AmblesideOnline's Patio Chats:
8. CM is for Moms, Too
How is your school year going? Is your child challenged? Are new things being learned, new wonders being discovered?
And how about YOU? We've mentioned that this CM education is not just for kids -- it's a lifestyle for you, too.
Charlotte Mason told one of her teacher trainees who thought she was there to learn to teach, "My dear, you have come here to learn to LIVE."
Are you, the teacher, learning to live? Have you started nature study in your school time? Do you have your own notebook to make your own observations? Are you singing hymns along with your child and allowing the lyrics to touch your heart and spirit? Are you letting the beauty of a poem or picture you share as part of school inspire you?
Let's take it a step farther. What are you reading for your own intellectual growth and joy? After all, you are a person, too, and your mind needs ideas to keep it fresh and alive. Do you have a challenging book that opens your mind to lovely things you never thought of before? Do you have a devotional time for your spiritual growth? If you're learning and being inspired from your child's schoolbooks during school time, that counts!
Are you finding the support you need to help you along in your homeschooling, perhaps a local CM reading group? Don't neglect your own need for mental stimulus in your efforts to do the best for your student!
If you find yourself without a local support network, please find yourself a place at our online Forum. We would love to help you, encourage you, and get to know you!
https://amblesideonline.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=100
"If mothers would learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when they're over-stimulated, households would all be happier. Let the mother go out to play! She should have the courage to let everything go when life becomes too stressful, and just take a day, or even a half day, alone, to go out into the fields, or enjoy a favorite book, or go to the art gallery and gaze long and intensely at just two or three pictures, or relax in bed, without the children. Life would go on more smoothly for both parents and children." [from Charlotte Mason's Vol. 3 pg 34]
