A Full Life: The Works of Charlotte Mason

Subject: Italian Gouin.

Group: Language.   Class IV.    Average age: 16.    Time: 30 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To increase the girls’ interest in foreign languages.
2. To enlarge their Italian vocabulary.
3. To give the girls more facility in understanding Italian when they hear it spoken, and also power to express themselves in it.

LESSON.

Step 1. Tell the children in a few words what the series is about.
Step 2. Explain the verbs in the infinitive, by doing the actions when possible.
Step 3. Let the children say the verbs in the infinitive.
Step 4. Let them write the verbs on the board.
Step 5. Explain, by actions, when possible, the rest of the series.
Step 6. Repeat each sentence several times slowly and carefully.
Step 7. Let the children repeat the sentences.
Step 8. Let them write the series on the board.Verbs.                 Italian.

Volere esercitarse   Luigia vuol esercitarsi sul piano.   
Aprire                  Apre il piano.
Suonare               Suona una scala e degli arpeggio
Studiare               Poi studia una Sonata di Beethoven.
Volere imparare     Che vuol imparare a mente.

         English.
Louise wishes to practise.
She opens the piano.
She plays a scale and some arpeggio
Then she studies a Sonata by Beethoven,
Which she wants to learn by heart.

Subject French Narration.

Group: Languages.    Class III.    Average age: 13.    Time: 30 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To give the children more facility in understanding French when they hear it spoken, and also in expressing themselves in it.
2. To teach them some new words and expressions.
3. To improve their pronunciation.
4. To strengthen the habit of attention.
5. To introduce a new branch of the study of French and thus increase their interest in it.
6. To have the following passage narrated by the children.

LESSON.

Passage chosen: Le Corbeau.”Auguste etant de retour a Rome, apres la bataille d’Actium, un artisan lui presenta un corbeau auquel il avait appris a. dire ces mots: Je te salue, Cesar vainquer!
Auguste charme, acheta cet oiseau pour six mille ecus. Un perroquet tit a. Auguste Ie meme compliment et fut achete fort chef. Une pie vint ensuite; Auguste l’acheta encore.
Entin un pauvre cordonnier voulut aussi apprendre a un cor beau cette salutation; il eut bien de la peine a. y parvenir, it se desesperait souvent et disait en enrageant:
Je perds mon temps et ma peine. Enfin il y reussit. Il alIa aussitot attendre Auguste sur son passage, et lui presenta Ie corbeau, qui repeta fort bien sa lec;on: mais Auguste se contenta de dire: J’ai assez de ces complimenteurs la dans moo palais. Alors Ie corbeau, se ressouvenant de ce qu’il avait souvent entendu dire a son maitre, repeta: J’ai perdu mon temps et ma peine. Auguste se mit a. rire et acheta cet oiseau plus cher que tous les autres,”

Step 1. Read the passage slowly and distinctly, stopping frequently to make sure that the children understand. Write the new words and expressions on the board and give their meanings.
Step 2. Let the children repeat the story in English.
Step 3. Read the passage straight through.
Step 4. Let the children read the passage, paying special attention to the pronunciation.
Step 5. Have the passage narrated in French, helping the children when necessary with questions.

Speak as much French as possible throughout, but always make sure that the pupils understand.

Subject: German Grammar.

Group: Languages.    Class III.    Average age: 13.   Time: 30 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To show the pupil that although the German construction of sentences may seem very much complicated, yet with the help of a few simple rules it can be made much clearer.
2. To draw these rules from the pupil by means of examples.
3. To teach two or three of these elementary rules.
4. To strengthen the relationship with the foreign language.

LESSON.

Step 1. Begin by finding out what the pupils know of compound sentences in English, i.e. that they consist of two or more clauses depending on each other, etc., and let them give one or two examples. Connect this lesson with a former one on the arrangement of words in German sentences by letting the pupils put one or two compound clauses on the board in German, and then giving the rule they illustrate.Rule. Dependent clauses take the verb at the end of the clause.

These sentences the pupils can probably give themselves.

Step 2. Get the old rule that the past participle comes at the end of the sentence, with a few examples, one or two of which the pupils may write upon the board to compare with those illustrating the new rule.

Let the pupils put several sentences on the board illustrating the new rule.

Rule. In dependent clauses the auxiliary follows the past participle.

Sentences.––’Ich kehre zuruck, wenn sie angekommen ist.’
‘Das Kind, welches verloren war, ist gefunden.’
Let the pupils translate these literally into English, and with the simple German clauses already on the board and the translation let them find the rule. Let them translate a few sentences into German to show that they thoroughly understand the rule.

Step 3. Treat the next rule almost in the same way, but have each sentence put on the board twice in different order, and find the rule by comparing these.

Rule. If the subordinate clause comes first the principal clause takes its verb at the beginning.
Sentences:––
     (1) ‘Sie gab den Armen viel, weil sie gut war!
     (2) ‘Wiel sie gut war, gab sie den Armen viel.’
     (1) ‘Er ging immer fort, obwohl er mude war.’
     (2) ‘Obwohl er mude war, ging er immer fort.’

Step 5. Recapitulate.

Subjed: English Grammar.

Group: Language.    Class II.    Average age: 10.  Time: 20 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To increase the children’s power of reasoning and attention.
2. To increase their knowledge of English Grammar.
3. To introduce a new part of speech––preposition.

LESSON.

Step 1. Draw from the children the names of the two kinds of verbs and the difference between them, by putting up sentences on the board. Thus in the sentence ‘Father slept,’ ’slept,’ as they know, is intransitive; therefore he could not ’slept’ anything, as ’slept’ cannot have an object.
Step 2. Put on the board the sentence ‘Mary went,’ and ask the children to try and make it more complete by adding an object. ‘Mary went school’ would not be sense, but’ Mary went to school’ would. Ask for other phrases saying where Mary went, as, for a walk, into the town, with mother, on her bicycle, by train, etc.
Step 3. Tell the children that these little words, on, in, by, for, with, etc., belong to a class of words which are very much used with intransitive verbs; they have not much meaning when used alone, yet in a sentence they cannot stand without an object. You cannot say ‘Mary went in,’ without saying what she went in.
Step 4. Introduce the word ‘preposition,’ giving its derivation. Because these little words always take objects after them, and because their place is before the object, they are called prepositions, ‘pre’ being the Latin word for ‘before,’ and ‘position’ another word for ‘place.’
Step 5. Write on the board the definition:––’A pre-position always has an object after it.’ Step 6. Let the children work through the following exercises:
(1) Put three objects after each of the following prepositions:––in, on, over, by, with, and from.
(2) Put three prepositions and their objects after the following:––Mary plays, Mother sits, John runs.
(3) Supply three prepositions in each of the following sentences:–– The book is __ the table. The chair is the door. I stood __ the window.
(4) Supply three subjects and verbs to each of the following prepositions and objects: __ in the garden, __ on the floor, __ by the fire.
(5) Make three sentences about each of the following, each sentence to contain an intransitive verb, a preposition and its object:––The white pony, My little brother, That pretty flower.

Subject: Literature.

Group: English.    Class IV.    Age: 16    Time: 45 minutes.

CHARLES LAMB.

OBJECTS.

1. To give some main principles to guide the choice of reading.
2. To give a short sketch of the life of Charles Lamb.
3. To show how the writer’s character is reflected in The Essays of Elia.
4, To emphasise the fact that very thoughtful reading is necessary in order to get full pleasure and benefit from a book.

LESSON.

Step 1. Decide with the pupils as to some principles which should guide us in the choice of books, such as the following:
Never waste time on valueless books.
Have respect for the books themselves.
Try to cultivate taste by noticing the best passages in any book that is being read.
Time is too short to read much; there is a necessity, therefore, for judicious selection.
The best literature can only be appreciated by those who have fitted themselves for it.
It is more important to read well than to read much.
The gain of reading some of the most beautiful literature while we are young is that we shall then have beautiful thoughts and images to carry with us through life.
To get at the full significance of a book it is necessary to dig for it.

Thus The Essays of Elia are not only pleasant reading, but they are the reflection of the writer’s character. All that Lamb was can be gathered from his works, and to rightly understand these one must know something of the grand though obscure life of Charles Lamb.

Step 2. Try to draw from the girls, who are already familiar with some of the essays, what they tell us of Charles Lamb.
Charles Lamb was born 1775. His father was in the service of Mr Salt, whose portrait is found in The Old Bencher of the Inner Temple. 1782, Charles received a presentation from Mr Salt to Christ’s Hospital (see Essay).
The result of his education is summed up in The Schoolmaster. From fifteen to twenty he was a clerk in the South Sea House (Essay).
In 1795 he was transferred to the India House. He lived near Holbom with his parents and his sister Mary. Here took place the calamity occasioned by Mary’s insanity.
Charles’ heroic resolution. One learns something of the dream he renounced in Dream Children. His work at the India House was uninteresting, but such as left him leisure for intellectual pursuits. This distribution of occupation was a means of conserving his mental balance. His literary work was all done in the evening: ‘Candle Light’ in Popular Fallacies.

The girls will then read Talfourd’s estimate of Lamb.

Letters to Robert Lloyd show Lamb’s persistent cheerfulness. This cheerful tone is also noticeable in many of his essays: Mrs Battle, All Fool’s Day, My Relations (portrait of John Lamb), Mackery End (portrait of Mary Lamb) Poor Relations, and Captain Jackson. C. Lamb died 1834.

Step 3. Summarise by questions.

Subjed: History.

Group: History.   Class IV.    Age: 16.   Time: 40 minutes.

THE STATE OF FRANCE IN 1789.

OBJECTS.

1. To establish relations with the past.
2. To show how closely literature and history are linked together and how the one influences the other.
3. To try to give yet a clearer idea of the social and political state of France before the Revolution than the girls have now, and to draw from them the causes which brought about the Revolution in France and at this time (1789).LESSON.

Step 1. Begin by noticing the state of France generally. Feudalism was still in existence, without its usefulness and with most of its abuses, and it led to the great division of Classes––the Privileged and the Unprivileged. In both Army and Church it was impossible for the unprivileged to rise by merit; all offices were filled by the privileged classes. These were exempt from many taxes. Draw from G– and S– the chief taxes––Taille, levied on property, and the Gabelle, which forced everyone to buy a certain amount of salt from the Government at an enormous rate.Step 2. Speak of the state of France in the country, showing what was the relation of the peasant to his lord. The land he lived on generally belonged to him; in return for which he had to grind his com at his lord’s mill, etc., had to give his work free on certain days in the year, and help to make the roads in his lord’s land (corvee). Tell them something of the Game Laws and the ‘Intendants.’

Step 3. Notice the state of France in the towns, showing how impossible it was for a poor man to set up in a trade, owing to the guilds and monopolies. The merchants, together with men who held certain offices under Government, formed a separate class, far removed from both the peasants and the nobles.

Step 4. The state of the Church. For the most part the higher ecclesiastics were hated and despised. This was not the case with the ‘cures,’ for they were of the peasantry, and shared their troubles. But the higher ecclesiastics were generally younger sons of nobles, who drew the salaries of their offices and lived a gay life at Court. The Church also imposed heavy dues.

Step 5. Show that these evils might have been remedied gradually (as in England) had there been a representative assembly regularly called, or any true justice. But as justice could be bought and sold, the poor man always lost his cause, and the pleadings of the peasants could in no way make themselves heard. They had risen just before this time, but unsuccessfully.

Step 6. Draw from G– and S– the reason why the Revolution broke out in France rather than in any other Continental country. Because, though the evils in France were no worse than those borne by the German peasants, the French people had been awakened to the knowledge of their misery and of their right to liberty by many great writers. Such were Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, d’Alembert, and Montesquieu. Get from G– and S– all I can about these men and their influence on history.

Step 7. Draw from G– and S– why the Revolution broke out just in 1789. Rousseau had written his works since about 1730, and Voltaire since 1718.

The French had borne their lot under Louis XIV.’s strong government. Louis XV. was very different. The evils of a despotic government were clearly shown by him. He it was who said, ‘Apres nous le deluge!’ Then came Louis XVI., conscientious and full of good intentions.
Get from the girls something of Louis’ character. But the great opportunity of the people came in the calling of the States General, in order to raise money.

Step 8. A short recapitulation of the principal points.

Subjed: The Godwins.

Group: History.    Class III.    Average age: 13.   Time: 30 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To recapitulate and enlarge on the period of history taken during the term (A.D. 871-1066).
2. To increase the children’s interest in it by giving as much as possible in detail the history of one of the prominent families of the period.
3. To exemplify patriotism in the character of the Godwins.

LESSON.

Step 1. Recapitulate what the girls know of the period briefly by questioning about the Saxon and the Danish kings and leading men, making a chart on the blackboard.
Step 2. Begin with the reign of Canute. Enlarge upon their present knowledge as to his character and deeds whilst king of England, and let a girl read the account of his pilgrimage to Rome (Freeman’s Old English History, p. 242).
Step 3. Give an account of the early history of Earl Godwin––his apparently humble origin––his love of his country––his character. He rose by his valour and wisdom––was loved by both Saxons and Danes––was merciful to his foes. He married Gytha, sister of Earl Ulf––was made Earl by King Canute––and had Wessex given him as his kingdom. Put on the blackboard the names of the three divisions of England, with their earls or rulers.
Step 4. The period between the death of Canute and Edward the Confessor’s coming to the throne. Under Harold and Hartha––Canute Danish rule became distasteful, and the English longed for an English king. Let a girl read the account of Hartha––Canute’s treatment of the people of Worcester and the conduct of Godwin and the other earls on that occasion (p. 250).Step 5. Edward the Confessor. Ask them questions about his early life and education, and how these affected his character and ideas. Was he a suitable man for a king? Not powerful enough to rule––Godwin became his supporter and adviser. Marriage of Godwin’s daughter, Edith, to the king. Godwin’s eloquence and influence over the people. (Read from Knight’s History, p. 162.)
Step 6. Godwin’s patriotism is put to the test. Speak of his banishment with his wife and six sons, and its consequences. William of Normandy invited over to England––great dissatisfaction at misrule in England––the people resent the Normans being put in office. Let G– read (p. 262).
Step 7. Godwin’s return––he and his family again received into favour––his death––the crime which had been laid to his charge––Harold a worthy successor. Show from a map the divisions of England at the death of the ‘Confessor.’ Read from Lord Lytton’s Harold (p. 63).

Subject: From Plutarch’s ‘Greek Lives.’

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

(An Introductory Lesson.)

Group: History.    Class II.    Age: 8 and 9.    Time: 30 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To establish relations with the past.
2. To introduce the boys to a fresh hero.
3. To stir them to admiration of the wisdom, valour, and self-reliance of Alexander the Great.
4. To increase the boys’ power of narration.

LESSON.

Step 1. Begin by connecting Alexander the Great with the time of Demosthenes, of whom the boys have been learning recently.<>Step 2. Draw from them some account of the times in which Alcxander lived and of Philip of Macedon.
Step 3. Arouse the boys’ interest in Alexander by the story of the taming of Bucephalus, which must be read, discussed, and then narrated by the boys.
Step 4. Ask the boys what they mean by a hero. The old meaning was demi-god, the Anglo-Saxon meaning, a man. Both really meant a man who was brave and true in every circumstance.
Ask them, ‘What are the qualities which go to make a hero?’ Draw from them how far we can trace these qualities in Alexander. We notice:––
Wisdom.––’What a horse are they losing for want of skill to manage him!’
Perseverance.––He kept repeating the same expression
Self-reliance.––’And I certainly could.’ This was justified by the fact that he could.
Observation.––He noticed that the horse was afraid of Its shadow.
Courage.––Seeing his opportunity, he leaped upon its back.
Prudence.––He went very gently till he could feel that he had perfect control of the animal.

These are not all the qualities one looks for in a hero, but as the boys will be learning all about Alexander next term, they will be able to find out for themselves what others he had. They will see, for instance, how he never imagined a defeat but went on, conquering as he went (Hope).

The name of Alexander has never been forgotten, because he was so great a hero. Owing to him, the language and civilisation of Greece were carried over a great part of Asia. Show map illustrating his campaigns. He tried to improve the land wherever he went. Owing to his travels, people began to know more than they had ever known of geography and natural history.

Himself a hero, Alexander reverenced heroes, keeping ‘the casket copy’ of The Iliad.
Step 5. Recapitulate Step 4 by means of questions.

Subject: Narration (Plutarch’s life of Alexander–part of the term’s work).

Group: Language.    Class II.    Average age: 10.   Time: 20 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To improve the children’s power of narration by impressing on them Plutarch’s style (as translated by North), and making them narrate as much as possible in his words.

2 To rouse in the children admiration of Alexander’s love of simplicity, generosity, and kindness to his men.

LESSON.

Step 1. Connect with the last lesson by questioning the children. They read last time stories illustrating Alexander’s graciousness and tact.
Step 2. Tell the children shortly the substance of what I am going to read to them, letting them find any places mentioned, in their maps.
Step 3. Read to the children about three pages, dealing with the luxury of the Macedonians, Alexander’s march to Bactria, and the death of Darius. Read this slowly and distinctly, and into the children as much as possible.
Step 4. Ask the children in turn to narrate, each narrating a part of what was read.

Subject: Reading.

Group: English.    Class III.    Average age: 13.   Time: 25 minutes.

OBJECTS.

1. To try to improve the children’s reading by dril1ing them in clear and pure pronunciation.
2. To show them that by their reading a series of mental pictures should be presented to the listener.

LESSON.

Step 1. Breathing exercises. Ask reason for the same.
Step 2. Practise the children in consonant and vowel sounds, by giving them sentences in which difficulties in pronunciation occur.
m, en, n. A stricken maiden musing on a mountain was given from heaven man in mortal form.
final t. A just knight felt a weight on his heart, and yet a sweet quiet rest was present when he went to meet the light.
p, b. A path of prickly brambles, bordered by pure pale poppies, breathed peace between the broken beams.
d. Touched by the hand that appeared from the cloud under which nodded the dead leaves. (Notice final d is sometimes pronounced like t.)
Step 3. Read the passage chosen, from Tennyson’s ‘Sir Galahad,’ asking the girls afterwards to describe the mental pictures they have drawn.”A maiden knight to me is given
Such hope, I know not fear;
I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven
That often meet me here.
I muse on joy that will not cease,
Pure spaces clothed in living beams,
Pure lilies of eternal peace,
Whose odours haunt my dreams;
And, stricken by an angel’s hand,
This mortal armour that I wear,
This weight and size, this heart and eyes
Are touched, are turned to finest air.
The clouds are broken in the sky,
And through the mountain walls
A rolling organ-harmony
Swells up, and shakes and falls.
Then move the trees, the copses nod,
Wings flutter, voices hover clear:
‘O just and faithful knight of God!
Ride on! the prize is near.’
So pass I hostel, hall and grange;
By bridge and ford, by park and pale,
All-armed I ride, whate’er betide,
Until I find the Holy Grail.”

Step 4. Show the girls a reproduction of Watts’ conception of the idea, asking them in what points the poet’s and artist’s ideas coincide.
Step 5. Let the children read the passage.