Have you ever just sat and gazed at your child, wondering: Who is this person? What is she feeling? What is he thinking? What moves her? What does he aspire to be?
After researching, dreaming, and planning my children’s education even before they were born, I have found it to be a fundamental shift in my parenting life as I realize that their education isn’t about me.
The boys I am raising and teaching are individual people. Children who have their own thoughts and desires.
These children in our care will become adults with their own lives.
I often slip into thinking of my boys as extensions of myself, believing their skills or behavior are testimonies of my parenting. What do they say about me? What do I expect them to become?
This way of thinking can seep its way into my teaching methods and goals. Do I relate my success as a teacher to what I’ve accomplished? It is so easy for schooling to become a checklist of activities, worksheets, and grade levels accomplished.
Certainly, as a classical educator, the content and skills play a big part in our homeschool, but am I using classical education as the end in itself–or as a tool to help my children realize the full, vivid life I hope for them?
What are the true goals you hope to accomplish through the education you are providing for your children? What lessons will best serve them in their future?
Photo by Heidi Scovel
I would encourage you to spend some time thinking about each child in your care. See him or her as a living, breathing, individual soul. Write down the lessons and skills you feel will serve to enlarge their life. Post your list where it can inspire and direct your efforts.
My list looks something like the following.
Lessons I endeavor to help my children embrace so that they may be healthy, whole human beings, capable of living an abundant life:
- Trust God.
- Be curious. About everything.
- Read. Read. Read.
- Help the underdog.
- Entertain thoughts.
- Set goals.
- Observe nature.
- Have compassion.
- Discuss ideas.
- Do hard things.
- Create: Build. Paint. Plant. Draw. Sing. Bake. Play an instrument.
- Care for your body.
- Follow through.
- Appreciate beauty.
- Ask questions.
- Take responsibility.
- Eat good food.
- Play hard.
- Plant a garden.
- Try new things.
- Share with others.
- Manage your personal finances. Well.
- Solve problems.
- Plan for the future.
- Keep house. Well.
- Prepare for emergencies.
- Nurture relationships.
- Travel.
- Give of yourself.
- Value truth.
- Keep your word.
- Smell the flowers.
- Pick up after yourself.
- Use time wisely.
- Encourage others.
- Laugh. A lot.
- Brave storms.
- Cultivate a spirit of gratitude.
- Find passion for life.
Photo by Heidi Scovel
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I am with you kid. Let’s go.”
~Maya Angelou
What life lessons are on your list?
The need to assign a specific tag to every element forces us to better structure and format contents.
Better care for the children is most important and proper medication for infections keep them healthy and strong.
Children must be shown that life may sometimes go in a hard way that is why we sometimes need to take on the fight the hard way.
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A child’s early years are the foundation for his or her future development, providing a strong base for lifelong learning and learning abilities, including cognitive and social development. Well-established research continues to emphasize the importance of early childhood education as an essential building block of a child’s future success.
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I think we should provide three types of education to the children. These three types of education are formal, informal and non-formal. If we provide all three types of education to the children, they will achieve all of these goals. Our mission should be to encourage the children to learn from every life experience.
It a great idea to break big goals into smaller ones. Sometimes larger goals can feel overwhelming so breaking them up into something you can tackle not only helps monitor your progress but it also makes it a little bit less stressful