Summer

Summer around here means lots of daddy time! We are doing a lot as a family and have had family in town. I have also been reflecting and gearing up for our new school year. The Childlight USA conference in June has given me many ideas to chew on. My biggest idea is remembering that my children are people, fully formed and Image bearers. That is such a big idea! It affects our whole family life and the spirits of our children greatly. Do we talk to them, treat them and act with them as people? Or are they less than? Second class? Of course they do not have equal privileges as adults but they are due respect as persons.

People are too apt to use children as counters in a game, to be moved hither and thither according to the whim of the moment. Our crying need to-day is less for a better method of education than for an adequate conception of children,––children, merely as human beings, whether brilliant or dull, precocious or backward. CM vol 6 ch 5

The second big idea was getting out of the way of ideas and the children. I know these things! But I desperately need to be reminded of them. The conference is rejuvenating for me every year in so many ways. For school but also for me spiritually. All these big ideas change me as a person as well.

"We hold that the child's mind is no mere sac to hold ideas but is rather, if the figure may be allowed, a 'spiritual organism' with an appetite for all knowledge. This is its proper diet with which it is prepared to deal and what it is able to digest and assimilate as the body does food-stuffs."
"Such a doctrine as the Herbartian, that the mind is a receptacle, lays the stress of education, the preparation of food in enticing morsels, duly ordered, upon the teacher. Children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching but little knowledge; the teacher's axiom being 'what a child learns matters less than how he learns it.'" CM vol 1 ch 7
I have been greatly enjoying a new water color set I bought for myself. It is a travel set and I can keep it in my purse or a backpack. I have done so many more dry brush paintings in my nature journal. I am slowly getting better. I would like to find one just a wee bit smaller for each of the children.
Here is mine


This is the one I am thinking about for the children

I am finding that having good quality supplies is so important to the way we not only feel about our work, but also how the children see that they are perceived. They feel valued and that I see their work as important when they have quality supplies. We also value their work more and are careful with it and save it. What treasures we are building!

Camping!

We recently took a great family camping trip to the Smokey Mountains. Jack was in town after the Charlotte Mason conference so it was a great opportunity for us to drag him to the mountains. He was very willing :)



It was such a delight to experience our biosphere through his eyes. And my heart sang to see two CM graduates still living out CM's philosophy, it's just a part of who they are.



First, they really SEE. They also wonderfully and naturally direct the younger children to as well. It was a joy to hear them narrate their experiences to and with me. They hiked everywhere they could, day and night. They caught and held numerous bugs and even a snake. Great horned owls swooped over their heads, lightening bugs blinked in sync (only one of two places in the word where they do so!), feathers were fished out of streams and mama bears with their playful cubs were captured on camera. These things were thrilling and important to us all. Best of all, we were in awe of God's wondrous creation, privileged to be image bearers in His magnificent temple. I love how our lives have been changed by this amazing woman who lived and wrote a hundred years ago. Her message is timeless and it's foundation Truth. That is why it speaks to us today, opening our eyes and hearts, for the children's sake.









Lest it sound too rosy, here is the reality of getting there! Nothing like shutting 11 people up in a box for 3 to 4 hours.



We happened to get into the best campground. Elkmont, an old logging camp, was halfway between Cades Cove and Gatlinburg, perfect for what we wanted to do and see while we were there. The Smokey's have such a rich historical background, my favorite two occupations, nature and history! Our campsite was right next to the Little River. The children had a great time playing in the river and the little crick that ran next to the boys site to the river.



Every time we go to the Smokey's, we get a picture of the children on this porch.



Max, sleepily ready for a hike.



Curtiss and Ben.



Josiah and Max in a corn crib.



Maura found a beautiful mushroom. We were all glad Kaley did not taste it.



And speaking of Mushrooms!



Despite rain the first night, despite having lots of little's and diabetes, it went off quite well. We are hoping to camp again this summer and realized we should do it more often. I slept so well next the roar of the river. It was very good to leave technology behind and be untethered and free for 3 days, just breathing and being together.