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Scheduling Literature in CMs Day
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I recently attended Mrs. Shafer’s Books & Things seminar in Longview, TX. She showed a sample of Class I, Class II and Class III (grades 1 – 9) schedules. What I was surprised to see is that literature (fiction – not specific subjects like geography, botany, English history, etc.) was not listed. I only located one slot for “Reading” for 30 minutes each in both Class II and Class III. I have read somewhere that Miss Mason expected her students to read literature in their “holiday and evening hours” but cannot find where I found this. I believe I even saw this somewhere in Mrs. Shafer’s materials, either the Books & Things booklet, or her new Language Arts book. Also, while in Miss Mason’s day the students attended school from 9 – 1pm six days a week (Class III, 7-9 grades), it would seem that if we are not to reduce the amount of material Miss Mason taught, that we would need to extend our 5-day school week by approximately 45 minutes Monday through Friday. But this does not seem to include Scott, Shakespeare, Kipling, etc. who write fiction. What am I missing?
bakersacre365,
I am not as familiar with Charlotte’s schedule as I would like to be, so I’m sure Sonya and others can offer you more detail on that particular question. For literature, our family follows the SCM Curriculum Guide. We are currently reading Black Beauty. Our literature book is also our family read-aloud, and it is read during different parts of the day, whenever we feel like it–need a break from other subjects, before nap time, before bed. It is not really in my “daily schedule” as much as I just know that at some point(s) during the day, a chapter or more will be read from it. Sometimes it’s during school; other times, it’s at night, just whenever I or the children want to read it.
As far as how much time you’re spending on school each day, that is as individual as each family. It depends on the age(s) of your child(ren), what subjects you do daily and what subjects you do once or twice throughout the week. Obviously, you should spend more time on each subject for older children than for younger children. My children are ds6.5 and dd5, we do between 9 and 12 subjects per day, we begin no later than 9:45, and we are finished with school no later than 11:30, sometimes earlier. On average, we spend about 10 minutes (more for subjects like history and less for subjects like Scripture memorization) per subject, per day. I expect, as they get older, that we will spend more time on each subject, thus lengthening our school day respectively. You also cannot forget that chores, cooking, handicrafts, projects, etc. are considered life skills, and therefore, school work. I suppose once you add the 20 or so minutes my children spend doing chores each day, our school day is over two and a half hours long.
Let’s say you did an average of 10 subjects per day with your Year 7 child. You would probably spend between 10 and 30 minutes on each subject, so we’ll say your average time spent is 20 minutes per subject. That would mean your average school day would last about 3 hours and 20 minutes. Of course, once you add in a weekly nature study/map drill/Shakespeare, you add time accordingly.
If it makes you feel better, I don’t plan on doing 5 hours of school a day with my children until they are somewhere around Year 10. I feel that if we can accomplish what we set out to do in 20 minutes, why spend 30 at this point in our school?
I also look forward to what Sonya and others have to say about CM’s day and schedule, but for now, I hope maybe I have shed some light on what you personally can do.
Blessings,
Lindsey
Hi, this is taken from a Parents’ Review Article, “Art and Literature in the PUS by Marjorie Ransom, Vol. 34, 1923 and might help shed some light on the way the Class schedules read in terms of Lit. Best, Richele
“In Miss Mason’s scheme of Education,
(1) she chooses the Best Books, thus the History, Geography, and Science Lessons may become at the same time Literature Lessons.
(2) Whenever possible, the pupil reads from the book; this is considered a more normal method of absorbing knowledge than through the oral lesson (where the child is inclined to think that if the teacher is removed, the source of all knowledge is removed too!)
(3) Special books are chosen purely for their literary value (these books are often read at home), the characters are discussed at school, the style of writing is examined (this, however, must not be done before Form IV, as early lessons in style should be sub-conscious rather than conscious). Narration is an important item in the lesson; it stimulates memory and encourages eloquence. There is no doubt we remember what is well put. I have noticed that my husband, always a reader, can repeat verbatim pages of “What Katy Did,” “Huckleberry Finn,” “Pickwick Papers, “Sheridan’s Plays,” etc., books which he read as a small boy and yet he cannot commit to memory a few lines of a badly written play or book, because he says: “it might just as well be written in any other way.”Miss Mason chooses a book, in whatever subject, for its literary value as well as for what it contains. All lessons in which the child uses good, well-written books are teaching him form, style and polish in composition and also such books teach him to think—what we ponder over, we remember.”
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