourselves.

I am now more convinced than ever that the CLAA is offering to students something which you cannot find anywhere else in the homeschool setting. I would encourage you all to give it a shot and see if it doesn't change the way your children think. After all, isn't that the goal?

7 Tips for teaching handwriting

We have tried a lot of different things around here (Getty Dubay, traditional French Cursive lessons, Handwriting without Tears, CLAA.... to name a few!) to teach handwriting, mostly because I was just feeling my way around the how to teach aspect.
We are finally settling into a kind of rhythm, and it seems to be going pretty well.
Perhaps sharing what I've learned along the way will be helpful to someone.

1. First, determine a style of cursive and a style of print writing and plan to stick to it.

This was hard for me because I grew up learning two styles-- Slanted American-style cursive and French cursive, which is straight up and down and round. I wanted my kids to learn both, and their schoolbooks require that they learn both, since we bilingually homeschool. Also, French cursive was important to me and American cursive was important to my husband.
What I learned is that they don't need to be able to WRITE in all the different styles to be able to READ in them. ;)
So just pick one, and focus on that. We decided to stick with New American Cursive.

2. Second, work at both simultaneously.

I was convinced they needed to master printing before cursive and couldn't get them moving fast enough in printing since I wanted to teach cursive in first grade. Duh.
It is both necessary and good to get them working in both at the same time if you want to do both early. We do our copywork in print for now and practice penmanship in cursive. This will change starting around third grade.

3. Go slowly.

Even if all the child does in the beginning is a perfect letter formation, let them work using the habit of perfect execution. It is good practice to have them go back and circle their best work, as well, in the beginning. And keep lessons short-- 10 minutes max. Handwriting is not a subject-- it's a precursor to actually communicating.  Don't draw out their lessons and frustrate them with writing from the beginning. Instead, have them take their time and go slowly for short periods of time each day.

4. Use copywork and make it enjoyable.

Using Charlotte Mason's principles--- copywork becomes fun and not a chore. Let them select the sentence or paragraph to copy on their own, from a good book they have read.  I do copywork alongside them to show them that EVERYONE can enjoy working on their skills. Let copywork become a habit, so that when you add dictation they already have the skills necessary to succeed at it.

5. Help them to understand WHY they need to write.

CLAA is the best program out there for this--- to help them clearly understand why writing is an important skill. Don't just teach them to write. Help them to see why writing is necessary.

6. From the beginning instill in them the habits of attention and perfect execution.

All it takes is a little bit of work on the parent's part to encourage them to pay close attention and to work to the best of their ability. I have found that when I FORCE the learning, they stumble, but when I encourage them to use these habits in an "I'm on your team, isn't this fun" kind of way, It is much easier to get them to work well.

7. Select good quality paper and pens.
I encourage the use of pen (so that they can't go back and erase mistakes--- although this frustrates them it also causes them to pay attention) and give them good quality paper and pens to work with. I grew up writing with a fountain pen, which is -- to me-- an important skill. The fountain pen requires them to write correctly because they can break the nib or mess up the paper if they don't form the letters properly. It also allows for fast writing, which is a critical skill in my homeschool where we do dictation often and take notes as we read. I encourage you also to use the kind of paper you will use to write with from the beginning. No need to spend a lot of time and money learning to write on different types of paper,  with different colored lines and such, as children are perfectly capable of LEARNING to write neatly on normal, lined paper... whatever your paper of choice may be.

If you plan on teaching print first and then cursive later, I strongly recommend the Getty Dubay program, which uses CM's principles except for ONE... it lacks the "good literature" element by having children copy silly sentences and facts. However, the children don't notice and love doing this program, and by love, I mean LOVE.

If you plan on teaching cursive from the start, I recommend the Memoria Press New American Cursive series. My preschoolers start by tracing dry erase charts of New American Cursive, Capital and lowercase print letters. When ready, they move on to the workbooks (There are three) which are pricey, but IMO worth it if you can afford them for the extra practice they provide. If you can't, the dry erase charts WILL suffice if you keep at it. We also use Memoria Press' copybook series in the very beginning, simply because they take all the hard work and do it for me, providing excellent scriptures and poems for the children to copy in an easy to use workbook. This goes against CM's principle of having them select their OWN copywork, but in my experience the children enjoy these tremendously and will have plenty of time later (these end in third grade) to choose their own copywork.

*Note: before they begin handwriting, have your preschoolers do what the French call "graphisme," exercises that improve hand-eye coordination. These include tracing drawings, making spirals and drawing lines across the page.