As technologically illiterate as I am, I have to admit that my laptop and my iPhone proved to be a pretty huge blessing to me this summer. Turns out, regular hum-drum household chores can actually feel like a mini-conference tailored specifically for me with the help of YouTube and kindhearted people who are willing to offer their wisdom for the taking on the internet. So much of what I listened to this summer will need to be listened to again and again so I thought I'd compile a resource list here.
Among my favorite seminars is The Long Haul: On Morning Time, by Cindy Rollins. Mrs. Rollins is a homeschooling mother of nine children (eight boys!), seven having already graduated and moved into adulthood. The two she has remaining are in high school. Her perspective of seeing this thing through from beginning to end (and living to tell about it!) has been a such a gift to me. She speaks about feeling inadequate to prepare her sons for the future she imagined they might have given that her strengths lean so heavily towards the liberal arts and are lighter on math and science. She doesn't negate the importance of those disciplines, but just acknowledges that she struggled with the thought that teaching according to her strengths would prove to be detrimental to her sons education. In fact, as she watched her sons successfully move into very technical fields as adults, fields that she never could have adequately prepared them for if she'd known, she realized that the heavy emphasis on scripture, literature, history and Shakespeare are exactly what trained their minds to think and consider. She didn't teach them everything they might need to ever know, she educated them. She opened their eyes to the feast of wisdom and knowledge that surrounds us all and taught them how to learn. I'm tempted to fear the inevitable "gaps" my children might have in their education due to the inadequacy of their teacher. Mrs. Rollins reminded me that, not only will there certainly be gaps, but that "teaching everything" isn't even a realistic or possible goal in the first place. For any teacher, anywhere. She also reinvigorated my passion for our long-neglected Morning Time, which I'll get to in a later post.
Some other helpful seminars are:
Teaching From a State of What?!
Assessment that Blesses
Teaching Boys and Other Kids Who Would Rather Be Playing in Forts
What Are We Doing to Our Boys?
Teaching From a State of Rest (a six-part series by Andrew Kern)
The Lighter Side of Education: How to Relax, Enjoy and Laugh and Still Be a Parent-Educator
School as Schole (Leisure and Contemplation)
Whose Well-Done Are You Working For?
Nurturing Competent Communicators
These seminars served as such a sweet reminder to me that real education is so much bigger than the "right" curriculum. Really, it's a lifestyle of cultivating beauty and wisdom and virtue in the culture of our family. Which happens to be a whole lot more intimidating, but also so very beautiful and inspiring (and freeing!) at the same time.
Among my favorite seminars is The Long Haul: On Morning Time, by Cindy Rollins. Mrs. Rollins is a homeschooling mother of nine children (eight boys!), seven having already graduated and moved into adulthood. The two she has remaining are in high school. Her perspective of seeing this thing through from beginning to end (and living to tell about it!) has been a such a gift to me. She speaks about feeling inadequate to prepare her sons for the future she imagined they might have given that her strengths lean so heavily towards the liberal arts and are lighter on math and science. She doesn't negate the importance of those disciplines, but just acknowledges that she struggled with the thought that teaching according to her strengths would prove to be detrimental to her sons education. In fact, as she watched her sons successfully move into very technical fields as adults, fields that she never could have adequately prepared them for if she'd known, she realized that the heavy emphasis on scripture, literature, history and Shakespeare are exactly what trained their minds to think and consider. She didn't teach them everything they might need to ever know, she educated them. She opened their eyes to the feast of wisdom and knowledge that surrounds us all and taught them how to learn. I'm tempted to fear the inevitable "gaps" my children might have in their education due to the inadequacy of their teacher. Mrs. Rollins reminded me that, not only will there certainly be gaps, but that "teaching everything" isn't even a realistic or possible goal in the first place. For any teacher, anywhere. She also reinvigorated my passion for our long-neglected Morning Time, which I'll get to in a later post.
Some other helpful seminars are:
Teaching From a State of What?!
Assessment that Blesses
Teaching Boys and Other Kids Who Would Rather Be Playing in Forts
What Are We Doing to Our Boys?
Teaching From a State of Rest (a six-part series by Andrew Kern)
The Lighter Side of Education: How to Relax, Enjoy and Laugh and Still Be a Parent-Educator
School as Schole (Leisure and Contemplation)
Whose Well-Done Are You Working For?
Nurturing Competent Communicators
These seminars served as such a sweet reminder to me that real education is so much bigger than the "right" curriculum. Really, it's a lifestyle of cultivating beauty and wisdom and virtue in the culture of our family. Which happens to be a whole lot more intimidating, but also so very beautiful and inspiring (and freeing!) at the same time.