The Things I Planned to do...

Don't always happen!! I have some photos… somewhere… and a gazillion blogs composed in my mind and never written.

There was the blog about Good Friday… complete with photos of the Hot Cross Buns I made… they are still in the camera.
There are the pictures of this year’s Easter Garden… made at the beginning of Lent. It came in quite handy during egg hunting time ;)
Then there was the blog about Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market. That one was quite deep and thoughtful.
There was the blog about our week (terrible) and the Beatrix Potter study we are doing right now (fun).
The notice about how slow my internet has been (the main reason the photos are still on the camera) and the work being done on our house (window frames rotted, so we replaced them).
There was an unwritten blog about snow in April, and how it affected some of my plants (but not the very hardy veggies I planted thank Goodness)… and a few about books I read along the way.

Somehow, the time just seemed to get away from me, so instead, I will tell you about a great deal I got.

You may remember me telling you about The Mother’s Book and my enthusiastic response to it’s wisdom. Then you might also recall my discovery of the books referenced by the Mother’s book, and my telling you that they were part of The Young Folks’ treasury and how hard it was to find it.

The other day, on my weekly trip to the library, I did my usual perusal of the books for sale. Our Library sells hardbacks for 50 cents and paperbacks for 25 cent, so you can get really good deals!

Anyway, I noticed a set of books on the lower shelf… they were volumes 2-10 of The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls… and I didn’t think too much of it, until a couple of the titles caught my eye. Why, they looked an awful lot like the titles of my Young Folks’ treasury!!

So I looked inside the cover… sure enough, they were printed by the University Society and even mentioned The Young Folks Treasury and The Mother’s Book in the frontispiece. At 50 cents apiece, I could hardly pass it up!

Admittedly, they are not the collectibles from the 1912 printing… but rather a 1979 version (almost as old as me!)… but they maintain much of the original content.

The final book, Volume 10, is a guide for parents… basically about parenting. It is rather fun to read the very sensible advice it gives out. I wonder how often it was updated!

The much, much newer versions are quite plentiful and reasonably priced… so here are the names of the volumes if you are interested. There are numerous other children’s ‘Encyclopedia’ sets out there, and a quick browse of Ebay will net you the names of them :)

The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls:

Volume 1: Nursery Favorites Old and New
Volume 2: Happy Hours in Storyland
Volume 3: Folk and Fairytales
Volume 4: Favorite Stories and Songs
Volume 5: Things to Make and Do
Volume 6: Story of Art and Music
Volume 7: Nature and the Universe
Volume 8: Best Children’s Classics
Volume 9: Heroes and Heroines

Volume 10: Infants and Children

Monday 12th- Thursday 15th February

MONDAY:

A difficult day. Rebel once more lived up to his name as far as math went. I decided it was a lunar thing, since all the ladies on one of my groups had the same issue with their 7 year olds.

Luckily an internet friend called me to tell me they were in town and asked if I would like a visit.

A short 20 minute clean, a bribe to Rebel that he would not be able to play with their kids and an uneaten lunch (kids were too excited) later; we were ready to receive them. Two hours of fun and laughter ensued, and we have plans to do it again, SOON! Shame we don’t live closer!

Monday also happened to be my 8th anniversary. Although Jacobite was caught at work for lunch and couldn’t meet my friends, we had planned on dinner out… an annual tradition for our family. The cheesecake factory was our planned destination and we went, a little surprised by the crowd there, even on a Monday night.

Jacobite had surprised me on his arrival home, with my present.

A 100 year old book, owned (complete with bookplate) by Annie Ware Winsor Allen… one of the contributing authors to the mother's book I mentioned back last month. I was thrilled. It was a Howard Pyle King Arthur series book… and I was really pleased because that is a keeper! Hopefully I will get to read it soon! Oh if only Sunday had not been spent ordering library books ;)

TUESDAY: went surprisingly well. We caught up on all the lessons missed the day before, and enjoyed our take-home cheesecakes from the previous night. Uneventful, and blessedly quiet.

WEDNESDAY: although Valentines Day, was more nightmarish. From the start, it was obvious Rebel was getting ill. He was lethargic and very hard to make respond. Fortunately the threat of being told he would get his work marked wrong made him actually work… and the idea of making Daddy a Valentine really struck him as a good idea. Unfortunately, by the time he had finished, the house was a mess and he was not exactly thrilled at the idea of tidying. The rest of the day was spent watching him get less and less responsive, until at bedtime we determined he had a fever.

THURSDAY: was good… I decided that if Rebel was still sick, he would take a day off… I can’t deal with all the fuss I have to make in order to get him moving. A lazy day has ensued and we are happier for it! Hopefully healthier too…

It’s Amazing

I told you about my new (old) book, The Mother’s Book and the articles in there. A great deal further into the book, and I am still being amazed.

There is the article by a Nathaniel M. Dawson (about who I could find nothing)… an extensive guide to teaching ones children all the virtues and characters you can want… I defy you to find a better character training model!

Then there are the numerous articles by Caroline Benedict Burrell… one of which caught my attention because she was speaking of the food which we should feed our young… since fruit and whole-wheat bread (not refined) topped her list, I have to wonder if we have truly learned nothing in the 100 years since her article was published.

Yes indeed… my book is 100 years old this year, and still worth its weight in gold.

The authors are not fans of corporal punishment… they rather think that we’d be better off employing that on the younger children who do not understand (in the form of small taps) and reasoning with the older children.

They like the public school system… but feel that class size should be small, the number of subjects limited, the parents involved to the point of knowing the teacher and all the lessons… and that some things are best left to the parents to teach.

In truth, I support a lot of the conclusions of the book… written in part by those who established the Parent Teachers Association… but I have to wonder what they would have though about today’s schools…

Now, in the schools defense, I have to admit, part of the problem has been the demands of parents… but in their demands, I think the parents have made mistakes… the state should not be in charge of what our children learn… we should.

Perhaps that is a good enough reason to homeschool… ;)

But still… the book is very interesting, the depiction of life from back during the Edwardian period… the realization that the advantages of the American free economy were obvious even then, that life back then really had some wonderful aspects to it.

Added to that the wonderful and numerous mentions of books I have never heard of but intend to read… I think I got my money’s worth!

If you would like your own copy of The Mother’s Book, there are a number around…

And as for the books written by the authors... I have one on my desk... and the list of the treasury books:

The Young Folks’ Treasury
I. Childhood Favourites and Fairy Stories
II. Myths and Legendary Heroes
III. Classic Tales and Old Fashioned Stories
IV. Modern Tales and Animal Stories
V. The Animal World
VI. Famous Travels and Adventures
VII. Heroes and Patriots
VIII. Wonders of Science and Invention
IX. Men and Women of Achievement; Self Help
X. Ideal Home Life: A Book for Children and Parents
XI. Golden Hours with Poets
XII. Music and Fine Arts

I learned a lot more from the book about these... basically a compilation of stories and snippets from books, designed to enthrall and interest children. The aim being to ignite their love of GOOD reading (as in classics that are not twaddle).

The things you find in a used book store...

OK, so technically it wasn't a used book store, it was an antique shop... but a bibliophile like myself is obliged to take a look at any old books there. Just ask my DH...
Anyway, I perused the bookshelves of a certain antique store, and found an interesting book entitled The Mother's Book full of wisdom and ideas from yesteryear (1909 to be exact). Actually rather head of it's time, I agreed with much the authors had to say. But I did not pick it up... DH stayed and read some more while I watched the kids and we both went home only to regret not getting the book later.
This weekend saw us back in the store, and actually buying the book (thank goodness it's gems were unseen by other eyes).
When I started to read, I could hardly believe my eyes... I felt like I had discovered another Charlotte Mason.
The book is edited by Caroline Benedict Burrell, with articles written by diverse writers, but my favourite was Annie Winsor Allen... on whom a quick google search revealed that she was Annie Ware Winsor Allen, born 1865 died 1955. A pioneer in the field of education, a teacher... a mother who homeschooled her children when she did not think the local education establishment to be sufficient... and eventually led to her opening her own school.
But back to the book... it reminded me a lot of Charlotte Mason... idea on how to keep the attention of the children, discipline, things they should be learning... and a list of stories to use as examples of behaviour and traits.
I was a little perplexed at first about the stories... they were said to be 'in the library' but no mention of which book or library they belonged to. A bit of sleuthing revealed The Young Folks Treasury (also known as The Young Folks Library) to be the referred to book series.
The MOST interesting aspect of that, is that on even deeper digging, I found these to be the very stories used by Charlotte Mason fans. I do not know if Ambleside Online did this intentionally ;) but of course I know for a fact that Ms. Mason herself suggested some of them.
What a shame such a lovely library is now out of print... I spent a good deal of the afternoon trying to find out as much about the books as I could... and realising that these would make a GREAT addition to ANY homeschool library.
So, an afternoon of sleuthing later, I have in hand the titles of the books in question... all I need now is a show of the CONTENTS of said books :)
But as it is... I will have to keep you posted!