Full Circle

Eleven years ago I was working through my first year of homeschooling. My oldest child was 6, and I was worried that I would not be able to put my own curriculum together well enough. My cousins assured me that I would be better off if I were to avoid the boxed curriculums.

I had considered homeschooling a long time before I even had children. Teaching English as a 2^nd Language in the public schools gave me insight into other cultures—Japanese, Swiss, Chinese —that had a different perspective on education. I was impressed with children who wanted to learn so badly that they complained when their siblings were given the honor of more homework than they.

I read the current materials available on homeschooling—considerably less than what you can find today. I decided that I would like to do classical but had no idea how to do it. I chose to give my children “the best basic education” that I could give.

Seven years later I hit burnout. I spent the year doing as little as possible without cheating my children of a year of school, and I worked on regrouping. That is when I read The Well-Trained Mind, and was able to add some missing pieces to my program. I’ve been doing my best to give my children a Christian classical education ever since.

We added Latin and Logic. We upgraded our expectations on literature, grammar, and composition. We added more subjects and spent more time doing school each day.

Until now. I discovered this year that I am looking for ways to cut back. Even though I have many friends who are doing so much more, I find myself wanting to do a little bit less. When school is done for the day, I want time left for the children to do their household and farm chores, be involved in 4-H and the homeschool play, and have some time to be creative, time to sit and ponder, time to be quiet, time for solitude. Some of my friends’ children are taking AP courses and honors classes. They are doing college level history and advanced science. These are not bad goals, if that is what they want to do, mind you. It’s just not where I am right now. Just last week my friend made a comment about saving college for college and doing high school in high school. Her statement put into words what I had been trying to describe to her.

So now I need to plan ahead for next year: 11^th, 9^th, and 7^th grades. I’m not going to take much out of my schedule, but I’m not going to look for the most advanced text I can find, either. I want that “best basic education”, just like I started out doing. I’m not going to throw out the classical—I’m sold on that. Logic and Latin will remain; I may not do as many years of Logic, and we may not do the hardest of the rhetoric stage literature, but we will keep up the effort to do our best. As far as I know, I am not raising any Einsteins, so I’ll be content with faithful Christians with a very good education, who take their rolls as citizens of this world seriously. I want them to know how to laugh and to celebrate as well as to work hard and set high goals.

I don’t think I adhere to the saying on the poster that decorated the teacher’s lounge so many years ago: Life is uncertain; eat dessert first. However, I can say that we need to be sure that we take time to enjoy life, share the good times with our families, and pass on a love for living.

It seems we frequently have to struggle to find a balance in life, do we not?

Blessings.

Last night's full moon (click on photo to enlarge)