For those of you cheering me on, thank you! I'm sure I may even reach out to you at some point- drilling you with questions, armed with a pad of paper & pen.
For those of you who think I'm absolutely insane, I'll explain my decision to try homeschooling:
First, I will start out by saying that I am calling this year my 'trial run with homeschooling'. I will start in mid-September and will have learning time set aside three mornings each week until mid-May. "Bean" is 2 1/2 years old and since he does not turn 3 until the beginning of February, he is two months too young to enroll in a formal preschool program. If our homeschooling year is an ultimate fail, which I'm hoping/praying/thinking it won't be, then we can simply enroll him in a preschool program next Fall at age 3 1/2 and he wouldn't be starting "late". If that is the case, then Aurora Waldorf School is in the running for preschool of choice.
---
Secondly, if you haven't figured it out by my last sentence, we are not fans of "traditional" educational institutes. Hence, our love for flexible, gentle, child-led and whole-child education learning styles. I know that term, child-led, scares people. It's not what you think. I don't just let "Bean" aimlessly choose what we do and when. Basically, I introduce a topic, or read a story, and allow that to spark his interest in the topic. I then use that interest to further his education. Our learning/lessons/topics are initiated by his interests. In a nutshell, the concept of child-led goes something like this: if a child is learning about something that they hunger for, or are interested in, then learning becomes fun and engaging, not boring and uninteresting.
The term whole child means educating the heart, the hands and the head... by integrating creative, academic and practical work. Traditional education styles focus primarily on academic work, or teaching the mind only, while Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf and Charlotte Mason styles (I would call my homeschooling style a good mix of the two) puts equal focus on educating the whole child through incorporating the arts, character, and daily living into all subject matter.
Waldorf strives to educate the heart, the hands and the head. And, I see a strong connection between Charolotte Mason and Waldorf philosophies. For example, Charlotte Mason believed that Education is Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life. Atmosphere refers to the environment (the heart) our children grow up - ideas that rule our lives, as parents, have a profound impact on our children. Discipline emphasis the importance of training our children in good habits and Godly character (the hands). Life refers to Charlotte Mason's philosophy that all the thoughts we offer to our children shall be living thoughts (the head); not mere summaries of dry facts. Another similarity between the two styles is the advocacy for lots of time outdoors; both Charlotte Mason and Rudolf Steiner understood the healing, nurturing and educational benefits of simply immersing ourselves and our children in God's creation... nature. For more info on the two styles and their similarities, you can read a good article HERE.
---
Thirdly, God has given us and entrusted us with "Bean" - that means it is our responsibility to see that he is educated, trained and brought to enough spiritual maturity to make the step into Christian adulthood. The main responsibility of parents is the teaching and training of our children. That is not to say that I believe educators are incapable of teaching our children. I know some fabulously brilliant teachers and educators - all whom I would absolutely entrust Bean's education too. However, I personally feel that God has equipped me with the ability, focus and determination to teach "Bean" at home, and therefore is my responsibility to 'Give It The Good Old College Try' this year. Good old college try... ha!
So yeah, that's why I'm giving homeschooling a "go" this year. There are more reasons, but I won't get into them (unless you really want me to, in which case shoot me an email or text or call and we can have a discussion. Better yet, let's set a coffee date and we can chat!)... the reasons above are most important. Right now, our homeschooling journey is really exciting to me! I'm having a blast putting together lesson plans and developing curriculum ideas (my niche is youth program development so this is right up my alley). I'm sure there may be days when homeschooling will seem daunting and challenging, but with God all things are possible - and - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!
No comments:
Post a Comment