summing up...
the series on the Philosphy of Education
I. Why talk about the philosophy of education?
In this post, I explain my chronic-March-fatigue as a homeschooler. In an attempt to root out the cause of my fatigue, I rethink my educational philosophy.
II. The Power of a River
I propose in this post that there is a force in the contemporary school which does not exist in the homeschool. As a Homeschooling mother, I cannot duplicate or create the force that the contemporary school possesses. I need to cultivate the force of the homeschool which is joy. (Another force which the homeschool possesses is the force of family traditions. Will this idea spawn another post?)
III. Hiking and the Educational Plan
Homeschooling should be similar in experience to the hike – challenging enough to give a workout yet not so challenging as to cause injury.
IV. Education Requires Discipline
Examining the discipline required in the contemporary school. It seems to be a discipline from the outside which doesn’t necessarily teach the habit of education.
V. The Discipline of the Homeschool
The family provides the primary form of discipline. Conformity need not pass over into the educational life of the homeschool student.
VI.Greenhouse as an Image of the Homeschool
A Homeschooling mother who has many young children or special needs children or many emotional demands needs to spend time on her family and its needs.
VII. Lesson Plans and the Horse Drawn Carriage
Using another’s plans may very well feel like a jolting ride, inside a horse drawn carriage with a blind driver.
VIII. Atmosphere
The homeschool atmosphere is dependent upon the internal disposition of the homeschool mother.
IX. Practical Helps to implement the new ideas
(This is not posted yet. Although, this post may also end up becoming more than one post. I’ll edit this to reflect what actually gets posted.)
These posts can also be accessed by clicking on the label:
Educational Philosphy
Labels:
Educational Philosophy,
Homeschooling
2 comments:
I think homeschooling is wonderful. I attended Catholic schools, but I am sure I would have learned more in every way had I been homeschooled. My brother was homeschooled for a year which he really enjoyed. That being said, I also think that homeschooling is a product and symptom of the collapse of Catholic schools. Here is my thinking: No religious means no low-cost, high-quality teachers in schools; no real, solid Catholicism in schools means parents don't really want to send their children there, so they "drop out" of Catholic schools. Then, parents circle back and make an unrelated argument for this situation: mothers are natural teachers of their children, they can tailor lessons well, etc. I don't think this situation is bad at all, or that these propositions are untrue, but (correct me if I am wrong--I have done no research on this but believe I am right) Catholics did not make this argument nor use this approach to schooling until recently, when they did not want to send their children to Catholic schools.
I don't mind if you don't post this comment, but do write me an email in a month or so when you have time, if you have any thoughts on my theory of the origins of homeschooling. My other fear about it is that it will be a "self-fulfilling prophecy" as more and more parents, who aren't familiar with the older times when Catholics went to Catholic schools, will "check out" and everyone who cares about Catholic education will be homeschooling, leaving Catholic schools mediocre indeed. However, really I think that either this has already happened and I didn't notice, or, with the resurgence of really solid orders of religious that we're seeing, in ten years or so they'll be a great many more religious in schools and things will be getting bettter that way.
Or, contrariwise, do you think that homeschooling is something most families SHOULD have been doing all along, but which was only made obvious by the decline in Catholic education?
Great thoughts Mary -- thanks for sharing them. I'm glad to consider them.
I would be happy to email you. I'm not sure that I have your email. Mine is listed in the profile section of the blog. Would you email me first?
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