Such a fun weekend with my two boys--I was so sad to leave. They are best friends and great companions.
Talking, discussing ideas, sharing thoughts about God, what we have been reading--just bubbling over each other with chatter and sharing of ourselves with each other is the "Clarkson" way. Always lots and lots of words spilling between us. But my mama heart loves seeing who my adult children have become. They are most interesting and inspiring to be around for me as an adult--and they call me to my highest ideals.
Often, when people get to know my adult children, they ask me, "What did you do in your home? What curriculum did you use? Why are all of your children writers? Why do they still love God?"
I believe that all homes are designed to be a sanctuary of all that is sacred and all that is excellent and true. Discipleship, (mentoring our children or others to love Christ and to live for His kingdom) is at the heart of our home. Shaping it into a place where all that is good, true and beautiful can be cultivated in hearts, minds and souls. As mothers, artists of all that is excellent and true in the world, we get to design our homes and cultivate them into a place that fills the souls of our children with wisdom, truth, and the skill of living. What we invest into them is what will come out of them.
But now, with the proliferation of curriculums, things to buy, activities to be involved in, mamas overload themselves with pressure to perform, schedules that are overfull and impossible tasks to accomplish. No wonder women burn out and become exhausted, angry and disillusioned. And so much of what they buy into is exhausting their lives and un-useful and demotivating to their children and to them.
Homeschooling really is a heart issue--capturing their hearts with vision, truth, story, imagination of what they can become in their lifetimes and lots of great resources stored inside.
No doubt about it, homeschooling is a long, arduous journey that requires many years. But God intended home and family to be a place of great blessing and joy. Homeschooling should be organic, an extension of home life.
Today, Kristen and I begin to discuss some of what that looks like for us. Hope you enjoy our podcast. We are learning a lot and are hopefully both going to have balanced microphones for the next sessions! Little by little.