SS #38: An Education by Any Other Name…

In today’s episode, Mystie, Pam, and Brandy discuss the power of educational metaphors – are we using the right images to picture our homeschools? Metaphors aren’t absolute — it’s what we mean by them and how we apply them that matters. Join the Scholé Sisters as they hash out metaphors and discuss what makes a good one worth using.

 

Thank you to our sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by In Memoriam. After Charlotte Mason died in 1923, the PNEU held a memorial service in her honor, though (quite appropriately) it more resembled an educational conference. Those who had spent years observing her life and work warmly described her impact on their own lives and careers. These sentiments — some philosophical, some personal — were recorded in the book In Memoriam. In Memoriam is biography, memoir and philosophical commentary all in one. It offers the most intimate look at Charlotte Mason from those who knew and loved her best. If you want to study Charlotte Mason, but don’t feel like reading philosophy straight up, In Memoriam is the perfect solution. Grab your copy on Amazon today!

 

Listen to the podcast:

 

Show Notes:

 

  • Topical Discussion: Educational Metaphors
    • Education is your job.
    • Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire. (Loose paraphrase of Yeats there…)
    • Education is writing upon a blank slate.
    • Education is bringing a horse to water.
    • Stratford Caldecott
    • “Education is a life” vs. “Life is education.”
    • Education is a Life episode
    • Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour
    • The Charlotte Mason quote Brandy couldn’t remember:
      • “We supplement this direct ‘nature walk’ by occasional object-lessons, as, on the hairs of plants, on diversity of wings, on the sorts of matters taken up in Professor Miall’s capital books; but our main dependence is on books as an adjunct to out-of-door work––Mrs. Fisher’s, Mrs. Brightwen’s, Professor Lloyd Morgan’s, Professor Geikie’s, Professors Geddes’ and Thomson’s (the two last for children over fourteen), etc., etc. In the books of these and some other authors the children are put in the position of the original observer of biological and other phenomena. They learn what to observe, and make discoveries for themselves, original so far as they are concerned. They are put in the right attitude of mind for scientific observations and deductions, and their keen interest is awakened. We are extremely careful not to burden the verbal memory with scientific nomenclature. Children learn of pollen, antennae, and what not, incidentally, when the thing is present and they require a name for it. The children who are curious about it, and they only, should have the opportunity of seeing with the microscope any minute wonder of structure that has come up in their reading or their walks; but a good lens is a capital and almost an indispensable companion in field work. I think there is danger in giving too prominent a place to education by Things, enormous as is its value; a certain want of atmosphere is apt to result, and a deplorable absence of a standard of comparison and of the principle of veneration. ‘We are the people!’ seems to be the note of an education which is not largely sustained on books as well as on things.” (Vol 3 p. 237-238)
    • The Great Tradition by Richard Gamble
    • Lectio Divina episode with Pam and Ashley Woleben
    • Education is a feat.
    • Education is a MEAL.
    • Education is a journey, not a destination.
    • Education is a path to be traveled.
    • Education is a hobby.
    • What happens inside a classroom = education.
    • The Graves of Academe by Richard Mitchell
    • Action steps:
      • Identify the metaphors you have in your head and whether those are the pictures you want to have defining what you’re doing.
      • Think of how you are applying those metaphors to your homeschool.
      • Bring the language of your metaphors to the surface and check for negative applications (even if the metaphors are in themselves good ones).

 

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