Wednesday 29 March 2017

Education - an Act of Faith



'Education, like faith, is the evidence of things not seen...' so Charlotte Mason said.
Educating my own children has been an act of faith in many ways. Sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for the fruit of what you're doing to show itself. Education requires discipline, time, energy and perseverance. It's not an overnight venture. Sometimes I need to remind myself to:

 '...stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.'

1 Corinthians 15:58

With the above in mind, here are some of the areas I've been seeing fruit in and where education is something my daughter is pursuing of her own accord: 


The Discipline of Regular Drawing Practice
 


Nature notebook - this is now a regular & self-initiated habit after many years of having it as part of our weekly schedule:





Our current read-aloud (some editing required) - Natural History from the point of view of a ten year old boy living on the island of Corfu just prior to the second world war and a peek into a living education - we're enjoying this so much!


https://www.bookdepository.com/My-Family-and-Other-Animals-Gerald-Durrell/9780141374109/?a_aid=journey56


'With the summer came Peter to tutor me, a tall, handsome young man fresh from Oxford, with decided ideas on education which I found rather trying to begin with. But gradually the atmosphere of the island worked its way insidiously under his skin, and he relaxed and became quite human. At first the lessons were painful to an extreme: interminable wrestling with fractions and percentages, geological strata and warm currents, nouns, verbs, and adverbs. But, as the sunshine worked its magic on Peter, the fractions and percentages no longer seemed to him an overwhelmingly important part of life and they were gradually pushed more and more into the background; he discovered that the intricacies of geological strata and the effects of warm currents could be explained much more easily while swimming along the coast, while the simplest way of teaching me English was to allow me to write something each day that he would correct...'

Gerald Durrell


Last week we had exams for Year 6, Term 2. I asked Moozle to write a poetic narration about 
Antony & Cleopatra:



On a roll with her drawing of roses





 Weather report, with some artistic license


Handiwork - scrapbooking has been all the rage. This is something all my girls have enjoyed but I prefer working with fabric and haven't shared their activities in this area. Fortunately, they have an Aunty who enjoys scrapbooking and when Moozle started showing a interest in scrapbooking as her older sisters had done, Her Aunty started paying her in scrapbooking paper to wash her car.
This week Moozle had her first 'consignment.' A lady at church asked her to make up an assortment of gift cards, which she paid for and then said that she would act as her 'agent' and drum up some business. Moozle is excited because now she can go out and buy more supplies!




A couple of tags she whipped up this afternoon


"I'd like to add some beauty to life," said Anne dreamily. "I don't exactly want to make people know more...though I know that is the noblest ambition...but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me...to have some little joy or happy thought that would never had existed if I hadn't been born."

Lucy Maud Montgomery


Listening to this when we're driving
https://librivox.org/anne-of-avonlea-by-lucy-maud-montgomery-2/


Moozle's free reading


 The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - this is the first book in the Tommy and Tuppence series, which I let my children read when they are about 12 years of age. (Free online here) I leave Christie's other books for a later stage but this series is fun and a good introduction to the crime novel. Partners in Crime is another in the series she's been reading.

























*  Children learn from real things in the real world

*  We train a child to have good habits and self-control

*  The mind needs ideas of all kinds, so the child's curriculum should be varied and generous with    
    many subjects included.




16 comments:

Melissa said...

This is fabulous Carol! Thanks for sharing ☺

Amy Marie said...

Love this peek of further down the road, Carol. It gives us early home educators hope. I so appreciate your wisdom! :)

Ruth @ with freedom and books said...

It's wonderful to see what other homeschool families are up to. I was so excited about that book (My Family and Other Animals) that I scoured my library system online, but was only able to get a DVD version. I have no idea what that will be like. It's not even an audio version. I wish I could have gotten the book, but my library system is complicated. So we'll see what it's like.

Carol said...

Thanks Melissa :)

Carol said...

Thanks Amy. Sometimes I wonder if it's helpful to see what other families are doing. Each child is so different (I've seen that even in our own family)& there are children that take longer to get where we think they should be at a particular time. Appreciate your comment!

Carol said...

If it's a BBC version it might be ok. I've slightly edited parts so the movie could be potentially a problem depending on how they handle certain scenes. You could probably find the book cheap 2nd hand. I saw some copies on Abe for under $4.

Brian Joseph said...

It is wonderful that your daughter is interesting in learning, reading and art.

Childhood can be such a wondrous time of discovery.


The artwork is very nice. It is a lot better then anything that many adults are capable of :)

Gently Mad said...

What beautiful drawings! I am going to look up the book by Durrell as well. I have the greatest respect for those of you who have devoted yourselves to the education of your children. I think there will be great rewards that you have stored up in heaven and also in the fruits you are seeing and will see in your children's lives.

I read a Terrence and Tuppence. It was good; in fact I like them (and Hercule Poirot) the best of all of Christie's detectives.

Aflyonmyhomeschoolwall said...

Your daughter is adding beauty to the world because you added beauty to her life. I just am floored by the drawing and poetry and paper art. What joy to see your daughter growing in so much beauty!

Dawn said...

What a lovely gift your daughter has for artistic expression, Carol! I agree with the above comment entirely: "Your daughter is adding beauty to the world because you added beauty to her life." Well said!

Carol said...

It gives me a lot of pleasure in seeing her so interested in these things also, Brian.
She draws every day & doesn't seem to be hindered by any perfectionist tendencies, which iI think is a problem for many adults. I know I get frustrated & give up quickly if my attempts at artwork don't turn out the way I'd like them to!

Carol said...

Thanks Sharon :) I think I've only read two of the Poirot books. The Man in the Brown Suit was good - a young woman turns detective. I was thinking of reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd this year.

Carol said...

You know, sometimes I've thought my children seemed to be less than interested about things like art & poetry but every now & again I'm encouraged by some comment or observation they've made that has proved me wrong:)

Carol said...

Thanks Dawn. I've been really blessed to see her using this to give people pleasure. She's always making cards, bookmarks etc to give to others.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work by Moodle...she must be a delight!
I love her roses
Margaret

Carol said...

She is a delight, Margaret. But I have to say that about all my kids. Well, most of the time - sometimes they're just hard work :)