Such were my thoughts when I read a great article (originally on Kysha’s blog) championing the use of textbooks.   It was an intriguing article from Teri Maxwell (of Managers of Their Homes fame), who was originally discouraged by others for her family’s choice to subscribe to the use of traditional textbooks.   I guess those of us who steer away from textbooks do give the traditionalists a rough time. 

In our home, we actually do use two traditional textbooks: Apologia for Science, and Rod and Staff for Grammar.   When I think about it, we use those texts for the reasons the author stated—learning and planning that happens outside of Mom’s time and energy.   I’m beginning to believe exactly what I heard in a seminar when we began this journey: no curriculum is bad curriculum.   As just one example, I shared in a previous post about the differences of how ABeka teaches reading vs. Bob Jones, and I did spend the money—not a small amount, I might add—on the Bob Jones phonics curriculum.   Now, I see the youngest take her own finger as needed and put it in the appropriate place to help her sound out words.   Most of the time, no finger is needed at all.   Talk about feeling like a horse’s rear. 

Natural curiosity is a wonderful element of homeschooling.  I’ve posted it before, but the times when the kids are talking, questioning, and loving what they’ve learned are, in my mind, the most treasured academic reward of a homeschool. Yet, the reality of this life is that everything the kids have to learn won’t be fun.   Meeting their life’s goals will mean learning more than just that which they find fascinating.   To complete an MBA with concentrations in finance and marketing, I had to take economics, accounting, and statistics—courses from hell (LOL). 

 To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.    Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:1-3

This has been the reflection of my heart over the last week, and I think it’s an appropriate time to think about it for those of us who are preparing our hearts, minds, and purse strings for the next academic year right about now.   Where do we get in our own way?

The kids and I are wrapping up Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold this week.    From their perspective, the front of the book started out decently, the middle was slow, and now we’re at the good part.   I have been fascinated with this portrayal of Benedict Arnold.    I always gathered from the little I’ve seen in textbooks that he was some clod in the midst of a genius like George Washington.    Then again, I could write volumes on how history was covered when I was in school.    Getting back to Benedict Arnold, what strikes me is that he was actually a brilliant military strategist and a savvy businessman.   Also, his earliest experiences with failure and rejection (being ridiculed as the son of the town drunk) led him to an almost obsession with being successful in the eyes of others.   This obsession, unfortunately, was also the source of his destruction: he was driven toward power and money, and even at the height of his undoing, couldn’t see that he had done anything other than get an early jump on what had to be the logical ending of the Revolution (i.e., America’s losing and return to British control).   His lust for fame and fortune got in the way of what could have been a brilliant US military career, as well as a very different place in history.

My blogging friend Kysha also wrote a great article for the new Heart of Wisdom e-zine regarding how our own attitudes affect our children’s approach to learning.   I loved her honesty as she talked about previously dreading history, and how it impacted the children’s attitudes (“Mom, will I have a headache?”  sounds so much like our four-year-old when she doesn’t want to do something).  What I read in her article was the humility to admit that, like all of us from time to time, her own attitude got in her way.

We are in the midst of a huge project at church, beginning with the education of our members, young and old, in faith building.   My husband and I have a responsibility to the church’s children’s ministry, and we’ve worked very hard with the Children’s Pastor to get our volunteer group excited about sharing, teaching, and creating with the kids.   There are other groups involved in different areas of the project, as well as overall chairpersons.    It should be, and I believe God that it will be, a fruitful campaign.   But, there are places where we as a group of leaders get in our own way.    Pride is such a clever demon.   It keeps us from admitting where we’ve made mistakes.   It makes us agree in meetings and then disagree when we try to disseminate what we supposedly agreed upon.  It keeps us from walking in love when we feel we’ve been wronged.  Then there’s personal agenda, another form of pride.    Proverbs 16 goes on to say that pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.   This is what I pray against.   In the last few weeks amongst the body of Christ, I’ve been frustrated, disappointed, and at times a little agitated, and I’m sure others have felt the same when they think of me.   There’s been nothing to do but to breathe slowly, bite down hard on my tongue, pray to God to move before me, with me, and every now and then, in spite of me.  When it comes to being with God and being obedient to His call, I don’t want to get in my own way.

I’ve one last thought.   Recently I joined a couple of e-mail loops that cater to home-schooled, college-bound kids.   At this time of year, everyone is sharing their children’s decisions for college choices, including test scores, acceptances, rejections, available aid, etc.    It can be exciting, but also intimidating.    When I went to college, the process seemed so simple.    Now on the other side of the fence, I’m reading notes about interviews, SAT I’s and II’s, ACT/AP/CLEP/CC/ABCDEFG (Acronym Overload, I believe it’s called).   Why be intimidated?   Because of my own fears of failure and inadequacy.    Again, this is a place to breathe slowly, bite down, and pray hard.   I will not shortchange God and what he can do in our kids if I stay the course.  I will also not shortchange myself; God is no respecter of persons—if someone else’s child can get a merit scholarship to a top-notch school, why can’t mine?    So, as I’m preparing for school for next year, I’ve begun to think about how a change in me could impact our school year.   How might our days change if I got me in order—spiritually, emotionally, etc.?    When I think about it, we have great days almost every day.   But more and more, I’m determined to be less and less in my own way.   God bless.

Though I consider myself a morning person, I don’t “spring forward” easily.  Sunday morning came early, and I fantasized taking the head off of one of the kids in our Sunday School class.   I was perhaps even more tired than he was, and when he voiced his displeasure about having to sit through another science experiment (we’ve been using science with them to teach Biblical principles--the sign on my forehead screams Homeschooler!), I told him that he wasn’t doing me any favors by staying, and he could leave at any time.   Thankfully, I caught myself just short of saying what was really on my mind, and he stayed and actually joined in the class discussion.   I went to bed late Sunday night/early Monday morning, and then on Monday night I woke up at 4 a.m., went back to bed at 5:45 a.m., and then up at 7:30 a.m.  Last night was my first night to sleep with no specific agenda on today.   Too bad the roofers working on my neighbor’s house had different ideas.   BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM.   And good morning to you, too, I thought as I drug myself down to the kitchen.   Amazingly enough, I’ve not burned any breakfasts; yesterday we feasted on cornmeal pancakes (a family favorite), this morning was eggs, smoked turkey, and biscuits. In the words of cook and TV personality Rachel Ray, YUMMMMMOOO!

For the last week I’ve had enough on my plate until I’ve not done much with the munchkin pictured above, our youngest one.  Sleep deprivation hasn’t helped.   I’ve awarded myself the trophy of “World’s Worst Mom” as she’s roamed about the house during the day trying to keep herself entertained.   After watching her favorite shows in the morning, she actually shows up at the table to complete her work, reading to herself, writing a note, or coloring.   Bless her heart, she actually wants to have school, but Mommy has been a day late and a dollar short everyday.   All those articles I’ve read about quality time and nurturing the willingness to learn kept pounding in my head and kicking me in the behind, even though I know that she is learning from her own play.   So, this morning after she sat down to mail her friend a letter about her trip to Big Bend this past December (“Mom, how do you spell roadrunner?  Deer?  Wild Pig?”), we actually sat down to formally “have school.”   Then I felt bad, at least temporarily, that she has improved her phonics awareness to learn what were the tougher letters for her—g, r, and f—only to forget what sound i makes.   All in all, we had a great day, and I need to stay mindful of her progress—she could actually write the words that she was asking me how to spell!  How cool is that!

One of the many challenges I face with the Charlotte Mason approach is getting outdoors.   The youngest loves to get outside, and we had planned a walk today—the perfect early spring day. Then I realized in watching all of them at the table that all three kids have some combination of a recent coughing, sniffling bug that is traveling around with all this changing weather.   As much as the youngest loves the outdoors, the older two hate it.   I should clarify: they love a vacation that involves getting in touch with nature, but the backyard is, literally, for the birds.   I wonder if CM has any wisdom for the high maintenance nature lover?

The pictures above and below are from a recent trip to a local butterfly museum.   In keeping with our CM challenge, being in an enclosed space with hundreds, if not thousands, of butterflies was a bit too up close and personal for them, but between muffled shrieks, they took these shots for me.    I have been flirting with the idea of starting a separate nature blog, and my husband plans to buy me a camera as a birthday present.   I know the “Create New Blog” button probably shows up on all of our Main log-in pages, but I somehow felt a nudge when I first noticed it.  I don’t need another thing to do, but I am becoming more and more fascinated with God’s beauty, and I can’t scrapbook quickly enough to capture everything with pictures and words.   It would be a sporadic series of entries, more for my own benefit than anyone else's.  Perhaps the kids will jump in and embrace the beauty of everyday nature more, but if not, the new blog will be my own marvel at God’s creation.   I think I’ll start with something like this:

It is our business to…spend a part of our lives in increasing our knowledge of nature and art, of literature and man, of the past and present.   This is one way in which we become greater persons, and the more a person is, the better he will do whatever piece of special work falls to his share.

Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, p. 48

I had to laugh when humblemama asked me about my curriculum plans for next year, stating that I still had last year's (2006/2007) on my blog.  Silly me.  In all my attention to detail about changing the list of books and tools that we use, I forgot to change the year!    So, what was listed as my 2006/2007 curriculum is actually my 2007/2008 curriculum.   Thanks, Kysha!

I believe that one of the reasons I never picked up on the year distinction was that my curriculum really didn’t change that much, and it probably won’t on next year.    I once heard a homeschool conference speaker say that all you need to educate your children is a Bible, a math book, and a library card.    Then there’s one of my favorite pearls of wisdom (I’ve even posted it before) from a fountain of homeschooling wisdom in our local community, Yoshika Lowe:

I think that although it is not intuitively obvious, less is more in homeschooling, and more is just more for the sake of doing more. It may make you feel better about the volume of work your child has sifted through, but it does not mean they have a better education. You are not homeschooling so that you can mimic the public school. It does not work for them, so it definitely will not be productive for you and your children.

I have treasured these words and used them as my personal guideline when I’m faced with the decision of what to buy and what to leave on the shelf.   Over the years, I have gone full circle and back again, paring down to the basics, then adding the “one more thing” that promises to take our learning to the next level.    You add and add, then it becomes overwhelming for you and for the kids.  

Though I am constantly inspired, but challenged, by Charlotte Mason’s educational approach, I am understanding more every day the importance of an atmosphere that fosters learning, rather than just a table of textbooks and workbooks.   Just today, the kids were working at the table when two warblers flew in out of nowhere to bird feeders that had seen no action in weeks.   Almost instinctively, everything stopped.   The kids ran to get cameras and binoculars, and I scrambled to find Peterson’s Field Guide.   Nothing is more exciting to be around on a school day than academic enthusiasm.   Even the youngest grabbed her toy camera and, with all the imagination of a small child, took pictures with all her might.   Though we definitely have a routine and a certain body of work to produce each day, I want to be sure there is room for moments like this, and the excitement that comes with it.

What will change?   I am continuously looking for ways to get the Bible past their heads and into their hearts.   Keri Mae has a tremendous Bible study method she uses with her kids.    I also looked at www.padfield.com, another gem from lindafay, who landed in Texas, of all places.   I am also seriously considering what to use with my youngest, who will be a kindergartner next year.   We are currently using Abeka, and I’m so excited that she is beginning to read one vowel words.   Yet I’m noticing a problem that was pointed out to me, oddly enough, by a Bob Jones representative.   Because of the way Abeka’s phonics program is taught, focusing on the “front” blends of the words rather than the latter end, her reading of the word c-a-t, as an example, sounds like “cuh-a-tuh,” and we have to work on putting it together in a way that makes sense.    Bob Jones teaches the “back” blend, for lack of a better term.  Using this method, she learned the blend at.   With that foundation, she can easily get c-at, f-at, r-at, b-at, p-at.   I struggled with Bob Jones’ products given their history, which included a written policy forbidding interracial dating.   I have heard representatives explain that this policy was in place to solve an issue that Asian parents had when sending their daughters to the University.   Apparently these young students were marrying white men and, consequently, not returning to their homeland.  Thus, the policy that very quietly sent Asian women back home with a degree screamed racism for those of us who scratch our heads in wonder at who would be comfortable okaying such a policy.   Is this another lesson in forgiveness? Do I want to spend money this way?   Of course there are tons of other options, but I’m staying within my comfort zone with her fundamentals as she is the only one of the three that will not have been taught in the early years by someone else.   Here are some other thoughts I had on buying curriculum.  

Before my post becomes too long, I’d love to hear what you’re doing next year, for those that care to share.   God bless you.

Our 3-1/2 week break was probably a week too long.   Or maybe it was those nagging interruptions in what should have been “normal” schooldays—trips to the car repair shop,  meetings at church that forced us to leave earlier than usual, etc.   Or perhaps the kids just had too many late nights during the break.   Undoubtedly, the blame lies somewhere within some combination of all these reasons and more.   At any rate, our start after the holiday break was somewhat less than spectacular.   The oldest could be outrun by a turtle in completing her work, finishing one night as late as 11 p.m.   If I said go left, my son wanted to argue about why he should go right.   Then the youngest would get bored all too quickly, and a couple of moments of inattention on my part would leave her licking the lead from a mechanical pencil, or some other bit of craziness.   Most of what irritated me to no end was the lack of energy and enthusiasm.  Man, it’s hard to read and interact between yawns and heads resting on hands; the narrations nearly put me to sleep!

Just as I was contemplating the best freeway to drop these guys off with a “For Sale—Cheap Price” sign, the phone rang.   From my caller i.d., I smiled, knowing immediately who it was—a dear friend whom I hadn’t spoken with in a long time.   Our paths crossed initially when our kids attended private school together, and we became true sisters in Christ after working on the school’s parent/teacher/church board together.   We were reunited soon after I began homeschooling while praying together for her then 8-year-old son, who battled cancer for more than a year.   As all of this flashed through my mind in a matter of seconds, I picked up the phone with mixed emotions.

Her voice was so sweet and I was initially relieved.    Then she began to tell me that she was finally withdrawing her son from the same school where I met her.   She began to speak of the conditions in which he’s trying to learn this year: a classroom of 5^th and 6^th graders because the school couldn’t afford to hire two teachers, several kids who have needs that the teacher is not equipped to handle, and non-existent discipline.    Then she described the persecution her son is subjected to because the cancer forced him to missed quite a bit of school.    He’s stupid, he’s gay, the kids say ( in a Christian school, no less).    “All of this has taken such a toll on his mind, and now he’s suicidal,” she says in desperation.   “He won’t eat, and we had to have him hospitalized and fed through a tube.”   This beautiful spirit who fought cancer so bravely and testified to so many is now a 5’3”, 88-pound pile of skin and bones who is actually considering death as a way out of his 11-year-old misery.

My mother-in-law has often said that she is quickly tested in the very word that she uses to help exhort someone else, and my spirit would bear witness with her spirit to this fact today as I continued to listen to my friend.    The old me would have still been preoccupied with my own woes, and I might have said, “Well, I’ll be praying for you,” and then prayed (when I remembered) after hanging up the phone.   But having written about focusing outside of myself, I wasn’t about to let this moment pass me by.   At the point that she spoke of her son saying the devil was trying to get him, I stopped her to ask if she had time to pray, and I began to join with her in the fight against the devil for his mind.  I prayed scriptures to both encourage her and to remind her of what Christ says about him, regardless of what he might think of himself these days.    We ended the conversation by discussing some educational options for him, and she has a plan that she is at peace with, at least for now.   

Afterward I sat back at the table to regroup and continue with my own kids, and I was thankful for the in-the-moment lesson.   There are too many parents and kids out there with real problems that a good night’s sleep won’t cure for me to stew on my relatively benign struggles.   The Holy Spirit also brought to my attention the end of one of the many “OT” stories that found its way to my e-mail: I am not laying bricks, nor building walls.   With God’s help, I am crafting three cathedrals.    A fog of light storms, academically speaking, clouded their beauty temporarily, but they will shine as pure gold.

If you are so led, please lift up young Andrew and agree with me for his restoration--physically, mentally, and emotionally.  God bless you.