I love books. I really, really do. The emphasis on living books is one of the things that led me to Charlotte Mason (CM). It resonated with me, and my children’s education is resting upon a stack of good books.
Say! I like green eggs and ham!
“Green Eggs and Ham” By Dr. Suess
I do! I like them, Sam-I-Am!
And I would eat them in a boat.
And I would eat them with a goat…
And I will eat them, in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good, so good, you see!
So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.
And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them anywhere!
I do so like green eggs and ham!
Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-Am.
If you replace the “green eggs and ham” above with “really good books,” you’ll begin to understand my relationship with books and reading 🙂
Despite my love for books, I have limits to how far I’m willing to go.
If Sam-I-Am took those green eggs and ham and sprinkled them with a little vomit, I’m pretty sure the story would end differently.
Sometimes, I encounter “really good books” that have been sprinkled with a little vomit. And these books have been recommended by top-notch curriculum providers, trusted experts, and the most beloved bloggers.
Because I roll in CM circles, most of these puke-tinged books are considered living books. And they are, admittedly, really good. But lurking somewhere within, I’ve read words (or seen pictures) that have the great potential of harming my children.
I’m particularly attuned to these things because my children are black, but if I’m being honest, I think they have the great potential of harming ALL children.
The emphasis on reading living books in a CM education is ideas – not facts. So if a book presents many facts in a beautifully written way but includes spurts of racism, can it really be considered a good living book? If the book conjures up mostly great ideas in a child’s mind but has just a little bit of racism sprinkled on top is it a matter of the good outweighing the bad? If a few of the living ideas in an otherwise great book are rooted in evil should we pretend they’re not there and just hope for the best?
Is there room for just a bit of vomit on your food?
Or put another way…
If your daughter came to you years from now and shared that she intended to marry her boyfriend – a nice, loving, Christian man from a sweet family with the means to care for her and a desire to do good in the world – but every now and then…very rarely…he slaps her around a bit.
How would you feel?
Well, that is how I feel about my kids reading really good books with bits of racist or white-washed stuff in them. Exactly like that.
It is naive to think that our children only internalize the good ideas while somehow completely missing or easily forgetting the bad ideas.
“We give him miserable little text-books, mere compendiums of facts, which he is to learn off and say and produce at an examination; or we give him various knowledge in the form of warm diluents, prepared by his teacher with perhaps some grains of living thought to the gallon. And all the time we have books, books teeming with ideas fresh from the minds of thinkers upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children.”
Charlotte Mason Vol. 3, p. 171
Books teeming with ideas upon every subject to which we can wish to introduce children. Yes, teeming with ideas, but WHICH ideas?
Here are just a few examples of hurtful ideas presented in books recommended within the CM homeschooling community (and elsewhere, I’m sure):
A. Objectifying humans by considering slaves an enjoyable part of life. Imagine my “delight” when I got sucker-punched by our nature lore book this term. After spending 9 weeks delightfully learning about akenes and various fluffy plants, we started studying the cotton plant. I was reading aloud and came to this:
A cotton field is most picturesque during the picking season, when the negroes, the women with bright kerchiefs over their heads, go into the fields, pick the cotton, and carry it away in large baskets.
Little Wanderers by Margaret Warner Morley (1899), pg. 42
This was casually dropped in between descriptions of the bolls splitting open and the fibers covering the seeds. What’s the point of that? Is that REALLY what the sick author thought of when she wanted to describe the beauty of the cotton plant?
And the CM curriculum provider couldn’t find anything better than this “really good” book?
I seriously don’t get it.
This is a case of our desire to grab the very best living book on a subject overriding common sense. Reading about plants from this book can’t possibly be more important than avoiding the sick description of (terrorized) picturesque (enslaved) negroes picking cotton (against their will) on the enslaver’s work-camp (plantation).
Yes, they gave a teeny tiny warning buried in Week 10 of the lesson plans, but (1) I’m not looking at the plans that carefully by the time we’re that far into the semester on a simple nature lore book and (2) my daughter could have been reading that book on her own. The note said to not say “negroes.” How am I supposed to keep her from seeing that if she’s reading it on her own?
B. White-washing history to make it seem like slavery wasn’t so bad. In a history book that I haven’t seen written into an actual curriculum but I know is used by many CM homeschoolers, a chapter on slaves and cotton says:
Yes, there was terrible, brutish, inexcusable meanness in slavery. But most slave owners – even if they were cruel – thought of their slaves as valuable property. They might beat them, but they tried not to do them serious harm.
A History of US by Joy Hakim (Book 4, Chapter 30)
This statement is ridiculous. By “serious harm” does the author mean death? If so, she should have said, “They might brutalize and terrorize them in various inhuman ways, but many stopped short of actually murdering their slaves as they did not want to jeopardize their financial investment.”
But as it stands in the book, children could be left to think that slavery was bad, but not that bad. The statement certainly doesn’t conjure up some of the most horrific and inhuman slave punishments like executions, mutilation, sexual assault, torture, rubbing salt into wounds, brutal whippings, branding, shackling, and severe emotional abuse.
Yes, I know the details of many of these punishments are not appropriate for young children but neither is acting like things weren’t that bad because no “serious harm” was done.
Later in the same chapter, the author says:
Remember, in the time of George Washington most Southern whites hadn’t liked slavery; they just didn’t know how to end a bad system.
Really? So most Southern whites were just good folks who have gotten a bad rap, eh? They were innocent and simply unaware of how to do better. Hmm. I think we all know that’s not true. What about the Civil War? Reconstruction? Jim Crow? Segregation? Donald Trump?
C. Suggesting that the black historical experience in America is a shared experience. A history book recommended by one CM curriculum company includes this about slavery (emphasis is mine):
Two hundred years ago many millions of men and women were held as slaves in America and Europe. Some of these were black and some were white, but they could be bought and sold like so many cattle, could be whipped by their masters, and had no more rights than so many brute beasts.
Stories of America, Volume 2, pg. 19
Well, that sounds pretty 50/50 to me. I guess we’ll plant the seed in our children’s minds that this wasn’t really about black people because only some of them were black and some of them were white? That is a VERY misleading statement. It takes a little of the edge off of the ugliness of the truth, and it makes it seem like we were all in this thing together.
The same book goes on to say:
Today there is not a slave in Europe or America. All these millions of slaves have been set free. Do you not think I am right in saying that the world has grown better as well as richer? Why, one-hundred fifty years ago there were millions of slaves in our own country, and now there is not one in all the land. Is not that a great gain to mankind?
That’s just plain false. It will lead a child to believe that everything is hunky-dory, and none of our children need to believe that. There are millions of slaves in the world today, and yes, some of them live in our very own country. Our kids need to know this as a point of being well-educated, but more importantly, they need to know so they’ll share in the responsibility of ending this great injustice!
D. Presenting pictures that are worth a thousand negative words. Images are powerful. Some of the hurt in a really good book can come in the form of what is shown vs. what is said. The children’s biographies beautifully written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire are staples in nearly every recommended CM booklist. We own all of them, and they really are lovely.
However, I keep the George Washington book on a high shelf with other good books that I don’t want my children perusing on their own. Now why on earth would I need to keep a children’s picture book out of reach of the children?
Well, before my kiddos are old enough to read, they love to flip through pages and look at…the pictures. The George Washington book has this beauty sprinkled in among the others:
In this picture, the white people are inside having a lovely time dancing and enjoying each other…while the black kids are outside with their faces pressed against the window with the dog 🙁
Now I, as the adult, understand the historical context of this photo. My older children understand it as well. But my little boys? No. They could innocently be flipping through a picture book about an American hero and happen upon this picture where the kids who look like them are clearly left out in the cold, literally and figuratively. Without broader knowledge and context, this picture alone could lead to subconscious (or conscious) feelings of being “less than.”
E. Connecting dark skin to negative attributes or white supremacy. These issues are not only found in non-fiction books. Let’s take a look at The Secret Garden, a classic novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In Chapter 4 (linked above), this conversation occurs (emphasis is mine):
“It is different in India,” said Mistress Mary disdainfully. She could scarcely stand this.
But Martha was not at all crushed.
“Eh! I can see it’s different,” she answered almost sympathetically. “I dare say it’s because there’s such a lot o’ blacks there instead o’ respectable white people. When I heard you was comin’ from India I thought you was a black too.”
Mary sat up in bed furious.
“What!” she said. “What! You thought I was a native. You—you daughter of a pig!”
The Secret Garden, Chapter 4
In this conversation, it is made clear that Martha is actually talking about people from India – not black Americans – but that matters not. It doesn’t matter because it’s still racist, and by the time my kids could connect that the inferior blacks being referenced weren’t us, the damage would be done. It’s another little sting in the middle of a perfectly sweet book. A little vomit. A quick slap.
And the list goes on and on.
Please hear me on this. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use any of these books, but I am saying that some are egregious enough to not be given a place on the shelf in any homeschool and others need to be recommended with a BIG BOLD caveat, if recommended at all. Or maybe they’re OK for reading aloud where you can edit, but don’t hand them over to your young kids.
Reading racist and white-washed stuff sometimes feels like a punch in the stomach. At other times it makes my skin crawl. But sometimes the reaction is not so visceral. I just take a mental note of the sting and keep reading. I can accept all of those things in my own personal reading, but I won’t serve those ideas up to my young children under the guise of a “really good book.”
Important note: I’ve gone back and forth on this in my mind, but I’ve decided not to include which curricula or experts are recommending these materials. Here’s why:
- Most of them are small businesses or organizations that are doing so much good in the CM homeschooling community. The good they do transcends my observations on their occasional missteps, and I do not wish to soil their reputations.
- I buy from these businesses, and I plan to continue doing so, so it would be hypocritical of me to exploit their weaknesses publicly.
- I believe that the inclusion of these books is a result of good-will. There is no evil intention, and that goes a long way with me.
- I don’t want you to get bogged down on avoiding these specific titles or hyper-focusing on one vendor or another. The problem is ubiquitous.
The point of this post isn’t to point fingers and blame. The point is to give insight into how hurtful some of the books we put before our children can be and what kinds of overt or subliminal ideas are presented in them. It is a reminder of how we must, as mothers, ensure that our children don’t internalize literary micro-aggression – whether it is intended or not.
I don’t want a sprinkling of vomit on my “really good” food. I don’t want my daughter to marry a “really good” man who slaps her around every now and then. And I don’t want my little kids to spend years reading “really good” books that hurt. All living books are not really good books.
For some of you, this is just a reminder to be ever vigilant about the presentation of ideas in your homeschool – overt or subtle. And for others, I recognize that it may be completely eye-opening to see these examples because you may have never noticed the racism or considered the potential impact on your child…and mine. I also know that there will be those who consider all of this trivial and will write them off as things to be overlooked for the greater good of the book. One instance? Yes. But sprinkled throughout an entire education? No way.
Food for thought.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been following your blog ever since I became interested in CM philosophy. My biracial children are in the early years, and so I’m taking the time to research how to best educate them. The points you bring up in this post as well as previous ones have been a concern for me, a black mom who is also attracted to CM philosophy. I have had concerns about how to find “good living books” and as you’ve identified “life-giving books.”
What’s been most helpful in identifying books that aren’t so hurtful? Are there suggested books/sources you’ve come across to eliminate or embrace based on the presentation of ideas? Do you find yourself less attracted to CM the longer you’ve homeschooled or do you see inspite of poor suggestions from vendors that it has had great benefits in the lives of your children? I know I’m a complete stranger, and I understand that the response to some of these questions are personal. I completely understand if you don’t answer them. I ask because it’s been difficult identifying other black moms with real experience in CM. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you for sharing your journey.
Thank you for asking, LaTisha. The questions aren’t too personal. In fact, these are the very things that I’ve struggled with, and I want to share my experiences.
I haven’t found a surefire way to avoid hurtful books because it comes up regularly. However, I do my best to monitor everything that’s put before the children. I pre-read all their school books that I won’t be reading aloud, so I catch many things there. When I’m reading aloud, I will usually edit words before they come out of my mouth, and I’ll ad-lib or skip over things complete, if necessary.
I’m not able to keep up with pre-reading all their afternoon or nighttime pleasure reading, but I try my best to ensure that anything they find on our shelves will be good for them. Occasionally, I mess up and must remove a book from our home library when the kids tell me about something they read, but that’s rare. In those time, I feel disappointed by the reviews that I read and must rely on at times.
There are things in books that will still slip by though. When my kids are older, I will use those as discussion points, but for now, I prefer that they just not read those things. The Secret Garden example above is one that I would’ve missed if I hadn’t been reading it aloud. One of my daughters would’ve told me after she read it, and we would talk about it, but some of the damage would have already been done by that time.
One big issue is that there are some beautifully written old books teeming with noble ideas and rich language, but they were written during a time that black people were even more ignored, hated, or marginalized than they are today. There are also some modern socially responsible books that are sensitively written but use a dumbed-down tone or simple pre-digested vocabulary or an unnecessarily silly story line. The trick is finding options that have the best of both without the baggage of either.
I am definitely sold out on CM, and the longer I integrate her philosophies into my homeschool, the more convinced I am that it is the right way to go. I think that the occasional poor suggestions from CM vendors are FAR less damaging than the lackluster materials provided by many (but not all!) non-CM vendors. In other words, I think there’s hurtful stuff everywhere. But ultimately, we are in control of what the children are presented with, and we can separate the good from the bad to the best of our ability.
There is not an “Official CM Booklist” that we need to follow to use her philosophy. I know the CM curriculum organizations are working hard to take some of the guesswork out of it for us, but I do wish that they would consider how much weight their book recommendations have and choose wisely for more reasons than just find really good living books. As mothers of brown & black children we will probably never have the luxury of taking someone else’s book choices and just using them, without scrutiny, for our children.
Please feel free to reach out to me to discuss further, but in short, CM has been beyond awesome for my children (and me), and I wouldn’t dream of stepping away.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts concerning CM. It is reassuring to know that the philosophy that has stirred my spirit is sound and is having big payoffs in families more similar to mine. Thanks again for the reminder that CM is a philosophy and not a list if books. I appreciate you sharing your journey which helps to enlighten your readers.
I am in tears. A friend sent me to your website because, as a CM mom, I’m always looking to diversify our homeschool. I am a white adoptive parent with two multiracial daughters and a (surprise!) biological son. You have written words that have helped me better understand why I have “issues” with books that no one else talks about. You have helped validate some of my concerns, but you have taken a calm, measured approach and that is so helpful to me, too. Would you mind if I contact you privately and ask you a few questions? I don’t have a way to do that, so maybe respond to my email address if you have time? Either way, thanks so much for your work on this website. I’m excited to spend more time here.
Jennifer, you aren’t crazy. The issues you’ve had and the icky feelings you’ve felt from time to time stem from REAL issues. Your Mama Bear instincts are alive and well, and I consider that a blessing for your daughters. I’d love to chat with you, and I’ll email you shortly.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m planning my foray into homeschooling, trying to do it justly, and this is so incredibly helpful. I appreciate your labor, emotional and otherwise.
Brynna, thank you for taking the time to send me this encouragement. You’re so welcome! I’m so glad that you’re making the choice to homeschool.
I really appreciate this post and your book lists. I am also new to homeschooling and teach an American Humanities class to 9 white students. I wish we had a more diverse group. Thanks for helping to challenge me to continue seeking for the better choices in curriculum and in books. I am curious if you think there is value in examining some of these more flawed works and exposing/ discussing the problematic nature, or if you think it’s better to avoid them altogether? I’m thinking of books like The Adventues of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird. I read them with teachers who pointed out the “white savior” problem, the racism, and the simplistic portrayal of the struggling black characters. I thought this was a good method, but now that I’m considering these “classics” for my own children, I just don’t know.
Katrina, I absolutely think that approach to exploring those works with OLDER children is great, and I plan to do so when my kids are older. Teaching them to critically evaluate a piece and to recognize injustice and fallacy in the midst of otherwise wonderful work is a great training ground for real life. In addition, the books you gave as examples are woven into the fabric of our American culture. There are references made in other books and movies, they are quoted during speeches and articles, and not being familiar with them may prevent kids from understanding nuances and participating in certain conversations in adulthood. For all of these reasons, I wouldn’t shy away from them.
I do think the conversations will be more fruitful with (older) children whose families actually live out the discussed principles (of not perpetuating the “white savior” thought pattern, racism, or simplistic assumptions of struggling black folks in real life) outside of the classroom, but in this case, a little enlightenment is better than nothing. I recommend that you also include “classics” written by people of color alongside the more commonly recognized classics because they provide an entirely different lens through which to see the world. I think the fact that you’re even THINKING about this makes you the right teacher for these kids.
Thank you! I’m an adoptive mom of two biracial kiddos and CM is our homeschool approach. But I’ve felt frustrated for almost a year in the literature and also felt powerless to change it. I don’t know any other moms using CM with biracial children. Your site has just become one of my top go to spots for CM. Thank you for sharing your time and talents.
I’m glad that you’ve found validation here, Lisa. I think CM is the right approach in terms of the principles, but some of the circulating book lists aren’t totally right for our children. We have absolute freedom to swap out anything we deem unworthy for our children, and I hold tightly to that. I also continue to feel frustrated that I now feel a bit paranoid about any material I put before my children. That doesn’t feel good. I’m totally relying on the Holy Spirit to protect their eyes and ears from the things that slip by me.
Oh my! I stumbled upon your blog tonight in my search for history resources for my young kids. I’m a long-time homeschooler but I’m in completely new (to me) territory. I am a white mom who raised and homeschooled my son as a single mom.(very proud of that) I’ve since remarried and my black husband and I have 2 daughters. I feel like I did a pretty good job raising an empathetic, well-rounded young white man, but I’ve since been smacked in the face, so to speak, with things I’ve never considered. (white washed history, etc.) I know that I overlooked some of the “vomit” that you write about because it really didn’t relate to us. That makes me want to vomit in retrospect! This post has really convicted me and I thank you for it. I’m thankful that I found your blog. I wish you were my neighbor so I could ask you a million “what should we then read” questions. ☺
I wish you were my neighbor too because you sounds pretty awesome (Homeschooling your son as a single mom!). Don’t spend one moment worrying about what you didn’t know when your son was coming up. As you said, he turned out empathetic and well-rounded because even though God chooses to use us, He doesn’t actually NEED us to get the job done. Amen! I’m glad you found the blog as well 🙂
A friend sent me over here when I voiced my complaints about “Little House on the Prairie’. I decided not to start any history with my kiddos until I compile a list of books that portray Africa in a good light.
Africans were civilised . They were not savages. They didn’t need Europeans to save them.
Until I have covered African history in a beautiful light, I refuse to teach British nor American history. The world didn’t start when Africa was colonised. In many ways, the world ended.
Yes, I completely agree that an in-depth and beautiful study of African civilization pre-colonization is a great foundation to lay prior to other studies. I did this when my children were young (Year 1 or 1st grade), and we also started our geography studies with the continent of Africa. I definitely think it helped immensely, but it has still been difficult to navigate through American history. It becomes easy to forget life before slavery while digging deep into what happened here, and I’m constantly reminding the kids, and myself, about what we know to be true. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
Oh man, must. go. to. bed – but I can’t stop reading your blog. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a blog that inspired me, challenged me, had me saying, “Yes!!” and then getting teary eyed seconds later. I’ll definitely need to keep coming back and continue reading, perhaps a little more slowly so I can digest more (in 20 minute chunks and then narrate? 😉 ).
I get a sick feeling when I encounter in books such passages as you mentioned, and I’ve read aloud to my kids books that they are perfectly capable of reading on their own because there’s that one paragraph that describes certain races as less than human or has dialect that makes it sounds like anyone other than a white man (and sometimes woman) can put together a complete sentence in “proper” English, or, or, or…. The book then goes on the “don’t touch this, this is Mommy’s shelf!” My kids love to read, and I hate that I very rarely feel the freedom to completely hand over a book I haven’t read without wondering what ideas and worldviews are lurking beneath the surface (and sometimes just flat out there). I’ve tried looking online for thorough reviews but rarely find any, and when I do, I’m ticked off when I get the book thinking it’s fine, only to discover, nope, not the case at all. Oh sure, “just” one sentence, which sometimes makes me look like a fanatic, but such a great analogy – here’s your meal with “just” a little vomit on it.
When we first started homeschooling with the CM method and were using one curriculum, I told my husband it seemed like all the things I was seeing were focused on white male Europeans. I asked about it on the site and was given what felt like a dismissive answer and one that said yes, well, that’s who was DOING the writing at that time. They then suggested that if I wanted literature or art from other races, nations, etc., I was free to add them to our free reads. My husband protested, “What does that say to our children if everything you read during ‘school time’ is from white people, and all the things they read by black authors or paintings they see by Latino artists is during free time, when they don’t HAVE to read it or look at it if they don’t want to? Doesn’t what is NOT included in the curriculum ALSO say something about what’s important and WHO is important?” That started this journey of trying to find writers and artists and musicians in curriculum who weren’t white men. I’ve hardly found any curriculum that does a great job of doing so, and it’s hard to find the time to really delve in and research. (So I’ll also be waiting with bated breath for that curriculum you put out, as others have suggested. 😉 ).
Sorry for such a long message; I, too, wish I could sit down with you and just learn. I’m grateful that I have this small chance to do so through your blog and look forward to reading and learning more. (And I’ll try not to comment on every single one, but know that somewhere in Orlando, some random gal is reading your blog, enthusiastically nodding, echoing agreement, shedding tears, being challenged, buying life-giving books and sharing your message with other white moms like myself who have so much to learn.)
Thank you wholeheartedly, again, for taking the time to teach….
p.s. “Yes, there was terrible, brutish, inexcusable meanness in slavery. But most slave owners – even if they were cruel – thought of their slaves as valuable property. They might beat them, but they tried not to do them serious harm.
A History of US by Joy Hakim (Book 4, Chapter 30)
What!?!? I bought this entire set of books (thankfully for $.50 each at a library sale) bc it was highly recommended in a CM group. I’ve barely had time to look at them much less carefully read them and had NO idea these ideas were hidden in there.
“…but know that somewhere in Orlando, some random gal is reading your blog…” I can tell that I love you already! This is hilarious. And you have no idea how much I loved reading your comment.
In all fairness, there is a lot of good in the Hakim books, so don’t get rid of them! She does a better job than most of including people of color and their contributions/experiences. There’s a lot going on on each page, so if you can tune out the clutter/excess and pre-read EVERY time, you’ll be safe. The chapters are short, and I pick and choose which ones to use throughout the year along with our other history books. I do all of my pre-reading in one day (only reading the chapters I’d like to select for each term), and we ONLY read the chapters I’ve pre-selected & approved. That’s how I found the kinda crazy stuff in the post above and knew not to share it with my children. It’s exhausting, I know.
I am so grateful to have come across this blog post, and this comment (I admittedly rarely even glance at the comments section.)
Thank you so much, HeritageMom, for doing this work and sharing it freely. I have encountered some of these things during my CM homeschooling journey and been really frustrated at the whitewashed history that is such a huge focus of the curriculum we initially chose.
Also, Christie, I almost squealed when I read “..gal in Orlando..” as I’m in Lakeland, only about an hour away.
Hi Lee Anne! Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you found us and joined the conversation. And I’m super familiar with Lakeland. My BFF from college is from there, and I would go home with her for some of the shorter holidays because we were in school in FL, and my family was all the way in Illinois.
We have been teaching using the CM methodology for two years now and I have noticed some of these same things when I am reading. I do reword things often. (We have Little Wanderers and did read that same part you mentioned). I am a Caucasian mom married to an Asian man and our adopted son is Caucasian, but like you, I am from the sweet tea South. Very far south where racism is still very much a thing. We now live overseas where racism looks very different. I would like to be more aware of the racial things (black/white) in books. I am very aware of the Asian racial statements in some of the reading of Living Books. I look forward to looking through your website for more ways to teach our son to be accepting of others no matter their skin color. We went to a very white area in America to living in a very multicultural area. We have many friends here that are inter-racially married and so we are surrounded by culture here – Polish, Asian, African, French, Irish, Australian etc etc. We want to raise our son to accept all people no matter the color of their skin or their background, but want to do it in the right way without anger towards any one group of people if that makes sense. How do we present history in a way to our kids that states the truth of what happened but teach them also that isn’t the way things have to be?
Thank you for commenting, Anna! I don’t have all of the answers, but I stand with you in trying to forge a path with our children that is different than what’s typically being served up in many circles. I think rewording things works really well while the children are young, but it becomes more difficult as they begin reading their own books. I hear people talk a lot about how they have conversations with their kids when negative racial commentary is included in their school books and, of course, that’s a great step. However, I don’t believe that we should be relying solely on clarifying conversations. The repeated exposure to negative racial assessments for particular groups of people over time will begin to soak in – even if we keep saying “that’s not true” or “that’s just the way things used to be.” So for now my plan is to (1) limit accidental exposure to racist commentary, (2) choose any exposure wisely with a plan for discussion, and (3) limit exposure to historically relevant representations – mostly historical fiction vs. non-fiction school books that offer racist thoughts as true fact/opinion. Let’s keep the conversation going and work together to make the situation better for all of our children!
Thank you so much HeritageMom for your work here and throughout your blog and especially the emotional work it takes to spend additional time thinking through and writing about the impact of white supremacy on choosing living books and what is available. I am a white mom homeschooling my 7 yr old son (and three other littles) using CM’s methods, and I feel like I am muddling through with creating an inclusive program and working around/editing on the fly all the things that can come up in these older living books. My white kids (and me!) need to be consistently exposed to the thoughts and experiences of people of all backgrounds in our books to help de-center whiteness in their education. I mainly wanted to come on here to say thank you because it is such a gift to read your thoughts about all of this.
Thank you for sharing, Ashleigh. It’s affirming for me to hear that we’re interested in the same inclusive options for our kids. We can’t change everything overnight, but we can stand firm in our own homes while we work towards change on the outside. Thank YOU for doing that hard work right alongside me. It matters.
I am so deeply grateful for your blog. I am a teacher on the West Side of Chicago. We are a Charlotte Mason classical, Christ centered school with the mission of making a rich, CM education available to children from racially diverse background and socio-economically diverse backgrounds. 50% of our seats are reserved for families making less than 40k/ year. We are only 3 years old, but it has been a powerful journey. Our longing is to prayerfully select texts that honor and inspire all of our children and their stories. Your blog has been a tremenouds help as I am currently preparing to select texts for the Early Modern Period (1600-1849) literature and humanities for our 5-7 grade combined classroom.
We are planning to use Story of the World Volume 3, but I have been curious to know more about Joy Hakim’s series.
I have so many questions I’d love to ask you, but I will sort through them before I ask! Thank you!
Meg, thank you for letting me know about your work. It sounds incredible. I’m VERY interested in what you’re doing and would like to help in any way that I can. Please feel free to contact me when you’re ready.
Hi Amber,
Thank you for your response.
First I would be so delighted to talk with you. 708-497-0755! I’m wondering how often your are avaiable to speak?
I’m wondering what the highest reading level of texts is that you have explored. Our oldest students are reading at a highschool level (they read Beowulf last year).
In addition, our time period doesn’t exactly align with your Early Modern. This year we will be in the 1600’s-1850’s. Have you explored that time period yet? Any gems you highly recommend or pitfalls to avoid.
I am also wrestling with the question of when and if to read Mark Twain with our students. Are you familiar with the book “The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Fin” by Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua? It’s on my desk waiting to dive in as we wrestle with how and if to read this with our oldest students.
Thank you for your incredibly important work!
Meg
Everyone has different opinions about Mark Twain, and I know it can be a touchy subject. I do plan to read Huckleberry Finn with my teens. By the time we get to that, my kids will have been so steeped in understanding of the time in which it was written that I don’t feel concerned about the impact it could otherwise have. I’ll be there taking them through the material and discussing it the same way my amazing English teacher did with me when I was a teen. For me, it’s important that my children are not left out of conversations that occur later in life. When you haven’t read the traditional American canon, you miss innuendo in films and other books. You don’t always know what people are talking about when they make literary references. These things are important to me, personally. Probably because I like to know about Mr. Darcy and Jem & Scout. I want to know what people are talking about when they drop lines from these books or mention characters. I do completely understand why many choose not to read it, but those are my personal thoughts. Unfortunately, I haven’t started mapping out that time period (1600-1850), so I don’t have any recommendations quite yet.
Amber,
I am so happy I came across your blog today and not just your Instagram , you have such a wealth of knowledge to share , and I commend you for giving voice to it. Not to long ago I brought up this same issue on a curriculum forum that I purchase books from. I too mentioned the blatant racism in The Secret Garden and how I was glad to be reading it aloud to my 11 year old and not the age most curriculum providers recommend reading it (much younger) , because the racist statements in the book were glaring to both of us and definitely needed to be discussed and not glossed over. The story does come full circle and it did turn into one of our favorite books .The day I mentioned this was a day that everyone on the forum was speaking about teaching their children better and the times we are living in , but when I mentioned this book the forum went silent. I honestly felt like not a single other person recognized how important it was to not just keep reading, like these words were ok to fill our children’s minds with. Thank you for putting words to so much of what many of us ponder silently on a regular basis . Your work is truly important .
Thank you so much for taking the time to scoot over here from IG and take a look. Your comment here is really important because we have to at least be able to talk about these things. My children also enjoyed The Secret Garden, but it made me sad that no one had ever mentioned the blatant racism in its pages in all of the glowing reviews I’d read. On another note, have you and your daughter read The Little Princess? You may enjoy seeing my thoughts on that here: https://heritagemom.com/2018/02/05/book-movie-little-princess/
Hi Amber,
Both my daughter and I read your review of The Little Princess, we also have read the book as well as watched both movie versions . We saw the Shirley Temple version first , Becky was white . My daughter did point out that Sara did say that Becky’s skin color should be of no consequence in the 2nd movie, after reading your review, in keeping with her character , but to create a black character in keeping with the ‘ blacks as servants’ mentality and to change the original story is also equally worth mentioning and wrong . These are good examples and ways we can and should always continue to discuss these things with our children and not to allow ‘the world’ to tell them they are just being sensitive about issues of race . I’m so happy to have found some rich middle grade suggestions here on your blog that we weren’t familiar with , and I am so happy to read reviews of them that I can trust .
Much appreciation of all your efforts.
It’s so wonderful to find a friend who enjoys reading books and watching the movies. It’s such a fun activity to share with our children! I appreciated hearing your daughter’s reminder that Sara mentioned that in the movie. That was important to point out. Please let me know if there are other book/movie combos that you’d recommend. I haven’t written about it yet but we also enjoyed Pollyanna the book and Polly the movie.
I have been reading Secret Garden out loud with my two kids having remembered loving reading it myself as a child. When I got to the part you reference here (and there are a few) I was so, so glad this was a read aloud and not something I’d just handed to them to read themselves. In some areas we talk over what’s written and in others it’s just too much and I skip it. Now I am realizing I’ll have to be much more careful introducing “classics” than I had expected. I’m not very familiar with Charlotte Mason, but I really appreciate your honest and insightful reflections — thank you!
Yes, these ideas definitely apply outside of the Charlotte Mason homeschooling method. It’s just an issue with reading classics, in general. The stories are so good, so we don’t want to skip them, but we have to select them carefully and share them wisely. And you’re welcome! I’m glad you’re here.
Try being a Catholic and reading Our Island Story or any history book written by Protestants (which is pretty much all of them).
The punch in the stomach you describe is well felt by Catholics as we read about history which has been told by Protestants; there’s always that jab at Catholic beliefs and practices, the complete misrepresentation of the Catholic position either willful or ignorant, the distortion of facts, that undercurrent of delight whenever they’re able to put down or mock historical personalities because of their Catholic faith, the assumption of Protestant superiority.
I completely understand your position in this post, and I’d like to believe the overwhelming majority of reasonable and intelligent people would do too.
Sadly, looking down one’s nose at Catholics is still entirely acceptable in England and America.
I’ve discussed this same thing with multiple Catholic moms, and I feel you on it. I know what you’re saying is true, and it’s repulsive. It should not be acceptable, and I’m on an advisory board that is working to provide quality books to Catholic families and other families who want to read materials that are not disparaging towards the Catholic faith. I’m Protestant, but I’m on the board because I really do believe that what you’ve discussed here is wrong and I want to help.
Wow. Such wise words. God opened my eyes to the ugly reality of racial discrimination and injustice in August of 2014 with a visit to the Civil Rights museum in Atlanta. Since that time, I have become increasingly aware of the vomit you mentioned, but have never articulated it as clearly and concisely as you have. Your heart of compassion and gentleness, too, is a beautiful example of how to spur belivers to love and good deeds. Thank you!
I really appreciate your encouragement and kind words. I hope that I always speak from a place of humility and a true desire to seek improvement, so your message made me smile.
What an odd comment to just throw in randomly in a paragraph about the cotton plant. In my ideal world, a new revised edition would come out, with a footnote saying something was edited out, and if curious, find additional information on historical context/attitudes in the back.
My parents taught me from their viewpoint that it was important to know where we all had come from, and what some of us had gone through, and they shared some of these books mentioned. With guidance, these books can be excellent examples of illustrating that, without glorifying it, if that makes sense.
I know that everyone has their own viewpoint and way of doing things, so this may not be for everyone, but I think it’ll be what I do with my own child. I’d like for him to (again, in controlled, manageable doses) be confronted with just how nasty racism is.
I like the idea of revised editions with footnotes as well! I also think that sharing some of the age-appropriate ugliness with kids and discussing it can be good, but I don’t want my Black kids reading years of negative or hurtful things about Black people in their school books. It’s a matter of degree, for me. Thanks for your comment. I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts and add to the conversation!
I appreciate your viewpoint too, and understand where you are coming from. Thank you! 🙂
Heritage Mom,
I love your website and your recommendations. I am on a board for a start-up classical academy in the inner city of my medium-sized city set to open in Fall 2021. I am compiling a reading list to supplement the Memoria Press curriculum for the school’s anticipated 80-90 percent black population. You have the most substantive list of books and resources that I have found–and that includes those of other black classical academies. Just wanted to thank you–I intend to ask the board members to approve using your links to buy many of those recommended books.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to encourage me in this way. I LOVE hearing that my site has been helpful to schools and families. That’s really a dream come true for me. If they do approve your gracious request, I just want to let you know that if you click on any one of my links, everything you put in your cart that day will be credited to me, so you don’t have to worry about clicking on each individual link. Just click once and then shop away! And even if they say no, I just appreciate you thinking of me in that way.
I really wish the history spines for so many CM booklists didn’t include this sort of vomit. It can be hard to trust recommendations but it is so much work to pre-read all the books myself. I’m considering just using SOTW and picture book biographies because I don’t know what else to use.
It really is quite difficult and can be disheartening. I’ve been going through the Beautiful Feet lessons plans and they’re quite good. Take a look: https://www.bfbooks.com/
I was really encouraged to see Beautiful Feet update their American History. Sonlight also released new American History spines for early elementary. It’s actually really good. So, things are changing and we are consumers who can use our voices and $ to propel change. I have emailed curriculum providers respectfully requesting edits because when enough of us ask for something different, we will likely get it. Eventually.
I haven’t seen Sonlight’s updates, but I’m SUPER excited about Beautiful Feet’s curriculum. It’s beautiful. And I agree, progress is being made, and I’m celebrating.
Heritage Mom! Helppppp!
I am homeschooling my oldest who is 6 and she is already a bookaholic. We haven’t tapped into history LESSONS but have been plowing threw and thouroughly enjoying the AmericanGirl series read out loud as a family. It seems very historically accurate with each girl encountering very tough times. It has conjured up many difficult conversations about how times were different and difficult for girls her age from American Indians to immigrants but has shown that every girl has heart, shows courage and comes from a family that loves her. Soon we approach Addy… it’s darker than I’ve ever had to face in such a personal way. Text book is one thing but reading of a girl my daughters age from her families perspective is HEAVY. These books transport us and that’s why we have loved them. But I keep questioning- am I ready to transport us there? I want your opinion on what age do we even open that door and do we jump right in to what it must feel like to have your daddy and your bother sold and leaving your baby sister behind because she could bring to much attention as you try to escape the plantation?!? Books always bleed into our lives, as we do our chores we constantly pretend to be and talk like our newest character- well that’s jumping right in to the deep end with such a intense topic. She’s never said a peep about people looking different than us (I am Hispanic and daddy is white so lots of American biracial kids look like her… but she’s definitely not white or black) is this going to bring attention to something that her sweet soul hasn’t even considered (race and racism)? Do we come back to it at a older age OR is it better to get it on the table so that any future classics or movies or comments are met with the empathy and knowledge it deserves? Was that one big run on question sentence? Im clearly in turmoil.
Thank you for your time
Also- baby sister is 3. Does she hang out with daddy playing in another room while we take in this part of the series?
I think the Addy books are a great way to slowly introduce the concept of slavery at that age, but I would mix them in with a heavy dose of FUN picture books featuring Black children and families of today. I wouldn’t let her first encounter with Black stories be one of tragedy and familial trauma. Personally, it wouldn’t bother me to have a 3-year-old in the room. I think your daughter is old enough to introduce hard history in an age-appropriate way, and then you will continue to build on the story and fill in additional details year after year as she grows and matures.