Heart of the Matter is by far one of my most thought provoking homeshool reads each day. I absolutely appreciate all that the online magazine and emails adds to my life. Today they have asked for a blog entry on thoughts of a future Meme….. I came to homeschooling by way of the road called public school teacher who loved to teach. Translating that to coming home when my then second grade daughter was simply getting A’s and not knowing basic addition and reading cues and becoming more and more convinced she was “dumb” As a gifted educator, special education educator, and elementary through middle school specialist, there was no doubt something wasn’t going right. Children in your own family are not unlike the carpenter without a roof….you are so busy making sure the 127 a day you see are “getting it” if you aren’t careful your own children are neglected.
My dear husband first suggested it was time for me to come home. Making that choice was a terrifically hard decision for us. It mean losing my income in a new blended family with four children. It meant trusting God at a whole new level for provision, and it was undoubtably one of the best and personally hardest adult decisions we’ve ever surrendered to God’s promptings.(and by the way, God did indeed provide) It took a year and a half to get the “Master Teacher/Trainer” ideas of what “had” to be out of my head., while valid, they weren’t working with this child and truthfully I wanted more than a formal style education could offer!….I loved teaching, prescripting children’s learning experiences so much of the transition was easy for me, I had been doing my own curriculum selections for years, yet this child, so different than my other three, so tender and yet bright, needed more of me. We tried and continue to try the things that will help us overcomeour obstacles, but the simple maintaining of daily impact on who she is makes all the difference.
My father was reared using the Charlotte Mason method in a rural school as was my maternal Grandfather in the early 1900’s. Do you think I knew this until two years into it when my father saw me reading a book about it? How classical an education where discovery, balance, and thought were all encouraged. To live within the world aware of the nature, the intricacy of it and the wonder of the creation of it was indeed something I grew up with. My father, a physician, my Grandfather on my Mother’s side, a child who grew from carrying cross ties on his back to the president of the largest railroad company in the U.S….learning was valued in our home…..and always that it had a purpose.
I’m not quite sure if an example of one I’d like to see is the goal or how the writing is brought about is the goal…but today you have my own….
1. In being who you are with your children, what are the three top ideas of who they are you want your children to “get” from being reared in your home, how does that affect what you want them to learn?
2. In teaching and leading by example, the need for Christian obedience and a close relationship to God, how important is your example of surrender in your mind as you lead your children to understand that God will lead them?
3. What makes it hard for you as a homeschooling parent? (7 word limit)
4. What makes it so very worthwhile? (7 word limit)
5. How many times a day do you reflect on “am I getting this where I want it to go” during the school days?
6. How many years have you been considering or doing homeschooling?
7. What would be the one thing you learned that you didn’t expect from homeschooling?
Thank you for coming by…..Read fascinating Memes at this Heart of the Matter address….you’ll be glad you did!
God Bless You!
Sweetie!
