Philosophy

We have toyed with the idea of home schooling ever since our first was just an infant. As time drew closer and closer to actually jumping in, I became more and more fearful of the prospect of educating our children. I got tripped up in the facts of reading and writing. How could I do it? Would I mess up and make mistakes? Would I be able to handle the day in and day out of being with our children with little break? I talked to everyone I knew who home schooled, read books, and tried to search out curriculum. I was stuck and knew no way forward, but then I had an epiphany. Home schooling is exactly what I do with them everyday with a bit more intentionality. If I could teach them to ride bikes, swim and get them potty trained, I could surely teach them to read, write, and everything else. Thankfully, you don’t begin having to teach calculus, so I realized that I could grow in teaching and learning right along with our children. Maybe home schooling them would home school me as well.

Once we were over this hurdle, we began to dream and imagine the type of life we wanted our children to have. What type of education did we want them to receive and what type of people did we want them to be? My husband and I took a weekend away and prayed and dreamed and wrote and asked God for guidance and came up with a big picture vision for our children. Then, and only then did we begin to pursue a method or curriculum to help support the original vision. For us, we couldn’t move forward with the pragmatic points of home schooling until our philosophy was set firm.

From the outset, we knew that home schooling would be a lifestyle that allowed for family travel. It has been a long held dream of ours to take our children on a pilgrimage around the world, immersing them in God’s movements in many cultures, not just the westernized American concept. It is very important to us to raise, “world citizens” who love the Lord and are kingdom-of-God minded first and foremost. We pray that our children will be at home with different cultures and different people.

Home schooling allows us to develop well read, well written people who know how to think for themselves. Thinking outside of the box is a very important trait that home schooling allows for; giving them freedom within structure and setting the dreams in their hearts to sail. We feel that learning is a lifelong habit and that God is speaking throughout the world in many ways and uses many tools to show us His truth. Home schooling would also allow for many important hands-on learning experiences; everything from cooking in the kitchen with Mom, fixing the car with Dad, to building things in the shop with their grandparents. All of these facets would be married to the concept that in the kingdom of God, our work is holy.

Then how do we want to spend the next 15 years, teaching and training our children for their ultimate good, and the advancement of the kingdom of God? It became clear to us both that we wanted to spend this time really getting to know our kids in deep meaningful ways that would give us insight into their gifts and calling. Then through great literature and international travel expose our children to the world. We would work with God constantly willing to seek the Holy Spirit for guidance every step of the way, keeping watch on their formation. That is how we were lead to the Charlotte Mason method. It gave us the structure we needed, the literature and culture that was essential, and the gentleness I needed to move forward. As we progress, I am sure this document will be revised and fine-tuned by the leading of the Holy Spirit and for that I am grateful. For now it is “one step at a time”.