Meditative copy-work

Beautiful script is also a value in itself; Sundays were often spent by P.N.E.U. students working on a beautiful rendition of a particular passage on fine paper.  Perhaps these were even illuminated, as was the fashion at the time. And we have seen how beginning writers use copy work, in part to strengthen penmanship skills, but Mason is also after something more meditative and formative here. Why else would her students sometimes copy a whole book of the Gospel? This is not busywork; rather it is an intentional practice with much more profound implication. Mason sees the spark needed for moral behaviour comes to the students not in lectures...but from an inspiring character in their novel or a brief line in a poem. As an idea is spiritual, it needs a place to intersect with the student's own spirit, in this case, in the slowly emerging text of meditative copy work.

Laurie Bestvater The Living Page, p 30

It is indeed entirely possible that I might never get around to showing you the photos and discussing my trip to Israel. It just seems like such a daunting task, somehow, to talk about a life changing trip in a blog post.  While I was reading Laurie Bestvater's The Living Page last week, though, I was reminded of this series of photos, and I thought I could at least share these.

They're taken at Masada, Herod the Great's palace and fortress in Southern Israel. The 80's miniseries, Masada, starring Peter O'Toole, tells of the Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire towards the end of the First Jewish–Roman War.  It ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Jewish rebels and their families hiding in the fortress. Amazing place, worthy of its own post.

Anyway, the rebels' way of life required a building suitable for community meetings and Torah readings, and a building that had probably been a stable in Herod's time was recommissioned as a synagogue.

At the back you can see a small building that was closed off for storage of scrolls. It's called a genizah.  And inside this room you'll find something pretty amazing.  A man.  This man. He sits almost motionless, except for a small motion of his right hand.

Rabbi Ariel Luis is a Sofer ST”M - the abbreviation is for Sifrei Torah, Tefillin, Mezzuzot -   a scribe, an observant man of good character who writes Jewish texts according to the laws of soferut or Hebrew calligraphy, and he is writing by hand the first five books of the Old Testament as part of the Torah Scroll Project Masada. It takes about a year to write the book's 304,805 letters, and so far three scrolls have been completed by the Masada soferim, who work on a rotating basis.

Watching him work is quiet and peaceful, and certainly meditative, just as Charlotte Mason implies. He takes a break a few times a day to come out and explain the holy work of writing Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot, but otherwise spends the whole day in what is effectively peaceful and profound copy work.

I found the whole experience quite surreal. I hope you get a little idea of the beauty of the experience here.

Do read The Living Page. It is quite the best Charlotte Mason book I've read for a very long time, and it will without doubt affect my day-to-day practice as I strive to provide a Charlotte Mason education for my daughter. I highly recommend it.

Penmanship

I believe that we are all created in the image of God, and that we don’t only bear his image in the way that we think, the way that we act, in the emotions that we have, but in our desire to create.

This passion in me to create is the most intimate way that I know God.

I think I posted this to A Peaceful Day's Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, but I continue to find it really inspiring, and I'm thinking that those of you who are not FB friends might enjoy seeing it too.

I love Jake Weidmann's testimony, and the art he creates is just awe inspiring.

See more of Jake's work on his blog.

I love you too...

Don't you love it when your kids send you notes like this? It was posted under the office door at work this morning.

I love it, misspellings, poor letter construction and all.

And I love you too, darling Jemimah

xxx

The New England Primer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.

Most people know this sweet (trite!) little prayer. Fewer of us know where is came from - The New England Primer of 1784.

This book, often known as America's schoolbook, was first published around 1690 by the English printer Benjamin Harris, who had come to Boston in Massachusetts in 1686 to escape the Catholic James II.

The New-England Primer was the first reading primer designed for the American Colonies and it became the most successful educational textbook published in colonial history. It was commonly said that the primer taught millions to read and not one to sin.

As well as selections for beginning reading instruction, the book contained religious sayings, catechisms, and moral lessons. Some versions contained the Westminster Shorter Catechism; others contained a catechism, known as Milk for Babes.

Its rather a shame that it is only the prayer printed above that is widely known today - there are some wonderful contents in this little book!

We use this short catechism as part of Family Worship sometimes:

Who was the first man? Adam.
Who was the first woman? Eve.
Who was the first Murderer? Cain.
Who was the first Martyr? Abel.
Who was the first Translated? Enoch.
Who was the oldest Man? Methuselah.
Who built the Ark? Noah.
Who was the Patientest Man? Job.
Who was the Meekest Man? Moses.
Who led Israel into Canaan? Joshua.
Who was the strongest Man? Sampson.
Who killed Goliath? David.
Who was the wisest Man? Soloman.
Who was in the Whale's Belly? Jonah.
Who saves lost Men? Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus Christ? The Son of God
Who was the Mother of Christ? Mary.
Who betrayed his Master? Judas.
Who denied his Master? Peter.
Who was the first Christian Martyr? Stephen.
Who was chief Apostle of the Gentiles? Saul.

Some of the verses are fun for copywork:

Good children must,
Fear God all day, Love Christ alway,
Parents obey, In secret pray,
No false thing say, Mind little play,
By no sin stray, Make no delay,
In doing good.

The Golden Rule in verse would be good too:

BE you to others kind and true,
As you'd have others be to you:
And neither do nor say to men,
Whate'er you would not take again.

The primer remained in print well into the 19th century and was even used in the 20th. It is easy to see why. Take a look at the 1777 version of the primer online, and see if you find anything of value for your family!

Early Copywork

Copywork is more than just learning to form letters. It exposes kids to good sentence structure, rich vocabulary and noble thoughts. It teaches basic grammar - punctuation and capitalisation.


In order to do this though, children must copy fine literature - poetry; scripture; or passages from beautifully written books that they have read. Creative writing is not the same as copywork.


We do copywork every day for a few minutes. At first we concentrate on the physical skills - holding the pen; posture; perfect letter formation. For this stage we use the New Wave Handwriting copybooks.



We use the Victorian version pictured above - they are available for all Australian state fonts.

Charlotte Mason recommended A New Handwriting by Monica Bridges.

Some years ago I heard of a lady who was elaborating, by means of the study of old Italian and other manuscripts, a 'system of beautiful handwriting' which could be taught to children. I waited patiently, though not without some urgency, for the production of this new kind of 'copy-book.' The need for such an effort was very great, for the distinctly commonplace writing taught from existing copy-books, however painstaking and legible, cannot but have a rather vulgarising effect both on the writer and the reader of such manuscript. At last the lady, Mrs Robert Bridges, has succeeded in her tedious and difficult undertaking, and this book for teachers will enable them to teach their pupils a style of writing which is pleasant to acquire because it is beautiful to behold. It is surprising how quickly young children, even those already confirmed in 'ugly' writing, take to this 'new handwriting.

From Home Education (Volume 1) by Charlotte Mason, pages 236-238

Although the style is very attractive, I wasn't too keen on using this method - the idea of writing out each day's selection in my poor handwriting did not fill me with enthusiasm - Jemimah would be learning my handwriting style, not the beautiful hand of Mrs Bridges!

A search of fonts on the computer brought me to realise that our very own Victorian font was one of the closest to Mrs Bridges' handwriting on the market- how convenient!

The New Wave Handwriting course provides books from Prep - Year 6. We only used the first two books, concentrating on letter formation but will probably look at a later book to learn speed loops as necessary. In these early stages copywork is merely letter formation practice - first by perfectly forming each letter and later by copying words. We did half a lesson - a page - each day, about five minutes worth. The books also come with the necessary handwriting chart which we removed and posted above the desk for easy reference - q, v,x and z take a while to learn!

At the end of the second New Wave book we moved on to transcribing literary examples. For this we use a favourite poem or occasionally a memory verse. We have also coied some definitions from Jemimah's morning devotional.

We purchased the Victorian fontware from School Fonts: http://www.schoolfonts.com.au/, allowing us to create our own lined sheets in various sizes. We start using 48 point.

We do copywork four days a week. On Fridays we decorate the border of the sheet using textas, coloured pencils, stickers and pictures. This keeps it fun, and inspires Jemimah to keep her writing as perfect as possible.

We also write short amounts at other times - a label for a nature study page, or a birthday card, for example. No poorly executed letters are allowed. Each word must be done perfectly.

The finished sheets are stored in a looseleaf folder until the end of the year when they are bound into a beautiful book with a lovely front cover illustrated by Jemimah. A new book begins in the new year!!