Earlier this year I decided to write a little bit about homeschooling within the parameters of the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, but doing it in a minimalistic, simple way. I think this is a topic that is important to get "out there" because I know so many mothers who feel like utter failures because they aren't doing things the way Mason did in her schools. Perhaps they aren't doing geography walks, or dry brush painting, or Plutarch, or whatever, and as such they feel a constant sense of overwhelm and under-achievement, while wondering if they're really homeschooling their children well, because their days simply do not look like the well-planned-out, beautifully-scheduled days we sometimes associate with Charlotte Mason.
And I know all of these struggles quite well because I love and admire Charlotte Mason, but I have never, not once, successfully "done it all." My homeschool does not look like a PNEU school. It looks like a home, with all of the seasons and issues and interruptions and distractions that accompany real home life.
So how can we reconcile the 13th principle--the beautiful concept of the educational "feast"--with the reality of life?
I have pondered this so much over the past 2 years; first, during and after cancer treatments, and second, this summer and early fall, as I experienced--for the first time ever--what I think has been actual burnout. I am getting better now, and I'll write more about that sometime. (It had a lot less to do with school than it did with life!) But it certainly has caused me to re-evaluate (for what seems like the hundredth time) what we are doing, and how we do it.
I have pondered this so much over the past 2 years; first, during and after cancer treatments, and second, this summer and early fall, as I experienced--for the first time ever--what I think has been actual burnout. I am getting better now, and I'll write more about that sometime. (It had a lot less to do with school than it did with life!) But it certainly has caused me to re-evaluate (for what seems like the hundredth time) what we are doing, and how we do it.
I think sometimes we, as homeschooling mothers, are quite narrow in our definition of what counts as school. Loosening this definition is by far the most important practical thing to do in order to reconcile the "feast" idea with the reality of everyday life.
Much of what our children naturally do (when they aren't distracted by screens--so screen time limits are, in my opinion, essential!) falls within the "feast." Sewing. Working with clay. Origami. Sitting down and watching ants busy themselves on a sidewalk. Cracking open a book and getting immersed in a story. Singing songs.
I still need--as much for my own sake as anything else--to be sure certain things are covered in a structured way, but I am also willing to let go of a planned, structured lesson if I see a child who is engaged in something worthy that I haven't planned at all. When my children were littler, Legos and imaginative play definitely counted.
As children get older, of course the expectations for schoolwork increase. I suspect all children are different, but so far my experience with a child on the cusp of the teenage years is that children will seek out and pursue educational opportunities that interest them, and the parent can shift even more into a facilitator role for certain subjects.
Not long ago my son and I were talking about how minimalistic his schooling seems to be. He's in middle school now, so we were trying to decide if we should we add more, and if so, what? Then we counted what he does regularly, and it included over a dozen "subjects!" So we decided we're satisfied with the status quo at this time--although we are adding more formal science work.
In addition to widening the definition of schooling, as I mentioned above, here are my top practical tips for spreading the "feast" while still maintaining a feeling of minimalism:
1. Keep a retroactive educational journal. (My favorite tip!) Lesson plans are fine (and I do use a checklist/plan for Finn, whose workload is heavier), but I often like to write down what we did in a day after the day is done, and then marvel at how well those things fit into "school" categories. Perhaps we didn't do dictation every day, but we did it twice during the week: well, that counts! Perhaps I hadn't planned on a nature walk, but we found a crazy-looking caterpillar outside and spent an hour studying it, learning about it, and drawing it. That counts! Perhaps at lunch a child asked a question about what caused the Korean War, and we spent the next hour reading the encyclopedia and discussing what we've read, then applying it to other conflicts and current political situations. That counts! (All 3 of those are real-life examples from my home!) I do not keep the journal every day, but I love reading it and thinking about how natural learning opportunities arise in our home.
2. It's better to do a little bit every day than to engage in any "boom or bust" activity. If doing school for 6 hours a day seems overwhelming--well, don't do it. (I can't do it!) Through years of trial and error, I'm finding the things--math curricula, books--that we can do consistently. I'd rather do an hour of school each day than hit the books super hard for a week, get exhausted, and then need a week to recover. Whatever you do, make sure it's sustainable.
3. Decide on the non-negotiables and focus on those, then let other things fill in the gaps.This will change from child to child and grade to grade. I pick 3-5 non-negotiable subjects that I want to be sure each child does nearly every day (and they are different for my two children), and keep those as a "spine" for schooling. This may seem to be antithetical to the "feast" idea, but in my experience, having a few non-negotiables that make you feel good, and then adding in other things, results in a wide array of subjects.
4. Keep planning simple. I have written before about my index card system. It's so simple! I don't do this now, but it worked well for us for a season, and I've reverted back to it on occasion when I want a change. I have little desire to create detailed lesson plans, so for Annie my approach is simply "do the next thing." For our shared subjects (Shakespeare, history, picture study, etc) I just do the next part of the reading, or the next painting in the packet.....no planning required. At 12, Finn now wants clear directions and a daily checklist, so I've started to fill out a table for him at the start of the week--and he fills out a lot of it himself for the subjects he manages on his own--but I keep it quite basic. It's essentially a "do the next thing" approach as well! Everyone will tackle this in a different way, but for me, less is more when it comes to lesson plans. It's the sustainability issue, once again--whatever we do must be sustainable.
5. Make curricula work for you, not the other way around. Never be a slave to the curriculum, no matter how rich, beautiful, and good it is. There's no homeschool policeman who says a child has to complete an entire lesson in 1 day, or do two dozen subjects, or finish by noon, or....anything! The curriculum works for the teacher. Using a curriculum in small bites consistently is worlds better than trying to tackle it all, getting stressed and overwhelmed, and bagging it.
6. Don't look around. Comparison is the thief of joy; I'm sure we've all experienced this. There's a reason for that cliche. When we look at what other people are doing, it's so easy to get discouraged! But really, God has given us each our particular children with their own particular needs, and we need to put on our blinders and stay focused on what's in front of us, not comparing our school schedules or (please!!) children to other people's.......there's so much rich learning in every single day! But we need to be able to focus and see it for ourselves, without reference to who is doing what out in Instagramland.
* * *
I love to read about Charlotte Mason schools. I love looking at timetables and imagining how lessons went for children in those schools, and I love thinking about all the many subjects that are covered by a Mason education. But in my own daily life, I have to implement this educational philosophy with flexibility and discernment.
And if you're a bit of a minimalist, there may be a little more time in the day for drinking tea and reading! That's a win in my book!
Much of what our children naturally do (when they aren't distracted by screens--so screen time limits are, in my opinion, essential!) falls within the "feast." Sewing. Working with clay. Origami. Sitting down and watching ants busy themselves on a sidewalk. Cracking open a book and getting immersed in a story. Singing songs.
I still need--as much for my own sake as anything else--to be sure certain things are covered in a structured way, but I am also willing to let go of a planned, structured lesson if I see a child who is engaged in something worthy that I haven't planned at all. When my children were littler, Legos and imaginative play definitely counted.
As children get older, of course the expectations for schoolwork increase. I suspect all children are different, but so far my experience with a child on the cusp of the teenage years is that children will seek out and pursue educational opportunities that interest them, and the parent can shift even more into a facilitator role for certain subjects.
Not long ago my son and I were talking about how minimalistic his schooling seems to be. He's in middle school now, so we were trying to decide if we should we add more, and if so, what? Then we counted what he does regularly, and it included over a dozen "subjects!" So we decided we're satisfied with the status quo at this time--although we are adding more formal science work.
In addition to widening the definition of schooling, as I mentioned above, here are my top practical tips for spreading the "feast" while still maintaining a feeling of minimalism:
1. Keep a retroactive educational journal. (My favorite tip!) Lesson plans are fine (and I do use a checklist/plan for Finn, whose workload is heavier), but I often like to write down what we did in a day after the day is done, and then marvel at how well those things fit into "school" categories. Perhaps we didn't do dictation every day, but we did it twice during the week: well, that counts! Perhaps I hadn't planned on a nature walk, but we found a crazy-looking caterpillar outside and spent an hour studying it, learning about it, and drawing it. That counts! Perhaps at lunch a child asked a question about what caused the Korean War, and we spent the next hour reading the encyclopedia and discussing what we've read, then applying it to other conflicts and current political situations. That counts! (All 3 of those are real-life examples from my home!) I do not keep the journal every day, but I love reading it and thinking about how natural learning opportunities arise in our home.
2. It's better to do a little bit every day than to engage in any "boom or bust" activity. If doing school for 6 hours a day seems overwhelming--well, don't do it. (I can't do it!) Through years of trial and error, I'm finding the things--math curricula, books--that we can do consistently. I'd rather do an hour of school each day than hit the books super hard for a week, get exhausted, and then need a week to recover. Whatever you do, make sure it's sustainable.
3. Decide on the non-negotiables and focus on those, then let other things fill in the gaps.This will change from child to child and grade to grade. I pick 3-5 non-negotiable subjects that I want to be sure each child does nearly every day (and they are different for my two children), and keep those as a "spine" for schooling. This may seem to be antithetical to the "feast" idea, but in my experience, having a few non-negotiables that make you feel good, and then adding in other things, results in a wide array of subjects.
4. Keep planning simple. I have written before about my index card system. It's so simple! I don't do this now, but it worked well for us for a season, and I've reverted back to it on occasion when I want a change. I have little desire to create detailed lesson plans, so for Annie my approach is simply "do the next thing." For our shared subjects (Shakespeare, history, picture study, etc) I just do the next part of the reading, or the next painting in the packet.....no planning required. At 12, Finn now wants clear directions and a daily checklist, so I've started to fill out a table for him at the start of the week--and he fills out a lot of it himself for the subjects he manages on his own--but I keep it quite basic. It's essentially a "do the next thing" approach as well! Everyone will tackle this in a different way, but for me, less is more when it comes to lesson plans. It's the sustainability issue, once again--whatever we do must be sustainable.
5. Make curricula work for you, not the other way around. Never be a slave to the curriculum, no matter how rich, beautiful, and good it is. There's no homeschool policeman who says a child has to complete an entire lesson in 1 day, or do two dozen subjects, or finish by noon, or....anything! The curriculum works for the teacher. Using a curriculum in small bites consistently is worlds better than trying to tackle it all, getting stressed and overwhelmed, and bagging it.
6. Don't look around. Comparison is the thief of joy; I'm sure we've all experienced this. There's a reason for that cliche. When we look at what other people are doing, it's so easy to get discouraged! But really, God has given us each our particular children with their own particular needs, and we need to put on our blinders and stay focused on what's in front of us, not comparing our school schedules or (please!!) children to other people's.......there's so much rich learning in every single day! But we need to be able to focus and see it for ourselves, without reference to who is doing what out in Instagramland.
* * *
I love to read about Charlotte Mason schools. I love looking at timetables and imagining how lessons went for children in those schools, and I love thinking about all the many subjects that are covered by a Mason education. But in my own daily life, I have to implement this educational philosophy with flexibility and discernment.
And if you're a bit of a minimalist, there may be a little more time in the day for drinking tea and reading! That's a win in my book!
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