Charlotte Mason grounded her educational method on definite principles and practices–and the subject of mathematics is no exception. Today’s guest, Emily Al-Khatib is a math teacher herself and shares her perspective on the beauty and truth of using Miss Mason’s methods in this part of the feast.
“Arithmetic is valuable as a means of training children in habits of strict accuracy, but the ingenuity which makes this exact science tend to foster slipshod habits of mind, a disregard of truth and common honesty, is worthy of admiration! The copying, prompting, telling, helping over difficulties, working with an eye to the answer which he knows, that are allowed in the arithmetic lesson, under an inferior teacher, are enough to vitiate any child; and quite as bad as these is the habit of allowing that a sum is nearly right, two figures wrong, and so on, and letting the child work it over again. Pronounce a sum wrong, or right––it cannot be something between the two. That which is wrong must remain wrong: the child must not be let run away with the notion that wrong can be mended into right. The future is before him: he may get the next sum right, and the wise teacher will make it her business to see that he does, and that he starts with new hope. But the wrong sum must just be let alone.” (1/260-261)
“Mathematics depend upon the teacher rather than upon the text-book and few subjects are worse taught; chiefly because teachers have seldom time to give the inspiring ideas, what Coleridge calls, the ‘Captain’ ideas, which should quicken imagination.” (6/233)
“Therefore his progress must be carefully graduated; but there is no subject in which the teacher has a more delightful consciousness of drawing out from day to day new power in the child. Do not offer him a crutch: it is in his own power he must go. Give him short sums, in words rather than in figures, and excite him in the enthusiasm which produces concentrated attention and rapid work. Let his arithmetic lesson be to the child a daily exercise in clear thinking and rapid, careful execution, and his mental growth will be as obvious as the sprouting of seedlings in the spring.” (1/261)
“I have said much of history and science, but mathematics, a mountainous land which pays the climber, makes its appeal to mind, and good teachers know that they may not drown their teaching in verbiage.” (6/51)
“The practical value of arithmetic to persons in every class of life goes without remark. But the use of the study in practical life is the least of its uses. The chief value of arithmetic, like that of the higher mathematics, lies in the training it affords the reasoning powers, and in the habits of insight, readiness, accuracy, intellectual truthfulness it engenders.” (1/254)
“Never are the operations of Reason more delightful and more perfect than in mathematics. Here men do not begin to reason with a notion which causes them to lean to this side or to that. By degrees, absolute truth unfolds itself. We are so made that truth, absolute and certain truth, is a perfect joy to us; and that is the joy that mathematics afford.” (4/62-63)
Mathematics: An Instrument for Living Teaching Handbook and DVD
The Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series, Book I by Richele Baburina
String, Straightedge and Shadow by Julia E. Diggins
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetic, Book I
Mental Arithmetic, Amy Pridham, The Parents’ Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 112-118 (Unpicking example)
This was so beautiful, thank you all for this! I’m excited to start on that mountainous journey for myself as I prepare to educate my children with these lovely methods. Thank you for unpacking Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and methods with such grace and inspiration!
I prayed once to see math as beautiful, and can now confidently assert that it is. We are thankful you appreciated this interview.
-Liz
Thank you for this episode. I’d love a similar one from an English teacher about Mason’s approach to spelling, grammar, and writing since it’s so counter cultural! I’ve fallen in love with the 4-Group Model from Lynn Kuske, which I think is very compatible with Mason’s approach for concrete math. I think Mason’s approach can really help eliminate the struggles that might come from too quickly moving to abstract math, just using worksheets, or just relying on memorization (I loved that point about mathematical thinking/understanding being so important, more important than just memorization). I also think something that can really help kids is how the objects are arranged since a linear model can still be really challenging for certain types of students, which is why I love the Kuske model. I’m doing in math in my head (with my first grader–haha!) that I never used to be able to do before! I am more excited about math than I ever used to be, and as always, I am amazed at how Mason’s approach is so sound and honors the way children develop. Thank you so much for sharing this perspective!
Hi Angie,
Thanks for taking time to respond to the math episode. We felt it important in a time when math is exalted above the humanities, to bring some perspective to that subject from a math instructor. There are so many eager producers of “new” math plans and programs that it is critical to understand the principles Miss Mason used to instruct in this subject particularly. Part of the beauty of her approach is not having to find a compatible program, but simply moving forward in the numbers and operations in a way that respects the child’s natural abilities. Her goal was not to produce math whizzes or compete with
international standards for math achievement, but as with all subjects, that the child would learn living ideas in a living way, ultimately to gain knowledge of God. This is true in every subject, but because of the obsession for analysis and assessment in our day, we appreciate Mason’s recognition that a temptation with math particularly would be to develop artificial tools that would instruct a specific faculty. Many of the modern approaches have specific manipulatives, or utilize the new fad of “subitization” to “help” children, which Mason would consider to be crutches. Counting is crucial in the development of math sense, and children need to be given time to discover how numbers work, do “the work of their own
education” and not be pestered or provoked into gaining math skill by artificial means. I encourage you to evaluate any “curriculum” you find appealing, or even partly compatible, with Mason’s approach according to all of her principles, and not just some of them.
Liz
Hello! I absolutely loved this podcast episode as I’m always interested to know how to effectively keep the love of math alive for my daughter. I remember not really loving math when I was in school, even though I did well in it. I want to change that for my children! I have a question just for clarification though about when Emily Al-Khatib was speaking about letting the answer to a problem be wrong, not encouraging the child to fix it. For instance, we have the Math Book 1 by Richele Baburina, and we work our way through those wonderful word problems in the chapters. As we are going through those problems, if my daughter answers incorrectly, I am supposed to just move on to the next problem, correct? I am not supposed to give her a second chance to rework the problem with a different answer? I assume that letting her rework the problem would just confuse her and allow her to think that there are not absolute answers for math? Thank you for your help!
Sarah,
This is a good question and probably one area that is foreign to us because our math teachers did not approach math with us as a subject with unchanging laws. Miss Mason is consistent here as you already know her principle of not rereading something once read. Wrong is always wrong, and this is especially brought home to a child in math. I recommend you read Miss Mason’s thoughts on this and other related math ideas in her chapter “Arithmetic” in Home Education, page 253. Your daughter needs to be told “that is wrong.” Go over the principle for that type of problem, have her tell you in her own words, and continue to present other problems that need to be worked right.
Liz