Language Arts -- Fable Theme

Every weekend, I have been choosing a planning focus. It's not set in stone, but it helps me keep in mind what I want to be thinking about and researching for instead of getting lost in all the choices and different subject areas.

Since composition just hasn't been happening with my seventh grader so far, I decided to take what I know about the Progymnasmata and tailor it to what I want to do in our family. I decided that we work best with a big introduction time.... basically our INPUT has to be quite significant before I can expect a product (OUTPUT) from most of my children. Or maybe the inhalation/exhalation described in Waldorf schools would be a more organic metaphor. And I am like that myself, actually.

So I put a list of resources and ideas up -- Fables (a Google doc)

As we actually go through the unit I'm going to refine it, write down daily plans, etc. So the final version will probably be some sort of PDF.

Analyzing and Synthesizing

I found this neat post Wrestling with Homer at a blog I hadn't seen before, Fanning the Flames.

I am sitting here with a pile of books:

Classical Writing Aesop, Homer and Diogenes

PLUS Connecting with History (a Catholic resource somewhat similar to Tapestry of Grace, designed by two internet friends of mine from way back)

Oh, yes, and Composition in the Classical Tradition.

I think I've mentioned before that I have a lot of trouble using any "teacher" resources. The basic rule of thumb is: If I can't simply hand it to my kid, I can't use it. That is why I end up using workbooks and living books more than almost anything. My preferred approach to education is the tutoring model -- the kid works with the material, and I help him by (sometimes) introducing the lesson and (sometimes) helping him solve difficulties and (sometimes) correcting or helping him go over his independent work. Books and workbooks lend themselves to this, while teacher-intensive resources generally don't.

These resources are so good, however, that I would like to make them work....somehow... so that is why I am sitting here with this pile. They are teacher resources, yet the methods are high-quality and so are the related philosophy and resources.

We are not studying ancient history this year, so I didn't dig out Connecting with History because of the material. Rather, I saw it with the other resources : ) plus I wanted to revisit their method, summarized here. It is somewhat inspired by the Ignatian method, which I talked about here.

Classical Writing advocates a "routine" for Analysis and Imitation. I wrote a bit about that here.

From Classical Writing: Models

It seems to me, firstly, that what a man seeks through his education is to get to know himself and the world; next, that for this knowledge it is before all things necessary that he acquaint himself with the best that has been thought and said in the world; finally, that of this (best), the classics of Greece and Rome form a very chief portion and the portion most entirely satisfactory.

~ Matthew Arnold

Yesterday it occurred to me that I have been having trouble using resources like Classical Writing because I am focusing on the "teaching" part of the thing; when in actual fact, I have always had much more success focusing on a source or model, and then doing the teaching "by the way".

It's a bit difficult to explain, but the way the Ignatian educators approached literary models was to focus on the models themselves. They did it in two ways -- one was to use the literary model as an example of a precept. This was the "deductive" approach. Another was to focus on the model, and then use it as an example of a given precept of style. This was called the "inductive" approach.

This is the analysis component of the literary lesson. The "imitation" followed. It was almost an enactment of what had been learned. The lessons have often been compared to "practicums" -- putting knowledge into practice. But the point I am trying, not very well, to express, is that the model itself was the key thing. As Charlotte Mason puts it in a different context, the object is outside of ourselves.

I am not sure why, but I think that this is the source of my past difficulty using progym activities, though I am so in love with the idea. I think I was approaching it too much from the "improvement" side of things, and so I was bogged down in an internal contradiction.

So I'm approaching planning the progym from a different perspective, in light of that. I'll try to be clearer and more specific some other time. Right now I just wanted to write that out in order to see if I could ;-).

Progym discussed on Writing and Living.

"I'm also pretty sold on the Progymnasmata. The writing exercises that are standard fare for every other writing program I've ever looked at (Pretend you're a reporter at the first Olympics and write a newspaper article about what you've seen.) make me want to retch.

Other writing programs also seem to have an obsession with eliminating the phrase "he said" from a child's writing forever. The child may not be able to punctuate properly, but by golly, they won't be writing "he said" anymore. Yessirreebob, when people talk they are to breathe, whisper, bellow, intone, interrogate, sigh, scream, utter, mumble, or shriek, but they better not just "say" anything."

Also Using Ancient Exercises in the Contemporary Classroom -- I've never seen this site before. This diagram is cool:

Here is the Quintilian quoted at the bottom part of the diagram.

More about the Progym

Mom of 3 Feisty Kids asked:

How do you use the models? Do you have them read the model first, then rewrite it in their own words (a form of narration)? Is it more like copywork? Or are you trying to get them to emulate style or certain literary devices in the models?

The short answer would be: All of the Above. Especially if "you" is taken to mean "the standard way" or "how Classical Writing is designed".

If "you" means me in particular, you probably know by now that I never never -- hardly ever, at least -- do things that way they are written. So I ought to make a distinction between "how it is done" and "how we do it".

The way Classical Writing is designed -- well, I wrote a review for it once -- here. But briefly, there are two components -- analysis, and imitation.

Classical Writing divides the two components into daily tasks. Two daily sessions are recommended -- one for analysis (studying the model) and one for imitation (writing).

So the analysis component is divided up like this:

• Day One -- Read the story, bring in background information (context, vocabulary that is unfamiliar, etc) -- discuss the story.
• Day Two -- word analysis -- this would be phonics/spelling/dictionary skills, depending on the level the child is at (CW Aesop is meant to be used for 2nd to 5th graders but can be adapted to older levels)
• Day Three -- sentence analysis -- very simple grammar and mechanics for a young child, like capitalization and periods, then more complex for an older child)
• Day Four -- Copywork or Dictation. Take a section of the model and copy it (younger child) or write it from dictation (more advanced)
  

The imitation (writing) component is divided up like this:

• Day One -- overlaps with Day One above -- but you might do a retelling or make an outline.
• Day Two -- Write -- a younger child can dictate to Mom, an older child could write their own retelling.
• Day Three -- go over the written version and correct. ...gently, of course -- more with the attitude of finding one or more things to target and improve.
• Day Four -- write out revised version/final draft.

So the whole program includes almost all aspects of a language arts curriculum, and is sequential. You go from easy level study to more complicated. And as written, you can see it is fairly structured, though in a gentle way. The overall goal is to really study good literature and learn to recognize and easily employ excellent literary features.

There is some general information about the progymnasmata here, and here.
And there is a very informative message board dealing with Classical Writing.

Now me -- of course, I use structure as a road map. My kids have never liked to beat a topic to death. And they probably get it from me. Whenever we've tried a formal unit study, or analysis and imitation down to the micro-level as outlined above, it's been a failure.

So my plan is to use this structure as a generator, so to speak. Does that make sense? I like its comprehensive focus. You get literary discussion and analysis -- copywork/dictation -- grammar in the context of reading and writing -- and if you want, contextual studies (reading and researching more about the model's content and the writer's method and life). You could bring in graphic organizers and techniques from other reading and writing curriculums. You could pull in art. Or not.

Rather than study ALL those different elements every single week, I will probably pull in different things on different weeks. Unschooling for a couple of years taught me to watch my kids' reactions carefully. If they're into it, we can do more. If not, we'll skip parts or change them. This is how it works for us.

When we last used the progym, my kids sometimes wanted to make their own versions of the stories -- not just an imitation, but their own retelling, sometimes from the point of view of the adversary, or a comic parody, or whatever. Sometimes we went with that. Sometimes I had them do two, a "straight" one and a quirky one, so that we had both versions. You get the picture.

I hope this helps. I really appreciate the questions since they help me clarify my own thoughts. I don't know if you are interested in all this more than theoretically, Mom of 3, but I am thinking that your right brained learners, whose family culture teaches them to question and discern and evaluate everything, might not be attracted to what I would call the "pious" element in the CW curriculum. My own kids had a bit of an aversion to some of the 19th century and classical models -- sometimes the "moral" is pushed home pretty obviously.

That' s one reason I am planning to avoid the fables for now and some of the more heavy-handed tales and legends. ... and perhaps, bring in primary sources and small passages from excellent modern literature. And use the program more as a vehicle for literary analysis and discussion, than of micro-word-analysis and formal grammar instruction. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Thinking about the Progym

My tentative thought is to have both the boys start with Classical Writing: Aesop, but of course Sean can use more complicated narratives. I will try to move Sean more quickly into longer narratives a la Homer. By the end of the year Sean can do some of Diogenes or some version thereof, to get him used to high school level analysis and writing.

Kieron can stay in CW Aesop but just keep steepening the length and complexity of the narratives he uses for models. I'm skipping the early fable section because we already did this section a couple of years back and in my experience, boys this age (11) just love to parody fables. I don't want to deal with this at the beginning of the year so I am going straight to narratives and then maybe the Jakarta tales (which aren't as familiar to him) towards the end of the year.

I will start with Baldwin then do some of the Bible stories and saints' legends. I also have hopes of pulling out narratives from the books they are reading.

Another thing that occurs to me is to have the models be part of a mini-unit or theme. I think this will be less artificial than the way we did it last time, where the models were done completely in isolation from everything else. For example, Kieron was interested in Constantine, so we could do a narrative of Constantine and the Cross and have a more detailed study of him along with timeline, maps etc. This wouldn't have worked with Brendan and Clare but Kieron actually enjoys delving into things with a bit of direction -- it doesn't "ruin it" for him. He is more like Liam that way. ... a social/interactive learner.

I am falling back in love with the progym, for sure. I just love the analysis and imitation concepts. BY the way, there is a perfectly wonderful article on The Method of Teaching (Ignatian method, that is) by a Jesuit teacher, Robert Schwickerath. It is compatible with Classical Writing because the early Jesuits were heavily influenced by Quintilian, who was an early educational writer.

So that is the brainstorming part of the plan. I hope to get a spreadsheet laid out with specific models, subject to variation, as always.

For now, while we have so much going on, my object is to get Sean particularly more used to writing things out. So I have him doing regular copywork and daily learner's journal/notes narration. This gives me a better idea of where he is at. These can gradually evolve into a commonplace book for Diogenes.

Also, since he is 14 I hope to pull in primary sources and teach him to analyze and interpret in context. More on all this later. I'm just trying to get the basic ideas out. The reading-study lends itself easily to research and study skills and beginning literary analysis.

Kieron is a different story. He will want to interact on the story telling. I really like the idea of having the model in the context of a brief unit. Another idea is to use picture books as models. I hope to have him read, say, George and the Dragon (just an example) in a "real" book, like the book of Virtues, and then print out another version to use as the model. This will lend itself to natural comparison/contrast.

I would also like to use some graphic-organizer type things for the story discussions.

Another possibility is to have them work together in some, though not all, weeks of the progym. I used to work with them together but it makes more sense now to have them more separate. Still, I can overlap on the planning and on some of the models.

This month will be mostly devoted to "notes narrations" or outlining type things, and verbal presentations of study. Probably the next month too, since it is already December. But since I am in a bit of a rush with Sean he will probably start writing some papers in December. I can go slower with Kieron.

Baldwin Project Books

I wonder how the books are used in Main Lessons? (just pondering). Do Waldorf schools have "spine texts" and then draw main lesson topics from that? Or do they just pick excerpts from the books? Anyway, here are a few that I thought might be of interest for my crew this year. I was over there looking for stories that will go with the progym.

At first glance, the first four books look better suited for CW Aesop, and the second set looks better for CW Homer.


Nursery Book of Bible Tales
Jataka Tales
Tales of the Romans (Plutarch)
Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts


Chaucer Story Book
Stories of Don Quixote
Stories of Beowulf
Stories from Wagner (Flying Dutchman)
Story of the Bible

a bit more on progym

So then, after all the informal writing experience I talked about in my last post, I became enthused about the progym. I heard about it on my classical list and it was affinity at first hearing -- which is odd for me -- usually I dislike new things at first sight. But the progym seemed like a way to flesh out written narration and make it more understandable to my kids, and for me, to lead them step by step from simple narrations to the more complex writing that Charlotte Mason recommends in the upper grades.

The progym usually starts with the simple fable -- usually Aesop. I skipped that. My kids were a bit too old for fables by then.... ages 12, 13, and 15. I started them into narrative -- the first assignment was to retell the poem of King Bruce and the Spider in narrative prose. I wish I knew where the results were because they were all quite charming. They each told the story in a different way. My kids are notoriously resistant to new ideas, but this one seemed to work for them.

The next assignment we did was to take one of the stories of Alexander the Great, one where he would not eat food if his soldiers were starving. (I can't find it online at the moment). They were supposed to condense it first, then expand it.

Condensing is a useful skill which appears in the later progym, where a story will appear in summary to illustrate a point or lead into one (induction or deduction).

Expanding is done more thoroughly in progym like description, and also is one of the preparations for later exercises in expanding upon a topic.

They particularly did well on the expanding one and it was fascinating to compare results and see how each child according to temperament brought out different aspects of the story -- one son focused on the physical and visual details of the battle-weariness and the blazing sun, another had the drama be largely an intellectual and moral one, and another described the emotions of Alexander and the soldiers very vividly.

At this point I stopped doing the progym with the group -- I think that was when Paddy was born and his stay in the NICU and followup issues took up all my energy. Later Liam, my oldest, proceeded through Frank D'Angelo's Composition in the Classical Tradition by himself (caveat: this is a worthwhile book but not one to simply hand to a kid because there are lots of rather sordid examples concerning child abuse or marital discord -- taken from newspapers -- I think dAngelo must have written the book for law students in college. I would write out assignments for him based on the book, and later, I whited out all the objectionable articles so he could use the book on his own without getting discouraged by all the dysfunction).

Later I got Lene Jaqua and Tracey Gustilo's Classical Writing: Aesop -- I wrote a review for it here. I used the program for Sean and Kieron, who were then 7 and 10. Kieron wasn't writing well yet, so I would take his narrations from dictation and then type them in. I got some excellent narrations from him with beautiful language. His oral narrations are still very good, to this day, so maybe that early grounding was helpful. Sean would do his own, but he was at that age when fables bring out the Pert or Dialectic in a young preteen. He loved to criticize them, write them out and change the message, which sort of defeated the purpose. Or so I thought. Anyway, after about half a year we let it drop in favor of other things.

I think this time around I will approach it more like I approached it with the older set. Partly because the kids are older now, and partly because things seem to go better if I do them my own way rather than trying to do it just like it is written in the book. I still like the CW series for reference and ideas. It's my favorite progym resource of the ones I've seen for the younger set.

Starting to plan the progym

Short learning log note:

• Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare must have "worked" for Sean, because he has been reading it all this weekend.
  
• Kieron heard me reading Tigger is Unbounced to Paddy and this inspired him to get out Complete Winnie the Pooh Tales which he is now rereading. He wants me to read it to Paddy -- well, it's certainly something to think about.
• I got out Childrens' Book of Virtues and Moral Compass because I do think Paddy's about at that stage.

-------------

Now about planning:

I have gotten out all my progym and writer's books. This is Aphthonius's Progymnasmata, which is actually a nice summary -- it's the one I used for my older set since none of the progym books were out yet at that time. More about that later.

Also, here is Melissa Wiley about Bravewriter
and Mother Crone: Praise for Bravewriter

I don't have Julie's Bravewriter program, but I do like her Lifestyle principles.

I stumbled upon similar ones by trial and error with my older set. When they were younger, the only writing programs out there for homeschoolers were ones that I did not like. They all seemed artificial to me. Bravewriter was obviously not out back then. I tried a couple of highly recommended composition programs with my oldest, Liam, who is now 21. He was not very impressed, and since he was usually quite fair-minded about his academics, that was a signal to me to drop them quickly. I'm very glad in retrospect I trusted my instincts on this.

I didn't even try any of these standard curricula with Brendan or Clare, who are now 19 and 17. By that time I'd heard of Charlotte Mason and her methods seemed much more compatible with how I wanted to do things.

I had learned to write by copywork and storywriting and little nature writings I did in the summers when I was very young. I liked to make little books which I sewed or stapled together and decorated. When I was very little, my mom read to me a lot and traced out letters for me to copy until I could write on my own. So that's basically how I did it with my kids. They narrated -- not much, but a bit. They did copywork; again, not much, but a bit. They made maps and scrawled little stories on index cards, or sometimes rolled papers and drawings up into scrolls. They played pretend games by the hour and sometimes audiotaped or videotaped their plays.

I wrote down their stories or journals, sometimes, or labeled their pictures, and collected their work into binders. Brendan and Clare gained fluency in reading by telling me stories that I would type, then have them read back to me. As they got older, they kept their own notebooks and labeled their own pictures. All this never seemed like "enough", but somehow, all my older kids became effective writers.

At some point Brendan seemed "stuck" in his writing. He was at a perfectionist age and had just transitioned from all-caps to a legible italics, but he wasn't yet fluent. Liam had become more interested in serious academics, and was writing a few papers for his "studies", but was no longer doing much creative writing. So I started a daily "free writing" -- we'd all gather for 20 minutes before lunch, and the pre-readers could draw. Even I had to write during this time. It was time that was difficult for me to spare, since Aidan was a medically high needs toddler and I was pregnant with Paddy, but I thought it was important to be there too, participating, not skipping down the hall to fold the laundry.

I also had several "writer" type books around the house from my college days. I strewed these and the kids picked them up and read them, at least some of them. The feedback I got back later was that they often disagreed with the writer's advice, but still, these books gave the kids a chance to "converse" mentally with a writing teacher, and pick and choose what they wanted to try out. The authors who write these "writer's manuals" do have their peculiarities and flaws like everyone else of course, but they don't patronize the young writer quite as much as the standard children's textbook on how to write. I don't think it's necessary to read any of these types of books, and authors like Flannery O'Connor will tell you it could be dangerous, but at least the kids have the freedom to pick and choose their "teachers" here.

Eventually, the free writing period was dropped because it was no longer necessary. From there, all the kids embarked on abundant writing -- opinion pieces, journalling, stories, and creative "newspapers". They haven't looked back. All have their own "style" and their own particular strengths.

It was right after this "free writing" interim in our lives that I started experimenting with the progym. I am sketching out all the things that came before, because I do think the progym ought to rest upon a base similar to the Bravewriter one -- upon experience in creative playing, lots of reading and sharing stories, and some fluency and joy in expression (both written and oral). So I am writing this out partly in order to remind myself -- because whenever I start poring through curricula, I get a queasy, discouraged feeling -- probably another reason I'm interested in classical/CM/unschooling, because teacher's manuals are less necessary when you are learning from real books, real pen and paper, and real life.

So my goal is to use the curricula as a resource, not let it take over my life. When I get that queasy feeling, it's time to do something different for a while!

(Paddy's next to me, poring over the "Tour of the Summa", asking me to read chapter titles like "The Equality of the Three Divine Persons", then making up elaborate stories within the book -- I heard mention of alligators being found -- ST Thomas would probably be surprised to know what could be read from the pages of his work!)