Charlotte Mason - The Preschool Years

I established my blog to serve as a journal of my gardening experiences. I had no idea that as my children grew and their love for gardening developed that I would get more and more jealous of the teachers that would steal my son from me during the day and educate him outside of my garden. Maybe it is just more of that old fashioned life that I am clinging to, but homeschooling became appealing first out of a selfish desire to not be done teaching him at our pace in our way. The more that I learn about homeschooling, however, the more I have found great educational, social and family value in it's mission. The Charlotte Mason style of learning found us and won us over.... and today, we "officially" begin.

What a difference a summer can make?!

When we started this summer, we had a couple of key projects we wanted to get done... first and foremost preserve our family time with trips to the zoo, a stay-cation and visits with family and friends we don't see much. Thankfully, all of that happened. After that, we wanted to build the kids a sandbox, build a compost system and re-do the playroom. Our sandbox and compost bins did get done as well! The playroom.... well that is another story. It is still a work in progress. This first trimester preggo with "helpful" toddlers underfoot is just not as productive as usual. We are chipping away at it and no longer just trying to "get it done!".

A couple of very interesting things happened along the journey. The more the playroom came together the more we began to see something in it we had never even thought of before - a classroom.... a real space for learning and creativity. The more we worked on it and talked out loud, the more we realized how anguished we felt about sending Michael to school. We had already decided that he would have his pre-school experience at home, but the idea of genuinely homeschooling him snuck up on us from behind and captured our hearts and imagination.

Some may wonder what in the world we are thinking. Some may wonder why in the world I would take on this stress. I know that some wonder if I could even do as good a job as a school could for my son. But here is my reality. God made me a voracious reader and researcher - he also made my husband and I teachers. God makes all of us the first and foremost teachers of our children anyway. Our fortune is that Michael is extremely extroverted and easily enjoys and interacts with his peers and others. Formal school for Michael would be more about socialization than anything else and we feel that that is something that we can easily supplement through VBS, playgroup, scouts, other home-school families, etc. For years I have owned a treasury of resources on the education of character, good literature and ways to teach your children to be curious and industrious. It has always broken my heart that I would send Michael to school and let someone else get the joy of opening his mind. I want to do it. I want to guide him and nurture him. I want to observe his interests and his growth and tailor his education to his needs and his natural inclinations. I want to guide him as he walks towards the calling that his Father in Heaven has for him. At least, I want to do it now. Maybe not forever. Maybe for just a few years, but each journey does begin with a single step and our first is to hang the black board. The next will be to try this on for size.

I have not felt so invigorated as a mom - ever. Leaving the classroom and coming home to be a stay at home mom always felt like the right decision - but an impossible one. Now, I feel like it is coming together. I feel as though this is why He designed me with such a love for education. I am humbled, scared but most exhilarated. This journey is going to be an interesting one.

Is it August already?

As I said in an earlier post... June is the resting month. Once the 4th of July is behind us, things start happening and fast. Today is August 9th and I haven't had time to think about much of anything! We used June and July to build the kids a sandbox, the garden a 3 bin compost system and do a remodel of our playroom in the basement. All while harvesting herbs, some early peppers, some leeks and green beans. Yes... we did get some green beans this year - despite the rabbits.

Did you know that purple beans turn green when blanched and cooked? We didn't... what a bummer! I guess that I am much less impressed with purple beans now that I know that they will not retain any of their color. Regardless, we have several freezer bags of beans (better than we expected when we saw how much the rabbits were eating) waiting to be made into soup when the need arises in the winter months.

More to write... too many interruptions with the little ones underfoot.