No, not mine...Helen Keller's...In order to understand how Helen Keller was able to articulate this insight at the age of eleven, how language became her mind's wings, we must look at Anne Sullivan's methods as a teacher, reminding ourselves that The Story of My Life is above all the story of a unique education. John Macy commented that Sullivan's method was both a "natural method" and "a deconstruction of method." By this he meant that Sullivan did not teach Keller language in a series of structured lessons, but rather she created for her--and immersed her in--a total environment of language. (xix)I like this because it's kind of how we homeschool...total immersion in life.
It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child's mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud; and should be fed by mountain streams and hidden springs, until it broadened out into a deep river, capable of reflecting in its placid surface, billowy hills, the luminous shadows of trees and the blue heavens, as well as the sweet face of a little flower.I like the ideas expressed here...that children can be exposed to a lot of things, and while we might not witness their learning right away, they're soaking it all in. I also like the idea that children need to feel empowered to learn on their own...that no one can make anyone learn anything. However, if we can provide the right materials/opportunities/things they need at the time they need them, our children can't help but learn.
Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his, whether he is busy or at rest; he must feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of textbooks. (33)
But I soon discovered that college was not quite the romantic lyceum I had imagined. Many of the dreams that had delighted my young inexperience became beautifully less and "faced into the light of common day." Gradually I began to find that there were disadvantages in going to college.I didn't necessarily feel this way at college, maybe because Cornell College uses the block plan, where you take one class at a time for 3.5 weeks then move on to another class, but I feel grateful that my kids have the luxury of time...with their thoughts, and to pursue their interests.
The one I felt and still feel most is lack of time. I used to have time to think, to reflect, my mind and I. We would sit together of an evening and listen to the inner melodies of the spirit, where one hears only in leisure moments when the words of some loved poet touch a deep sweet chord to in the soul that until then has been silent. But in college there is no time to commune with one's thoughts. One goes to college, it seems, not to think. When one enters the portals of learning, one leaves the dearest pleasures--solitude, books and imagination--outside with the whispering pines. I suppose I ought to find some comfort in the thought that I am laying up treasures for future enjoyment, but I am improvident enough to prefer present joy to hoarding riches against a rainy day. (79)
While my days at Radcliffe were still in the future, they were encircled with a halo of romance, which they have lost; but in the transition from romantic to actual I have learned many things I should never have known had I not tried the experiment. One of them is the precious science of patience, which teaches that we should take our education as we would take a walk in the country, leisurely, our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort. Such knowledge floods the soul unseen with a soundless tidal wave of deepening thought. "Knowledge is power." Rather, knowledge is happiness because to have knowledge--broad, deep knowledge--is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life. (83)Knowledge is happiness. Yes!
Come Out with MeAnd this one:
There's sun on the river and sun on the hill . . .
You can hear the sea if you stand quite still!
There's eight new puppies at Roundabout Farm-
And I saw an old sailor with only one arm!
But everyone says, "Run along!"
(Run along, run along!)
All of them say, "Run along! I'm busy as can be."
Every one says, "Run along,
There's a little darling!"
If I'm a little darling, why don't they run with me?
There's wind on the river and wind on the hill . . .
There's a dark dead water-wheel under the mill!
I saw a fly which had just been drowned-
And I know where a rabbit goes into the ground!
But everyone says, "Run along!"
(Run along, run along!)
All of them say, "Yes, dear," and never notice me.
Every one says, "Run along,
There's a little darling!"
If I'm a little darling, why won't they come and see?
The Good Little GirlI don't know much about A. A. Milne's background, but it seems with these two poems he's reminding us to take kids seriously and treat them as we would like to be treated...among other things!
It'’s funny how often they say to me, “Jane?
“Have you been a good girl?"
“Have you been a good girl?"
And when they have said it, they say it again,
“Have you been a good girl?"
“Have you been a good girl?"”
I go to a party, I go out to tea
I go to an aunt for a week at the sea
I come back from school or from playing a game;
Wherever I come from, it'’s always the same:
“Well?
“Have you been a good girl, Jane?”
It'’s always the end of the loveliest day:
“Have you been a good girl?"”
“Have you been a good girl?"
I went to the Zoo, and they waited to say:
“Have you been a good girl?"
“Have you been a good girl?"”
Well, what did they think that I went there to do?
And why should I want to be bad at the Zoo?
And should I be likely to say if I had?
So that'’s why it'’s funny of Mummy and Dad,
This asking and asking, in case I was bad,
“Well?
“Have you been a good girl, Jane?”
76. Hold tight only to compassion
It has been said by experts,
"You must be consistent,
or your children will be confused."
Nonsense.
Who among us is consistent?
Circumstances are always changing.
Children become confused
when parents become rigid,
holding rules above love.
Be consistently flexible.
Hold tight only to compassion.
From this webpage.Explanation: Today, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north at 0548 UT. Known as the equinox, the geocentric astronomical event marks the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the south. Equinox means equal night and with the Sun on the celestial equator, Earth dwellers will experience nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Of course, for those in the north, the days will grow longer with the Sun marching higher in the sky as summer approaches. To celebrate the equinox, consider this colorful view of the setting Sun. Recorded last June from the International Space Station, the Sun's limb still peeks above the distant horizon as seen from Earth orbit. Clouds appear in silhouette as the sunlight is reddened by dust in the dense lower atmosphere. Molecules in the more tenuous upper atmosphere are preferentially scattering blue light.
I sneaked out of bed this morning at a little after 6 to finish reading this book. Since I don't have time to write my own review (mama's gotta make her latte while little Viv is napping...priorities, you know!), here's what Booklist has to say:The escapades of the Greek gods and heroes get a fresh spin in the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, about a contemporary 12-year-old New Yorker who learns he's a demigod. Perseus, aka Percy Jackson, thinks he has big problems. His father left before he was born, he's been kicked out of six schools in six years, he's dyslexic, and he has ADHD...Riordan's fast-paced adventure is fresh, dangerous, and funny. Percy is an appealing, but reluctant hero, the modernized gods are hilarious, and the parallels to Harry Potter are frequent and obvious.I had purchased the first 3 in the series for the JHHS library, upon recommendation from a student. Then friend Kristin told me she was reading (and loving!) them with her older nanny-charge. Going to start # 2 tonight...the 4th in the series is due out this May. Enjoy!
My friend (and Jackson High School art teacher) Meggan told me about this book...I'm only 80 pages into it, but am finding it very interesting and thought provoking. Click on the title of this post to visit Mr. Pink's webpage.
