It's My Party

Last night I attended a meeting of the Whole Hearted Home Educators, a group of women from throughout SW Ontario who meet every six weeks to discuss the principles of education written by Charlotte Mason and ways to implement those principles on our own home schools.

The first portion of the evening was spent talking about Education as the Science of Relations, how it's not really 'how much children know' that matters as 'how many things they care about' because the things they care about are the things they will continue to learn about through life. (I haven't put that nearly as beautifully as Charlotte Mason does, nor as nicely as it was described by several women last night, but I'll see if I can get a terrific quote about the Science of Relations for a future post).

During that discussion, my friend Christine, host of The Real Life Home blog, painted a word picture which I've been mulling over ever since. She described home school (or education in general, as CM saw it) as a party which she is hosting and has invited guests to attend. Her guests include her children/students and the subject areas/books/authors/historical figures which make up the 'content' of the school. It is the role of the hostess at any party to make sure that the guests meet each other, and to ensure that those guests who have like interests are directed toward each other in particular.

I liked the image that brought to my mind's eye - my specially chosen temporary guests (living books of biography, history, literature, poetry, and historical fiction, even math and copywork) each with a wealth of insight to share, stories to tell, friendship to offer to my other guests, those who I have chosen for life; guests circulating through my home, available and ready to offer companionship and confidences; myself making introductions between them, drawing out details from one which will engage the other so that I can move on and make other guests feel at home.

A good hostess doesn't dominate the conversation, interpret one guest's comments for another, interrupt with her own thoughts on topics which her guests are more qualified to speak. She steps aside and lets the guests determine the direction of their relationship on their own. In the same way, a good teacher doesn't get in the way between the living books and the students, but allows the students to interact with the books at their own level of need and interpretation, trusting the Holy Spirit, the Giver of all knowledge and wisdom, to provide the right combination at the right time.

The party isn't about me. It's about my guests, about broad introductions leading to lasting relationships. That is, to me, a lovely parallel picture of a liberal education, the kind of education we are trying to achieve in our home.