Education, the Science of Relations: We are Educated by Our Intimacies (CM Blog Carnival)

I am honored to host the Charlotte Mason blog carnival. This month’s topic is Education, the Science of Relations, found in chapter 17 of volume 3.

We’ll start with two posts from Letters from Nebby, first, we need to avoid emotional manipulation. This is a huge issue for our culture, not just children but adults are subject to manipulation.

We live in a culture in which trying to influence others through their emotions and appetites is common practice. Think of advertisements and just how often we are exposed to them. Think of the stereotype of the mother laying a guilt trip on her child.

Nebby also helps us understand the finer points of Shielding our Children from Life. First, what is the difference between sheltering and shielding? And what questions should parents ask themselves?

But there is another way in which we seek to shelter our children. We try to keep from them the knowledge of what life is really like with all its warts and pains and griefs. This, I think, we do to their detriment and ultimately in vain.

From Dewey’s Treehouse we have Vocation, the Ultimate Intimacy. Don’t under-estimate children, give them the best. (Bonus: how to recognize a living book.)

If we assume that children won’t appreciate good music or art, that older books will be too hard or too dull for them (so we kindly abridge and adapt them all to death), that they won’t be able to survive a road trip, even, say, through amazing mountain scenery, without headphones and DVDs…we’re shortchanging them.

Celeste at Joyous Lessons moves us into the practical realm. In Scheduling by Week she takes us into the details of her schedule to show how we can actually accomplish our plans with real children. These are the posts I love – the “what is actually working” type posts.

Now that we’re more than a month into our first term and I’ve had a chance to “test drive” our plans, I’m going to do a few posts on what school looks in our home this year, with two third graders and a kindergartener.  (And, of course, four little ones too!  Since my preschool-aged kids outnumber my school-aged kids right now, our plans are influenced by them as well.)

Do you think narration is a little boring? Journey and Destination proves it doesn’t have to be with some very creative narrations by a young lady in year 3. Again, evidence that we should not under-estimate children.

I shouldn’t have been surprised because she’s been listening to poetry for years and absorbing rhythm, rhyme and the beauty of words and that should translate into her writing at some point but I wasn’t expecting it at this stage. Just as I wasn’t expecting her to get anything much from Plutarch, either.

And my own post, Why I Chose Ambleside Online, which has been growing in my mind as I see so many moms struggle to do everything themselves and to make everything perfect. My best homeschool decision was jumping into AO. Now I can teach and enjoy my family from a place of rest.

From one mom to another: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You may not choose Ambleside, but what you do choose should give you peace.

Thanks for visiting and happy reading!