Essentially, how I desire to educate my children centers on a single verb: inspire. It comes from Latin in, meaning “in” and spirare, meaning “to breathe.” Inspire literally means “to breathe into.” I cannot help but think of Genesis 2:7 as God breathes the breath of life into Adam, and he became a living soul. That is what I desire for my children in their education and I seek daily to inspire them, to breathe life into them.
In the ideal, I believe that education should flow naturally from the home. “School” should be an integral part of family life and something the entire family is involved with. As such, we do not divide up subject matter by age group. My children are 8, 4, 2 and 3 months but the older three are all directly involved in our studies. I seek to teach as Christ did, a sort of tutorial method in which I provide the model and challenge the hearts and minds of our children through our lessons. As Carole G. Adams so aptly describes in The Christian Idea of the Child,
As teacher, the Principle Approach methods, curriculum, and philosophy of education allow us the liberty and creative expression to satisfy the real needs of our students in a whole way. We see each child as an individual of infinite value, made in the image of God and worthy of our respect. We see the tutorial needs of students, that each one as an individual is entitled to his own learning style and instruction, that every child can be elevated to a worthy standard. We see that our students need to produce, not consume only–express themselves in the arts, music, drama, and athletics, developing every talent, exercising their whole potential.
As the “inspirer,” my role is not so much to deliver instruction and ensure mastery of a specific subset of academic standards. It is to help develop connections and promote ownership. It is to test the soil of her heart and plant the seeds accordingly. We record our learning in our notebooks, look more deeply into topics when we can and try to ask as many questions as we answer.
While we emphasize basic skills, the goals of education go well beyond that. Education has essentially four points: enlightening the understanding, correcting the temper, forming the manners and habits of youth and fitting the child for his or her future station. It is about the whole child, and very much about developing character.
I am the tutor, the one who is inviting my children to come alongside me, the one who is inspiring them to live more intentionally, more reflectively and more God-honoring. That frees us in a lot of ways. We do not use a formal curriculum. The only text books books we have are the workbooks from Singapore math. We explore subjects, discovering their roots and principles and what they mean for us today. Just look at all the time we have been able to devote to studying Australia and what never would be found in a standardized curriculum.
But it also makes one thing painfully clear. I have to be a better mom.
This post is part of Back to Homeschool Week being hosted by I have to say…Check out some more posts on the topic by following the links she is collecting over there.
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
My kids are going to jump over to your family if they find out you don’t use text books!
Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment on my blog.
Enjoyed our post about about your homeschool, going to look at your Australia link right now.
Jodi
anothernaturewalk.blogspot.com
Tracy, it is a lot of work…sometimes I wish we did. As a teacher, everything was so nicely lined out for me and I had so little to do in the way of really planning.
But it is very fulfilling and gives us the opportunity to explore topics much more deeply.
Jodi, thank you. Hope you enjoy our little Australia study. It probably better shows how we teach.
Thanks for the comment on my blog!
I enjoyed reading your thoughts. We’ve learned (the hard way,mostly) that we are not a “textbook” family, in any sense of the word! LOL!
Inspire. I like that word.
And “to seek to teach as Christ did”- I’m right behind you, Dana!
Thanks for the visit!
I also try to inspire my children. You said this very well.
Along with inspiring my kids, I just love to learn along with them.
We have learned some of the coolest stuff!
I think you are right, I don’t necessarily want to the TEACHER; I want to learn right along with them.
…to seek to teach as Christ did…
What a short but powerful statement! You are an inspiration to me.
Thanks for visiting me yesterday!
This is a great post. Very ‘meaty’. Thanks so much for sharing. God Bless.
“While we emphasize basic skills, the goals of education go well beyond that. Education has essentially four points: enlightening the understanding, correcting the temper, forming the manners and habits of youth and fitting the child for his or her future station. It is about the whole child, and very much about developing character.”
I love this.
“I have to be a better mom.”
I have to absolutely agree with this. Not just a better mom, it makes me be a better person. I always have these little eyes on me so I have to not just teach reading and writing, but also to be a good person.
Your views and teaching ideas are so inspiring. We don’t like textbooks, either. LOL!~ Except for math!
You are so creative, too.
http://tonsofsons.wordpress.com/
Wow, Dana, this is fantastic!
It is so inspiring to mothers who ‘have had the life sucked out of them’ due to hyper-scheduling, keeping up with the Joneses, discouragement from others.
So poignant.
Thank you, everyone, for visiting and for such encouraging comments. I’ve enjoyed meeting a lot of new people through this little project!