We are planning on homeschooling our baby Jenny.
I was homeschooled my whole pre-college education and attended homeschool conventions and conferences with my mom while I was in high school, so I feel pretty comfortable and confident with the general idea. But I want to research a bit more to plan what we will do for Jenny.
Obviously, her infant days will be more focused on feeding, diapering, soothing, some chaos—and my notes from “The Happiest Baby on the Block” will be much more practical. But I figure she will grow faster than I imagine, and so it might be easier to plan a bit now.
Charlotte Mason is the mother of homeschooling from what everyone says and she wrote 6 books on it over 100 years ago. They are old style writing, and a bit challenging, but that’s just my style. So, I’m digging in. They feel like original manuscripts of knowledge that have been widely translated (and watered down), and are so fun (and free) to read.
Already in the preface (pages ix-xvii of “Home Education volume I.” by Charlotte Mason), I have noted some great points:
- She states that education needs reform, and everyone knows it does, but we will not get anywhere without a grounding philosophy, a goal, for where we want to go.
- She founds this philosophy/end goal on Natural Law: Whatever is true, honest, and of good report.
- And states that, starting with Natural Law requires and leads to the necessity “to believe in God” and therefore, “knowledge of God is the principle knowledge and the chief end of education.”
- The consequences of what truth you believe are huge, so we must judge what is true very carefully.
- The greatest way we can judge a theory of absolute truth is for it to “meet every condition by which it can be tested.”
- She fully expects the Natural Law she bases her philosophy of education on to “to meet every test of experiment and rational investigation.”
- “Such a theory of education must not make education a separate compartment shut off from the rest of life. It must be as much a part of life as birth, growth, marriage, and work.” It must “put the child in living touch with as much as possible of the life of nature and thought.”
This foundation for her philosophy really excites me!
- We certainly do need a goal to aim for education!
- Basing it on carefully judged absolute truth—Natural Law and knowledge of the God of the Bible—is the most solid basis.
- Education should teach us what is practical for and interconnected with actual life!
What do you think of her preface and these ideas for education?