Homeschool Mami's World

We have now become aware of the possibility of arranging the entire human environment as a work of art, as a teaching machine designed to maximize perception and to make everyday learning a process of discovery.
--Marshall McLuhan

Creating an environment in which learning can flourish is a work of art. Whatever tools you choose--whether a curriculum notebook, a highly structured schedule of activities and field trips, or a freeform let's see what happens today attitude, there needs to be attention paid to the big picture. What are my children perceiving in their environment? How can I teach them to be more attentive to the lessons all around them? How can I be find ways to enrich the world around them?

Modeling behavior is the quickest way to teach someone. Am I learning all the time? What does the textbook of my life teach them? Do they observe me paying attention to my spirituality? Do they see me reading my bible and praying? Do they see me paying attention to my health and working out? Do they see me ready to forgive them and ask for forgiveness? Do they see me reading a novel from the library just for fun or do they see me spending more time in front of the television? How do my husband and I relate to one another and to them? Is our family a bigger priority than our things?

Each day is a fresh start. What promise and possibility does this day hold? Is it merely a day of filling in the blanks, finishing chores, running errands and checking off to do lists? Or is this a chance to shape the future and create memories? What are my children thinking about? What do their questions teach me about them? How can I help them make connections between new information and old?

Routine, discipline, time management, curriculum, reading lists and how to guides all have their place, but teaching your children, has more to do with the community you are building within your family than it does with exactly what information you are teaching them. That is both the privilege and the responsibility of keeping your children at home.

Homeschool Mami