An American Classical Education for Modern Times
virtus, scientia, felicitas
Adam the codebreaker in letter land
Daily lessons
Letter/Phonogram of the Day: It All Begins With A
The letter A a has four sounds, pronounced /ă/, ā/, /ah/, /aw/.
See "Letter of the Day" below for more details.
Phonics Joke of the Day
What is a scientist's favorite breed of dog?
See below for answer (using first, "short" sound of A).
Word Sense
Word of the Week: virus
Look it up in a dictionary, and we shall discuss below.
Words Matter
Follow the market:: the Dow surges, or the Dow plunges? Or something else?
Fable of the Week
The Ant and the Dove
Find the fable in your own edition of fables or in Milo Winter's Aesop for Children, p. 104 at gutenberg.org.
Do not look at the moral yet! See below for discussion.
Daily lessons, cont.
Verse of the Week
Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,
But vaster.
from "In Memoriam," Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Book of the Month (or so)
Begin to read Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie.
This is an ideal book to help us reflect on family, education, and the times we are in.
"Don't Know Much About History"
veni, vidi, blogi
"Don't Know Much About the French I Took"
J'essaie.
The Other Classics
Obviously, we must start with the basics.
The Principal's Perspective
Coming Soon!
daily lessons, or, better yet, Carpe diem
Letter of the Day: Get a Bang Out of B
B b: B is a consonant making only one sound: /b/. See below for the buzz about B.
Phonics Joke of the Day
What did the vampire steal from the baseball player? See below for answer.
Word Sense
Now that you have looked up virus, define in your own words and use in a sentence.
Words Matter
The Dow (Dow Jones Industrial Average, a leading stock indicator) rises. 300 points. Hurray!
Aesop: Your Turn
Now that you have read "The Ant and the Dove," write your own moral to the fable and have your child, children, students also write a moral or morals. Then discuss, as suggested in post above.
Letter of the Day
The letter B is a very straightforward consonant making only one sound: /b/. When you pronounce B in isolation, only say the sound the letter itself makes, a very quick /b/, not /buh/. Although B only makes one sound, sometimes ol’ B goes silent, especially at the end of a word following an M, as in numb. It is not because B is a bum. Just try to pronounce the B at the end of numb or crumb or . . . no, we won’t say it, but that is really what the word means. It is hard to say the B in numb, isn’t it? So we turn down the sound on B.
Phonics Joke of the Day
What did the vampire steal from the baseball player? A bat.
(B plus first sound of A, plus T /t/, which we shall get to in time.)
Word Sense
Pay attention to word origins, where words come from, usually a foreign language. Our word virus comes from the Latin word virus, meaning a slimy liquid or a poison.
carpe diem
Letter of the Day: The Cool C
C c: C is a consonant making two sounds, /k/, /s/. The letter C makes the /s/ sound before the vowels E, I, and Y as in cent or cedar, city or cite, cynical or cycle. C makes the /k/ sound before the vowels A, O, and U, as in can or came, cob or cold, cut or cute.
We are not considering letter teams (or multi-letter phonograms) at the moment, but we shall find that C before an I can make the /sh/ sound, as in facial.
The letter C occasionally makes the sound /ch/ when coming from Italian, as in cello.
Ciao for now.
Phonics Joke of the Day
What is the optimist’s favorite dance? Using the Letter of the Day and a sound of A. See below.
Phonics Joke of the Day: Answer
The can-can.
Word Sense
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) definitions for virus:
1. Venom, such as emitted by a poisonous animal.
2. In pathology (the study of disease), a poisonous substance produced in the body as the result of some disease, esp. one capable of being introduced into other persons or animals by inoculation or otherwise and of developing the same disease in them.
3. Figuratively, a moral or intellectual poison, or poisonous influence.
Aesop's Fables: The Ant and the Dove Morals
One good turn deserves another. Val Biro and J. Pinkney editions
A kindness is never wasted. Milo Winter
See genuine students' and teachers' morals below.
Aesop's Fables: The Ant and the Dove Morals
Be kind to each other. (6 yr. old)
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (8 yr. old)
No matter how small, you should help others so they can repay you some day. (9 yr. old)
Everybody needs somebody to lean on. (12 yr. old)
A friend in need is a friend indeed. (teacher in 40s)
Danger brings out our true friends. (teacher in 40s)
The saved of today may be the saviors of tomorrow. (teacher in early 50s)
Best "other classic" song for the fable: "Try a Little Kindness," Glen Campbell
Words Matter
"Stocks edged lower . . ." The Wall Street Journal, 29 April
Whew. Not so bad.
carpe diem
Letter of the Day: The DL on D
D d: The consonant D makes only one sound, /d/. When pronouncing it in isolation, try not to say “duh.” When you say “Dad,” for example, you do not say /duh ad/. (Or at least you shouldn’t lest Dad think less of his child’s intelligence.)
Sometimes the D can sound like T, particularly at the end of one-syllable words where the D is a part of the past-tense -ed ending, depending on which sound precedes it. For example, in the words aced or baked or licked or packed or ropedthe D seems to say /t/. Yet in the words rated or loaded or blamed or ruled, we distinctly hear the sound /d/.
Phonics Joke of the Day
What do you call your paternal uncle’s brother when he is not another uncle? (See below.)
Phonics Joke of the Day: Answer
Dad.
Word Sense
virus: Quotations from the OED (Seeing how words have been used in the past helps us to better understand their meaning.)
“It should never be forgotten that it is the virus which infects the system.”
T. Bryant, A Manual for the Practice of Surgery, 1878.
“That the deadly virus shall in a few minutes curdle the blood.”
Duke of Argyll, The Reign of Law, 1867.
Full sentence from the Duke of Argyll:
“But how will this law of growth adjust a poison in one animal with such subtle organization of another that the deadly virus shall in a few minutes curdle the blood, benumb the nerves, and rush in upon the citadel of life?”
Words Matter
"U.S. stocks rally strongly . . . hold gains . . . " MarketWatch.com
"U.S. stocks jump as Fed vows . . ." MarketWatch.com.
Carpe Diem, cont.
Aesop's Fables: The Lion and the Mouse
A mouse came near (or even ran upon) a sleeping lion. The lion woke up and caught the mouse in his grasp. The mouse begged the lion to let him go. “If you let me go now, I will return the favor by helping you out one day.” The lion laughed. He found the idea of a tiny mouse helping a great lion so ridiculous that he let the mouse go. Not too long afterwards, the lion was caught in a hunter’s net. The lion roared. Hearing the roar, the mouse went to see what was the matter. Finding the lion trapped, he gnawed away at the net until the lion was free. “See there,” the mouse said, “I was able to return the favor.” (Or something to that effect.)
Think about and discuss the fable.
First, read the fable yourself, think about it, and write your own moral. Later, read and discuss the fable with your children or students. Make sure they understand what happened in the fable. What is the lesson (or lessons) we learned? Then ask them to write (or think of) an appropriate moral. The ideal moral should be short, yet profound. Ask them to share their moral. Let them know what yours was.
Some sample morals.
Here are some sample morals taken from editors of fables:
A kindness is never wasted. Milo Winter
A good deed deserves a reward! Val Biro
Even the strongest can sometimes use the help of the smallest. J. Pinkney
Kindness is a good thing for all of us to practice, not matter how big or small we are. M. Leaf
Morals from "the Gang"
Below are morals derived by students or teachers. The numbers in parentheses reflect ages.
Small animals are tougher than you think. (6)
If you’re a mouse, trust a lion. (6)
Even the small can help the great. (9)
One good deed deserves another. (12)
No one is invulnerable; no one is helpless: so lend a hand. (40s)
The Other Classics
More wisdom (and much fun) can be derived from popular classics in film and music than you might think. Thus from time to time we may offer songs and lines from movies that suit a given situation. Here are a couple of songs this fable brings to mind.
"Lean on Me," Bill Withers
"Take a Chance on Me," Abba (sort of)
Carpe diem (TGIF)
Poor Richard's (Benjamin Franklin's) Maxim for May
March windy, and April rainy,
makes May the pleasantest month of any.
Letter of the Day: E for Effort
E e: The letter E is a vowel that makes on its own two sounds, /ĕ/ and /ē/. When its sound is heard at the end of a word or syllable, E usually says /ē/ as in me, maybe, rerun /rē•run/, or feline. When between two consonants in a word or syllable (called a closed syllable), the E usually makes its first, or “short,” sound. Consider the words beg, met, set or letter, metric, inception.
For practice: say “/ĕ/, /ē/.”
Extra, Extra on E
In addition to acting on its own, E often teams up with other letters in phonograms we shall learn about later. The most extraordinary thing about E, though, is the tendency to hang out at the end of words and cause other vowels to say a different sound than they normally would. Sometimes this “silent final E” makes a vowel say its name, as in the word name—or in the words fame, made, cede, theme, bike, mile, bone, hope, cute, and mule. But sometimes, as in the word some, the E helps a vowel make a different sound that is not its name: come, none, forage, bandage, etc. E can also change the sound of a consonant (and a vowel at the same time) as from the word rag to rage. But don’t get mad. For now, we shall just make our bed and let it be—with /ĕ/ and /ē/.
Phonics Joke of the Day
Mr. ___ said to Mr. Choose, "I can never be you." (Using a sound of E.)
Phonics Joke of the Day: Answer
Mr. Beg
Words Matter
"Sell in May?" MarketWatch asks. (I say, "No way!" But who am I to say?)
"The French I Took"
How do we say "Thank God it's Friday" in other languages?
German: “Gott Sei Dank, es ist Freitag!”
Spanish: “Gracias a Dios, es Viernes.”
French: “Dieu merci, c’est Vendredi.”
Letters Review
A a: /ă/, /ā/, /ah/, /aw/
B b: /b/
C c: /k/, /s/
D d: /d/
E e: /ĕ/, /ē/
The A's Cheer
Give me an /ă/. /ă/.
Give me an /ā/. /ā/.
Give me an /ah/. /ah/.
Give me an /aw/. /aw/.
What’s that spell?
Nothing. But those are the four sounds of A.
Hurray!
"Monday, Monday," can carpe diem
Letter of the Day: Be a Fan of F
F f: The letter F is a consonant that makes only one sound: /f/. The letter F does not have a monopoly over the /f/ sound, however. We shall learn a couple of letter teams and the doubling of F make the sound as well. But enough of that phonics stuff for now. In one word, that we do use a lot, F makes the sound /v/. Anyone living in the good ol’ U.S. of A. should know that.
Phonics Joke of the Day
Using F: Why was the baseball pitcher so upset after losing the game on the hottest day of August? He lost all his ____.
Phonics Joke Answer
Fans.
And Another
What is F’s favorite month of the year? (Use an abbrev. if you’re a littl’un.)
Answer
Feb(ruary)
Words Matter
“Stocks Drop Sharply As Tech Loses Glow,” WSJ, Saturday, 2 May
carpe diem
Word Sense: Education
education: noun 1. The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language, 1996.
education: n. 3. The systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young in preparation for the work of life.
4. Culture or development of powers, formation of character, as contrasted with the imparting of mere knowledge or skill.
Oxford English Dictionary
Aesop's Fables: The Wolf and the House Dog
A wolf has hit upon hard times for one reason or another (one being that food is scarce) and is hungry. He sees a “house dog” (a dog belonging to an owner) that looks well-fed and happy. The wolf asks the dog how he is able to be so well-fed. The dog explains that he is fed by his master. All he must do is bark at people, guard the house, etc. That sounds like a great deal to the wolf, so he asks the dog if there could be such work for him. The dog says there is plenty of work to go around and asks the wolf to come back to the house. En route, the wolf notices something: a collar, a ring on the collar, or a scar on the dog’s neck, depending on the edition. The wolf asks why he is wearing the collar or has the mark. The dog responds that he must be chained up during the day. The wolf replies that he must take off. He says he would rather risk being poor and starving than being chained up and a slave. (See article above for teaching suggestions.)
". . . Much About History"
We shall begin our survey of history with an overview of the U.S. Presidents. The country is in an election year, so it is important for students--and all citizens--to know about the office of president itself and the individual presidents: their challenges, successes, and failures. We might call this inquiry the study of history but also the "civic literacy" each citizen in a free republic ought to have. The questions on the presidents may start out a little like softballs. But we shall soon plumb the depths of our students' (and teachers') knowledge.
The First U.S. President
Who was the first U.S. President?
In what year was he elected?
How many terms did he serve?
Who was the First Lady?
Who was his Vice President?
U.S. President Answers
George Washington
1789 (Elected in February, inaugurated 30 April)
Two: 1789-1797
Martha Custis Washington
John Adams
Washington and Our Times
George Washington and the Corona Virus: Does anything come to mind?
Carpe diem
Letter of the Day: Get Going With G
G g: The letter G is a consonant that chiefly makes two sounds: /g/ and /j/. Like the letter C and its second sound /s/, G only makes the /j/ sound in front of E, I, and Y, as in gem, giant, and gym. Yet G does not only make the /j/ sound in front of those letters, as in get, gift, and gynecology. The letter G also makes what we might call the French G sound, /zh/, in words derived from French, such as mirage and garage. My father used to tell me to take out the garbage, pronounced as /gar bäzh/.
Phonics Joke of the Day
A feller’s girlfriend. (I.e. what does a feller call his girlfriend?)
Answer
His gal.
Phonics Joke of the Day, II
Why is the second sound of G in much better shape than the first?
(Use this joke only if the students have studied all the vowels.)
Answer
He’s always at the gym.
Words Matter
“Around the World, Nations Struggle With Whether to Reopen,” WSJ, Monday 4 May
(Has the word open—or reopen—ever meant so much to so many?)
carpe diem, cont.
Word Sense
Education derives from the Latin ēducō, ēducāre, to bring up, rear, train, educate
(Do not confuse with ēdūcō, ēdūcere, to lead out. Wheelock's Latin, ch. 23.)
Aesop's Wolf and House Dog: Morals
Freedom is better than a comfortable prison. Val Biro
There is nothing worth so much as liberty. Milo Winter
Morals from Children and Teachers
Who cares about a chain? You can still have a good life. Bro. (Age 8)
(Probably not the lesson the fabulist was looking for.)
Freedom is better than luxury. (9)
’Tis better to have a house made of sticks by your own hand than a prison made of gold.
(15)
Beware the chains of luxurious tyranny. (40s)
Be your own man (or woman). (50s)
The Other Classics
Country music is full of songs that dwell on this theme: Johnny Paycheck’s “Take this Job and Shove It” is probably the most apt.
George Washington's Early Life
What colony (future state) did Washington grow up in?
What were some of the particulars of his childhood? Family, schooling, work, etc.
How did Washington first gain the attention of other colonies (and the world)?
Was this experience a success or failure? How?
carpe diem, cont.
George Washington, b. February 11, 1732 (old style cal.)
George Washington was born in the colony of Virginia to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Mary was Augustine’s second wife (his first wife died). George had two older half-brothers and four younger siblings (who lived past childhood). Augustine belonged to the “minor gentry” of the colony; that is, he was a landowner but not one of the richer ones.
Childhood and Schooling
Born near the Potomac River, George Washington at age six moved with his family to a farm near Fredericksburg, where he spent most of his childhood. George would have been sent to school in England, but his father died when he was eleven. The family’s financial circumstances, combined with his mother’s needing his help and always being very demanding of his time, kept the young George at home. His schooling was sporadic, much of it coming from his father (before his death) and his older half-brother Lawrence, though he seems to have spent some time with a church tutor and at a small school. One thing is certain: the young George did not receive the higher level of formal education many other sons of Virginia landowners did in those days. For example, he was not taught Latin.
Food for Thought
What would have happened if Washington had gone to school in England? Would he have been more English, less Virginian? (Historians have pondered that for two centuries.)
The Young Washington's Other Education
At the same time, the young George Washington became a champion of the practical and of the outdoors. From an early age, he was an excellent horseman and hunter, picked up geometry and trigonometry rather well, took an interest in farming, and learned how to be a surveyor of land in his early teens.
surveyor: one who surveys land, looks closely at land (using geometry and trig.) in order to make maps, set boundaries, etc. We might put it more simply and say a land-measurer and mapmaker.
Food for Thought
Why might the skill of surveying have become very helpful to Washington later in life or even have gotten him started? Here is where the story of his older brother Lawrence becomes important.
Young Washington and the Cherry Tree?
Though full of wonderful stories, Parson Weems’s The Life of Washington all agree is apocryphal. Apocryphal is a fancy word meaning, in this instance, too good to be true. The plain truth is, we do not know very much about the early childhood of Washington. The stories are still worth reading to children, but at some point the children ought to be told that while such stories do likely reflect the young Washington’s character, they are more like a fairy tale than history.
Carpe Diem, miércoles
Letter of the Day: Hold On, H Is Coming
H h: The letter H is a consonant that makes one sound: /h/. It is called an “unvoiced” sound since you do not use your vocal cords to make it; rather you breathe the sound. Unlike most other consonants, H does not come before any other consonants at the beginning of words or syllables. For example, whereas B is followed by L in blink or R in bring(though not most consonants), H only comes before vowels. (This is a lesson for more advanced students.) H does pair up with other consonants to make particular sounds (ch, sh, th), as we shall see.
The Tricky Part of H: Sometimes You Don’t Hear Him—Honest
Like other letters we have seen, sometimes H goes silent. We do not hear the /h/ sound in honor or honest. That cannot be because of the hon— combination since we do hear /h/ in honey. Moreover, we do not pronounce the /h/ sound in heir, and most of us (though the English do not) keep H silent in herb. Whether the H in the middle of vehicle is said depends on regional dialect. Every hour on the hour, we do not make the H sound, though H is hanging around (the clock).
Phonics Joke of the Day
Why was Porky Pig such a great actor? (using H)
Phonics Joke Answer
Because he was a ham.
Words Matter, Numbers Matter
Disney earnings plummet more than 90% . . . MarketWatch, 5 May
Word Sense
Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition, 1771:
EDUCATION, the instructing children, and youth in general, in such branches of knowledge and polite exercises, as are suitable to their genius and station.
Education is a very extensive subject, that has employed the thoughts and pens of the greatest men: Locke, the archbishop of Cambray, Tanaquil Faber, M. Crousaz, Rollin, and Rousseau may be consulted on this head.
The principal aim of parents should be, to know what sphere of life their children are designed to act in; what education is really suitable to them; what will be the consequences of neglecting that; and what chance a superior education will give them, for their advancement in the world. Their chief study should be to give their children such a degree of knowledge, as will qualify them to fill some certain post or station in life: in short, to fit them for an employment suited to their condition and capacity, such as will make them happy in themselves and useful to society. [That is the whole article.]
Carpe diem, cont.
Aesop's Fables: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
This is one of the most famous of Aesop's Fables. If you do not have your own copy, look at the online edition of Milo Winter at Project Gutenberg, p. 18. See below for hints in teaching.
The Crux
A mouse who lived out in the country invited a city mouse friend of his to come visit him. The country mouse, who was already a little worried about his simple ways, wanted to please and impress his friend, so he put a good deal of work into sprucing up his place and serving good food. The city mouse, who apparently did not have very good manners, let it be known that he thought the country ways were scraps compared to life in the city. So the city mouse, whether to return the favor or to show the country mouse a better life or to show off (or a combination), invited his friend to the city. The versions vary as to details, but two things become clear. Yes, the city is impressive as seen in the table full of exotic dishes. But, city life is very dangerous, whether the entrance of cats, dogs, or people onto the scene. The country mouse decides very quickly that the city life is not for him. He would rather live simply than live in fear, so he takes off back home with a newfound appreciation of his country life.
Read the Fable to Students
Or have them read first if they are old enough. It helps to hear it aloud, though. First, make sure the students understand what happened. Then discuss what the fable means without recourse to the given moral. (If you are making copies for the students, you can cover up the moral.)
Have the Students Write (or think of) Their Own Morals
They should each attempt to make up their own moral without feeding from the "what she said" trough. The parent or teacher should write a moral, too (without looking at the one in the text.) Then discuss the various morals, with discretion.
Sic et Non
(Yes and no) Discuss the theme or point of the fable. Is it true? Put yourself in "the shoes" of the Town Mouse. And of the Country Mouse. Whose way of life is better? By what standard?
Carpe diem, jueves
Letter of the Day: The I's Have It
Remember, vowels are tough. Get ready to jump in the ring with I.
I i: The letter I is a vowel that has three sounds: /ĭ/, /ī/, /ē/. The first, or short, sound of I we find both at the beginning of words (such as if, in, is, it, igloo, impress) and between two consonants in a syllable or word (such as bid, gild, bitter, blister, fist).
The second, or long, sound of I we also find at the beginning of words (idea, icon, irate) and when a “silent final E” at the end of the word makes I say its name, as in “I like Ike,” the Ides of March, the tides of fortune, etc. The most consistent presence of I saying its name is found in the one-syllable words ending in -nd: bind, find, hind, kind, mind, rind, and wind(not the kind that blows).
I on Its Own, i.e. me
Like A, I (pronounced /ī/) is also a word on its own, but I (the subject form of me) must always be capitalized, not just at the beginning of a sentence.
The Third Sound of I: /ē/
I making the sound /ē/ rarely comes at the beginning of words, though it does in ink and inkling. I does make the /ē/ sound often when joining (acting as a link) between two syllables, as in happiness, radio, medium, studio. Yet I does not always say its name in like settings, especially when it is less stressed: fanciful, plentiful, seminal.
The third sound of E also has a reliable pattern akin to -ind above, though with -nk at the end: blink, clink, drink, fink, kink, link, mink, pink, rink, sink, think, and wink. Likewise, with -ng at the end (and not as the -ing ending we shall study later): ding, king, ring, sing, wing, and, if you are wearing a fancy ring, bling.
The Dictionaries Get It Wrong?
Understanding the third sound of I is rather easy, not a big “thing”—except for one thing. The dictionaries do not get it right. In both the Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage dictionaries, the pronunciation keys show words such as king with the short I pronunciation. That simply is not right. “With this /rĭng/ I thee wed”? That sounds pretty rinky-dink. This mistake cannot be attributed to dictionaries not acknowledging the third sound of I. They get the word idiotright, after all. But for some reason, probably due to a servile “borrowing” from other dictionaries and not paying perfect attention to pronunciation, they need to be dinged for messing up the third sound of I. We quote Aretha in saying, “You better think—think—think ’bout what you’re doin’ to I when he’s sayin’ /ē/.”
The Last of I--Finally, but not (at) the end
One last tidbit on I. English words usually do not end in I. Those that do are imports: e.g., ski from the Nordic folks, and spaghetti, linguini, etc. from the Italians. (Notice it is the third sound.)
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