You may or may not have encountered different families following the Charlotte Mason philosophy. You will notice that the homeschools are similar but different, almost like several instances of an object. Or perhaps we can say various plants of the same genus. We know that:
Education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life.
The statement above means that our duty as parents is to create an atmosphere in our homes that will foster a solid education, cultivate discipline by training habits, and nourish his life with ideas.
We may not be so arrogant as to think that we are moulding our children, for it is not our job to interfere with their personalities. Just like adults, children are unique beings, each growing from within.
The aforementioned does not mean that we do not train our children’s habits. Neither does it mean that we do not take advantage of teachable moments in our daily life. It simply means that we recognise the limitations of personality, and we DO NOT take advantage of our children’s fears, love or sense of duty to manipulate them into doing what we want.
It’s natural to want to shield our children from distress. We protect them from the knowledge of want and suffering, disease and death. Year after year, we miss all the teachable moments. Yes, we are required to use commonsense and allow for only small doses. But we should also realise that tales can help prepare our children for the inevitable bad in the world.
Our job is to stimulate interest (exposing the child to as many things as possible), remove obstructions and provide guidance to the child trying to form relationships. He will learn, if we allow, that every relationship with persons or with things requires effort. The responsibility of learning will be on the child and not on us. The child will grow, developing worthwhile interests and understanding the laws and joys of work and effort.
We give our children the world by not over-scheduling their time. We permit them to be wild and free. We allow them to slow down and notice. We allow them to develop a real relationship with nature. We step back and allow them to explore.
I try so hard to keep you safe
and don’t realise that it’s naive
to keep you from the world you live
or measure each breath that you breathe
My job, I realise is to step back
and let you know I’ve got your back
As you make decisions everyday
Should I climb, or will it break?
You climb and the bough breaks
and you learn to check it first
It’s a better lesson than if I tried to tell you first
You step out without a jacket
then it begins to rain
then you learn to study the clouds
and I learn to instruct you less
It’s tough for me not to control everything
but I promise that I’ll try
For I want to raise a resilient man
not one that gives up with one try.
- Olufunmike Alabi