Old Books (#26)

C.S. Lewis said: "Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books."

What does this mean for the education of our own children? Instead of just textbooks - written by modern writers, make room for some of the old greats - and these are great for parents too!

So make room for Shakespeare, for G.K. Chesterton and for Charles Dickens. Make it a priority to read C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien with your children. Hilda Van Stockum and J. Henri Fabre are terrific, and don't neglect the old fairy tales and the old myths.

C.S. Lewis also said: "Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction."

More Isn't Always Better (#22)

If a child finishes an entire school book on schedule, but remembers little or none of what is studied, he has accomplished very little. It's much better to study less and learn it well.

Here are a few possibilities for adjusting your studies accordingly:

Measure a day's or a week's progress according to effort and time expended upon a subject rather than the number of pages completed.

Don't latch onto formal work at the expense of the informal learning that fills in the cracks and makes formal learning easier and more delightful. For example, a child is read to and talked to and given an initial and very important grasp on the language before he learns formal reading skills.

For a subject like Science or History, split a textbook up into two or three years and study the material in greater depth. Supplement with excellent books and videos, visits to a museum and hands-on projects and experiments.

Fairy Tales (#3)

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1917), "One is entitled to think that the future of humanity is in the hands of those who are capable of providing the generations to come with reasons for life and optimism."

It may surprise you that reading classic fairy tales is recommended to cultivate a child's sense of hope. The world has, to some extent, long recognized the value of fairy tales. Albert Einstein said that: "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

G.K. Chesterton reveals something much deeper: "The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

Further Information:

G.K. Chesterton recommends The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang in Heretics.

Here is a larger portion of the quote from Chesterton on fairy tales. It comes from "The Red Angel" in Tremendous Trifles (pg. 86):

I find that there really are human beings who think fairy tales bad for children. I do not speak of the man in the green tie, for him I can never count truly human. But a lady has written me an earnest letter saying that fairy tales ought not to be taught to children even if they are true. She says that it is cruel to tell children fairy tales, because it frightens them. You might just as well say that it is cruel to give girls sentimental novels because it makes them cry. All this kind of talk is based on that complete forgetting of what a child is like which has been the firm foundation of so many educational schemes. If you kept bogies and goblins away from children they would make them up for themselves. One small child in the dark can invent more hells than Swedenborg. One small child can imagine monsters too big and black to get into any picture, and give them names too unearthly and cacophonous to have occurred in the cries of any lunatic. The child, to begin with, commonly likes horrors, and he continues to indulge in them even when he does not like them. There is just as much difficulty in saying exactly where pure pain begins in his case, as there is in ours when we walk of our own free will into the torture-chamber of a great tragedy. The fear does not come from fairy tales; the fear comes from the universe of the soul.

The timidity of the child or the savage is entirely reasonable; they are alarmed at this world, because this world is a very alarming place. They dislike being alone because it is verily and indeed an awful idea to be alone. Barbarians fear the unknown for the same reason that Agnostics worship it - because it is a fact. Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give a child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.

Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies, that these strong enemiesof man have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.

Reading Aloud to Your Children (#4)

Reading aloud to your children is one of the very best things you can do for them - especially after they already know how to read for themselves. Reading is quality time spent together; it fosters conversation and interest in learning. It can draw parents away from night-time television and internet habits and add to their own education as well.

Studies show that reading aloud to children motivates them to read on their own and significantly improves their vocabulary and comprehension. Choose from a variety of book types: classics, fairy tales, saint stories, poetry, humorous family stories, fantasy and historical fiction. Negotiating read-alouds with younger siblings can be a major challenge. Try starting with a favorite picture book for the younger crowd and follow it up with a few chapters from a full-length story Even a short amount of time - perhaps 20 minutes a day - can be an invaluable part of your child's education.

Further Information:

Negotiating Read-Alouds
A Study on the Value of Read-Alouds