what does charlotte mason do about…vocabulary?

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  • October 27, 2014 at 3:08 am
    pjssully
    Participant

    Hi

    I am curious what CM take is on vocabulary.  I know she didn’t use vocabulary books, but how did she handle difficult words when students came across them in reading literature and other works?  Someohow, I have not been able to find info. on this.

    thanks

    pj

    October 28, 2014 at 2:39 am
    Sonya Shafer
    Moderator

    Here are a few passages that might help clarify. Mainly, Charlotte believed that word meanings would be picked up through context.

    “When a child is reading, he should not be teased with questions as to the meaning of what he has read, the signification of this word or that; what is annoying to older people is equally annoying to children. Besides, it is not of the least consequence that they should be able to give the meaning of every word they read. A knowledge of meanings, that is, an ample and correct vocabulary, is only arrived at in one way—by the habit of reading” (Vol. 1, p. 228).

     

    “A child unconsciously gets the meaning of a new word from the context, if not the first time he meets with it, then the second or the third: but he is on the look-out, and will find out for himself the sense of any expression he does not understand” (Vol. 1, pp. 228, 229).

     

    “We depreciate children in another way. We are convinced that they cannot understand a literary vocabulary so we explain and paraphrase to our own heart’s content but not to theirs. Educated mothers know that their children can read anything and do not offer explanations unless they are asked for them” (Vol. 6, p. 74).

     

     

    October 28, 2014 at 3:51 pm
    BlessedMommy
    Participant

    I know personally, I know what words mean and I know how to correctly use words, yet, I may not be able to tell you a word for word deffinition, despit all of the vocabulary drilling and tests I had in public school.  I know what it means but, can’t always put it into words.  Does that make sense?  So, I feel like all of that vocabulary drilling was kind of a waste of time.  While I’m reading or while my 7 year old is reading, she will always stop and ask me what something means when she does not understand.  She naturally wants to understand what she is reading or hearing.  Rather than me just telling her, I have been teaching her how to look the word up in the dictionary herself.  Usually, once she reads the definition once, she won’t forget what it means. 

    October 28, 2014 at 7:09 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Very often a child will figure out a word just by context and hearing it repeated later in another book.  Sometimes this can lead to strange assumptions about a word meaning 🙂  but it often works.  If a child WANTS to know what a word means, I either answer briefly (if I don’t want to interrupt the flow) or have him write it down and look it up after the reading session.  Occasionally a reading is tough enough that there could be multiple words the child may not know (say, Plutarch) and in those instances I preread and jot down meanings for difficult words in key spots so that we can figure out some of what is going on.  🙂  The other thing that will help vocabulary is any foreign language work, and especially Latin and/or Greek.  In our house we do not drill vocabulary (except for foreign language).  It just does not happen.  We’d rather be tortured with hot pokers.  🙂

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