Traveling Education

When making the decision about how to watch to my children's education, I read a book that changed my opinion of children and how they learn. Having been in both public and private schools myself, and having many friends zealous for the merits of homeschooling, my options were abundant. This book was named, "For the Children's Sake," by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. I did not decide based on her book as public school probably would have been the least on her list of recommendations, and that is what I chose. Macaulay's book, however, made me look at my children differently and gave courage to make life itself a joy able learning experience for them. I started to see my children as people - fully developed human souls with the necessity to take in information from experience and to apply it through creativity. Children are not funnels with an intake at the top for stuffing in information and a well at the bottom where they will save it. I was inspired by the learning methods Macaulay applies in her own school structure that included reading to the children typically challenging literature. I loved the way she trusted them to respond to the reading without spoon-fed guidance that can lessen the rich context of the words. I was especially inspired by her use of field days, entire afternoons several times a week in which the children are released to play, to imagine, and to take life in as they were born to do.