We do not “do school” – we are students of life and we learn
what we want to. We are growing into ourselves as we learn and we love it
entirely.
We employ a combination of methods in our homeschool based firmly
on the Bible and based loosely on the teachings and findings of Charlotte Mason,
Ruth Beechick, and John Holt - but
at the end of the day – our homeschool is uniquely our own and no one else’s
opinions or directions hold as much weight as our very own in conjunction with
God’s will for our lives. We seek to know what He would have us do in this life
and we seek any and all wisdom that would align with His goals for us.
He gave us our passions and we fully explore them!
We primarily use notebooks/journals in our homeschool to aid
us in learning and to teach us proper studying. We have math journals where we
record our mathematical observations of the world around us. We have study
journals where we fine-tune our reading and writing skills to record the
fascinating things we study. We prayerfully study whatever fancies us day to
day. Sometimes we collaborate and
study together and sometimes we are on journeys of our own. We also keep nature
journals where we express our fondness for creation. We study God’s Word together as we seek to live our
lives according to His will. We also keep prayer/life journals.
**When I say “we” above I am including myself. My children
have these notebooks/journals (math, study, nature, prayer) and so do I. I have a math
journal, and a study journal, and a nature journal. I
am still learning. I am still clay in my Potter’s hands and it’s important to
me that my children understand that we are NEVER done learning. There is ALWAYS
something new to learn. So I keep journals alongside them and it blesses me
daily.
Sometimes we use textbooks, most times we don’t. We love our
local libraries and we frequent discount bookstores. You can often find us at
the local park playing ball or just running around. We love to catch bugs and
name them before we release them. We revel with each other when one of us makes
a cognitive connection to the world around us in our daily doings. We see
things most do not in our daily lives because we are looking. We learn things
it takes others ages to learn because we are eager. We own our knowledge and we
enjoy sharing what we learn with others.
Everyday is filled with life and love in the Lakeside
Schoolhouse – our home sweet home – that is actually not by a lake anymore but we kept
the name anyway because… we can!
