good to great

It’s been nearly two decades of reading Mother Goose, Beatrix Potter, Aesop and Grimm and I’m so happy I have. These “good books”, in addition to songs, finger plays, poems and the like lay the foundation for later learning and delving into the “Great Books” of civilization. Once a year I go back and listen to the talk by the late Dr. James Taylor (founder of St. Raphael Orthodox Online School) entitled Good to Great: Teaching Literature from Grammar to Rhetoric and today was that day. He shares that “The good books cultivate the language, the situations of song, rhythm and meter that we will find in the great books”.  So basically Mother Goose lays the foundation for approaching Shakespeare. Fairy tales prepare the soil of the heart and mind for grasping the greater truths of life.  He also makes the point that education is rooted in reality, particularly the reality of the natural world. Many children have not been exposed to things like the stars— so how will they even begin to comprehend the simple rhymes like “Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are.”  What is wonder? Do the children of today wonder about the natural world? There is no rushing this process. We know that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life. Ensuring that the atmosphere of the home is one in which mama is singing rhymes, exposing her children to beautiful art, ideas and music, taking the children out-of-doors for unstructured play time and reading the Good Books—perhaps starting when her children are in the womb— will give the most beautiful foundation for future educational experiences.  I have linked the talk by Dr. James Taylor in my bio… pour yourself a cup of tea one of these nights, grab a notebook and take a listen to it🕯📖