Focus on Attention

 Charlotte Mason on Cultivating the Habit of Attention:

The Habit of Attention to be Cultivated in the Infant.—

The help, then, is not in the will of the child but in the habit of attention, a habit to be cultivated even in the infant. A baby, notwithstanding his wonderful powers of observation, has no power of attention; in a minute, the coveted plaything drops from listless little fingers, and the wandering glance lights upon some new joy. But even at this stage the habit of attention may be trained: the discarded plaything is picked up, and, with ' Pretty!' and dumb show, the mother keeps the infant's eyes fixed for fully a couple of minutes—and this is his first lesson in attention. Later, as we have seen, the child is eager to see and handle every object that comes in his way. But watch him at his investigations: he flits from thing to thing with less purpose than a butterfly amongst the flowers, staying at nothing long enough to get the good out of it. It is the mother's part to supplement the child's quick observing faculty with the habit of attention. She must see to it that he does not flit from this to that, but looks long enough at one thing to get a real acquaintance with it.

Time-table; Definite Work in a Given Time. —

I shall have opportunities to enter into some of these points later; meantime, let us look in at a home schoolroom managed upon sound principles. In the first place, there is a time-table, written out fairly, so that the child knows what he has to do and how long each lesson is to last. This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not 'as good as another'; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child's attention to his work. Again, the lessons are short, seldom more than twenty minutes in length for children under eight; and this, for two or three reasons. The sense that there is not much time for his sums or his reading, keeps the child's wits on the alert and helps to fix his attention; he has time to learn just so much of any one subject as it is good for him to take in at once: and if the lessons be judiciously alternated— sums first, say, while the brain is quite fresh; then writing, or reading—some more or less mechanical exercise, by way of a rest; and so on, the programme varying a little from day to day, but the same principle throughout—a ' thinking' lesson first, and a 'painstaking' lesson to follow,—the child gets through his morning lessons without any sign of weariness.

Even with regular lessons and short lessons, a further stimulus may be occasionally necessary to secure the attention of the child. His desire of approbation may ask the stimulus, not only of a word of praise, but of something in the shape of a reward to secure his utmost efforts. Now, rewards should be dealt out to the child upon principle: they should be the natural consequences of his good conduct.

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There are many good "Charlotte Mason" blogs out there, but today I stumbled across Living Charlotte Mason in California. In her article on The Habit of Attention, she gives some practical tips in regards to helping children develop the all-important habit of attention:

Some things we can do to help the child develop the habit of attention are:

*Make him aware of his ability to will himself to pay attention. Let him know that like a muscle, the more he exercises his will to pay attention, the stronger it gets and the more he will be able to pay attention.
 

*Use living books in their curriculum, not dead lifeless books.
 

*Set the expectation that the reading will happen only once and they are to give it full attention.
 

*Keep lessons short (10-15 min. to start) and focused, you can gradually increase the time as their attention improves.
 

*Give a very brief intro to the reading for context and write any difficult names up on the board so they are aware of them before the reading and not taken off track by them during the reading.
 

*Let them know they will be asked to tell back (narrate) what they heard.
 

NOTE: I particularly like this next suggestion:

*Let them know the reason why they narrate - so they can remember. Not so you can check what they remember. By telling back, they cement things in their own minds and that's why we are asking them to narrate. That takes you out of the picture and helps them realize they are educating themselves, not spewing back information for the sake of the teacher.
 

*Don't interrupt or correct them during narrations - make brief corrections only after they are finished - and then focus on the ideas, not the facts.
 

*Don't re-read! (unless they genuinely missed something or wanted clarification out of interest; which is very different from not paying attention)
 

*Stop right at a cliff hanger so they look forward to the next reading. (think Pinnochio)  

Read the Rest of The Habit of Attention

  

Charlotte Mason List of Attainments

From Ambleside Online:

Charlotte Mason included in her Original Homeschool Series books some lists of attainments, goals or objectives to be met by certain ages. She has one for 6-year-olds and one for 12-year-olds.

"A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint of a curriculum outline from a CM school in the 1890's.

1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns
 

2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm
 

3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters
 

4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child
 

5. to copy in print-hand from a book
 

6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows
 

7. to describe the boundaries of their own home
 

8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach
 

9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (Ambleside note: we may want to substitute early American for early English!)
 

10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views
 

11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them.
 

12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees
 

13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape
 

14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed
 

15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat.
 

16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences
 

17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song
 

18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

 At the link above, you can find the list of attainments for children 6-12.

NOTE: Seems to me, we, as a society expect so much less, in some respects, of our children today. One of the aspects employed by Charlotte Mason that seems to be missing nowadays, it the careful observation of the world within view. Taking the time to build a deep awareness of the immediate environment (attention to details) will be of benefit in other study areas.

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So how do you fit is all in? Here is an example of a school schedule to give you an idea.

Charlotte Mason on Home Education

"The consequence of truth is great; therefore the judgment of it must not be negligent."  -- Whichcote. 

1. Children are born persons.

2. They are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and evil.

3. The principles of authority on the one hand and obedience on the other, are natural, necessary and fundamental; but—

4. These principles are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, which must not be encroached upon, whether by fear or love, suggestion or influence, or undue play upon any one natural desire.

5. Therefore we are limited to three educational instruments—the atmosphere of environment, the discipline of habit, and the presentation of living ideas.

6. By the saying, EDUCATION IS AN ATMOSPHERE, it is not meant that a child should be isolated in what may be called a 'child environment,' especially adapted and prepared; but that we should take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down his world to the 'child's' level.

7. By EDUCATION IS A DISCIPLINE, is meant the discipline of habits formed definitely and thoughtfully, whether habits of mind or body. Physiologists tell us of the adaptation of brain structure to habitual lines of thought—i.e., to our habits.

8. In the saying that EDUCATION IS A LIFE, the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.

9. But the mind is not a receptacle into which ideas must be dropped, each idea adding to an 'apperception mass' of its like, the theory upon which the Herbartian doctrine of interest rests.

10. On the contrary, a child's mind is no mere sac to hold ideas; but is rather, if the figure may be allowed, a spiritual organism, with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper diet, with which it is prepared to deal, and which it can digest and assimilate as the body does foodstuffs.

11. This difference is not a verbal quibble. The Herbartian doctrine lays the stress of education— the preparation of knowledge in enticing morsels, presented in due order—upon the teacher. Children taught upon this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching with little knowledge; and the teacher's axiom is,' What a child learns matters less than how he learns it.'

12. But, believing that the normal child has powers of mind that fit him to deal with all knowledge proper to him, we must give him a full and generous curriculum; taking care, only, that the knowledge offered to him is vital — that is, that facts are not presented without their informing ideas. Out of this conception comes the principle that —

13. Educat1on 1s The Sc1ence Of Relations; that is, that a child has natural relations with a vast number of things and thoughts: so we must train him upon physical exercises, nature, handicrafts, science and art, and upon many living books; for we know that our business is, not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of—

'Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things.'

14. There are also two secrets of moral and intellectual self-management which should be offered to children; these we may call the Way of the Will and the Way of the Reason.

15. The Way of the Will.—Children should be taught—

(a) To distinguish between 'I want' and 'I will.'

(b) That the way to will effectively is to turn our thoughts from that which we desire but do not will.

(c) That the best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting.

(d) That, after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigour.

(This adjunct of the will is familiar to us as diversion, whose office it is to ease us for a time from will effort, that we may ' will' again with added power. The use of suggestion— even self-suggestion—as an aid to the will, is to be deprecated, as tending to stultify and stereotype character. It would seem that spontaneity is a condition of development, and that human nature needs the discipline of failure as well as of success.)

16. The Way of the Reason. — We should teach children, too, not to 'lean' (too confidently) 'unto their own understanding,' because the function of reason is, to give logical demonstration (a) of mathematical truth; and (b) of an initial idea, accepted by the will. In the former case reason is, perhaps, an infallible guide, but in the second it is not always a safe one; for whether that initial idea be right or wrong, reason will confirm it by irrefragable proofs.

17. Therefore children should be taught, as they become mature enough to understand such teaching, that the chief responsibility which rests on them as persons is the acceptance or rejection of initial ideas. To help them in this choice we should give them principles of conduct and a wide range of the knowledge fitted for them.

These three principles (15, 16 and 17) should save children from some of the loose thinking and heedless action which cause most of us to live at a lower level than we need.

18. We should allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and 'spiritual' life of children; but should teach them that the divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their continual helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life.

Title: Home Education - Volume 1 of Home Education Series
Author: Charlotte Maria Mason
Edition: 5
Publisher: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1906