Essentials & Accidentals

[Heather in NY]

Hello!

I am teaching the Older Beginners at my Classical Co-op and the kids are really struggling with the Essentials (and I am a little as well). It just seems so subjective. Is it normal to have difficulty with this concept? Should we all have different ideas of what is essential?

Also, we are instructed to underline the essentials in red and the accidentals in green, however, there are no examples (although I may have missed them) of accidentals and so they kids and I are wondering if everything that isn't red would then be green? To me that seems a little odd, so I told them just to focus on the important words (verbs, adjectives & nouns). Does this sound right? I don't want to steer them wrong.

Thanks in advance.
Heather in NY

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

It can be subjective. But that is when you focus in too much.

Many folk tales are difficult because they are little but essentials, they are the bare bones.

So it may be easier to decipher essentials on a modern novel where we get more descriptive details and therefore less bare bones.

I wouldn't worry about 'getting it right' in these kids' minds so much as I would continue to work with the concept and help them analyze stories.

I don't think it's all subjective, but I do think it's a difficult subject.

Does that help?

Lene