Last thing's first

working backwards from graduation to the early years

"Method, with the end of education in view, presses the most unlikely matters into service to bring about that end.”

Charlotte Mason, Home Education

As we go about our day to day, I keep Ambleside Online’s Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six at the forefront of my mind.¹ It is a fantastic list that sketches a poetic education, but with concrete goals that are indeed “formidable.” No airy fairy stuff. Keeping those goals in mind is partly how I keep us on track and actually making progress, especially since we don’t use any pre-k/k curricula.

I also am working on a list of long-term goals – let’s call them a “Formidable List of Attainments for a Young Adult Upon Graduating.” Working backwards from attainments for a student about to embark upon the world, I can identify steps that we will need to take along the way to reach those goals. Some won’t become relevant until later elementary (primary), or even high school (secondary). But a few have foundations beginning in the early years, which I will outline below.

This list is based both on attainments that I was grateful for going into college (thanks mom!), and those I wish I had.

This is definitely a working draft. It will probably change a lot over the years, as well as having to be adapted to each child. So cum grano, as always.

1. Extempore composition

When given an essay question in an exam, to be able to write a coherent well-organised essay, ~1,500 words, extempore.

Why?

This is a skill which was once ubiquitously required by the likes of Cambridge and Oxford. It goes hand in hand with oral examination as a way of ensuring that students truly know what they are talking about and are able to reason soundly and communicate clearly. No ChatGPT, no block-quoting your way to word count.

Given the rise of AI, I believe that hand-written, supervised assignments will become increasingly necessary at the university level, for any worthwhile university. I suspect that the institutions which will survive the AI revolution will be those that return to older methods. My alma mater had already begun to implement extempore essays when I was a student, and I was terrible at them.

Early-years first steps

• Handwriting. I don’t want my students to be held back by a simple mechanical issue whereby they are physically unable to write 1,500 words in legible but quick writing. Doing this requires proficiency in cursive. I learned cursive the same way as most Americans – writing in print until around 9 years old and then learning cursive as a separate course. And like most Americans, my default is print even though I can write in cursive.
  After researching a bit and learning from my friend Charlotte (not Mason), I’ve become a believer in the English method of handwriting: teaching print letters “with tails” (italics) at the first, and then moving to joining them up around age 5/6. Charlotte, who survived 3 hour handwritten examinations at Cambridge, has a very helpful blog post that goes into detail about handwriting, and details a curriculum-free, low-cost method. She likes to say “You don’t want your child to write like Prince William, do you?” as apparently his penmanship is lacking in dignity.

• Narration. Charlotte Mason style narration forces the student to produce a coherent and sequential account on the spot, as opposed to a book report that can be looked at and revised before submitting. This mental habit of composing extempore is a very valuable one that I myself wish I was better at. Resources on narration can be found in virtually any CM corner of the internet!

2. Classical music and art appreciation

To be able to recognize all the major art and musical periods and be familiar with several artists, composers, and pieces.

Why?

I feel like this one doesn’t need much explanation. Culture, and all that.

Early years first steps

• We play classical music from time to time, on Alexa during mealtimes or in the car. I have a playlist of upbeat, famous pieces that the kids enjoy. Tchaikovsky is a real winner overall, as is Beethoven, because kids love drama. No need to bother with names of pieces or composers yet. Just let them enjoy the music. In a year or two I would love to use the Classical Kids composer stories² that I listened to as a kid. Absolutely fabulous resource.

• Saint-Saen’s Carnival of the Animals is also a big hit. We act out the animals (a handful of favorites we pull out) as the songs play which helps them learn to pay attention to the music.

• Don’t underestimate the power of singing in church. If you attend a hymn-singing church, and keep the children in the service with you, they will be washed in the foundational principles of western classical music: counterpoint, tonal harmony, and chord progression, to name a few. If you don’t have much traditional hymn singing at your church I would recommend incorporating it into family worship.

• For art, at this stage picture books are the best gateway to recognizing and appreciating good art. A picture may be torn a little and covered in crumbs, but that doesn’t mean it’s too lowly to be shaping a little person’s aesthetic sensibilities.

• Wall art is also important. I have art on nearly every available wall space, and most of it was thrifted. You can also download high res images for free from most major art museums and have them printed. So put down that aesthetic quote canvas from Target and find some actual artwork.

• For an introduction to famous art pieces – James Mayhew’s Katie books are excellent.

3. Poetry

To know by name, sight, and sound the various common meters and forms of English poetry.

Why?

Again, I feel as if the classical world in all corners is already convinced of the merits of poetry.

Early years first steps

• Nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes are to Shakespeare what phonics are to reading, only even better because they have merit in their own right. We want kids to “feel the feet” so when it’s time to learn labels like “iambic pentameter” they are simply categorizing and refining a knowledge that is already as natural to them as their own heartbeat.

• Rhyming picture books (good ones, that is.) One of these days I’ll make a list of my favourite rhyming picture books, but for now I will leave it with the absolute cream of the crop which is the Hairy MacLary series. All of ‘em.

4. Singing

To be able to sing, upon first sight, their part in any hymn which comes before them.

Why?

Musical literacy is hugely important. As my former choir director was fond of reminding us, the one thing we know for certain we will be doing in heaven is singing. And in the meantime, singing makes up a majority of the people’s “work” in the liturgy of worship. Become musically literate and you will richly bless yourself, your family, your church, and your nation.

Early years first steps

• Lots of exposure to music and hearing parents sing is foundational. Even the baby lights up when she hears the opening notes of the Doxology, which we sing in church every week. She knows that we are a singing people.

• Kodály music instruction. I received a rigorous musical education from my piano teacher from ages 6-18. But I was a low-confidence singer and it was not until I went to college and had a mandatory music class that I was given a Kodály crash course in sight-singing and musical literacy. My professor was making up for lost time, and would ideally advocate spreading the same amount of instruction over several years, starting when children are young. I will have to do a whole article sometime on Kodály, as there is much to be said, but I could not recommend it more as something worth pursuing (and paying for, if there is an instructor near you!). This video is a good place to start.

Well I think that’s plenty to be getting on with! It all sounds daunting, but apart from handwriting and narration, all this “homework” is simply having fun and experiencing reality through delight, guided by some intentionality on mom’s part.

The four attainments listed above, with the possible exception of number 1, are achievable for any normal, average child regardless of academic prowess.³

1. On the first go I spelled that as “forefrunt.” Yikes. Time for a nap.

2. We had CDs, but it looks like they’re on Youbute!
Beethoven Lives Upstairs
Tchaikovsky Discovers America
Mozart’s Magic Fantasy
Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery
Mr. Bach Comes to Call
Hallelujah Handel

3. For number 5, I know someone is saying But What About Tone Deaf Kids, but only 1.5% of the population is truly tone deaf. Most of what is casually classified as tone deaf is simply a lack of instruction.