It’s late September.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Kids are firmly back in school; routines are established and reading lists set.
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lists → establish → school
The usual textbooks, which, if they’re in a government school, are often written by committee (with an agenda), range from uninspiring to outright woke.
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they → ’re → woke
Or maybe most of your child’s school curriculum is delivered via lifeless and impersonal computer screens.
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most → deliver → screens
But there is an alternative, a source whose advocacy first transformed the task of educating children over one hundred years ago.
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advocacy → be → task
Virtually unknown to public school parents, the British 19th-century reformer Charlotte Mason (1842-1923) has long been the hero of modern homeschooling in America, and the movement’s best-kept secret weapon.
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reformer → keep → America
Parents and educators can greatly benefit from Mason’s ideas about children and reading, which are even more relevant today.
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which → benefit → children
Creating a thirst for knowledge, and lifelong love of learning was Mason’s goal.
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Creating → create → learning
If children developed an early hunger for ideas, she reasoned, it would sustain them through their lives.
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it → develop → lives
Mason believed that in addition to the proper vitamins and nutrients needed to thrive, children require ideas to chew on, to properly grow.
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children → believe → ideas
And the source of these ideas, she reasoned, was not typical textbooks.
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she → reason → ideas
That’s a perspective as true today as it was in Mason’s time.
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it → ’ → time
Most if not all textbooks which children encounter in public schools are either bland by design, so as not to arouse controversy, or the opposite: brazenly geared to advance a woke agenda.
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children → encounter → agenda
Mason believed that the best resource for the ideas that will benefit children most came from a regular exposure to great art, great music, and, above all, books of "literary quality" or great books.
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that → believe → quality
"For the best thought the world possesses is stored in books," she wrote in "Parents and Children."
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she → possess → Parents
"Children must have books, living books ...
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Children → have → books
Her idea of "living books" was about books written by a single author (not a committee), ones that actively engage the mind, imagination and spirit, rather than simply presenting factual material.
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that → live → material
For example, a list of "living books" for early learners (grades 1-4) might include: "The Trumpet of the Swan," "Black Beauty," and "A Little Princess."
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list → live → Swan
Titles for middle schoolers include: "My Side of the Mountain," "Around the World in 80 Days," "To Kill a Mockingbird," and C.S. Lewis’s classic "Narnia" series.
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Titles → include → Mockingbird
High school students can gain most from reading "Pride and Prejudice," "David Copperfield," and, "Through Gates of Splendor," as well as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
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students → gain → Rings
Living books like these can spark kids’ curiosity, thanks to their authors’ genuine passion for their subject.
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books → live → subject
Unlike textbooks, they use a compelling, even spellbinding style that draws the student into the plot and characters, triggering their imagination and emotions.
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that → use → imagination
Her idea of "living books" was about books written by a single author (not a committee), ones that actively engage the mind, imagination and spirit, rather than simply presenting factual material.
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that → live → material
Living books like "My Side of the Mountain" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" weave sometimes complex concepts and subjects into an approachable narrative, in ways that allow children to more easily connect and identify with the material.
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children → live → material
Like those of us who grew up with favorite books, children are bound to remember details and themes, long after the work has been returned to the shelf.
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work → grow → shelf
Living books often feature unfamiliar words and language that challenge young readers to expand their vocabulary.
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that → live → vocabulary
Contrary to what lazy teachers may think, old-fashioned forms of communicating in English, like Charles Dickens’s novels or even the King James Bible, don’t turn off young minds.
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forms → think → minds
They broaden and deepen a reader’s grasp of the English language, which is crucial for their intellectual, even moral, growth.
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which → broaden → growth
For instance, E. B. White, author of classics like "Charlotte’s Web," and "The Trumpet of the Swan," never hesitated to challenge his young readers with new words like "radiant" and "humble," because he believed, like Charlotte Mason, that children were smart, capable readers.
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children → hesitate → Mason
White once said, "Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time.
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who → say → time
You have to write up, not down.
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You → have → ?
I throw them hard words and they backhand them across the net."
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they → throw → net
Finally, unlike typical textbooks, living books help students move from a passive learning mode to an active learning mode.
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students → help → mode
Instead of simply memorizing what they need to know to pass a test, having students retell a story like "The Little Princess" in their own words, builds lasting communication and analytical skills.
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students → memorize → communication
Try some living books out on your children if you haven’t already.
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you → try → children
Books like Louisa May Alcott’s "Little Women" will teach them lessons about the importance of family, sacrifice, and generosity.
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Books → teach → family
Mark Twain’s "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" teaches about friendship, loyalty, and moral courage.
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Adventures → teach → friendship
Charlotte Mason used to say, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."
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Education → use → ?
If our current educators have abandoned that hopeful vision, turning to living books can restore it, not just for children, but for all of us.
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turning → abandon → us
Beth Herman is a visiting fellow at Independent Women's Education Freedom Center.
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Herman → visit → Center
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
