A Gospel Primer - Received!

I heard Amy recite the Gospel Narrative at the end of January and was so moved by the personal nature of this confession of faith. Hearing the words "My God is immense beyond imagination" to "but this is my salvation, and herein I stand. Thank You, Jesus" spoken so simply and sincerely was beautiful. I think the personal pronouns were what impacted me the most. This was a personal testimony about a personal God, His work for me, His undeserved love for me. I felt like Amy was telling me her own story as the recited, but that her story was my story, too. It was beautiful.

Then I learned that the publishers of A Gospel Primer had given Amy some copies of A Gospel Primer and the pocket version which she was using as a give away on her blog. So I entered. And I was one of the ones chosen to receive the pocket version!

Yesterday I received it in the mail, and I'm so excited. It is as beautiful to read as it is to listen to! I've even had an opportunity to show it to a friend, and she also thinks it's something she'd like to have nearby!

Thank you Amy, for this lovely gift. It will soon become worn!

Mega Memory Month Comes to an End

Well, I had high hopes for the culminating activity for Mega Memory Month. The children and I recorded ourselves reciting the passage using the web-cam, and I was going to upload it to the blog. But, we don't have high speed, so the upload was taking FOREVER, and I needed to do other things, so we scrapped that idea. Instead I've typed my passage below. The video recording was unintentionally funny, as Brown Eyed Boy and Little Man were sitting on my lap and discovered that they could see themselves in real time on the computer monitor! So the silliness began, and as it went on, My Girl and I tried to keep on going with the recitation. I figure that it shows that you know a passage really well if you can make it to the end with little boys giggling, squirming, sticking out little fat tongues, pointing, making circles with heads, etc.! I call that a victory! Too bad you can't see the recording, too!

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?"
"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came, and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more,. bBut each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16

This has been an interesting process for us. We've run the gamut of responses, from 'this is easy' to 'this is boring'; from 'I didn't want to do this parable' to finding application of it in our daily lives. We'll continue with our regular memorization, but won't be posting weekly anymore. And I still do want to try to finish Philippians. I'll keep you posted from time to time.

Visit Ann's blog where Mega Memory Month got started, and see what the other participants have been up to and how they celebrated the end to the challenge.

My Girl's Final Mega Memory Month Recitation

My Girl typed her passage into the computer, checked for spelling mistakes and such, and then showed me. What follows is her written recitation of the parable of the workers in the vineyard (with spelling and punctuation mistakes removed). Small blue letters are errors, regular sized orange letters are the correct version. She did a super job, and I'm so proud of her!

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in the vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“He went out again About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place. He said to them ‘You also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out again and found still others standing around. doing nothing. He said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them there their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

So (when) The workers who where hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last only worked one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and heat of the day.’
But he answered one of them ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.


Matthew 20:1-16

Mega Memory Month Update

This is the last Monday for Mega Memory Month, but I have until Friday to work on this passage. I'm pleased with the progress I've made, and I'm even more pleased with the way the children are writing the Word on their hearts. Our only strategy for memorizing this passage has been to read it (almost) every morning a few times, and to try saying it once we thought we knew it - or parts of it. There was no drill of difficult sections, there was no constant repeating of phrases. There was simply abiding with the passage in its entirety for the whole time we were working on it. And it worked!

Now, I'm not sure that it would be as effective a strategy with a long passage (like the book of Philippians, for example), but maybe to break that long passage into several smaller, yet still significant parts would work. It was certainly more enjoyable for me to do it this way than to do one or two verses at a time and tack on new ones as we mastered them.

So, you can expect to see one more Mega Memory Month post on Friday(ish) when I'll give the final rundown on the project and what we do for a culminating activity.

But before I go, here's the Parable of the Vineyard as I was able to do it this morning:

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing around in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here in the marketplace all day long doing nothing?"

"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16

Mega Memory Month update

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into the his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, "you also go and work in my vineyard," he told them, "and I will pay you whatever is right."
So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and saw found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?"
"Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard."

When evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first."

The men who had been hired last workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when the men those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "Those These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew
20:1-16

I'm making progress, but there are still some parts that I'm unsure of, even when I get them right. I need to read it over and over and over the correct way - silently, aloud - so that the words are pressed onto my heart and mind. It's still amazing to me how well the children are doing with memorizing the parable, especially when Little Man can't see the words for himself but is only going by what he hears when we read it. We'll keep on keeping on!

See the Mega Memory Month posts for inspiration, challenge, and tips.

Parable Memory

Since we have been working on this passage for a little while, I decided to write it out and see how much I already know. I typed it as best I could remember it, and then I went through and made corrections. The things I did wrong I have (bracketed in tiny red), and the correct version is beside it in red. I hope that's clear enough to you as you look it over, but even if it's not, I know what I was doing, and it's clear to me!

For the (The) kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the
morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius
for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and (found) saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He (said to) told them, "You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right." So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. (At) About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, "Why have you been standing here in the marketplace all day doing
nothing?" (he asked them.)

(They said to him,) "Because no one has hired us," they answered.
He said to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard." (he told them.)

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the
workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going
on to the first."

(When those who had been) The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came (, they) and each received a denarius. So when (the men came who had been) those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But (they) each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. "These men who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "(but) and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day."

(The owner) But he answered one of them, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the (one) man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what(ever) I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

So the last (shall) will be first, and the first (shall) will be last.

Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)

So I can see that I have the flow of the story pretty well down, but there are little style and language differences that I need to pay more attention to. Now I know what to focus on over the next week. I'll see how I do next Monday.

Challenging the Memory

We're joining a little late, but we aren't behind: we've been working on memorizing Matthew 20:1-16 as part of our Bible times and we're well on our way. So here's the scoop on Mega Memory Month from Ann Kroeker:

Here’s how to participate:

1. Pick something you’d like to memorize. Something long. Something formidable. Something Mega. (Mega to you may not be mega to me–simply challenge yourself relative to what you’ve tackled in the past.)

2. Announce it on your blog whenever you like.

3. Return with a link to your blog post talking about how you’re going to take the challenge and participate in October’s Mega Memory Month carnival. I’ll update this post so that participants are front-and-center.

4. On Mondays, because it offers the best alliteration, I’ll write a Mega Memory Month post. Chime in with your own progress report that day (or any time during the week) in the comments or at your own blog (it won’t be instant, but I’ll update to your linkage if you supply it). That way we can visit and encourage each other.

5. Try typing out what you’ve mastered little by little.

6. Post any memory techniques you’re using, so we can borrow ideas that work.

7. By the end of the month, present a creative culmination of your work (a video of you–and your family, if they’re participating–reciting it by heart; or write it out by hand and take a photo; or just type it up on the blog).

Our minds build up an ability to memorize: the more we do it, the easier it becomes. I'm amazed at how much the Little Man already knows of this parable just from hearing it. He's not reading yet, so he has none of the visual cues that My Girl and I are able to get, and maybe that's an advantage for him as he isn't leaning on that visual crutch. We'll post again next Monday to let you know how we're doing.

Oh, and once this is done, I really want to get back to memorizing the book of Philippians. I began years ago and stalled part way through chapter 3. This book has so many of my favourite passages in it, and I can still recite most of chapters 1 and 2, although I get stuck with the transitions. So now it's out there. I'm really going to do it!

Year End - Nature Study and Reviews by CM

The content of this year-end meeting was two-fold: philosophical, led by Liz; and application, led by Sandy. There was so much content and I'm finding so much great stuff to think and write about, that I'm going to split it into at least two separate posts.

Liz led the philosophical portion and succinctly summarized and highlighted portions of the reviews Charlotte Mason had written of three different works: The Moral Instruction of Children, by Felix Adler; Education from a National Standpoint, by Alfred Fouillee; Faith, by Rev. H. C. Beeching; and an article by General Booth in Darkest England; all found in volume 2 (Parents and Children), Chapters XI -XV.

What I find to be some of the best quotes from reading and discussing those chapters are the following (including my own comments for some of them):

"But it is singular that so few educationalists recognise that the Bible is not a single book, but a classic literature of wonderful beauty and interest; that, apart from its Divine sanctions and religious teaching, from all that we understand by 'Revelation,' the Bible, as a mere instrument of education, is, at the very least, as valuable as the classics of Greece or Rome. Here is poetry, the rhythm of which soothes even the jaded brain past taking pleasure in any other. Here is history, based on such broad, clear lines, such dealing of slow and sure and even-handed justice to the nations, such stories of national sins and national repentances, that the student realises, as from no other history, the solidarity of the race, the brotherhood, and, if we may call it so, the individuality of the nations. Here is philosophy which, of all the philosophies which have been propounded, is alone adequate to the interpretation of human life. We say not a word here of that which is the raison d'etre of the Bible, its teaching of religion, its revelation of God to man; but, to urge only one point more, all the literatures of the world put together utterly fail to give us a system of ethics, in precept and example, motive and sanction, complete as that to which we have been born as our common inheritance in the Bible." Vol. 2, Ch. XI, p. 104

When my husband and I had been married for 4 years, before we had children, we spent a year in south western Russia. That in itself was exciting, but what was more exciting was the reason for our being there. In the early 1990's, when Communism had collapsed in Russia, the whole moral and ethical structure of their society collapsed with it. They had no more backbone or ruler by which to bring up the next generations of Russian children into lives of great character and integrity. So what did they do? The Russian Ministry of Education turned to Western Christians to provide them with a curriculum of Christian Ethics and Morality based on the life of Jesus Chirst. They were making no claims to validate the theology of the Bible, but they certainly recognized this very thing that Charlotte Mason said nearly a hundred years earlier, that the Bible provided a fully comprehensive "system of ethics, in precept and example, motive and sanction"! Truly a miraculous period of Russian history to have been a part of!

The Bible's position as the holy Word of God, God-breathed, living, and inspired, is, in my mind inseparable from its value as a moral code, as a literary work. He planned it that way. But in the context of this statement by Charlotte Mason, we also recognize its value as the ultimate educational tool for all children. (And through that educational tool, might it be that some will come to know the God of all Creation for themselves? We pray that it may be so.)

____________________

"I am inclined to think, too , that fairy tales suffer in vigour and charm when they are prepared for the children; and that Wordsworth is right in considering that the very knowledge of evil conveyed in fairy tales under a certain glamour, is of use in saving children from painful and injurious shocks in real life." Vol. 2, Ch. XI, p. 107

____________________

Regarding Bible stories:

"The child is not an exegetical student. The moral teaching, the spiritual revelations, the lovely imagery of the Bible, are the things with which he is concerned, and of these he cannot have too much...Read your Bible story to the child, bit by bit; get him to tell you in his own words (keeping as close as he can to the Bible words) what you have read, and then, if you like, talk about it; but not too much." Vol. 2, Ch. XI, p. 109, 110

____________________

Regarding a Child's Inducements to Learn:

"The motives proposed for seeking knowledge are poor and inadequate: to succeed in life, to gain esteem, to satisfy yourself, and even to be able, possibly, to benefit others, are by no means soul-compelling motives. the child, who is encouraged to learn, because to learn is his particular duty in that state of life to which it has pleased God to call him, has the strongest of conceivable motives, in the sense that he is rendering that which is required of him by the Supreme Authority." Vol. 2, Ch. XI, p. 114

____________________

"Probably the chief source of weakness in our attempt to formulate a science of education is that we do not perceive that education is the outcome of philosophy.../we are content to pick up a suggestion here, a practical hint there, without even troubling ourselves to consider what is that scheme of life of which such hints and suggestions are the output...What we have to do is to gather together and order our resources; to put the first thing foremost and all things in sequence, and to see that education is neither more nor less than the practical application of our philosophy." Vol. 2, Ch. XII, p. 118, 119

____________________

"As has been well said, 'Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.' And a great function of the educator is to secure that acts shall be so regularly, purposefully, and methodically sown that the child shall reap the habits of the good life, in thinking and doing, with the minimum of conscious effort...Educate the child in right habits and the man's life will run in them, without the constant wear and tear of the moral effort of decision." Vol. 2, Ch. XII, p. 124

This is pure Charlotte Mason, a quotation we've all heard parts of so many times that it seems to almost embody the whole of what people think of when they hear "Charlotte Mason". As with so much of her writing, she addresses is so directly that it seems obvious, simple even. But we know that it is not so. Much of what we do as parents and educators comes from moment-by-moment action, not from the well thought out plan that she describes in horticultural terms here. And without that plan, there is no laying down of the rails of good habit. There is simply then a fly-by-night, come-what-may approach to education. It comes back to whether we have a philosophical spine to our educational approach, or whether we are grasping for whatever technique is current, appealing, popular, or what have you. (See the quote directly above the one I'm commenting on.) It isn't simple. Charlotte Mason doesn't say that it is, although she does present it very directly, very matter-of-factly. It it truly hard, truly challenging, and, in the long run, truly effective and rewarding.

___________________

"As we have had occasion to say before, in this great work of education parents and teachers are permitted to play only a subordinate part after all. You may bring your horse to the water, but you can't make him drink; and you may present ideas of the fittest to the mind of the child,; but you do now know in the least which he will take, and which he will reject. And very well for us it is that this safeguard to his individuality is implanted in every child's breast. Our part is to see that his educational plat is constantly replenished with fit and inspiring ideas, and then we must needs leave it to the child's own appetite to take which he will have, and as much as he requires. Of one thing we must beware. The least symptom of satiety, especially when the ideas we present are moral and religious, should be taken as a serious warning. Persistence on our part just then may end in the child's never willingly sitting down to that dish any more." Vol. 2, Ch. XII, p. 127

You heard me comment on this one at the meeting, so for fear of not stopping when I should, I'm just going to say "Stop When It Is Enough!"

____________________

"...we shall most likely be inclined to agree with his conclusion that, not some subject of mere utility, but moral and social science conveyed by means of history, literature, or otherwise, is the one subject which we are not at liberty to leave out from the curriculum of 'a being breathing thoughtful breath.'" Vol. 2, Ch. XII, p. 127-128

I simply love the last phrase here, speaking of our children as 'beings breathing thoughtful breath.' It's poetry. It's rich. It's all that I long for my children to be.

____________________

If you have others that you really liked or would like to have conversation about, please, please, please comment below. This blog is intended to be an extension of the dialogue begun at the meeting, and what I, or any other post authors, write in my posts isn't meant to be definitive.

____________________

The discussion about Nature Study was really encouraging for me, and, judging from the engagement of so many of you, I'm guessing that it was for you as well. The next post will look at some of the comments that came out of that conversation and will include some links to websites and blogs that were mentioned.

Blessings to you all,

Jennifer