Knowing God

A few Sundays ago, we started a new Equipping Seminar at our church. That's a fancy name for a more in-depth study of things pertaining to the Christian life. We've had two so far and this is the third. The first one was about how to study the bible. It was so awesome - stuff I'd never heard before. The last one was on the doctrine of the bible. It just went through how we got the bible, it's inspiration, transmission, etc. And this one we've just started is on the doctrine of God, basically covering the attributes of God.

Our pastor asked, "Why Study God?" Here are a few quotes that answer that question that I wanted to share. I found them encouraging and challenging.

"Knowing God is the purpose for why were created and the greatest ambition in our lives"

"What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the 'eternal life' that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God. 'This is eternal lie: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent' (John17:3). What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight and contentment, than anything else? Knowledge of God. 'The is what the Lord says, 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me' (Jer. 9:23-24). What, of all the states God ever sees man in, give Him more pleasure? Knowledge of himself. 'I desired...the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,' says God (Hosea 6:6)...Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord...What makes life worth while is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold or allegiance; and this the Christian has, in a way that no other man has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be that to know God.?" J.I. Packer Knowing God

"It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God. Few of us have let our hearts gaze in wonder at the I AM, the self-existent self back of which no creature can think. Such thoughts are too painful for us. We prefer to think where it will do more good - about how to build a better mousetrap, for instance, or how to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. For this we are now paying a too heavy price in the secularization of our religion and the decay of our inner lives. The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him - and of her. A.W. Tozer

Curriculum Project - Preschool Philosophy

This is part of a series I want to continue over the next months - my curriculum project. I've been working on it for quite a while. How did this begin? Well, first, I love children, education, teaching children and teaching about education and developing curriculum! Also, I've been interested in homeschooling for quite a while so I started researching as much as I could. And,  a few different people asked me to give them ideas for what to do if they did want to homeschool their children. I don't think anyone who asked actually decided to homeschool their kids or to take my approach but I've had a blast anyway. Sometimes it consumes me, sometimes it sits on the back burner. I would love to hear your comments! 

So here goes! This first one is a long one! Hang in there! Hopefully the rest won't be that long.

Disclaimer: I know that many parents who read this have chosen not to homeschool their kids or have decided on a different avenue to do so. Please know that I deeply respect your decision and am in no way trying to say you made bad choice! We all have our reasons and convictions for doing what we do and we need to respect one another in those. This is just an avenue for me to share my thoughts and heart, not to judge, and  to help anyone along who might be considering "homeschooling" their preschooler or trying a different approach.

I have put together a home "course" for preschoolers and kindergartners based on Charlotte Mason’s early childhood educational philosophy, my own thoughts and observations as a mom and as a former elementary school teacher with further educational background in childhood and family development and as one passionately interested in the education and general well-being of all children. I have not read all of Charlotte Mason’s work so I am going by what I have gleaned from other books and summaries about her ideas. I also have an interest in and some knowledge of classical education which greatly influences the direction of my philosophy and curriculum but, in my opinion, classical education is not suitable for very young children as it seems to be too much, too early. I do however apply many aspects of the classical education model (the trivium - grammar stage, logic stage, rhetoric stage) to my curriculum when children enter 3rd or 4th grade. I also believe that Charlotte Mason's approach is very applicable and compatible with classical education and is a kind of classical model in itself though some things do differ. At first glance, many may assume that Charlotte Mason's approach is not rigorous enough and is perhaps watered-down but from my research that does not appear to be the case at all.  So without further ado, let me introduce you to this inspiring lady and her philosophy that gives the framework for my early childhood "curriculum." 

Charlotte Mason was an educator who lived in England in the late 1800's. She had a huge influence on British education for many years. She trained teachers and started her own school for teacher training. Her course of education, starting in elementary school, included many and varied subjects for all ages including all the basics plus art and music appreciation, handicrafts and foreign language as well as others. She highly stressed the use of "living" books - whole books and primary sources instead of textbooks and workbooks. High quality, whole picture and chapter books as well as nonfiction books add much more depth of knowledge than what she called the "twaddle" of textbooks that give stories in summaries or portions and information in tidbits without much intrinsic worth, beauty or literary value.

Using living books tends to eliminate the need for comprehension questions and other time-consuming aspects of modern language arts programs. Instead children are more likely to tell back to you what they've learned because of the interest and love of knowledge and imagination these books have generated.  Charlotte called this narration, the art of retelling a story orally or in written form and believed it "is the best way to acquire knowledge [and comprehension] from books. Narration also provides opportunities for a child to form an opinion or make a judgment, no matter how crude." It also gives the student practice in oral and written communication. "The child learns to call on the vocabulary and descriptive power of good writers as he 'tells' his own version of the passage or chapter." 

Mason also enforced the need for short lessons in order to train and focus attention, increase listening skills and discourage drifting thoughts. These lessons gradually increase in length as the child grows. This method also promotes self-education and a love of learning, thereby eliminating the need to give lectures and to continually lead lessons. She also stressed the need for children to be outside and to have free afternoons starting around 1:00 so children were not given homework until around 13 years of age. 

As for younger children (before age 6), she felt they needed to not be in school, but rather outside as much as possible exploring the natural world, being read to, and learning the discipline of habits that would form a foundation for later, more focused learning and responsibility. Why not school for preschoolers? Children learn the bulk of everything by free-playing and observing and discovering. By going to school early, much of that time for discovery and free-play which so greatly enhances the imagination and intellect is lost. A mother's chief responsibilities for the first six years is to secure for her children "Quiet growing time--and free growing time--the freedom of real play (not lessons that look like play) and of ordering one's own life. page 194 This isn't just an archaic philosophy, this is a current philosophy among experts in early childhood development. Unfortunately, this doesn't carry over to most experts in early childhood education or by our government's understanding of our youngest children's greatests needs for learning.

So my idea of preschool is very simple - basically to just read to your little ones a lot, teach them good habits and let them explore and learn from their world. Go on nature walks and talk about what you see, collect things along the way, make a nature notebook. Go to the library to pick out new books and to listen to story time, go to the zoo, to botanical gardens, visit museums of interest,  plant a garden, play with friends, enjoy many lazy afternoons outside, learn about and meet missionaries, listen to books on tape, do somersaults, catch butterflies and fireflies and caterpillars and crickets, lay in the grass and watch the leaves blowing in the wind and the clouds changing shape, listen to classical music, bluegrass and jazz, watch the Olympics, go to a concert, draw pictures, make crafts, play board games, make up stories and songs, say tongue twisters, teach finger plays, cook together, serve in the community, have teatime, memorize scripture, pray with them, sing nursery rhymes and hymns, read fairy tales and poems and bible stories, count everything. Most of all, take the time to train their habits and their heart, let them play outside as much as possible (CM recommended 4-6 hours a day!), turn off the tv and read to them. 

To further explain that last sentence - after spending much more time on the internet perusing what others post on blogs and pinterest for preschool (including myself!) and after much thought and prayer and experimentation and observation of my own children and others, I've also come to some more conclusions about homeschool preschool. First, my foremost responsibility as a mother is spiritual education. I see these early years of utmost importance in pouring the Word of God and major ideas about God in the their little souls and to train their hearts, not just their behavior.  Learning letters and numbers is good and I want to teach those things but I have plenty of time for that. I wanted to start as early as possible on the spiritual aspect and not let the other trump it. That is what I want to put the majority of my time and effort into - praying through, reading about and discovering how to do this. So lately I've let that become more of my focus.

And as Mason emphasizes, I want to concentrate on building habits into their lives - habits like obedience, responsibility, truthfulness, concentration, a job well done, etc. As I wrote above, these are the foundation for much learning and are real world skills. And much of them stem from the heart. These take lots of time and constant repetition and much patience (I need lots of help in this department!). I see the importance of focusing more on these things in the early years than on academics.

All of that being said, there are tons of ideas on pinterest and the internet for teaching preschoolers at home. You could spend months looking at all the resources and still not see it all! There are lap books and lap trays and do-a-dots and busy bags and work boxes, printables of all sorts, workbooks,  etc, etc, etc ad nauseum! At first I was really sucked into these because they looked like a lot of fun, albeit a lot of work to initially put together and potentially expensive. However, as time has passed, I am beginning to question the true value of these. Don't get me wrong. I do implement some of these from time to time just to add variety into our routine. However, much of these activities teach things that can be learned through the natural discovery and general growing process and veer away from Mason's philosophy that I so love. Take  learning colors and shapes and even letters for example. I didn't sit down with Wes to teach colors or shapes. Just in the process of reading, playing and his very curious mind he learned these things very early. To do a worksheet or a lap tray seems like unnecessary busy work for him and me! Sure he still gets a couple of colors mixed up but he's not quite 4 yet. He's got a lot of time to get that down and I'm not worried a bit. Those are just two examples. I see something that looks really fun online and am gung-ho to do it with Wes but then as I start to really analyze it, I see that most of what is being taught is something that can be learned in a more natural way. However, I do appreciate the ladies that have put so much creative thought and energy into creating these activities! They do spur on my thinking and creativity as well. 

Although this philosophy may seem haphazard and unstructeured, I have put a kind of relaxed, practical structure to it. What can I say? I'm a teacher! I can't help myself! I look forward to sharing that with you later. I also plan on posting ways to do nature study with children and will explain what that is (I"m just learning myself), a list of parent reading resources and have already posted age-appropriate book lists, although as time has passed, I see the need to revise these. 

Finally, just for your information. one aspect of Mason's philosophy that I do not heartily agree with is that I've heard it described as child-centered. I do not really believe in the child being the center of anything. I do agree with her ideas about children being individuals with their own gifts and abilities who should be greatly appreciated as humans, thoroughly loved as individuals and encouraged in their interests and pursuits. But to completely give children free reign over their lives as seems to be what much educational philosophy teaches these days promotes, is, I believe, detrimental to the child as an individual, to their families and to society as a whole in which these children are raised. However, I don't think this was Charlotte Mason's intent in her philosophy. I believe it was her desire in her era to bring children out of the "children should be seen and not heard" realm of childhood and parenting philosophy and as such called it a more child-centered education. I think she would not have approved of our current child-centered educational and parenting philosophy.