How do I begin to pick which quotes I want to remember from this excellent book on education? There were so many golden nuggets that resonated with me and helped me to continue to clarify my own philosophy of education.
My favorites:
We believe that all education is divine. Every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from God. God the Spirit is, ultimately, the One who educates mankind. The culmination of all education (which is approachable even for a little child) is personal knowledge of God, and an intimate relationship with Him. In that relationship, our being finds its fullest perfection. (Kindle location 1249)
I love this and am trying to remember not to compartmentalize, not only in education, but in all of life.
For one thing, I think it's important for children to dig for knowledge for themselves from the appropriate books in all their subjects. We owe them that. There are two reasons for this. When a child works and finds something for himself, it's his for life. But whatever comes too easily from hearing it like a casual song in the air, tends to float out of the mind as easily as it floated in. It rarely gets assimilated. I don't mean that lectures and oral lessons are totally useless, but their role should be to inspire and give direction to what's learned. (location 2202)
This is good to keep in mind as I plan and evaluate what we are doing in our homeschool. Am I doing the work of knowledge and then spoon feeding my children from what I have dug up, or am I allowing them to do the mental work of processing knowledge, with guidance from me?
And a few other goodies (although I could have chosen a bunch more!)
On authority:
Once God Almighty is dethroned, all human authority follows -- kings, those given roles of authority in nations, even parents in authority over their own families. (location 194)
A person in authority is a person who has been authorized. And he's been authorized by someone that he's under authority to himself. A person under authority is holding and fulfilling a trust. Every time he asserts his own self, or commands on the whim of his own will, he stops being authorized and authoritative, and becomes arbitrary and domineering. (location 262)
Authority is more than a gift, it's a grace. "In the same way that every shade of the rainbow is light, so every one of the graces is a different shade of love." Authority is just one part of the love that parents give to their children. (location 403)
On Play
Children need time to make up episodes, carry on pretend adventures, live heroic lives, lay sieges and defend forts, even if the fort is only an old armchair. (location 551)
On Education
I'll just bring up a few points and repeat my conviction that a system of education should make it its focus to establish children's relationships in as many varied directions as possible - rather than mastery of certain "subjects." (location 1172)
A good question to ask myself about what we're doing: are the children building relationships with this subject through the book we've chosen? Or is it dry, dull, boring, etc.?
On Character
Building character is the first priority for humans, because, a) if we train character, then intellectual "development" will take care of itself, and, b) the lessons created for intellectual learning have high value for the character, either by training the discipline or stimulating character. (location 1284)
Character doesn't just come from exposing children to great ideas. It's also the result of habits that we strive to instill based on those ideas. We recognize both principles -- idea and habit. (location 1296)
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