Oh my, that post was SO good! Thank you! I just forwarded to about 30 other hs mommies!
I’ve been at this for 5 years now, and I am really starting to see and believe that it is NOT about the amount of information, but about, as Ms. Mason put it, how much they CARE.
I have an interesting situation happening this year. I am hosting a small-group for CM style science. We are reading living books, we are narrating, we are discussing, we are doing a few kid-directed experiments, etc. Three in the group are life-long homeschoolers, having been “CM’d” for a lack of better description. The other two have recently come from a Christian School using an “ACE” curriculum. (for those unfamiliar with ACE, if could be described as the “un-CM” curriculum. It is textbook-twaddle-fill-in-the-blank mania)
Anyway, the difference in the way that these kids approach learning is a astounding. The 3 HS/CM kids look forward to our time wide-eyed enthusiasm. I can hardly get them to be quiet, they are so excited to talk about the subject. They look forward to listening to me read with eager anticipation…often interrupting to appropriately interject. (We are reading Jean Henri Fabre). They are constantly connecting what I read with other things that they have read, experienced, or heard.
In other words, they CARE.
The other two kids, bless their hearts, really struggle to pay attention. They seem bored. They ask how much longer the chapter is. They are eager to get their “assignment” so they can get “done” and move on. They have been very uncomfortable that the only “assignment” is to be attentive and apply mental effort. They would rather fill in the blank. They are used to someone else telling them what is important.
It other words, I am working really hard to get them to CARE.
I will also mention, that when comparing the two groups of students, one group (the Christian School Kids) have “done more school” than the others. WAY more. They have produced volumes of “work” over the last five years, and injested tons of information and facts.
The CM kids, not so much. In fact, their mothers (one of whom is me!), have question themselves about, “am I doing enough? All we do is read, and talk, and live.”
Well, I don’t know how it all figures, but I am becoming convinced that this way is ENOUGH. In fact, it is more than enough. Learning, and love of learning, abounds here…in spite of my own perceived lack of “schooliness.”
Can anyone else relate to this?
