The Wonder-knowledge of Nature

The Wonder-knowledge of Nature

    A very special book is kept on my shelf in the room where I write my posts to you: my sewing room in the attic. This homemade book is more than ten years old. It is the girlhood Nature Notebook of my daughter Yolanda. She is married and lives nearby. Oh, someday, Yolanda will want to look through her youthful recordings, and show them to the children she hopes to have, but for now it is in my possession. And it is dear to me.

    Here is a small sampling of spring flowers from Yolanda’s Nature Notebook. I find it curious that she chose to look up the age-old language of flowers and add them to her entrees. It is one of the ways she has shown herself to be like Jane Austin’s Marianne.

    A satisfying aspect of Mother Culture is the joy that comes from watching children take delight in the natural world around them.

The Art of Seeing

    In her book, Home Education Miss Charlotte Mason recommends that a mother first guide her children in “the art of seeing.” A mother can direct their attention to notice details of landscape, growing things and living creatures.

    Of the dandelion, for instance, she might say, “What do these sharp points on the leaves remind you of? After a few moments she may mention that the leaves reminded someone of the teeth of a lion and this may have gone into the forming of the plant’s name. The child can better remember this leaf detail and later see it in his mind’s eye anytime afterwards. If he fingers the softness of the flower he knows something more about it than just its yellow color. And who, when a child, has not picked a fussy dandelion filled with ripened seeds, held it to his lips and blown its fuzziness into the breeze to watch the fuzz sail? To read the poem Yolanda chose to copy around her dandelion click on the notebook page.

The Picture Gallery of our Minds

    Noticing details brings a fuller knowledge of the world around us: the sparkling water of a rocky stream, the golden expanse of a field of drying hay, the bright blue/purple of a Lupine by the sunny roadside, the flickering wings of an iridescent dragonfly. Such details can be stored in the “picture gallery” of our minds. When the child is set on this path of close observation he will later be able to recall these scenes from his picture gallery at will. This is what people did before the common use of photography. I suspect this is what my Amish neighbors do.

Some Wise Letting Alone

    But after introducing to children how to notice details closely, a mother then does some “wise letting-alone.” She leaves the observer to discover things for himself. Miss Mason goes so far as to say that a mother “had better make a vow to suppress herself” of much talk which is an intrusion. It is possible to step on the toes of curiosity. A child will experience a quiet curiosity, an internal delight, if we do not always come between him and the wonder-knowledge of nature. Wonder-knowledge isn’t something that can be acquired by the usual schoolwork, nor can it be measured by the usual school test. It is education, nonetheless. It is education of the most personal kind - the kind that lasts.

To Walk the Paths of Wonder

    In my book, Pocketful of Pinecones Carol writes, “I know that not all of what they will learn about God’s creation will conveniently fit into my lessons. My students have a lifetime ahead of them in which to observe and discover – to become self-educated in their leisure, so to speak. My job is to allow their feet to walk the paths of wonder, to see that they form relations to various things, so that when the habit is formed, they will carry an appreciation for nature with them throughout their lives.”

   

     Observing nature with my children over the years has contributed to my Mother Culture. I have formed my own picture gallery and these memories are unspeakably precious to me.

Seeds of a Good Attitude

Seeds of a Good Attitude

    A good attitude helps us cope with what life brings. I felt the weight of oppression in past years while our children were young, during the handful of instances when Dad was laid off. “Here we go again,” I would think to myself. I was scared. Dean was always an excellent employee. But when the economy dictates company cuts, downsizing is inevitable. It took courage to start our home business but I am so happy we did.

    During our earlier years, during those long patient months between jobs, to best mother my children, I tried to keep all traces of gladness from slowly draining out of my attitude. As the sun would rise every morning so would I. “Get up, Dress up, Show up,” was my personal motto at those trying times. Praying about attitude enabled me to act on this motto. Attitude makes the difference between coping and not coping. Counting our blessings is an enormous boost to attitude. Trusting in Providence is another.

    Think how attitude embodies the fruit of the Spirit. By seeking God to work in us a good attitude we are inviting Him to do what the Psalmist so humbly asked: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with me.”

     Here is the full photo of my newly finished cross-stitch. Its style is reminiscent of the old Quaker samplers with its emblems and similar to an alphabet sampler with its berry border. I choose the design because of its old-fashioned feel and because of the basket of fruit. Although the chart suggested stitching in the initials of family members I decided upon the fruit of the Spirit. I placed virtues where the initials were to go using a magnifying glass and one thread of embroidery floss over one thread of linen. The rest of the sampler is stitched two over two.

    Hung on a wall of the house my sampler is a reminder that when the seeds of a good attitude are sown, the various fruits of the Spirit are possible.

What is Mother Culture?

What is Mother Culture?

    A few weeks ago Dean called me from the basement. “What is it?” I asked as I reached the bottom of the stairs.
    “Look at this,” he said. He was standing in a puddle, holding a flashlight and pointing above his head to a slow-leaking flex-pipe. “I’ll call the heating guy in the morning,” he said.
    Next to the puddle was a small stack of soggy boxes. We examined the state of things inside them and found that much of our stuff was ruined. Somehow I didn’t mind very much. “Now we have less stuff.” I said. Some of the contents were fine. I came across cassette tapes of talks we had delivered to homeschool conferences. The word “cassette” tells you how old they are. Two were marked Mother Culture 1999 - the year we spoke in Massachusetts and Maine. “What on earth are we going to do with these?” I said.
    The man-of-the-house does not, and I emphasis “not,” like getting rid of things but he did say, “We have CDs from other conferences . . . somewhere in all this storage . . . we’ll keep those.”
    “If we ever find them.” I replied. I often lament the amount of storage we have.

    Why have I chosen to devote an entire hour on the subject of Mother Culture when I am asked to speak? I do it out of sympathy. It is not uncommon for a self-sacrificing mother to feel overwhelmed or live on the verge of exhaustion. Therefore, it is just as important to encourage a mother with ways she can nurture her soul, as it is to supply her with tried-and-true ideas on how to foster “The Gentle Art of Learning” in her children.
    Early in my homeschooling experience I paid attention to something I found intriguing. I don’t’ remember where I read it but I jotted it down to ponder it further. It was a quote by Billy Graham. He said, “Mothers should nurture their souls so in turn they can nurture the souls of their children.” This, my friend, is what I call Mother Culture. Every homeschool is comprised of a child (or children) and a teacher. Although the focus is on the children some of what she does for her children she would do well to consider doing for herself.

How have you nurtured your soul this week?