called to 3
When was the last time I just enjoyed home-educating my children? Hmm. And if it's been so long, why? Am I setting the bar too high? For them? For me? What are my expectations and why? Just today I came across an interview with Charlotte Mason expert, Karen Andreola. Karen and her husband founded a company called "Charlotte Mason Research and Supply Company" which is based in good ole' Quarryville, PA. I wish I had known of it when we lived in Lancaster, some 20 minutes up the road from Q-ville.
Anyway, I (on my good days) try to approach schooling from a Charlotte Mason standpoint. This is really a lifestyle of learning approach that uses living books as opposed to textbooks. However, I want the best of both worlds for my girls: a lifestyle yes, but one that "gets results." And sometimes the best fruit just isn't visible for years when we faithfully sow, water, and prune. We do not gear our schooling toward frequent test-taking, so when tests have to be taken (like when we move back to the USA) my children may not perform well. This can cause me to panic or reconsider what we do altogether. But why? Why panic? Do I not trust God?
As I read Karen Andreola's interview at http://www.blueberrycottage.org/2011/09/charlotte-mason-lifestyleinterview-with.html and looked over her own blog at http://momentswithmotherculture.blogspot.com/ , my spirit began to settle today. When asked to tell about her children today, Karen described both her grown daughters as Christian wives, mothers, homemakers, proficient string players who can teach their skills to others, hospitable, and workers in their churches. One of the two daughters took "some classes" at Lancaster Bible College.
This really set my heart at ease. I think Karen is an excellent woman who no doubt did an amazing job raising and educating her children (she also has a son still in college). But her goal wasn't Harvard or Yale for them. Her goal was to train them up in the way they should go, both spiritually and academically, as she felt called. This is what God instructs us to do as parents. Our children are entrusted to us for such a short time...only 18 years really to nurture, train, and instruct them in the ways of God and of life. How we go about doing that is going to be very personal in some ways. Looking over the fence at what my friends and neighbors are doing with their children can be very tempting and even detrimental. I am not called to their children as I am to mine. The temperaments, ability levels, specific gifting and talents of each child are to be studied by that child's parents and then stewarded and trained for the glory of God. This is an ominous sounding task on the one hand, yet quite freeing on the other.
Tonight as I go to bed I want my prayer for tomorrow's day to be "Lord, forgive me for not being thankful that I GET to home educate my girls. Let tomorrow be a day of joyful learning, discovery, and of ultimately knowing you better, both for me and the girls. Let us wonder at all you've done and created and thought of before the beginning of time. Let all our learning shape and hone who we are as your children. Make us all you want us to be. In Jesus' name, Amen."
Anyway, I (on my good days) try to approach schooling from a Charlotte Mason standpoint. This is really a lifestyle of learning approach that uses living books as opposed to textbooks. However, I want the best of both worlds for my girls: a lifestyle yes, but one that "gets results." And sometimes the best fruit just isn't visible for years when we faithfully sow, water, and prune. We do not gear our schooling toward frequent test-taking, so when tests have to be taken (like when we move back to the USA) my children may not perform well. This can cause me to panic or reconsider what we do altogether. But why? Why panic? Do I not trust God?
As I read Karen Andreola's interview at http://www.blueberrycottage.org/2011/09/charlotte-mason-lifestyleinterview-with.html and looked over her own blog at http://momentswithmotherculture.blogspot.com/ , my spirit began to settle today. When asked to tell about her children today, Karen described both her grown daughters as Christian wives, mothers, homemakers, proficient string players who can teach their skills to others, hospitable, and workers in their churches. One of the two daughters took "some classes" at Lancaster Bible College.
This really set my heart at ease. I think Karen is an excellent woman who no doubt did an amazing job raising and educating her children (she also has a son still in college). But her goal wasn't Harvard or Yale for them. Her goal was to train them up in the way they should go, both spiritually and academically, as she felt called. This is what God instructs us to do as parents. Our children are entrusted to us for such a short time...only 18 years really to nurture, train, and instruct them in the ways of God and of life. How we go about doing that is going to be very personal in some ways. Looking over the fence at what my friends and neighbors are doing with their children can be very tempting and even detrimental. I am not called to their children as I am to mine. The temperaments, ability levels, specific gifting and talents of each child are to be studied by that child's parents and then stewarded and trained for the glory of God. This is an ominous sounding task on the one hand, yet quite freeing on the other.
Tonight as I go to bed I want my prayer for tomorrow's day to be "Lord, forgive me for not being thankful that I GET to home educate my girls. Let tomorrow be a day of joyful learning, discovery, and of ultimately knowing you better, both for me and the girls. Let us wonder at all you've done and created and thought of before the beginning of time. Let all our learning shape and hone who we are as your children. Make us all you want us to be. In Jesus' name, Amen."
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