Trying to Strike A Scheduling Balance

Today D. enjoyed his first gymnastics class today. It was great to watch him enjoy himself and to see some of his natural tendencies (like jumping, hopping on one foot, jumping over obstacles) channeled and affirmed. In the midst of New England winter, it is a great way for him to direct his incredible energy. There is also some family pride operating here as his grandfather was an NCAA gymnast and I studied gymnastics and dance in my youth.

Another activity. It is a constant balancing act between unstructured free time and scheduled activities which will be fun, engaging, and give my son a good channel for natural interest as well as give him a diversity of experiences from which to be inspired and challenged. News articles and academic studies warn of the negative consequences of overscheduling children. One of the many reasons I have chosen the homeschooling path is to hold off on formal academic work in favor of engaging my son's creativity through physical activity, art, music, and play while he is young.

Right now he does a preschool program at the local Audubon society once a week. He attends a fun and games session at the local community center twice a week, swimming lessons once a week, and now gymnastics. (My goal of one daily period of directed and vigorous physical activity, I will admit, is so that we can all maintain sanity as much as for his physical development.)  He practices violin for 1 hour a day and attends a private and a group class once a week. He has a separate Music Together class weekly. Once a week our homeschool co-op gathers for learning and playing. Finally, he attends Spirit Play at church on Sunday.

He seems to be happy with the activities. In fact, he seems to be happiest with a structured daily routine and at least one activity a day.  I carefully guard at least a 2 to 3 hour chunk of time each day for unstructured play for him while I do things around the house. We also read throughout the day and he reads with his dad nightly. When I secretly observe his playing, he incorporates bits and pieces of all these experiences in the most creative and unexpected ways. He's like a little sponge, soaking it all in.

So where to draw the line? That is always the question.

Today's Project - Digital Images of Artwork

Mountains of crafts, drawings, paintings, and love notes. Today I will begin to create digital images of each new masterpiece. This way, we can "keep" the images forever but I will no longer feel compelled to hold on to each piece in growing mountainous piles, created by my prolific artist-in-residence. How do you manage your childrens prized artwork projects?

Weekly reflection on Charlotte Mason Vol 1 Home Education, pages 21 - 37

It is easy, as a homeschooling parent, to go right to making decisions and plans regarding the curriculum you'll be using to teach your child academic subjects. Here, however, Miss Mason, starts us with what matter most – taking care of the health of the child. The curriculum will not matter if your child's health doesn't support learning. The most critical factor is your child's environment, and most in that is fresh air.

“The children walk every day; they are never out less than an hour when the weather is suitable.” That is better than nothing. p. 29

I have been beginning each “homeschool-preschool” session with a brisk 30 to 40 minute walk around the neighborhood, weather permitting. This is wonderful for many reasons. We have become more intimate with the changing weather; discussing the weather at hand and what about it is pleasing to the senses. It allows us to put any stresses of the morning behind us for the day, a way of “changing channels” in preparation for the next phase of the day. We feel more connected to the routines and the people of our immediate community as we tend to see the same people doing the same things every day. This is no easy accomplishment in today's age. The obvious benefit is exercise. Usually our baby falls asleep in the stroller as well, almost ensuring she'll be in a good mood and cooperative when we return home. Once we arrive back at home, we have a snack, discuss the day ahead – review the calendar visually and verbally – and go up to the playroom/learning room for about an hour of reading and activities. This walk is in addition to whatever outdoor play we have scheduled for later in the day. Tried out on a whim, the daily walk has proved a mainstay of our homeschooling mornings.

One quote that stood out to me was a comment on the issue of “lessons.”

'Oh, she has her lessons regularly every day.' Probably: but lessons which deal with words, only the signs of things, are not what the child wants. There is no knowledge so appropriate to the early years of a child as that of the name and look and behaviour in situ of every natural object he can get at. p. 32

My husband made the insightful comment a few weeks ago that our son's impressive vocabulary outstrips his logic. It is easy to assume that since he is so articulate that his reasoning powers would be highly developed as well. This is not the case. He is right on track with those, being 4 years old. His leaps of reasoning are often rather amusing.

It occurred to me that lessons that are solely language-based presume not only a certain level of vocabulary, but also and most importantly, context, which my 4-year old simply doesn't have yet. While I do present verbal lessons to help him develop the important connections between vocabulary, natural law, and reason, I have observed the lessons he gains the most from are hands-on. His favorite ones are “animal encounters” at our local natural history museum, conservation lands, and wildlife sanctuaries held for preschoolers where they get to see and touch animals as they learn about their habitats on nature walks. Experience supersedes any “gaps” of understanding complex natural systems and reinforce relevant vocabulary. Plus they are way more fun with the other kids than sitting in a room with his mom.

Your thoughts? Join the conversation and study group at http://www.amblesideonline.org/

Weekly reflection on Charlotte Mason Vol 1 Home Education, pages 11-20

What did you learn from your reading?

p. 17 "Despise: to have a low opinion of, to undervalue" - thus the dictionary; and, as a matter of fact, however much we may delight in them, we grown-up people have far too low an opinion of children."
I am ashamed to admit that I learn more and more every day how I have too low opinion of children as a function of my cultural training that I'd like to admit. That is not to say I think ill of children. On the contrary, I love children, mine most of all. However, I think that through pop culture, pop psychology, and mass marketing I have come to have too low opinion of their capabilities, desires, and innate moral character. I am beginning to distinguish  between approaching my child through who I"know" him to be through my daily experience of him and who I "think" him to be as determined by my expectations of a 4-year-old boy. When I default into interacting with the "idealized" 4-year old, it usually doesn't have good results. That is a tip off that I am not being mindful or present and my son can sense that automatically, usually acting out in some way to get me to notice him, to jog me back to being present. It is his way of saying, "Wake up mom and notice ME." That is "ME" as who he really is.

p. 20 "The mischief lies in that same foolish undervaluing of the children, in the notion that the child can have no spiritual life until it please his elders to kindle the flame."
    That a child could have an independent spiritual life from the start, one that originates and develops without the influence or consent of adults is profound to consider yet once considered, seems rather obvious. I recall having what I would now call mystical experiences as a small child. At that age I just accepted them as  "the norm" - everyday part of life - and had neither language with which to express them nor adults in whom to confide. Our real duties, as adults and parents, is to guide children in their spirituality, give them language with which to express their experiences, and candidly offer our own experiences to them. We guide them in our own faith traditions as lovingly and respectfully as we can, helping guard their experiences of divine love as best we can to fuel their growing faith.

"But trailing clouds of glory do we come / From God, who is our home..."

Reading a little Charlotte Mason this morning...

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
 From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"
 - Wordsworth

A Rainy Monday Morning with the Buddha

Upon D's request, this morning our preschool "lesson" is the Buddha. My husband recorded the award-winning PBS documentary, "The Buddha" a few months back. On Saturday night we began t watch it, but D fell asleep after 27 minutes. This morning, raw and rainy, I suggested that we stay inside and snuggle up on the couch. He asked if we could watch "The Buddha."

He has watched the anecdote of the Buddha having compassion for the ants of the farmers field at a farming festival. It is his "favorite part". He listened intently for the past hour, asking many questions and prompting me to read to him the subtitles as they arose on the screen. Suddenly he piped up, "Mom, The Buddha is a child of God!"

The beauty of a flexible homeschool schedule is that we can take breaks from planned lessons to follow Ds interests and inquiries. Quite frankly, every day I become more aware of how prejudiced my own ideas are regarding what a 4-year old can do, what one will be interested in and what one won't. D patiently and lovingly shows me how limited and limiting my beliefs are and I let him lead me into his beautiful unfolding. Many days I'm not sure who learned more and am thankful for the gift of grace.

The New Homeschool Year Is HERE!

Alas, summer is concluding and the fall is rolling in. Despite record-high heat this week there is no denying that the days are in deed getting shorter when I rise in the dark for my 5:30am runs and the air is bordering on crisp.

After taking the summer off to "do baby" full time and enjoy the heat at the lake as much as possible with both kids, I was admittedly more than a bit depressed for a few days last week upon returning from our end-of-the-summer vacation. The vacation I'd been looking forward to all summer had come to an end. I could feel the weight of responsibility looming and slowing descending, pressing the air out of the room. Adding to all the normal responsibilities of juggling life with an infant and a 4-year-old I now was to add homeschooling. "What had I been thinking?" i wondered as I viewed all the back-to-school photos of my friend's children on Facebook. I then read a wonderful article in Homeschool Enrichment Magazine that reconnected me to why our family has chosen to homeschool. We chose this path because of the rich family relationships we are building and the life we are creating for ourselves based on our values and along our own timetable. It was just the encouragement I needed.  I rallied and have gotten back on track planning for homeschooling this fall.

I'm continuing to read and research Charlotte Mason Homeschooling. In keeping with her theory on learning, I'm steering clear of academics in favor of creating a learning environment at home and focusing on character development, creative play, and the arts. The line-up for the fall looks like this. 

• Suzuki Violin Class - weekly class / daily practice
• Homeschool Co-op  - weekly
• Swim Lessons - weekly
• Kids Open Gym (indoor soccer, pilo polo, kickball) - 3x week
• Music Together Class - weekly
• Five In A Row Curriculum - Daily
• Religious Education - Spirit Play - weekly
• Nature Journaling - weekly  - Referencing Anna Botsford Comstock's Hanbook of Nature Study and Claire WAlker Leslie's Keeping A Nature Journal
• Outdoor Play / Walks - 2 to 3 hours daily
• Field Trips - Children's Museum, EcoTarium, Aquarium, etc... - monthly