She Gave Me a Voice
"Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life...We owe it to them [children] to initiate an immense number of interests...Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking—the strain would be too great—but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest." (Vol 3)
~Charlotte Mason
When we first made the decision to homeschool, I went to my only homeschooling friend at the time for advice. Thank God all you need is one AMAZING homeschooling mom as a guide to get you on the right path and Sarynette was my “one”. As always, she listened quietly. She heard our testimony of what led us to homeschool and my plans moving forward. Then she asked me the following question:
“What approach are you going to use in your homeschool?”
“Approach?” I asked, a bit puzzled.
“Yes. Like what model are you planning to use? Will it be classical? Will it be unschooling?”
There was a short pause. I was unsure of how to respond.
Model? I didn’t know any model. All I knew was that I wanted to teach my girl through literature, including tons of MULTICULTURAL books. I wanted her to have a Biblical education. I also loved the idea of hands-on learning outdoors and with creative projects. But I was clueless to all the different approaches out there.
We continued to talk and Sarynette recommended some resources for me to look into. She shared her own homeschooling experiences with her 3 children that were invaluable and then she prayed for me.
After the conversation ended, I started researching curriculum. I really didn’t want to use a curriculum because I knew there was nothing out there designed specifically for my daughter. Only I could do that. Nevertheless, it seemed wise to do the research before making any final decisions.
As I read website after website, the Holy Spirit confirmed what He had already placed on my heart:
I did NOT want to recreate school in our home.
I wanted school to be EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE.
I was going to design our own
curriculum to make this happen.
One homeschooling mama (I’m so sorry I can’t remember which website it was) recommended creating a homeschool vision since every family is unique in every sense of the word. She said knowing the vision for your family would lead you to the right philosophy or curriculum. So that’s exactly what my husband and I did.
We thought about who our daughter, Isabel, is as a person, not just with academics. We focused on the whole child: Mind, Body, & Soul. First and foremost, we wanted the Word of God to permeate her heart and soul so the Bible had to be the leading book in her instruction. There was no question about that.
Before pulling her out of 1st grade, Isabel had already proven to do well academically. But WHERE she FLOURISHED was in the arts. Her artistic abilities were evident from a young age. Whether it was painting, drawing, or crafts, she absolutely loved to create from scratch. Where I saw an empty box to be recycled, she saw an automobile, a robot’s head or a claw machine; then she made it out of nothing. This love of creating spilled over into dance. At 3 years old, Isabel was already choreographing dances, letting music lead her to very purposeful movements. She was a wonder to watch.
Of course, we wanted Isabel to continue doing well academically, but we also wanted her to grow in the arts, athletics (she loves gymnastics) and foreign language, especially Spanish so she could easily communicate with our non-English speaking family members. She needed creative outlets and to be outdoors, learning in nature.
Since our family is of Puerto Rican descent, we also wanted to make sure she learned about our heritage history alongside the rest of American history.
As a result, we agreed we wanted our daughter’s education to be:
- Bible-centered
- Literature-based
- Multicultural
- Hands-on
- Outdoors
- Incorporating the Arts
- Integrating Spanish instruction
- Inclusive of our heritage history
We then set forth on our homeschooling journey. Even with all the challenges we faced the first couple of years that I described in my first post “How My Daughter Chose Charlotte Mason”, there were Holy Spirit-filled moments of peace. Those were the times when we were snuggled up together reading a wonderful book or outdoors exploring nature at a beach by our home ( “Finding Beauty Amidst Concrete” ) or when she created an Iroquois longhouse from square one with her artist of a godmother. These moments were priceless and they reminded me that God was in control.
However, any time we met a new homeschooling family, the same question arose: What curriculum do you use?
Most of the homeschooling families around me spent a lot of time at home while we were outdoors often. Some families used a complete curriculum while my daughter and I were just reading straight from a book. I found myself nicely justifying why I was creating my own “curriculum”. Quite honestly, I felt like an oddball.
I had to continually remind myself of our family vision statement and be intentional in not comparing our homeschool with others. I knew I shouldn’t compare. I’m the one who tells my daughter every so often: It’s not okay to compare but it’s great to be inspired. It’s just unbelievable how comparison is such a strong (and annoying) human trait embedded deep within me. With all our struggles the first two years, the LAST thing I needed to be doing was comparing our unique situation with that of others.
That’s when I met Charlotte Mason. Finally, I found a philosophy that was in line with what the Holy Spirit had placed on my heart for homeschooling our daughter!
Here are just a few of Miss Mason’s quotes so you can see why there was an instant connection:
EDUCATION
“In the saying that education is a life, the need of intellectual and moral as well as of physical sustenance is implied. The mind feeds on ideas, and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.”
“Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education.”
LITERATURE
“One more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books. The best is not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough. And if it is needful to exercise economy, let go everything that belongs to soft and luxurious living before letting go the duty of supplying the books, and the frequent changes of books, which are necessary for the constant stimulation of the child’s intellectual life.”
“To introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child’s intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find.”
THE BIBLE
“But we are considering, not the religious life of children, but their education by lessons; and their Bible lessons should help them to realise in early days that the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and, therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.”
“The indwelling of Christ is a thought particularly fit for the children, because their large faith does not stumble at the mystery, their imagination leaps readily to the marvel, that the King Himself should inhabit a little child’s heart.”
“Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child, the knowledge of God, of man, and of the universe,–the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making.”
NATURE STUDY
“…point to some lovely flower or gracious tree, not only as a beautiful work, but a beautiful thought of God, in which we may believe He finds continual pleasure, and which He is pleased to see His human children rejoice in.”
“Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life…”
“Never be within doors when you can rightly be without.”
THE ARTS
“We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child’s sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture.”
“There are always those present with us whom God whispers in the ear, through whom He sends a direct message to the rest. Among these messengers are the great painters who interpret to us some of the meanings of life. To read their messages aright is a thing due from us.”
HISTORY
“Next in order to religious knowledge, history is the pivot upon which our curriculum turns.”
“Once Intellect admits us into the realms of History, we live in a great and stirring world, full of entertainment and sometimes of regret; and at last we begin to understand that we, too, are making History, and that we are all part of the whole; that the people who went before us were all very like ourselves, or else we should not be able to understand them. If some of them were worse than we, and in some things their times were worse than ours, yet we make acquaintance with many who were noble and great, and our hearts beat with a desire to be like them.”
In addition to many other delights, Miss Mason was also adamant about her students:
- learning numerous foreign languages
- creating all types of handicrafts
- keeping nature journals
- studying composers
- learning to play instruments
- being physically fit
- and so much more!!!
How was all this learning to happen? Much of it was through books of substance! Living books from biographies to classic literature, the Bible to nature lore, and more! It was all literature-based, creative, outdoors and included the arts! It was a philosophy that allowed me to choose what books to use, when to use them and how.
But it doesn’t stop there:
“Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life…We owe it to them [children] to initiate an immense number of interests…Life should be all living, and not merely a tedious passing of time; not all doing or all feeling or all thinking—the strain would be too great—but, all living; that is to say, we should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest.” (Vol 3)
I wanted to do cartwheels and somersaults because I was no longer the “oddball”! Charlotte Mason gave me a voice! God led me to her and “she” was much more than a curriculum. It was a lifestyle that would nourish the mind, body and soul of my daughter! It would allow us to live each day in deliberate appreciation of all His creation from nature to music to art. In fact, each and every discipline, in one form or another, points to God. Hence, we provide a FULL LIFE to our child!!!
I am forever grateful to Miss Mason for listening to the Holy Spirit’s whispers that are still loud and clear today through her life-changing work.
If you’d like to create your own Homeschool Vision Statement, my friends, Mariana & Simone, created a PDF: “From Conflict to Clarity” that they freely bless you with here.
So much of this resonates with my heart too. Thanks for sharing the journey!
Thank you Veronica! I just love how God uses Charlotte Mason to speak to our hearts, no matter the uniqueness of our families or where we are in life.
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