• Oct. 17, 2006
Musings
I love history. I love reading about real people and the things that happened to them in their lives.
Right now I am reading a book about Abigail Adams. One of the things that has captured my attention and my admiration is the determination by Abigail to learn, even in an age when learning was frowned on and discouraged for females.
It is distressing to me that so many people take for granted the ease with which to learn in this day and age. I think of the times when people did not have access to books the way we do today, and how much people would have given to be able just to read. So many of us have that ability and far superior resources at our fingertips, and we do not use them. In an age of television, computer games, video games and other media resources, I believe people are becoming lazy and lax in pursuing a good education.
I think of people like Abigail Adams and Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan who had to FIGHT to obtain their education. We live in an age where we can teach ourselves anything we want, and we don't necessarily have to attend a university to obtain it. I am so thankful for this privilege! May I never take it for granted, and may I ever strive to teach my children to be thankful for it. It is not drudgery! It is a gift!
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• Oct. 16, 2006
One of those days, I guess...
Sometimes I get so frustrated at all of the diversions that come up from day to day preventing us from being able to get our schoolwork done.
I know that it's all part of the home education package. After all, we don't do this to be like the government schools or to be on their schedules. Last week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at a homeschool campout. This was great, and much needed. My children met lots of other friends and it was good for me, as well. The rest of the week was spent caring for my niece and nephew, whose father is currently serving in Iraq. They left just a little while ago. It was good to do that, and I am glad I did. But now it's been a week since we've done any schoolwork. And the bad thing about that is that it is always hard to get my kids re-focused on school when they've had any type of extended break.
Oh well, I guess that's why we home educate...to have the flexibility to live....life.
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• Oct. 8, 2006
I didn't exactly intend to start a new blog...
...but I signed up to make a comment on someone else's blog and evidently when you do that, you become the proud owner of a blog on this site.
I am intrigued with the idea of having a blog solely directed at education, and think I might like to try my hand at it.
I home educate three children...my dd9, my ds7, and my ds4. I was fortunate to begin my home educating journey with The Well-Trained Mind. A veteran home educating friend of mine strongly recommended the book. I must say, at that time in my life this book was a gift. I had no clue what I was doing, and did not know where to begin to pick out the "correct" curriculum. This book became my compass and it gave me the confidence I needed to continue forward with my plans for home educating my children.
Although I will be forever grateful and reverent of that book, I recently read a book that took TWTM a step further. I recently read The Latin-Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell, and am in the process of "switching over" to the recommendations in his book.
For the most part, the main thing that I have been struck by and am inplementing with fervor is putting Latin in it's proper place in my children's learning. Everyday I start with Math, and follow it with Latin. If I don't get anything else done, I make sure to get those two things accomplished. I am convinced that the study of Latin will train the mind and prepare them for anything else they may encounter in the furthering of their education. Aside from that, I've discovered a personal passion for Latin...it's just great FUN! (I know I sound like the world's biggest nerd).
The next biggest adjustment in my thought processes and way of doing things is subscribing to the Multum non Multa approach..."not many things, but much". Instead of trying to learn every subject under the sun, we are trying to focus on a core of subjects and endeavor to learn them well. This is somewhat hard for me to do, because everything interests me and too, there is always that fear that you are missing something important. However, I am really beginning to see the wisdom in not crowding out their little brains with so many different things to learn, and giving them the peace of mind of focusing on just a few things and the freedom to learn them well.
