(Here's a short excerpt from my book Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood - Enjoy!)
In the
beginning of our children’s lives, our focus as mothers is not typically on
learning together, in the academic sense of the word. In reality, however, this
is exactly what we are doing.
From the first moment we set eyes on our child,
the learning adventure begins.
In the first days and months after Jonathan came into our lives, I was consumed with learning what it meant to be a mom. Jonathan, of course, was learning about the new world he had entered. This was more than enough at the time.
So I felt a little overwhelmed
when I heard parents of older children discussing school choices or the best
toys and television shows. I had no clue about any of that! There was an entire
world that I had not yet explored, full of philosophies, advice, and
information.
So I gleaned what I liked and didn’t like from my friends and filed it away for a later day. I believe this is the best way to create our personal and professional mothering philosophy. We piece it together bit by bit, combining the information we learn with our own intuition and opinions.
Don’t be intimidated. Remember that no one knows your children better than you do.
A couple of years after
Jonathan’s birth, I heard about Charlotte Mason, a British educator in the late
1800s who revolutionized many of the educational practices in England at that
time. She challenged the typical worldview of the value of children, how they
learn, and their capabilities.
Charlotte Mason believed
that children are valid individuals who are created to learn and are gifted
with a natural curiosity, no matter what their background or upbringing. She
believed they are capable, whether poor or rich.
She thought that they deserve
to be treated with respect both by parents and by teachers. She spent four
decades developing and putting her profound educational principles into
practice in her schools.
While reading about her
methods and thoughts regarding children, I experienced an inner “a-ha” moment.
I had discovered a powerful method for relating to, and respecting, my
children.
One of Mason’s ideas that is most relevant for professional mothers
today is that parents are ultimately responsible for their children’s
education.
No matter where children are enrolled in school, Mason thought, the nurturing
of a child who loves learning begins and ends with the atmosphere at home.
Mason stated that
academic achievement is only one small measure of learning potential.
She
suggested that it is possible to maintain a child’s natural curiosity and
creativity, and that retaining the desire to learn throughout life was a more
accurate measure of success than being a “good” student who makes the grade
simply because he or she has learned to memorize well and work the system.
She wrote,
“The question is not,—how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education—but how much does he care? and about how many orders of
things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet
set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”
A number of more recent
studies have confirmed Charlotte Mason’s thoughts. One of the most intriguing
was conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
It found that
there is a direct correlation between the amount of printed material (books,
magazines, newspapers, etc.) in a child’s home and the child’s scores in
reading, writing, and math.
No matter where our children attend school, as
mothers our involvement is one of the greatest factors determining their
success.
Many parents spend hours
researching, visiting, and selecting a school for their child. Then they
congratulate themselves on a job well done and think they’ve done their part.
But
choosing a good school is only the beginning. It’s an admirable beginning, but
it’s not an end in and of itself.
Good teachers are invaluable, good resources
vital, good facilities wonderful. But without a parent who cares about learning
alongside his or her child, these advantages can take a child only so far.
**Want to keep reading? Head here to order your own copy of Steady Days--hope you enjoy it!**
Jamie is founder of this little spot called Steady Mom, editor of the blog Simple Homeschool, mama to three cute kids born on three different continents, and author of Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood.
