When I set about to make my plans for this year (see post below), my goal was the kind of education Charlotte Mason lays the groundwork for in her descriptions of education as "a life." I wanted a plan that was full and rich. I wanted to present the finest of art, literature, music, and scientific thinking to my kids. I wanted lists of beautifully written and beautifully illustrated books. And I wanted to build in times of reflection and meditation, to encourage prayer and spiritual thought first and foremost in our home.
The beauty and appeal of a Charlotte Mason education for me has always been its "best of the best" approach. I think it is part of my job as a parent to cast a discerning eye on what enters the minds and hearts of my children through the windows of their eyes and ears. It certainly so when it comes to media and what is allowed on the television or computer and what is played on ipods and Wiis. And really none of those things is a key component in our lives or our education. They are occasional leisure activities. So why would I take a back seat in directing the really important choices in their lives and exercise an authoritative hand in lesser things. Why is there a hint of reluctance at directing their educational choices?
I think sometimes we begin to get confused about the notion of "masterly inactivity" Charlotte Mason describes and we are wooed by the notions of children happily skipping down rabbit trails of their own choosing picking the lovely flowers they find along the way. But they need us to wander that path with them. After all they are children and they need guidance. Charlotte Mason said, “The sense of authority is the sine quâ non [essential] of the parental relationship, and I am not sure that without that our activities or our inactivity will produce any great results” (Vol. 3, p. 28).
The happy children skipping down winding educational roads are children whose mothers have made sure the path is a safe one and who have been trained to stop when they are told to stop. Their mothers may have let go of their hands and let them explore a bit on their own, but they are ever-present, watching with a keen eye. They warn of danger and remind the children not to wander outside the appropriate boundaries and they encourage discovery stepping in and peering at a wonderful discovery alongside their little ones.
When I began to sketch out our week, I was getting all worked up and worried about too much schedule, wondering if I was taking too much control of the boys' days and directing with too strong a hand. But when I thought about it, and prayed about it, I was reminded that my boys are still very young. They are not ready to be left to wander the educational roads of their own choosing. If I have a plan to breeds order, structure, and discipline, while at the same time presenting that banquet of living ideas Elizabeth talked about in her post, I am giving them the best form of education. It's okay to accompany them in the buffet line and help them make wise choices as they fill their plates. For an inspiring read on the balance of discipline and masterly inactivity, I highly recommend this series of posts by Sonya Shafer.
So the weekly rhythm I'm sharing is a full one. It's planned and measured and mom-directed. And I'm okay with that. I think that right now, that is where we need to be. It is however "a life" and therefore, it must live and breathe. The plan is an outline, a way to envision the year and our goals and a map for our educational journey. But it will live and breathe and change and adjust with us. It will grow as we do and rest as we do. But it is also a commitment on my part, a commitment to guide my children to the very best ideas, most beautiful thoughts, and finest impressions. It is a commitment not to abandon the plan altogether when it begins to live with us and take a shape of its own--a commitment to continue to make sure there are fences and boundaries on the side roads we choose to take, and a commitment to always keep the main road in sight, the road that leads to growth in virtue and holiness, the road that lead to Heaven.
Our weekly schedule includes daily Faith blocks, Family Work blocks, and plans for core subjects for my individual students. I am happy with the order it will promote and the flexibility to will yield. I am overjoyed that some ideas were requested by my children. And I am content with the "nutritional content" of the list. Here is a basic outline:
Weekly Faith Blocks:
Faith Read-Aloud and Discussion
Liturgical Year Activity and Scripture Study
First Communion Preparation
Saints' Stories and Narrations
Quiet Meditation
Weekly Family Work Blocks:
We'll do one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Once a week: Fine Arts, Nature Study, Geography, Serendipity
Twice a week: Literature (for the first 12 weeks we'll be doing Greek myths and epics), Science (we're headed down an astronomy path this year), and History (American history)
Core Subject Work:
Math: Quinn (age 10) will work with Teaching Textbooks three times a week, a living math book from these lists once a week, and a logic or spatial reasoning activity once a week.
Gabriel will hang out with the gnomes this year, reading their stories and completing main lesson books pages, working with manipulatives and doing some chalk board work. I'll use the corresponding pages in the Singapore Math workbook to reinforce the concepts.
Brendan, our kindergartener, will spend the week counting with manipulatives, doing recognition and sequencing activities, reading counting books, and playing math games. He'll make a math main lesson book with pages for numbers 1-20.
Language Arts:
Quinn will continue to work through the Lively Language Lesson at Serendipity and we'll use Easy Grammar Plus for reinforcement. He'll also work his way through English from the Roots Up. In addition, he'll complete two copywork assignments and one dictation each week as well as two writing assignments related to our family work.
Gabriel will work his way through the series of making a main lesson book of letter sounds, word families, and sight words as we go. He'll use those for copywork too. In addition, twice a week handwriting practice will be part of his routine.
Brendan will work his way through the Alphabet Path, reading lots of picture books and making letter pages for his main lesson book.
So there you have it, a picture of "Education is a life..." in our house. I can't wait to read more in these links.