God's Voice - Robinson Curriculum vs. Charlotte Mason

God speaks to me a lot in the morning hours as I am waking up. I am grateful, actually, which is surprising, that occasionally my husband gets up early and go does his farm work (which is largely his form of recreation...like golfing to him). Once, I was only upset about him getting up early. But, then he didn't lay that down and ask me, but just did it, now he is more and more of a gentleman. And, then I was dealing with insomnia more than now. And having him missing made my insomnia worse. Lately, however, the occasional time in my bed without my husband is a really healthy time when God gives me input into my plans.

One thing God has been speaking to me about is honoring him first in whatever I do. I once put Bible reading as the first thing in our day. With trying to follow a Robinson curriculum pattern this year, I put it off until the end of the day. The idea was to end our day with God's Word...a bedtime ritual if you will. That works for a lot of people. But, our day typically gets pushed further and further and we never even get to reading God's Word. I want to start out reading God's Word to my children first thing.

I've really been into the Robinson idea of having your children teach themselves. I especially wanted to try this during the current year since my baby takes up so much of my time and I found it hard to implement other learning styles. I still believe in the Robinson concept greatly.

I have also over the years worked to implement first a Classical Education and then a Charlotte Mason Education. The Classical Education as laid out in a Well Trained Mind to me was 1) too much to do, 2) too repetitive, 3) too rigid, and 4) took the love out of learning for my children.

On to a Charlotte Mason Education. I must say, I still live by much of what Charlotte wrote. She was a great educator in my book and of course considered herself a classical educator. So much of her philosophy I want to incorporate into my homeschool...twaddle free reading, a love of nature, teaching observation, working on habits, having a wide range of topics, not coddling the child, not bringing the material down the "level of the child", not entertaining the child.

The one topic that I find unhelpful in the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy, I also take inspiration from. That is Charlotte frequently said if a child's interest was waning, to switch topics to a fully different topic...that this keeps their brain engaged and fresh. The burden of this is on the adult. From reading and experiencing Robinson's thought on this, I see the virtue of having the child sustain their attention beyond what is convenient. I particularly like the Math portion of Robinson. The child works two hours a day on their Math, teaches themselves, and finishes Saxon Calculus by the age 16 typically.

So I am praying about a daily schedule of homeschooling that is:

• challenging
  
• teaches the child to be reponsible for themselves
  
• can be gotten done in a reasonable amount of time
  
• is a rich curriculum
  
• creates a love of learning in my children
  

God has been speaking to me about using Robinson as a guideline, but being flexible and not rigid. Also, I believe He has been speaking to me that reading with my children (especially when they are more challenging works a little above their level and I am not "coddling" them as Charlotte Mason said) creates a bonding time between my children and I.

Happy Teaching everyone. I pray God directs you in your homeschooling adventures in a way that fits you and your family. He is faithful!