Education

First Days

A friend loaned me the cd’s from a Charlotte Mason conference back in 2005. It’s hosted by Ambleside Online, featuring sessions led by members of the advisory board.

One of the best nuggets I’ve gleaned so far is from Lynn Bruce’s description of how she starts the school year. Those first days are so important in establishing a tone, and she makes the point that it’s wisest to layer in subjects and responsibilities rather than abruptly “hitting the books.”

My first year, I failed miserably at setting the tone. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of books, feeling wobegone myself — aware of the gap between homeschooling as I had imagined it, and homeschooling the way it seemed to be working out. In subsequent years, I’ve managed to start the year better, instilling a bit more vision and positive energy. But I’ve never heard a more helpful, inspiring description of how to start the year than Lynn Bruce’s. I don’t usually just summarize someone else’s thoughts here, but I feel this is so good I want to share it — and also to reinforce it for myself through writing.

She takes three days, accelerating gradually into the book work. Day 1, “school” consists of Mom sitting in a chair with a recipe card for cookies, and the children following directions. Mom reads each direction, and the children listen and do what it says. When it’s all done, they have cookies, and they talk about how if they failed to listen carefully to every word Mom said, and if they failed to follow the directions accurately, they wouldn’t have had cookies. She makes the point with the children that school is the same way. It’s crucial to listen to, and do, what Mom says in order to produce a satisfying result together.

That’s it. That’s Day 1 of school.

On Day 2, they talk about what they’re going to be studying this year in the light of God’s Word. What does the Bible have to say about each subject? What role does each discipline play in God’s purposes? I’m looking forward to sitting down and giving this some thought. There are, for instance, numerous examples of math being used in the Bible. So much in both Old and New Testaments  testifies to the importance of writing, language, poetry and history. The roots of nature study are clear in Genesis and Job. And we’d know none of this if it weren’t for reading — a gift from God, Lynn Bruce points out, that enables us to understand God’s Word. All of this emphasizes that we learn for a purpose, and the bottom-line purpose is to know God better.

I believe it’s on this second day as well that she challenges her students to think about scheduling. How can they best set things up in order to accomplish certain goals efficiently and well? She asks questions, inviting the students to think this through and take some responsibility in figuring out a structure for learning. So that’s Day 2: more of the Big Picture, but a little more nuts and bolts.

On Day 3, they start with the books.

I love this idea of easing into the process. It gets the year off with a right emphasis on the CM idea that education is about relationships — between subjects, with each other, with God. She concludes her remarks by reminding us of how essential it is to make time for the “magic words”:

  • I love you
  • I think you’re wonderful
  • I’m so glad you’re mine

In a few minutes, she manages to hit very practically on the real heart of what I’m about as a home educator. This session has truly been food for my soul — and, I might add, an example of one-minute management at its best.

How about you? How do you start your year? I’d love to hear more ideas.

 

10 Comments

  • Barbara H.

    This sounds like a great idea. We only homeschooled for four years, but I tended to hit the books right off. I like this approach of easing into it, and more importantly, setting up some foundational principles first.

  • Polly

    The CM quote you’ve shared in the side bar is what I’ve attempted to use as my philosphy of education! I love that, I can’t remind myself of it often enough. It’s great for the times you’re tempted to compare and criticize your ‘school’ with other’s.

    I love Lynn Bruce and that is such an instructive talk. I have the Ruth Haycock ‘Encyclopedia of Bible Truths’ she makes mention of if you’d like to have a look at them. Let me know :)

    I am looking forward to hearing about how your school year goes this year. It won’t be perfect- it never is- but I think you and your girls will be enriched by what you glean from the CM method.

    • Janet

      I can’t seem to get my mind around the CM curriculum for each year, so I think I’m going to be doing a blend of the classical approach (as we’ve been doing it) with CM priorities — i.e., the emphasis is more on molding a certain kind of character and mind than accumulating a certain body of knowledge. There are a few things I’m going to let go from the classical approach, and a few things I’m going to add from CM.

      Which makes me a… what? A Janettian School, I guess.

      Susan Wise Bauer says CM offers a slightly different interpretation of neoclassicism, so I’m not really venturing far off the beaten track by trying to weave the best points of the two approaches together.

  • Carrie, Reading to Know

    These are good ideas and thoughts. We’re going to “start school” (lightly….oh, ever so lightly!) this fall and I’m definitely wanting to keep it light and low key so that my boys will be eager to learn. I was so frequently fed up with official school during my growing up years (as a home schooled kid!) and I don’t want it to be such drudgery for my own kids. I know you have to do it but it seems like there are ways that would make it easier, more pleasant, and a more welcomed task.

    Good food for thought! Thanks!

  • Amy @ Hope Is the Word

    Well, Janet, as you know, you and I are still on the same wavelength, and I love it. Too bad (too, too bad!) we aren’t neighbors! What fun we could have! More CM thoughts to follow on my blog. :-)