Guided Freedom and Self-Education

These Elementary Workplans from Montessori for Everyone remind me of the Windy Creek Homeschool goal sheets and logs that I found way back after reading Patchwork of Days. I like the way they are set up so that it is easy for the children to "own" their work and choose within a structure. It was apparently successful since the Lande kids (who sounded very bright to start with) excelled academically and in other ways as well.

Speaking of that, there was an interesting conversation in the comments box of the 6th Charlotte Mason Carnival. It was in regard to this post by Dana at Principled Discovery.

My daughter is only nine. In an effort to begin moving her toward greater independence in her learning, we purchased a planner in which we outline the lessons together at the end of each week. It began as a sort of exercise in letting her see how I plan our days, letting her see the goals we had and (hopefully) a way for her to see that school was not just about copywork. It was about all the other things she enjoys about her day. Three weeks ago, she asked me if she could “do school” on her own.

With some trepidation, I assented.

The post goes on to tell how her daughter took a long time to get done with everything at first, but gradually realized the value of staying on task and getting the work done in the morning.

My own children aren't generally able to take over the schedule at age nine, at least not for more than 3 days at a time, but we do try to gradually work towards independence and by age 12 or 13, generally, the child is pretty self-motivated. By their last couple of years of highschool they are almost completely independent scholars who often make their own adaptations to the syllabus (good ones, not "easy-making" ones).

Dana says this is one of the benefits of homeschooling, that makes up for whatever the lack may be in "teacher expertise". This has been true in this homeschool, too.

Also, from reading Montessori for Everyone, it looks like Montessori schools let the children devise their own workplans for January. This sounds somewhat like the way my family used to beat the February blues. We would call February "Teach Yourself" month, after Agnes Leistico's book "I Learn Better by Teaching Myself."

Charlotte Mason says in Philosophy of Education:

"Education," said Lord Haldane, some time ago, "is a matter of the spirit,"––no wiser word has been said on the subject, and yet we persist in applying education from without as a bodily activity or emollient. We begin to see light. No one knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man which is in him; therefore, there is no education but self-education, and as soon as a young child begins his education he does so as a student. Our business is to give him mind-stuff, and both quality and quantity are essential. Naturally, each of us possesses this mind-stuff only in limited measure, but we know where to procure it; for the best thought the world possesses is stored in books; we must open books to children, the best books; our own concern is abundant provision and orderly serving.