Last week we had to go sign some papers at the bank. At first, we thought it was a little ridiculous to be signing more papers, haven't we signed enough? Head office had overlooked something in our file and just needed our signature. It was no big deal to them, but to us we just hated going back to the bank and signing more documents. It was a painful reminder that we were still in bondage to them. We even tried to get out of signing them, but no, they required our signature. When we got to the branch office, the lady at the bank asked, "So what are your apprehensions?" We explained and then my husband said, "I'll sign, I guess as long as we are borrowing, we are slave to the lenders....." She responded by saying, "That's pretty much it." Even she knew. The bank can pretty much say how high to jump and we have to jump as long as they are in the driver's seat. It was a great reminder to stay on track and get out of this pit as soon as possible.
On Saturday I attended a full day "Charlotte Mason" seminar. She was a famous educator that changed the culture of England back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Since then her ideas and books are now all in books and periodicals, as she was a prolific writer, and many of us home schoolers follow them today. If you hear home schoolers talking nowadays, you might hear, "So, are you doing Charlotte Mason?" It simply means, "Are you following her techniques of educating?" I have been using her style, without even really knowing it, from the beginning. She highly encouraged the reading of great literature and I've always bought a literature-based curriculum. She encourages a lot of dictation, copywork, narrating and writing what you've learned. I've also done a lot of that throughout the years which I think has helped to make my children good writers and communicators.
It was a very inspiring day as she highly encouraged nature study, painting it, drawing it, keeping a journal of it. We've done the journals since our first year, too, and it is neat to look back on the things they drew or observed on nature walks years ago. I have found it hard to keep up with the younger ones, but this seminar reminded me how wonderful it can be.
It is a very rigorous curriculum and expects a lot of the children in terms of the level of reading, but at the same time, encourages the mom to not assume it'll be too much as she believed children were more capable than we give them credit for.
One of Charlotte Mason's students was Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary to India. She was trained to be a teacher in one of Mason's schools. She then took the methods she had learned and taught them to the young girls in India. I thought that was kind of interesting as I really love Amy Carmichael.
The highlight of the day was just being with other like-minded women. We were unbelievably chatty! Every moment we got was another opportunity to meet someone or catch up with someone else. Perhaps it was so refreshing because we weren't being constantly interrupted by all the little ones back at home! My husband had to watch my younger 5 because my older 3 were still on the mission trip to Niagara - so he had his hands full! It was such a blessing and I came away so refreshed. I even got a silver maple in a pot as a door prize!
My older children came home that same night and we all sat around for a long time catching up on each other's weeks. It was strange not having all 3 for the whole week. But they had a wonderful time. We got to hear them speak a little on Sunday about their week at the host church. A few of the people on the mission trip spoke including an older man who admitted to not getting involved year after year. He and his wife decided to go this year and it seemed like it really changed him. What was extremely special was how he spoke of the young people on the trip and how inspiring they were to him. That meant a lot to me. I admired him, too, though, for admitting he'd been sitting there "comfortable" for all those years, but then finally doing something to get him out of his comfort zone. Very cool.
Now, more clean up, more organizing, more re-visiting of the Charlotte Mason approach, more kids home, more help coming...... it'll be a another busy week I'm sure..... The children's mission trip was called the "Niagara Challenge". I would say that sums up my week here, too, or just about every week!
No comments:
Post a Comment