Fortnightly Fragments #2
Reading lessons, the educated mother, them before us
Last year, when my son & daughter-in-law decided to teach their own children at home, I offered to give my eldest grandson reading lessons. I’d initially used Alpha-Phonics by Samuel L. Blumenfeld and later, The Writing Road to Reading, with my own children. The first is very easy to use but TWRTR is very user unfriendly. (I had a friend who used it in her tutoring & she talked me through some of it). Both are American.
I found a British-based book, Step by Step Reading by Mona McNee (ISBN: 9781902984834) which was published by Galore Park in the UK but is out of print now, unfortunately. I bought a copy secondhand for about $25 and have been using it with my grandson. The author was a pioneer of reading instruction and taught her son with Down’s syndrome to read when she was told his IQ was 65 and he wasn’t learning at school. Intensive, systematic phonics saved him from a life of illiteracy.
The lessons are all online here. The videos are old and a bit slow but they’re free. I’ve been using the printable games (located in the actual lessons) with my grandson and he loves them.
The Parents Review was a Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture edited by Charlotte Mason that was sent to parents and teachers involved in Charlotte Mason's schools and correspondence-type homeschools between about 1890 and 1920. They are free to read on Ambleside Online and cover a range of subjects, including self-regulation and the education of mothers.
This is very interesting - I've known very well-educated women who had no idea of domestic administration or regulation and readily admitted the fact. Is it because they're not thinking about this particular area of their life? One lady I knew told me her mum did everything for her as she was growing up so that her time could be used to study. She finished her studies, married and had a couple of children & regretted her lack of any domestic management skills.
I asked myself some questions:
Does my life show evidence of self-rule?
What does an educated mother's education look like?
Is my home well administered?
Do my decisions, routines plans and schedules show evidence of regulated thought?
Realising that the children of to-day will rapidly develop into individuals keen to learn and be taught, she will always be alive to the necessity of cultivating her own mind, and the work of self-education and improvement will go on for her while life lasts.
What am I doing to cultivate my mind?
How have I changed from the person I was 5 years ago?
What kind of person do I want to be 5 years from now?
What interests am I involved in or developing?
Am I a magnanimous woman?
The work of self-education and improvement will go on for her while life lasts.
The years of bringing up multiple children feels like a permanent situation when you are going through it. One of my sisters said that she always thinks of me surrounded by children, but all my children are now adults or on the cusp of becoming so. And it seemed to happen overnight! Although, of course, it didn’t. It’s taken two decades but it still crept up on me. I’ve loved seeing my children move into this different phase of life, and now grandchildren are the icing on the cake. But my time of self-education and improvement hasn’t stopped. The pursuit of a virtuous life is not something we retire from.
Nature Notes
Two Eastern Whipbirds - we usually only hear these birds and this is the first time I’ve seen them except for a few times in a nearby National Park. Its call is one of the most characteristic sounds of the Australian bush and is performed as a duet. The male makes the drawn out whip crack and the female usually follows quickly with a sharp 'choo-choo'.
Eastern Water Dragons have been out and about in the hot weather
Baby Brush Turkeys - very cute when they are little; not so cute later on
Listening
John Anderson Conversations - interview with Katy Faust, children’s rights activist explores how modern ideologies have stolen stability and identity from the youngest among us.
Reading
The Shell Seekers (1987) by Rosamunde Pilcher - the story centred around the life of Penelope, a 64-year-old woman and her three adult children. I didn’t really like any of them much and just about everyone jumped into bed with someone within a few hours of meeting…all a bit shallow. I liked Winter Solstice. I’m always a bit disappointed with more ‘‘modern’’ fiction.
Triple Helix (2022) by Lauren Burns - at the age of 21, Lauren Burns was told she was donor conceived. This is her story of trying to find her biological father in a medical culture of silence & outdated legislation. The book ties in well with the interview above & highlights the moral dilemmas of the fertility industry. See Them Before Us: study on “young adults conceived by sperm donation.”
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa (translated 2017) - a tragic memoir of the author’s life in North Korea. Born in Japan in 1947, Masaji Ishikawa, half-Korean, half-Japanese, moved to North Korea with his parents and three sisters. Lured by promises of well-paid work, a university education for his children and a higher status in society, the reality was brutal. This is the story of his escape after 36 years of surviving under a cruel, totalitarian system and his difficulties upon returning to Japan.
I so enjoy these fortnightly posts, Carol, especially the questions of self-education in this one. I am in a similar stage of life, on the tailwinds of homeschooling and raising children, where time can be piddled away more easily. This stage requires more self-governance than when I managed schedules and routines for my young children. As with many areas of life, learning to self-educate and govern my time well when I had little of it has strengthened the soul's muscles needed now when I have more. Thank you for your thoughtful sharing!
I have seen three Eastern Whipbirds in the last few months, one sighting being a pair who were flitting around together. It seems as if they are now in suburbia and are not as elusive. It makes me so happy to see them, let alone hear them. I also had a close encounter with a female Satin Bowerbird and we eyed each other over a few minutes. My most recent odd and exciting encounter was a Green Catbird. It was so distinctive in looks and an awful call - it made me stop in horror. Have you ever heard one? Again, they seem to be lured closer to homes. Is this your experience too Carol?