source: Grief by C.Angeles
THE SYMPTOMS
Are you having a difficult time rising in the mornings and
facing the day?
Does the thought of another day of ‘school’ make you
depressed?
Do you find yourself inventing excuses to skip lessons with
your children?
Do you spend more time at homeschool social events rather
than teaching your children?
Is your house a mess and you are flying by the seat of your
pants when it comes to meal preparation?
Are you barking orders at your kids throughout the day?
Does every new curriculum that comes along look like the
panacea for your homeschool blues?
THE DISEASE
If you can answer yes to two or more of these questions,
then most likely you are experiencing homeschool burnout. Burnout is a very
dangerous disease that can lead to the death of a homeschool. If parents remain
in burnout for very long, they generally end up sending their children to a
private or public institution simply because the pain of this illness is too
great to bear any longer. You need a cure, and you need it fast. Well, I have good news for you, the cure is
at your fingertips and the medicine is pleasant. Read on.
THE CURE
Everyone loves a good story. We instinctively know that a
good story tells the truth about something. It also inspires us to be better
than we are. Stories encourage us to continue a task even when facing
impossible odds. We were wired to enjoy stories. God uses stories throughout
the Bible to communicate truth to humans. Truth wrapped in story appeals to
children and adults alike. Children get
a thrill when they read about the heroic exploits of King Arthur and his knights
of the round table, Harriet Tubman risking her life to hide slaves or when Dad
reads aloud from the Bible about brave, young David fighting the giant Goliath.
Heroic tales from history, literature and legend contain deep truths that we
all must learn in order to become people of character and virtue. Truth is the most fundamental aspect of
a child’s education.
If your school days have more workbooks and textbooks than
story books, your children’s minds are feeling the strain and they need the
medicine of truth wrapped in story. But sometimes we let our fears cloud our
judgment. Educational jargon bombards
our minds- ‘comprehension,’ ‘vocabulary,’ ‘reading level,’ ‘mastery.’ Before we know it, our children are stooped
low over a table writing out wearisome exercises. The light of curiosity has
left their eyes. They only complete the dreaded task because Mom either offers
a trivial reward or a dreadful punishment. This dreary, daily routine continues
on only to appease that boogey called ‘Fear.’ Maybe we have forgotten:
“The object of children's literary studies is not to give
them precise information as to who wrote what in the reign of whom? - but to
give them a sense of the spaciousness of the days, not only of great Elizabeth,
but of all those times of which poets, historians and the makers of tales, have
left us living pictures. In such ways the children secure, not the sort of information
which is of little cultural value, but wide spaces wherein imagination may take
those holiday excursions deprived of which life is dreary…” Charlotte Mason,
British educator
I urge you to put away the textbooks and let your children read
real, living books that engage your children’s imaginations and sense of
wonder! Maybe you started out with story, but it has fallen by the wayside.
It’s never too late to pick it back up again. Even the high school student is
never too old for a good story.
Children not only need a diet of truth to thrive, but they
also need to be surrounded by beauty.
It feeds the soul. We know this because we are all created in the image of God
and He loves beauty. Since we resemble our Maker in many ways, we desire the
same things that God desires and enjoys. When our craving for beauty remains
unmet we begin to experience negative emotions. Depression can set in and we
find ourselves in a ‘rut.’
Please do not fall for the lie that education consists of
the three Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic. That couldn’t be further from
the truth. The three Rs are simply the tools one must learn in order to become
educated. In reality, these disciplines should be a very small part of a
child’s education. A truly educated person has had as many doors of truth and
beauty opened to him as possible. Only then can one know how to truly live and
enjoy a full life honoring to God.
A child should be surrounded by beautiful works of art and
inspiring music of all kinds. He should be encouraged to explore these areas of
beauty by using his natural God-given ability and desire to create. This type
of learning is like play to a child. It seems almost sinful. Shouldn’t learning
be more academic? When did we become convinced that learning was a hard,
difficult task? Learning should be joy-filled, just as our Maker is.
If your school lessons are taking all day, you are going
against a child’s nature. It is in his nature to explore God’s creation and
drink in the beauties around him. Mornings should be set aside for lessons, but
afternoons are for outside. Children should be outside every day for at least a
few hours. But in today’s culture. Many children remain indoors glued to a
chair staring at a computer game. They
need a firm hand to switch off the screen and lead them outside.
“As for that aesthetic
appetency . . . it dies of inanition when beauty is not duly presented to it,
beauty in words, in pictures and music, in tree and flower and sky… The
function of the sense of beauty is to open a paradise of pleasure for us.”
-C.Mason
They may not even know what to do with themselves at first,
but eventually they will exult in their new-found freedom. When my children were very young, I chose not
to use a science curriculum. Instead, I invested in several Audubon field
guides. We lived in a city of five million people crammed together like
sardines in high rise apartments. Our apartment was on the ninth floor. I spent
our afternoons looking for green places, which was no easy task. But my
children’s natural curiosity was preserved and gradually trained to observe the
beautiful wonders of creation hiding in bushes, under stones and in empty lots.
We spent hours learning how to draw and paint and identify the natural world. I
was a student right along with them. I
didn’t need to fear about ‘gaps in scientific knowledge.’ Today, one is
studying astrophysics and the other is an artist who still spends many an hour
wandering fields and forest with a sketch book and field guide. More
importantly, our souls were nourished on beauty and our school days were happy
ones.
The last medicine one needs in order to cure homeschool
burnout is a sense of order. Even
though a person can learn to adapt to a chaotic environment, they will have a
difficult time thriving because we need some order in our lives.
Children want to know what to expect in a day. This doesn’t
mean you need to make detailed schedules, but a daily routine should be posted
where they can see it and know what to expect. They also need a beautiful, orderly
environment. Maybe it’s time to throw out the old and bring in the new, whether
that is a drawer full of papers or just rearranging furniture. Moms need this
too. It’s difficult to keep a home orderly and neat when you have a lot of
possessions. You need to purge. It is very satisfying and peaceful when we know
our little kingdom is neat, orderly and beautiful.
Truth, Beauty and Order. What sweet –tasting medicine! I
offer it to you along with prayers for a blessed, joy-filled school year.
first published in Home Educating Family Magazine