Can someone please explain the concept of teaching ideas? For some reason, I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around this. What would it look like when working on a lesson in something like history? I’ve always heard there are no stupid questions ; ) Thanks so much!!!
Hi Rebekah. 🙂 I don’t think it’s so much about teaching ideas but about presenting ideas to our children through wonderful, living books and “the riches”. Living books, beautiful music, lovely paintings-all of these are full of ideas and when we “spread the feast” before our children, they will pick and choose from these ideas according to their particular gifts and personalities.
I agree with the PP that it’s not that we teach ideas but that we present materials that have ideas in them. One thing that helped me was reading in one of CM’s books (can’t remember which one) the story of a man who as a boy was captured by an idea which controlled his life. But that idea was only a love of a place –Scotland, I think. I think we think that ideas must be grand things but they can be very simple. I would ask yourself are my kids connecting with what they read? Are they interested in things? (It’s amazing how many kids aren’t, at all.) If they are younger, do they act out what they learn in play? Little ones especially show that they are building relationships when they do this. Do you ever catch them telling a friend or dad about what they read? Do they ever say “oh that is like what we read before…. ‘? I wouldn’t worry about being able to point to specific ideas they are learning but just look for the signs that they are building relationships with the material.
Sonya here at SCM has blogged several wonderful articles about facts vs. ideas. You can find many of them HERE. My favorite is probably Past the Outer Court, but they are all helpful!
Thank you ladies. That actually takes some pressure of me to just sit back and observe rather than trying to plan it all out. I must be a big picture person because that helped me wrap my mind around what it all looks like.
Nebby, I will check out the articles you mentioned.
Thanks again!! This forum is so refreshing!!
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