Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10

And so, over-entertained, pushed, pulled, and tidied up, often the child of today has the rich creative play-response crushed out.  Sometimes the only thing his dulled eyes focus on is a premature adolescence which will release him from childhood. — Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Home-Centered Holistic Model

The best learning process happens through an informal “relational process.” Focus is on the child and learning dynamics of the home. The goal of learning is to become conversant with many ideas and concepts. Real books, real life and family are the primary sources of learning. A child can be trusted to learn: it is his nature.

Education as Natural Activity:

Your home should be a warm, vibrant place where your children love to learn as freely and as naturally as they love to play.

Whole-person-based learning structure: provides time and freedom to unleash the child’s curiosity, creativity and natural desire to learn. Instruction aims high to challenge and draw out the children’s God-given gifts and talents. All children advance at their own pace. There is no comparison, rather complementary collaboration.

“Therefore, teaching, talk and tale, however lucid or fascinating, effect nothing until PERSONAL ACTIVITY be set up; that is, self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.”  Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education, 1925

flexible curriculum: choose ‘living books’ which complement, grow and expand interests.

Parent=learning facilitator. The child is trained and expected to depend on his own independent learning abilities and skills.

No wasted time: all of life is a classroom

Every activity/involvement is a learning opportunity. Child advances in studies on basis of knowledge/competence, not age/grade. Tested primarily for long-term global knowledge (as opposed to short-term linear knowledge).  Retention is high.  Written test unnecessary, oral testing more effective and better gauge of learning.  Evaluation: children’s progress guided through personal interaction and direction. Creativity: able to cultivate maximum creativity in children by providing a dynamic, hands-on learning environment.

Goal: heart knowledge with focus on understanding

“God never meant for learning to become a burden, either for children or for parents. H meant it to be a natural, enjoyable part of family life. Our culture has wrested education from families and turned it into an unnatural tedious drudgery of classrooms, textbooks and tests. And as children’s minds and hearts wilt under the crushing conformity of ‘school,’ parents likewise begin to wither intellectually as the roots of learning are severed from the family tree. As you bring education back home, bring with it the joy of learning, both for you and your children. Set the pace by showing them, by example, that you value learning, and they will follow. If your children are growing strong in these seven mental muscles (Habits, Appetites, Language, Creativity, Curiosity, Reason and Wisdom) – if you are strengthening their minds to learn for God – then you will have little reason to be concerned about their ‘education.’” (Clarkson, 55)

45 “Our generation is prone to amuse itself with fragmentary information and resources. We flip on the TV for brief programs, and then we think we know about the subjects they dealt with. A few paragraphs in a magazine, and we think we’ve formed an opinion. Whata is happening so often is that we are merely forming a habit of amusing our interest, and then forgetting the fragments. This is not education.” Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, For the Children’s Sake, 1984 (read my personal reflection on this here)

You don’t need intense structure to keep your children motivated/disciplined in learning.  Instead, focus on establishing good HABITS in everyday learning, work, play and life:

Attention/concentration: ability to retain information from a single reading (have child narrate it to you following reading)

Excellence: expect and affirm real personal effort in your children.

Orderliness/neatness: proper use, storage and care of materials, self, and home.

Truthfulness: it is easy to fall into the habit of self-deceit. Practice truthful self-awareness, discerning what you do know and being honest about what you don’t.

Self-control: govern inner thoughts/feelings; healthy work/rest habits.

Diligence: moving forward despite distractions; work hard without being told, go beyond getting by.

Romans 11:33, 36

Oh the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and how inscrutable His ways! …from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen