I decided to read John Milton Gregory’s The Seven Laws of Teaching over break week for some Teacher Training. I’ve had the Veritas Press edition I linked sitting on my shelf for several years – it’s lovely and unabridged, but I did not pay that price! I knew Mystie recommended it – she blogged through it a few years ago, and those posts are now available on her podcast. While we were visiting my parents over Christmas, I noticed a copy in their church library, left by their (and my) former pastor. I was intrigued because that pastor’s teaching has been a great blessing to my family and many others. And I could see, as I read Gregory’s book, that it had certainly influenced his teaching and preaching.
Gregory agrees on many points with Charlotte Mason’s philosophy. There are differences, but those encourage one too think more deeply, too. He was certainly very much in the classical tradition, as witnessed by this statement in the introduction:
These two, the cultivation of the powers and the communication of knowledge, together make up the teacher’s work. All organizing and governing are subsidiary to this twofold aim. The result to be sought is a full-grown physical, intellectual, and moral manhood, with such intelligence as is necessary to make life useful and happy, and as will fit the soul to go on learning from all the scenes of life and from all the available sources of knowledge.
Gregory had a gift for short, pithy statements and I thought I would share some of my favorites here, along with another longer one to conclude.
Good order is a condition precedent to good teaching.
The temple of truth is not a jumbled mass of disjointed facts.
Leave the pupil to discover the truth for himself – make him a truth finder.
The only cure for a bad memory is to mix more thinking in one’s learning.
The haste to get forward often precludes time for thinking.
Also read/listened to recently:
- Hubby: The Confessions of St. Augustine
- Me: Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. I picked up a lovely hardcover copy at Half Price Books the other week and it just might be my favorite of hers so far.
- Miss A: almost done Little Dorrit, and I’m looking forward to watching the movie again with her!
- Mr. D: The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. I found a copy of the young reader’s edition (recommended for AmblsideOnline Year 6) for under $10 on AbeBooks, so I added it back into the schedule. I’m reading it along with him so we can discuss.
- Mr. E: lots of Peanuts comics 😉
- Little L: I’ve been reading him the Story Time volume from our My Book House set.
- Little R: the same two Thomas the Tank Engine stories over and over…and some others, too.
Hosted by:
