We have written a bit about principles. Charlotte Mason outlined twenty of them. She lived at a time when scientists searched for natural laws to explain the world. She did the same with education. She tried to uncover basic truths about how children learn.

     Her first principle answers an important question. What is a child? For the purposes of education, students are seen as future workers. Standards, textbooks, and tests are developed to foster their success in the work world. This point of view values the three R’s and STEM over the riches. This leads us to rate children like the goods and services they will offer someday. A forty-hour work week is only a third of our waking lives. What about the other two-thirds?

    In Charlotte Mason’s day, educators saw children as blank slates. Writing all necessary knowledge on the slate was supposed to give them what they needed to know. Their personality, ability, and interests had little to do with the process. Here is how Charlotte Mason answered the question:

   ​How does this principle look? Narration reflects a child's personality. The wit is going to narrate quickly while the deep thinker freezes but shares something brilliant a day or two later. A student who is weak in a subject tells the main idea and a few details. The one who is strong sequences details and connects to other books. When a book aligns with a child’s interests, the narrator adds extra knowledge or does something during free time to live out that book. No two narrations are alike because no two narrators are alike.

   Last spring, a couple of middle schoolers wanted to do a Bob Ross picture study. We thought they were joking until they persisted. We realized that, while his art misses the mark for picture study, his technique would fit Tuesday handwork. We told the middle schoolers, “Convince us.”

     ​Interested middle and high students hatched their plan. They called themselves the Harvest Assembly of Bob Ross Enthusiasts. They bought Bob Ross T-shirts and researched and prepared a speech about Bob Ross. They taught us that he had served in the Air Force with honor. While stationed in Alaska, he was inspired by the beauty around him. While stationed in Germany, he learned wet-on-wet technique and painted Alaskan scenes inside gold pans. Bob Ross made more money from selling his novelty gifts than from his military salary. After retiring as a master-sergeant, he filmed 203 episodes of his popular television series. His Christian faith infused the show with optimism and happy catch phrases. He donated all his paintings, and he did not ask for one paycheck from PBS. Then, they pointed out how his beliefs matched a Charlotte Mason philosophy of education. We could not refuse their request.

     We spread the riches during The Feast every Tuesday and Thursday. This post focuses on only three: Shakespeare, picture study, and composer study.

     After lunch on Tuesday, elementary and above students gather in mixed groups to study Shakespeare. What? Can fourth graders read Shakespeare? We shuffle students for that reason. Experienced actors read more and newer ones have bit parts. Our younger students still know how to play. They keep us laughing through their antics and flubbed lines. They shine during sword fights, pratfalls, and pranks. They learn from the modeling of our older students who read beautifully. Their eyes and ears adjust to the literary language. Their hearts grow fond of certain characters. A student my study nine plays by graduation.

     Our play for this year is the comedy Much Ado about Nothing. All of Shakespeare's comedies sow discord between couples. The bard fills this witty war of words with music and masks; dancing, disguises, and deceit; and silly sidekicks and vengeful villains. As the plot unfolds, order is restored. Couples marry and live happily ever after.

     After Shakespeare, students return to class for picture study. The whole school studies one painting from one artist every week. We focus on the paintings and life of one artist per term, and we study three artists per year. A student attending Harvest for twelve years studies thirty-six artists. Why stick to an artist for that long? The way to get to know someone well is to spend time together. Ten weeks gives our students plenty of time to know an artist. This year our artists are Vincent van Gogh (Term 1), Georgia O’Keefe (Term 2), and Giotto di Bondone (Term 3). We chose van Gogh because The Columbia Art Museum will host an exhibit about him this fall. Seeing a painting you have studied is like meeting a pen pal in person.

     On Thursday, we do composer study. We listen to one piece of music written by one composer every week. We study the same person for a whole term, or three per year. After listening, students share their observations and we supply the musical terms to match their ideas. From time to time, our musical friends Richard and Johanna Pressley come and deepen our understanding. This year our composers are Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Josef Haydn, and the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

     If you missed the riches as a child, come and join us for The Feast! We would love for you to get your weekly dose of awe.

     Our last two posts were about Jesus and habits. This one discusses the third part of Harvest’s mission: academics. After all, schools teach higher learning. We secure attention by studying something worthwhile. Last fall, we walked the trail at the wildlife refuge and noticed tree damage. Students recorded data and a pattern emerged. Trees lying on top of each other pointed in different directions. Based on order and decay, we determined which storm toppled which tree. In the fall, middle school and above will make more observations.

​     We need your help with the June 20 storm. If you lost trees, tell us what happened. Did limbs break, trunks snap, or trees uproot? What kind of trees (pine or cedar versus deciduous)? In what direction did they fall or scatter debris? Was it during or after the storm? Please post comments or email our science teacher.

     Living books also capture attention. What are they? Someone shares a passion for a topic in a living book. These books come in all shapes and sizes—long and short, picture and chapter. Some are classics; others are modern. These treasures hold ideas and rich language and invite thinking. They are not easily placed into an academic subject.

     Every other year, middle schoolers read The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin who asks, “Could sixth century Irish monks have sailed to America?” He answers his question through an island-hopping Atlantic adventure (Part 1 and Part 2). He reinterprets an epic written by a Christian monk living in Ireland fifteen hundred years ago. The book shares scientific knowledge about leather making, boat construction and handling, marine life, weather, navigation, and fishing methods. It compares the seaworthiness of modern materials to ancient ones. Scholars, politicians, and trade workers collaborated to make the voyage happen. This “geography” book contains science, history, and literature.

     What replaces worksheets and end-of-chapter questions? Students track the voyage on maps. They put Brendan on the timeline, noticing that he endured the Roman Empire’s collapse. He lived a half century after Jesus and before Vikings landed in Newfoundland. They narrate readings orally or write and draw in their science notebook. Entries often depend on the student’s interests. Engineers draw a schematic of the boat. Naturalists list animals by classification while artists draw and label them. Fishermen note how Trondur caught birds for dinner. Selections are unique to personhood.

     Discussions take many directions, depending on the class. History buffs offer details about other explorers of the Americas and speculate about unproven ideas. Bookworms connect The Navigatio to the legends of King Arthur and Beowulf. Sailors focus on the voyage. Skeptics research reasons against the monks’ ability to return home while proponents study possible Celtic petroglyphs in West Virginia. A debate ensues.

     Every year, students “live” a specific time in history. They read novels, short stories, fantasies, allegories, biographies, travelogues, poetry, and more. A wide variety of “food” sharpens their literary appetite which Charlotte Mason shared in her thirteenth principle.

     Narration builds attention by requiring readers to order and ponder knowledge. Students grow confident in sharing what they know. The ability to articulate their thinking will serve them after graduation. Narration gives them a passport to many opportunities.

     This article has ideas for working on attention during the summer.