A Born Person

A little update on how I am spending my summer... Much of the summer for me is spent lesson planning and making sure we have everything we need to get through our upcoming school year. I think this will be the first of several posts throughout the summer of what we are planning to study and do, and some of our philosophies about education.

We apply a Charlottle Mason philosophy of learning in our home, combined with some Classical education as well. Some great resources to discover more about both of these ways of teaching and learning are

Ambleside Online and
Trivium Pursuit

When we first started to consider homeschooling I read a book called For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCauley. The author is the daughter of the theologian, Frances Shaeffer and he and his wife Edith have literally changed our lives personally through their writings. When I found their daughter's book it was so life giving and began to shape much of what we do in our home.

Here is a quote that I have been considering over the last few days:

The Child is a Born Person
" This first position of Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy may seem merely a statement of the obvious. But it is not some minor element of a greater truth. It is a central truth in its own right, and if we ignore it, great sorrow and malpractice can result. Try a smiple experiment. Take a small child on your knee. Respect him. Do not see him as something to prune, form or mold. This is an individual who thinks, acts, and feels. He is a separate human being whose strength lies in who he is, not in who he will become. If his choices now and in the future are to be good ones, this person must understand reality and see the framework of truth.... We are told by many in our generation that this small child is a cog in a machine, or even that he is a possession, like a pet animal.... We must answer: NO. You are holding a person on your knee and that is wonderful."