Thursday, May 15, 2008

Our Mission

Recently I just came to the realization that the year is almost halfway over and I have yet to plan out our homeschooling plan for the FIRST year of school next year. (Yes, I am going to be teaching English too...scary thought based on the above sentence...lol!) I have been praying about how to homeschool my two rambunctious boys and I came across the Charlotte Mason method. So true to my inquisitive and researchful (is that a word?) nature, I checked out some books at my local library. While reading the beginning chapters of "A Charlotte Mason Companion" by Karen Andreola, I came across the foundational mission for wanting to homeschool...

"To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where He is not, into the light and warmth and comfort of the presence of God, is no doubt the chief thing we have to do in the world. And this individual work with each child, being the most momentous work in the world, is put into the hands of the wisest, most loving, disciplined and divinely instructed of human beings. Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect, is the perfection of parenthood, perhaps to be attained in its fullness only through parenthood.

The highest duty imposed upon him, it is also the most delicate; and he will have infinite humility, gentleness, love, and sound judgment, if he would present his child to God and the thought of God to the soul of his child."

(page 21 of "A Charlotte Mason Companion excerpted from "Parents and Children" by Charlotte Mason)

How more beautifully and specifically could I put the purpose of educating my children at home? Presenting my children to God and the thought of God to their souls...that is why I want to homeschool!

Photobucket

4 comments:

Amanda said...

I refer to that as "Return to Sender". God sent these children to me. They are His. It is my first priority as a parent to send them, spiritually, back to Him. Everything else falls into second place and yet nothing can really be done correctly without doing that first.

I think that passage by Charlotte Mason would look lovely written on a plaque or cross-stitched into some fabric. :)

Amanda said...

Oh, I forgot to ask you:

I'd love to invite you to join me over at my blog for Mommy Tip Tuesday. It's a meme or carnival (whatever it's called) of mine. Kinda of like what Crystal does at MoneySavingMom.

I think you've left a comment before so you may remember it. If you have a mommy tip you'd like to share with the rest of us, I'd love to have you join in! :)

Heidi said...

Mrs. Q~ I replied to your comment(s) over at my blog, but I'm afraid I don't have very good answers for you. I'm just now starting to implement some of CM ideas into our homeschool, and it will probably never look close to what her schools looked like. But I answered the best I could. :) Best wished on your homeschool journey!

Heidi said...

Just me again. :) I thought this might be a good link for starters:

http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/

It might help with planning for the early stages of K in a CM style. I see they use RightStart Math just as we do. The copywork downloads look helpful.

That sight in general has great resources. I encourage you to check it out.