It Won’t All Stick
As I’ve entered my 10th year homeschooling this Fall, I wanted to send some encouragement your way to those of you who are just starting out, or who have only been homeschooling for a short while. Homeschooling families often experience wells of internal pressure, wondering, “how will we complete all of this?” The pressure can also be external as well-meaning family and friends express concern over learning gaps (and socialization). This pressure can positively wreck a new homeschooling family’s peace of mind and drift their course off path if sharp enough. I need to let you know that of all the sticky notes of information that we put before our children during their homeschool years only some will stick and crinkle with age, most won’t remain on the mirror. Homeschooling quickly becomes a lifestyle, and you begin to think less and less of ‘school-lessons’ and instead, just ‘life’ as the years press on. Diligence in academics (over recalling facts), consistency in character-building, perseverance in physical training, fellowship with peers and family, extracurricular experiences, and a growing faith in God create a solid and holistic soul. Consider examples from my family. I have students who are flustered by a lot of math yet push through the discomfort to do about 10-15 minutes per day, even in the summer. It is this diligent character that I want to stick. Stories stick and so it is the moral lessons that are built upon living books that will stand the test of time. It is the routine and habit of moving our bodies along with the seasons (lake swimming, hiking, etc.) that will reach into their adulthood and make a difference. And the community that is built with regular church attendance and the faith that is built as we face challenges and are witness to God’s love, care, correction, and goodness that we want to see still sticking as time goes on. Swap out a few activities and your family is just like mine. Perhaps you have not considered yourself to be nurturing a whole person because these things don’t tick off provincial learning outcomes. The majority of your homeschooling role is to bolster the person and celebrate the sum of the whole, not just complete the small academic portion of each individual. Even during difficult seasons where one may feel that schooling falls by the wayside, there is still forward motion. The human brain is curious and driven to keep learning and parents hold the rudder, guiding our young children on what to learn. But they will inevitably be the ones to keep the boat going. And whether a lackadaisical summer-day row, a fever-pitch race, or a leak in the boat, every bit is momentum towards who they will become. We have a grand privilege to watch every part of it and God uses it all including our persistent work and love. The sticky notes that stick? Those are the glimpses of the people they are becoming. The student may forget the dates of past wars, or might not remember how to solve quadratic equations, but does any of this matter in the formation of a human being who is developing to reflect God’s glory? Also, those sticky notes that stick contains their gifts, talents, and aspirations; they will remain and likely blossom into something beautiful over time. Feed and nurture those! As you look back, the crinkly and aged yellow paper that is still on the mirror were previews to who they are becoming. We will never get to all the read-alouds, or every science lab, but we can reorient our expectations to provide security and love to the growing immortal soul in front of us. “How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? G.K. Chesterton ____________________________________________________________________ My name is Sarah Mast and I homeschool my two kids in Ft. Langley, BC. One of my favorite aspects of homeschooling is the community gained, and I volunteer with a local support group to help foster that and connect others. My family loves the outdoors and traveling, and our weekends include skiing, swimming, hiking, or biking depending on the season. I found Classical Education Books at a conference and noticed their well-curated selection of children’s books. I kept tabs on their collection of the classics and hard-to-find books and reached out. Now I get to help customers hone their collections, and work on the ever-growing inventory here at CEB!
Sensing God (Book Review)
Here’s my honest review of the book “Sensing God” by author, Joel Clarkson. I have long been a listener to famed homeschool parent and author Sally Clarkson and her podcast At Home With Sally. Her words drip with encouragement for parents with children of any age (including adult children) as she shares the struggles and joys of both raising children in the Christian faith and homeschooling over many decades. Over the years, I’ve discovered that all of her four homeschool-graduated children are creative in unique ways, and I’ve gone on to follow their work as well. It is challenging, relevant, and unique within their own skill-sets and personalities. The child I “knew” the least about was Joel. He is perhaps most well-known for his narration in The Green Ember series; or even his compositions and music on Spotify, but his debut book, Sensing God, was as beautiful as his melodies, and just the right read to put me back in touch with the physical manifestations of joy and creation after a very long and draining season. Joel writes about music, story, nature, feasting, fine arts, and more, and brings in examples in every chapter of ‘high’ and ‘low’ artistry in these avenues. He points back to the Creator God, who first demonstrated beauty in the senses by creating. Joel encourages the reader to fully indulge and delight in these experiences throughout our lives as a form of worship. I am not someone who is known for ‘feeling’. I have a stiff upper lip and work through my to-do list and life as a general. My husband’s nickname for me, “Spartan wife”, can be painfully accurate. As I read through Sensing God, I know that on more than one occasion my posture relaxed. Clarkson had me looking up composers I’d never heard, just to play the song mentioned in the chapter while making breakfast. I researched art that I was given context to; grasping the visual meaning and my soul feeling richer in the meantime. My mind and my spirit were engaged and fed through each chapter. It felt joyful. I am going to read through this book again this upcoming Advent and will be pairing it with my second year of feasting on the visual images, poetry/music, and the context written by students and faculty of Biola University’s Advent Project. If you are feeling parched from this past season, and need some spiritual refreshment that is both beautiful and meaty, I strongly recommend Sensing God to help recalibrate your heart and mind; and worship God in the many ways He has gifted us through the senses. My name is Sarah Mast and I homeschool my two kids in Ft. Langley, BC. One of my favorite aspects of homeschooling is the community gained, and I volunteer with a local support group to help foster that and connect others. My family loves the outdoors and traveling, and our weekends include skiing, swimming, hiking, or biking depending on the season. I found Classical Education Books at a conference and noticed their well-curated selection of children’s books. I kept tabs on their collection of the classics and hard-to-find books and reached out. Now I get to help customers hone their collections, and work on the ever-growing inventory here at CEB!
