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CM quote about play and work
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“Five of the thirteen waking hours should be at the disposal of the children; three, at least, of these, from two o’clock till five, for example, should be spent out-of-doors in all but very bad weather. Brisk work and ample leisure and freedom should be the rule of the Home School. The work not done in its own time must be left undone. Children should not be embarrassed with arrears, and they should have a due sense of the importance of time, and that there is no other time for the work not done in its own time.”
Especially her comment, “the work not done in its own time must be left undone.”
I am in the process of evaluating our day and came across this quote. I’ve read plenty of you share that kids don’t play until work is done. I agree but the above quote also has me thinking. How does someone teach the importance of time? And is there a negative if we take play-breaks during our morning (interrupting their imaginative play). I think we may be taking too many breaks due to baby care…even 2 mini-breaks seem to intrude on their active play. Thoughts?
Thank you for posting this. It’s timely for me too. I’ve been wondering about the balance of work and free time and what it ought to be as I revamp our schedule/routine (or lack thereof 😉 I’m sorry I don’t have any wisdom to offer though. I’ll listen in…
I’m contemplating and will respond later, but I don’t understand this:
And is there a negative if we take play-breaks during our morning (interrupting their imaginative play). I think we may be taking too many breaks due to baby care…even 2 mini-breaks seem to intrude on their active play. Thoughts?
Are you saying that baby care interrupts play time? If so, I see no way around that really. 🙂
I am NOT a strictly CM educator, I’m the first to admit. So to me here is how I look at things.
1. Yes, I try to get my children outside every day. No, it doesn’t happen, and for a large portion of the year it is nowhere near 3 hours a day. Maybe 1 or 1 1/2 hours.
2. Yes, I aim to give my children a large amount of discretionary time to follow interests, do handicrafts, and play. Do I time it to make sure it is 5 hours? Nope.
3. Work not done in it’s own time (due to dawdling/lack of attention) is done at the beginning of the child’s discretionary/free time. They lose out on doing what they want because they did not do their work when they ought to have done it. However I also try to be sure that I am not expecting the child to do work that is unreasonable for their age and ability. If they do not complete work because what I gave them was too much/too difficult it is MY job to change the planned workload into reasonable assigned work. Does that make sense?
Looking forward to reading others responses!
This is so encouraging to me, as it is exactly what’s happening around our house lately. As I recuperate I find that it is even more important to get all of our subjects accomplished in the morning. And even though our schedule is lighter than we are used to, it is a relief to know that Charlotte approves of all this free time in the lovely weather we are having now :0). Thanks for sharing!
I think there’s two definitions of unfinished work:
1. The child dawdled (looked out the window, played with her hair, stared at the ceiling, etc.) and didn’t finish her work in the allotted time.
2. The child applied herself to the best of her abilities and the work was still not completed in the allotted time because it was difficult, a new concept, etc.
Charlotte would not have had a child who gave his best effort stay indoors and not play if he was 9 years old and worked on his math diligently for 30 minutes. That would go against the principle of short lessons.
Thus “the work not done in its own time must be left undone”. At least, that’s how I understand it.
But, if that same child dawdled and didn’t give his best effort during math time (and hopefully Mother would have been diligent to watch and make sure full attention was given), then yes, he should have to use his free time to finish the assignment (or work on it for whatever the allotted time was).
As for children being out of doors, that’s something that CM probably would not be proud of in me at all. If we are finished with school, lunch, and chores for the day, 2:00-5:00 is typically free time at our house. (I’m so pleased that we’re doing something exactly as CM suggested!) BUT, we don’t typically spend this time outside. For one, our weather is VERY unpredictable. One day it might be sunny and 75 degrees–in which case, I expect the children to go outside and play. But the very next day, it might be snowing and 20 degrees or the wind will blow 60 mph (yes, this happened yesterday!). We live near the 3rd windiest city in the country, with winds easily gusting upwards of 50-60 mph on an average day. It’s miserable, so NO we don’t go outside for 3 hours!
But my children still have that free time to imagine, explore, and play every, single day. It is a priority for me to see that they get that time each day. It is strictly free time. We don’t run errands during this time, unless it’s a quick trip to the store or the library, and usually I’ll go by myself, as my kids are staying home alone for short periods now. I really don’t know what we’re going to do when they’re older and their school time requires more hours everyday. And that time is fast-approaching, I’m afraid. Like ServingwithJoy, we’re done with school by 12-12:30 at the latest. And we usually start around 9:30-10:00.
I wish our weather was akin to the weather CM enjoyed, but alas, it is not, nor will ever be.
I think Lindsey’s got it spot on. I was struggling with how to interpret it because I hadn’t come across that quote, but am familiar with her advice on having something nice to do when the lesson should be done…that must be foregone if the work is not finished. So, this puts it together and it all makes sense – to me anyway 😉
Mrsmcardell – I’m still unclear on the one paragraph. However, as I was returning to share my thoughts on the quote about unfinished work I read Tristan’s and Lindsey’s. I’ll simply echo those sentiments. I will say that though my kids are mostly independent, it all works better if I’m still actively present and not doing my own thing.
Re. Outdoor time, we get at least 2-3 hours most days. However, we live in the sunshine state and it’s feasible.
Blessings,
Christie
I echo the others on here too. How dull of me?! I suppose we do actually get several hours a day out of doors too. It feels different here in New Orleans than it did in rural Florida. Obviously, right? Here the time just flies by and we are always left wanting even more. Or wondering “What did we do all afternoon?” I am a firm believer in “down time” indoors (or nearly so) too since I have bookworms and day dreamers who will sit for a good long time watching a snail move across the porch or the birds at the feeders or lay in the sun on the deck with the dogs. Oh and very curious kids too – there are many times when lessons are done and they’ve just got to investigate more, or find out the details on a news story they’ve heard in the car, or answer that pesky question …. to me that is down time, time I count toward that CM free time.
I think we are nerds. That’s what my sporty jock, frat boy husband says about us! (lovingly in both directions, please don’t misunderstand my comments or his) … Oh, and he’s much calmer and converted and such a great man … oh, dear I’m digging a big hole for myself! I feel like I need to tell our life’s story now to make us seem ok. Well, maybe one of you will giggle at it and get what I mean.
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