19th-Century learning today

So how do I put 19th century learning into practice?

I could tell you how I would approach it, but you may assume that I already have a background in teaching children, and so if you are new to the whole thing, it may still seem intimidating.

That’s why I asked my husband to tell me how he would approach teaching a child to read with the basic, 1937 McGuffey’s Primer. He told me that he would read the lesson and helps and allow the ideas to naturally begin to present themselves.

I love him—he always knows how to cut through the haziness of an issue and get straight to the point.

For instance, at the beginning of the primer the alphabet is presented, both in capitals and small letters. It would be a good idea to take time to familiarize a young child in these symbols, and to explain the sounds they make. Eventually any child could begin to practice writing them. If the sounds of the letters were repeated (routine recitation) each day for a fortnight (two weeks' time) almost any young scholar would be able to recognize them. Engaging in this small exercise takes but a few minutes, which would be easy to do, even with a distracted preschooler.

The Lord gave me the idea of taking the phonics pictures in the revised speller, printing, cutting them out, and hole punching each one. Then I put these little cards on loose-leaf binder rings (which I found at Office Depot for a dollar a package) and gave them to the little girls on lanyards (from our old YMCA cards) and had them wear them around the house for practice with their basic phonics sounds.

Another idea is to buy phonics cards from the store (even the dollar store has some good ones), hole-punch them and put them on rings (this keeps them from being lost and scattered all over the house). Any type of drill, even household guidelines and scriptures for memorization can be put on these rings.

At some point it would be helpful to separate the vowels from the consonants and to make sure all of the sounds of the vowels are introduced and learned, including the alternate sound of “y”. The soft sounds of the consonants “g” and “c” should also be taught.

Once a child is pretty familiar with the basic sounds, reading the simple words and demonstrating for the child how to read from left to right and sound out the words is very important. The lessons provided in these older primers from this point on should progress relatively easily, but it is vitally important to never get ahead of your little one; never, never push him beyond his readiness to comprehend! This leaves a bad taste in his mouth for learning and makes him feel inept. Always be positive, enthusiastic and supportive when teaching. Everyone has bad days, and often we learn things in spurts. Allowing your child to feel inferior or develop a sense of failure can be a death nil to the love for learning that is naturally within your scholar. Don't put your eagerness or ego ahead of your child's sense of success.

It would be better to take more time each day and read aloud a variety of books that interest him, then, at a later date pick up the lessons again when he is ready to make a new start.

This is just a beginning (the Bible cautions, "...not to despise the day of small beginnings."). I will share more on using numerous books and other topics in future posts.

Meanwhile, here are some tips and resources:

Copybooks--did you know Sam's Club is a great place to find basic supplies for this type of learning? I ordered some Roaring Spring copy books (elementary ruled, for 1st and 2nd grade) when I did my last "click and pull" on-line when ordering my monthly groceries. The amazing part is the shipping was FREE, and two of the books arrived the very next day! I only paid $1.18 per book! I also purchased Efficiency Ampad steno pads for the older students, which I think worked out to about $.50 a piece--I am remember hearing that school children used to receive a single Big Chief pad and a pencil per term!

I have bought the Ray's Arithmetic series, the 1837 McGuffey's, both Harvey's Grammars and Spencerian Penmanship which were produced by Mott Media (along with Beechick's guides and the answer books--through Amazon.com). I covered the hard-bound books with clear plastic jackets, much like public libraries use. I did this by cutting the bottom and side "stitching" on a sheet protector, opening it up, and folding then taping it. As a general rule, I cover all of my paperbacks with clear contact paper to protect them. I also hope soon to have the guide from Betty Burger for McGuffey as recommended by one of my dear readers.

There were other ecclectic-type series that were produced. There were Franklin Readers and some written by Town. The Heman's Reader for Female Schools is fascinating to me, and was part of the original Eclectic Series along with the McGuffey's--lots of encouragement here for Godly womanhood and stay-at-home daughters (I am indebted here to Ignite the Fire for her lists that put me on the path to these wonderful gems).

An Old Fashioned Education is another marvelous resource site.

I know there are some veteran comb-binder users out there who could teach me a few things, but I tried a few books myself. I figured using the most economical setting on my printer, putting two pages per sheet of paper, and getting the comb-binding done for $1.89 each (at Office Depot it doesn't matter how thick), a 100-page book costs about $6 (@$.05 per page). I understand laser printers cost considerably less, but inkjet is what we own right now! I used the free Emporium Capitals font and some art from the Art Renewal Center to decorate the covers (just type words like "class", "teacher" or "child" in the museum search engine on the site).

If you haven't discovered it yet, Happy Hearts Homeschooling Library is full of resources for "eclectic" learning--Alexandra has blessed us with all her hours of research and compilation. On her recommendation I have found a few more charming primers for little ones and literature sources for the older ones. A helpful book for bringing this all together is The Course of Study and Manual of Methods for Michigan Schools.

Remember, this is an exciting journey and we will learn as we go...