When we actually started homeschooling…

I say ‘actually’ because I tried formally homeschooling preschool with my oldest – I was just so excited, so I bought a beautiful boxed curriculum… but we fell flat on our faces. My preschool philosophy has morphed over the years too, but this post is not so specific. I’ll tell you another day about my preschool philosophy.

But I digress…

When we started, I would have balked at the idea of classical education. I was set in my ways of “traditional” schooling, as I called it. What I meant was that the paradigm I aligned with was a “school at home” model. For Pete’s sake, I’m a trained educator; it just made sense.

However, in the last three years I have learned more about education, real education not some instruct-how-to-take-a-test nonsense, than my four-year degree or my five years as a teacher ever taught me.

The sift in my paradigm started gradually. I began learning the lingo of other homeschooling methods through watching YouTube videos and listening to podcasts. As I heard unschoolers talk about the organic learning that took place in their homes, I was drawn in (but not to the intense intentionality that takes – I’ve got no time for that…). I was enamored by the reading of good books that the Charlotte Mason approach necessitated. And as I looked further into the lingo I began to embrace some of the ideas. But then a cataclysmic sift took place when I checked the book The Well-Trained Mind out of the library. All I wanted to do was understand what on earth these “Classical” homeschoolers were thinking. Little did I know I’d fall hook, line, and sinker. I was only a few pages in before I ordered my own copy and started eating it up. And now I have every intention of teaching Latin…

Wait, what? That was not the plan… that was one of the very reasons I thought classical educators were nuts. I was going to use Abeka throughout… well, except for science because I had already sifted my paradigm and accepted Apologia’s mastery approach versus a yearly survey style. But now I’m rethinking everything…

So, what about classical education has enticed me?

In The Well-Trained Mind, Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise state that, “[A classical education] produces literate, curious, intelligent students who have a wide range of interests and the ability to follow up on them.” Well, that’s exactly what I want for my children. The authors explain that the model is language-intensive (which as a wordsmith I, of course, can appreciate) and history-intensive; it also “trains the mind to analyze and draw conclusions” and “both requires and develops self-discipline.”

I always thought of classical education as incredibly rigorous, over the top demanding, and anything but relaxed. I dream of a homeschool that is relaxed and easy-going, where learning is enjoyed and time is taken to pursue each child’s interests, so how does that line up? Well, it does, because my thinking about classical education was all wrong. Now, some do take it to the extreme, and there are programs out there that demand a lot from the student. But at the heart of it, classical education is just the opposite. At the heart, this model encourages diligence, not rigor. In Sarah Mackenzie’s book Teaching from Rest (the absolute best non-fiction book I have ever read), I learned about the concept of schole. This strange Greek word embodies the idea of restful learning, of learning from a place of peace, the opposite of cram-it-down-your-throat approach that I thought it would be.

Now, I may not make my kids read the Odyssey, but then again, maybe we’ll read a simplified version while their younger, as the Well-Trained Mind suggests, and then maybe I’ll even understand it.

My challenge to you is to not be so set in your ways and don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. And maybe you don’t even need to throw out the bathwater, maybe those Abeka books I already bought will serve as excellent tools this year. After all, curriculum is just that a tool, so don’t become a slave to it. It is not your master. Ultimately, if you are a Christian, your master is Jesus anyway. Our curriculum and our philosophies are just tools to help us fulfill the calling our Master has placed on our lives. He has called us to educate our kids to the best of our abilities. And if that means unschooling, then do it! Explore the world with your child and teach him as organically as possible. But if that means sending her to a private school, then do that. And if it means embracing a little bit of Charlotte Mason while teaching Latin and using a ‘traditional’ textbook for something else, then DO IT! After all there isn’t one right way to do it (even if I’d like there to be).

Your turn now! How has your paradigm of homseschooling shifted since you started? Or if you are just starting what’s the approach you are taking right now?