Attention

Today we painted using fall leaves, went the park and the library, read books, and built things using a given number of legos. Except for a few books read at bedtime, all of this great stuff happened before about one in the afternoon. After which I was exhausted and by three or four I was counting the minutes until bedtime. While trying to make dinner, Luke's questions and comments on everything I was doing were non-stop. I finally said, "Stop! Just relax and be quiet for a minute! My brain is going to explode!" About 10 minutes later, with genuine concern, the poor kid asked if my brain really might explode and if it was better now. Oh man!

One other interesting thing today, I read an article, "Attention Span: Our National Education Crisis" by Oliver DeMille. (http://www.tjed.org/2011/09/attention-span-national-education-crisis/) It's a good read. It talks about the attention span of the general public during the time of Abraham Lincoln and the attention span that dominates our present society. Entertainment, computers, television, and prevailing attitudes about work and fun are all implicated. Attention and focus are definitely traits I want to be a key part in the education of my children. In my disorganized notebook of things I want to remember about education, I found scribbled notes about Socrates, Plato, and Charlotte Mason that relate to ideas in the article I read today.

Socrates said, "wisdom begins in wonder." Plato was student to Socrates and had a school in Athens. The word school comes from Ancient Greek and meant leisure. Plato's school had a garden and the purpose of the garden was to provide a tranquil place for deep thought, pondering, wondering. Real thinking is hard work and it requires time, leisure time. Dictionary.com defines leisure as "time free from the demands of work or duty." Ancient Greeks valued leisure time as purposeful time for valuable activities, such as thinking. Charlotte Mason wrote about the importance of teaching children to really see things, to observe and focus. She said this comes naturally to young children who see a new bug or something else in nature for the first time and are completely engrossed. As adults we are often too quick to rush children along because after all, the new discovery is something commonplace in our minds. We should take advantage of and nurture this intent focus and curiosity. Back to Socrates' quote, this wonder is how true learning happens. Cultivate that attention span; point out details or relationships; let children develop a habit of observation and deep thought. I hope that my children will not be afraid of hard work (mental or physical) because they experience a joy that comes with it. I hope that keen skills of observation grow out of time spent watching a butterfly or walking through a field that will one day benefit all of their studies. And I hope for more book time, less screen time, and attention spans of Lincoln's day. And none of this sounds easy to me! I read it all and love it but it is not the habits my mind has been trained in and I have a big aversion to hard work!

I like to write. Writing helps me organize my own thoughts, reflect, and think critically. There are times I'd rather communicate by pen or type than with my mouth. I have so many thoughts twirling around in my mind about my kids and their education and how my limited time with them is spent that I decided to start blogging to get things down on paper, to be able to look at my own thoughts, to hold myself accountable . . . . the list goes on and on. Part of me doesn't want to write something down until I've figured out the perfect way to convey exactly what's in my head. Hence, I keep staring at my blank blog and not actually adding any content. Well, tonight I decided I'm done with that! My primary purpose here is personal and if I view this like a journal, perhaps I'll be more inclined to just go for it and less limited by perfectionism. Also, if I grab my bag of chocolate chips right now, my motivation to sit here a bit longer and just write may be strengthened!

The whirlwind currently spinning in my head has been stirred by years of idealism suddenly meeting reality. I've taught in public schools, overseen homeschooled students, earned a credential and MA in education, and read countless pages on the topic. I've spent years considering what I wanted for the education of my own kids. I have been philosophical and confident in what I have felt was a divine calling on my life. After years like this, I finally have a four-year-old son and every other child in our world has started school in one form or another. Actual time has caught up with my over-analyzing mind and the last few weeks have been an emotional, overwhelming, pressure-to-conform, doubting, rubber-meets-the-road roller coaster (and no doubt there are pregnancy hormones contributing to my mental storm)! And this is why, now, I start writing! I must organize my thoughts, be purposeful, look at my philosophies and objectives in black and white, think critically and fine tune what we actually are to be doing here, address my honest concerns and doubts, hold myself accountable to whatever is the best for my family and find a foundation to stand on when peer pressure and utter exhaustion would otherwise overtake me.