Row, Row, Row your Boat

You will find something far greater in the woods than you will find in books.
Stones and trees will teach you that which you will never learn from masters.

--St. Bernard of Clarivaux

September had brought a crisp morning air. First day of school for this year. Fishing.

When we first stared homeschooling I would have had a hard time doing this. I thought that we should start school 'properly'. This in now our seventh year! Hard to believe. But I have come to realize that "the acquisition of mere learning is not necessarily education at all." (Charlotte Mason)


Although the 'fishermen' came in empty handed this time and quite cold it was a great way to start the year. After a snack, some reading and math we were off on a nature walk. A casual walk of observing, collecting treasures, and the grade 5 student capturing photos of things that were of interest to her.

































A good day of curiously discovering.

CARE Academy

“Our aim in Education is to give a Full Life. — We begin to see what we want. Children make large demands upon us. We owe it to them to initiate an immense number of interests. ‘Thou hast set my feet in a large room’ should be the glad cry of every intelligent soul. 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… The question is not, — how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education — but how much does he care?”
–Charlotte Mason





Last week I felt the pressure and stress mounting as I thought about the beginning of school. We have had a quiet summer and enjoyed our holidays and slow rythms and time to freely play and some organized recreational sports in the evenings. However, the thought of rushing around and making sure we get everything done ~and teaching math facts~ seems to put me in a panic.

I came back to thinking about the name that we gave our school at the end of last year. We really don't want to change the atmosphere in our home just because 'school' is starting. Learning is to be lifelong and continuous, not just nine months of the year.




So what do we want our homeschool to look like. As mentioned in the above quote we want our children to care. We want their learning to lead to a full life. It is our desire that their learning and faith will be integrated. We will learn about God and His world. This needs to happen by example as well. As their mother I never stop learning and it is so amazing how much my children teach me.

As we learn together this is what we desire our homeschool to look like:

For other home education posts click here.