Tired? Focus on Scholé for a Delightful Homeschool

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Do you want a homeschool that you love?

A delightful homeschool where you read amazing books aloud to your kids, revel in long nature walks, and delight in a variety of history projects?

It is possible you simply need to focus on scholé for a delightful homeschool!

Scholé is Restful Learning

Scholé comes from an ancient Greek word meaning leisure and school. I don’t know about you, but schoolwork has never meant leisure to me. School is a place to study, to learn, to work.

Even homeschooling has meant an ever-growing to-do list of phonics, literature, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, logic, rhetoric, Latin, etc. As a homeschooling mom, I must plan lessons, research curriculum, and ensure the kids are learning what they need to know.

School certainly hasn’t meant leisure!

But think about it for a second. Leisure includes resting, enjoying life, and reading a good book.

Have you ever curled up next to a roaring fire with a good book on a rainy day? Now that’s leisure!

Well, scholé happens at the point when school and leisure intersect.

Your family enjoys reading good books together. Your children hover over the table examining the slug you brought inside and exclaiming over how the antennae disappear when the slug is gently prodded. You spend hours laughing as you attempt to transform a chicken into a mummy.

Education is no longer just another task on an ever-growing to-do list. It’s no longer busy work to keep the kids quiet while we work.

Education is now restful learning. That moment when delight in discovering the good, the true, and the beautiful takes over your homeschool.

But how do you get there? How do you move from a point of viewing your homeschool as one long to-do list, to a place of restful learning?

{Related Post: Scholé, or Restful Learning, Is Vital to Your Homeschool}

The first step is to lose your fear of failure.

Let’s begin with a couple of simple questions:

  • Are you afraid of failing your children?
  • Are you terrified of becoming a homeschool failure?

This fear keeps you from enjoying your homeschool.

  • After all, if your kids struggle to learn how to borrow, you’re a homeschool failure.
  • When your children take a bit longer to learn to read, you’re a homeschool failure.
  • If your children don’t excel, you’re a homeschool failure.

Because of your fear that you’re going to fail, you scream at the kids.

You add more and more subjects to the day until there’s no time to breathe, and jump curriculum.

You spend valuable time looking for something better, a better curriculum.

A magic bullet that will solve all your problems. A magic bullet that will cause your children to excel and never struggle again. But there is no magic bullet to a delightful homeschool.

You must be intentional.

Scholé doesn’t just happen by accident. It happens when you’re intentional about what you’re doing and why.

Why are you using the curriculum you’re using? What are the benefits will it bring to the kids and what are you willing to give up to use it?

See you only have so much time in the day. This is a burden and a gift.

While kids need an education, they also need to play, to explore, and to enjoy time with friends.

You must turn your house into a home, drive children to various activities, and feed your family.

You only have so much time for homeschooling in the business of daily life.

That means you can’t simply add and add to the homeschool. If you try, you always give up something else. Remember, there are only 24 hours in the day. And if your homeschool is too long, you’ll eat up the time you need to create a home.

Instead, you’ll stand over the kids like a taskmaster saying faster, faster, faster.

And where is the joy in that?

Be intentional about what you’re doing and using in your homeschool.

Choose one solid math program that covers all the basics. You don’t need two and you definitely don’t need three math programs! One good math program completed diligently will serve your family well.

Don’t try to read every single book in the western canon in one year. I doubt anyone will be able to do that! Instead, choose a few good books. Take your time. Read them. Discuss them. Laugh with your kids over the jokes. Weep together over the tragedies.

Be intentional as well about the writing assignments you assign.

And the secret to making intentional work is to be diligent.

Often I hear of people talking about scholé as if it’s a lazy man’s way to homeschool. You’re slacking, not really working. You are no longer a taskmaster in your homeschool.

But why does being a taskmaster mean you’re doing a good job homeschooling.

Where’s the wonder? Where’s the beauty? Where is the joy?

Education and homeschooling should not just be another task on your to-do list.

Children need to learn education is more than a chore, a job, and something that interferes with their life.

Learning is a leisure time activity. It’s when you learn, you grow, and you change.

But to learn, grow, and change you also must be diligent about homeschooling.

You must be diligent about sitting down and reading with your children. You must diligent about doing science experiments and reading literature.

And you need to show that education is important. And that education is so important enough that you make time for it every day without exception.

Don’t sweat over your homeschool.  But be diligent about sitting down and doing the work and enjoy the time with your kids exploring the world.

After all, it’s the tortoise who won the race.

{Related post: Diligence is Key to the Well-Run Homeschool}

Remember to focus on the beautiful, the true, and the good.

Have you thought about the point of giving your children a classical education?

Is it to get a good job, to get the kids into the best universities? Or is it to make money?

No.

The point is to introduce your children to the true, the beautiful, and the good. To shape their bodies, minds, and souls.

To join the great conversation and discuss what it means to be human.

This purpose goes back to the ancient Greek concept that there is an absolute Truth in the world and the concept of Good and Beautiful.

After all, everyone recognizes the beauty in a sunset and the majesty of the mountain.

As you create a delightful homeschool for your children, keep an eye on teaching what truth is, what good is, and what beauty is. There’s more to life than a good job and 2.5 children.

{Related Post: The Educational Virtues}

Create a lifestyle of scholé.

When you let go of your fears and add joy to your education, you’re free to find delight in your homeschool. You enjoy stomping around the house chanting Latin conjugations. The children race outside to re-enact the Battle of Thermopylae.

Education is an adventure into worlds unknown.

You do this by turning long books into a family read-aloud. Instead of watching TV shows in the evening, enjoy reading classic literature aloud. Chat about historical events and your history studies at the dinner table.

Go on field trips to the museums. Ponder the various art styles and contemplate the different artwork your children enjoy.

Explore the world through nature hikes and family vacations.

Make classical education a lifestyle for your family.

And you will find scholé and a delightful homeschool.

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One Comment

  1. Thank you for this!

    I am a first time mom in a home schooling world since I just enrolled my child in a preschool in the Philippines (www.georgia.edu.ph) offering a homeschool program. With your tips, hope I can overcome the stress and difficulties of homeschooling. More power to your blog! <3

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