MUD, SWEAT, & CHEERS: January 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

"You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing.

"What? Is it nothing to be happy?

"Nothing to skip, play and run around all day long?

"Never in his life will he be so busy again."
--Rousseau

I started my blogging journey with a great deal of tension inside of me . . . . as evident in many of my previous posts. Tension between my untested beliefs/ideals/hopes/etc and actually, personally, homeschooling and facing the pressures and expectations of both the outside world and my own years in the educational system and then the realization that finding some way to succumb to some normal route of schooling would be easier in every imaginable way - from actual hard work to time and space management in a little home to dealing with all the pressures.

I think the tension's gone! Not that it won't return or be an ongoing part of my journey, but the initial roadblock is gone. I am relaxed in that part of my brain and questioning whether or not it is laziness and apathy but am pretty confident that it is not. I embrace Rousseau's words above. I full-heartedly believe that nothing is to be lost by not intentionally striving after academic skills right now. I believe everything is to be gained by embracing play, fresh air, good books, God, and learning the content of the child's world that is naturally set before him each day (for now, not forever).

This article fits nicely with what I've always believed and now am ready to do without worrying.

This quote gives simplicity and focus to my world of academic learning:

What we need to improve education is not more curriculum, but better education, and that comes from classics and mentors. With young children you do two things: read them the classics—things at their level like Black Beauty, Charlotte’s Web, the Little House on the Prairie series, fables and rhymes—then talk about it with them, teach them lessons.~A Thomas Jefferson Education p. 49

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

One Day At A Time

When I started blogging I was consumed by trying to figure out every detail of my son's kindergarten education. I think it hit me hard and unexpectedly that it's advent was a year away and, for all my philosophical ideas and past studies, I had no solid plan of action.

For the past couple of months pregnancy, holidays, and other pieces of life have kept me occupied and taken my immediate attention off of educational study and planning. And you know what - learning has still been happening at least as much and as well as it was before - it seems to happen so naturally when allowed. I sigh - partially a sigh of relief and partially of giving up - and realize that come Fall, I most likely will not have a perfect plan and everything will be fine. I don't even know that there is one perfect plan. In all of my formal education, including or especially, the pursuit of my MA in Education, the biggest thing I learned was that no great expert or secret exists on the topic. I don't know that I was really setting out to find the perfect plan or if that was just my way of making sure I did my very best and didn't go about homeschooling lazily. I believe I need to know my kids and really pay attention to their learning and what motivates them; know what they understand and what they don't and refuse to just go through the motions on any level; do the hard work to think things through and do my best to model reading, thinking, and love of learning; and be purposeful in how their time is spent.

I like the writings and principles of Charlotte Mason, John Tayor Gatto, Oliver De Mille, and a motley pile of bits and pieces from many others. I don't need to settle on one philosophy and stick to it 100 percent; no one is 100 percent perfect for 100 percent of children. I've picked up the first few McGuffey's Readers, not because I determined that this was the absolute best tool for the job, but because I found them at an estate sale for two or three dollars and I know they are one of the many quality tools out there. They will not be the sole way my son learns language arts but they'll help. Reading and writing materials abound in this house and he seems to be picking so much up on his own because it's there and I try to cultivate his interest in it. Oh ya . . . . plus, I don't really even think formal instruction is necessary for a few years yet. I have a Singapore math text but haven't done anything with it yet. I don't know if or what charter we'll go through to homeschool and whether or not a day at school will be included. I am feeling much more at peace about all of it. One day at a time.