Is the history integrated with literature?
Amy T. (AO List Owner/Moderator) answers: To some degree, yes. But not obsessively. Children need to make their own connections to what they are learning, these connections are stronger when they occur naturally instead of being artifically constructed, as can happen with ‘canned’ unit studies where all literature and other material are integrated and little crafty projects are listed that often have no true relationship with the subject at hand and are merely messy busywork. Charlotte Mason rightly insisted that we not get in the way of the children forming their own relationships with their subjects, and integrated unit studies often do just that by prepacking a time period for a child. It can stifle relationship building by being just a little too ‘pat’. That is not to say that including literature, or poetry or music from a time period that is being studied is wrong – it certainly is not, and provides a richer understanding of the culture and times. I am referring to ‘closed loop’
