Miss A and I are both reading the first half of How to Read a Book this year. It’s a book that has intimidated me ever since borrowing it from the library but never finishing it about 15 years ago. I have waited to add it to her school schedule until now, even though AmblesideOnline schedules it over several years starting in Year 7. But I think we are both ready to tackle it now and get something out of it. This quote from Chapter 1 caught my attention:
…it is obvious that teaching is a very special art, sharing with only two other arts – agriculture and medicine – an exceptionally important characteristic. A doctor may do many things for his patient, but in the final analysis it is the patient himself who must get well – grow in health. The farmer does many things for his plants or animals, but in the final analysis it is they that must grow in size and excellence. Similarly, although the teacher may help his student in many ways, it is the student himself who must do the learning. Knowledge must grow in his mind if learning is to take place.
Or as Charlotte Mason put it in A Philosophy of Education:
…self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.
Also read/listened to recently:
- Hubby: Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
- Me: The Woman in White read by Ian Holm, perfect for listening to out on the deck on dark breezy autumn evenings. :O
- Miss A: The Great Gatsby is one of this term’s lit selections.
- Mr. D: Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight was one of his birthday gifts.
- Mr. E: borrowed The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952 from the library – again. 😉
- Mr. L: listening to Heidi while waiting at piano lessons today.
- Little R: loves Little Red Riding Hood retold and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, which we borrowed from the library. It’s the real deal, the wolf getting cut open and all (thankfully she doesn’t illustrate that part!), and I’d like to add it to our home library.
