I wrote some two months ago about our Book of Centuries, which in a way is new to us this year, thanks to talks this past summer by the lovely Laurie Bestvater. Previously, we only kept a communal timeline notebook (the littles still add to this one), but this year my boys have been keeping their own; adding entries on a weekly sometimes daily basis.
Javen's 4th century A.D.
...a detail from one of Javen's pages
She inspired us all at the Living Education Retreat in Windom, MN to use the Book of Centuries along with a number of other books as "forms of vitality" for our children. Though I'm quite sure I don't know how one could not make one's own while the children make theirs... so of course I had to have one too :)
Here's my 20th century, shows all of our immediate family's birthdays :)
Charlotte says,
"One thing at any rate we know with certainty, that no teaching, no information becomes knowledge to any of us until the individual mind has acted upon it, translated it, transformed, absorbed it, to reappear, like our bodily food, in forms of vitality. Therefore, teaching, talk and tale, however lucid or fascinating, effect nothing until self-activity be set up; that is, self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child's nature."
This was Cullen's sketch after a visit to a local museum.
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I LOVE the term "form of vitality", don't you?
What does it make you think of as related to education?
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6 comments:
Thank you so much for posting about your BOC! It's always so helpful to see pictures of what others are doing. Her quote on self-education underlies so much of her philosophy, made me think of nature journals and also narration too.
We haven't started one yet,but I do look forward to it! Especially after seeing other's entries of what it can look like. Thanks for sharing!
This visual was so helpful. What are the columns you have? Do they have headings, like Linda Fay's original BOC (Discoveries, Invention & Technology, Religion and Philosophy, Art & Music, Notable Men and Women, Wars, Conflicts, Politics)? or just made columns to make it easier for your children to write?
@7617826639622cc21f45c16f7e9f6a1b:disqus, on the page that looks like it has columns... it is really just the centuries divided up into year portions.
there are 5 columns and 20 rows which add up to = 1 century (100 years!)
so, we have a book of CENTURIES. literally ;)
so, in my book, i have the lines separating rows in black and then vertical yellow guidelines (so as to be less obtrusive). the lines simply serve to make it slightly more neat looking, and to remind me that there's only a small space to fit in an overview of the century. this way, i must be selective about what i add. :)
can i just add i have no idea what disqus did to that comment?! it was supposed to say, @7617826639622cc21f45c16f7e9f6a1b ... ;)
oh. my. word. it did it AGAIN. it's in response to jennifergmiller's comment. geesh.
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