Ideas

Last Friday night I was privileged to attend a talk by Maryellen and Bill St. Cyr from the Ambleside School in Fredericksburg. They had come to South Africa to help and encourage a school who are trying to implement a Charlotte Mason philosophy with their students. As the school supports homeschooling we were invited to attend. Bill St. Cyr, who has a string of degrees behind his name, opened by saying : “We believe, as Charlotte Mason, did that the Holy Spirit is the only true educator and we are merely facilitators of what He is teaching.”

The talk has inspired me to pick up my volumes of her Original Homeschooling Series and reread them. This is my current favorite thought – or idea – at the moment: ” A child’s mind…is rather a spiritual organism with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper diet, with which it is prepared to deal, and which it can digest and assimilate as the body does foodstuffs.”

We are nearing the end of our 3 week school holiday. Time away from “schoolish” activities have caused an initial bout of complaining: “What can I do, Mom?”. But it has given our children time to spend long uninterrupted days playing and creating things of their own. Our older son has been teaching our 4 year old how to build airplanes with Lego. Our oldest daughter has added a host of new paper horses to her paper horse collection and our 7 year old daughter has become fascinated with scrap booking!

We took our little ones training wheels off his bike as he is determined to keep up with his older siblings when they ride around the block. He has managed very well. The heart issues that have been exposed have been interesting. I noticed that there was an inability for one of my children to congratulate him on his achievement, but rather tried to turn the attention to themselves instead. We had a good chat about this.

I have added some organizational tips and some tips to help your children with their chores to the website. These come in the form of a weekly email to help and encourage you.

One of the best tips I ever learnt, and applied, is knowing what to have for dinner in the morning. During the week I try and keep my meals simple but I love to cook new and interesting recipes on the weekends when I have more time.

I have also made good use of the free days by adding a very important topic to the site! Romantic ideas for married couples! It is so important that we keep the priorities right in our home. Our marriage existed before children and homeschooling. Take a look there – you will find non-elaborate and easy ways to light the spark of romance in your marriage.

President Theodore Rooseveldt at the 1970 annual address to congress stated: ” When home ties are loosened, when men and woman cease to regard a worthy family life, with all its duties and all its responsibilities lived up, as the best life worth living, then evil days for the nation are at hand.”

As Tour De France FEVER grips our home due to our avid cyclist dad, we have been reading a children’s biography of Lance Armstrong . I have reviewed it on my site. We have so enjoyed knowing a bit more about this heroic man who has overcome in many situations and stands as the only man, so far, to win the Tour 7 consecutive times.

I have been so encouraged by the traffic to my site. It means two things: People are getting to hear the message of a Living homeschool experience and that the money I spent with Site Build It! has not been wasted. I have put up a page to show how this site came into being – have a look – maybe you have something you would like to share with the world!

‘Til next time,
God’s richest blessings to you as you homeschool,
Wendy