Man... Homeschooling is rough! We are in our sixth year of homeschooling (5th grade and 3rd grad) and just recently I have realized that I have been doing it all wrong. Yup. I said it. I own it. I have been trapped between being too busy and making it look like school. By the way, that was neva my intention. I swore I was a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, I mean I own the books, so I must be down right? Wrong. I have never actually read the books. DOH! But they are on display for all to see. I mean, why do I need to read them? I listen to ALL of the Charlotte Mason podcasts out there. I've ready all the blogs, I've listened to "For the children's sake" 7 times and I look at every single picture on Instagram and I download the Amblesideonline book list every year. I think I have earned my CM Certificate. But alas, I have not.
I was recently reading Julie Bogarts, "A Gracious Space", her fall edition and got punched in the guy by Day 8.
"We're all busy. We want short cuts, easy explanations, to do lists, and obvious, fast results." Guilty. I have tried to download anything that would make our Charlotte Mason experience fruitful and failed. But here was the kicker, "If you are so busy that you don't have time to invest in training yourself to be a home educator you must consider whether this is what you want to do with you life. Your kids deserve a parent at home who is well equipped to make learning an adventure that leads to joy and competence." Well dang Gina! I haven't picked up the book since. Sorry Julie. But I really had to sit back and think.
But she was right. I haven't made the adequate time to truly learn the philosophy of education that I have been preaching as my way of life. I have really been preaching a short cut. I realized that not being fully grounded in a educational philosophy, I have not been able to give my kiddos the proper educational foundation that I wanted for them. Don't get me wrong, my kids are doing fine and learning but not the way I wanted them to. Not the dream that I had for them when we decided to keep them home to learn. And because of this I tend to suffer from guilt and over compensate. Do you do that? I get crazy strict and rigid and then fall apart shortly after and we end up unschooling (that's just what I'm going to call it). And I really don't want that for my boys anymore. I really want to spread the feast.
In light of these revelations I have decided to give myself a challenge. There are about 6 weeks left in the year. I will try whole heartedly to read the first 3 volumes before the year ends. I was going to say all 6 but that's a set up for failure but hey you never know. Maybe you can join me. If you don't own the books already you can read them for free here. Then maybe we can chat about it. Alright weird world of cyberspace, I hope you will hold me accountable as I narrate everything I will be learning.
“The question is not, -- how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education -- but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”
― School Education: Developing A Curriculum
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