Friday, September 13, 2013

I'm back!

Well, I've had a nice little break from blogging this summer.  I relaxed, I focused on my family, and I planned for the coming year.  And now I feel SO ready to put those plans into action!

I have already begun homeschooling my daughters in earnest, and I absolutely love it.  It makes my life feel full and complete.  But today my thoughts turned to my own education again.  I have always longed to educate myself solely for the purpose of self-improvement.  But recently I remembered the nearly inevitable fact of being a homeschooling mom: eventually these kids are going to grow up and pass me up in their skills!  I don't want that to happen if I can help it, (at least not before I send them off to college!)

Thus, my self-education has taken on a new level of importance.  I want to educate myself to be a better homeschool mom, both now and in the future.  I want my literature repertoire to be extensive.  I want to hone my critical thinking skills.  I want to be an example to my children of how not only important but exciting and even fun learning can be.  In sum, if I intend to ask my kids to do it in the future, I need to be willing to do it myself now.

My plans, then, are to read, read, read.  I want to read both quantity and quality.  I'm going to move forward with my intent to read through the Well-Educated Mind list, starting with Don Quixote.  (Confession: I started it before the summer, but I have been far less than consistent or diligent in my reading up to this point.)  I'm going to attempt to read more quickly.  In the back of Thomas Jefferson Education, DeMille implies that homeschool parents ought to be able to read a classic every week or two!  Ba-humbug!  ;)  So, I personally don't think I'm capable of quite so amazing a feat, but I will do my best and try to at least finish Don Quixote in the next month.  (After all, it is a particularly lengthy novel, right...?)  Even more importantly, I'm going to begin again to apply my mind to deeper and higher thinking.  I will ask questions, ponder my reading, and hopefully write often.

There's a good chance these coming posts won't be particularly helpful or interesting.  I hope you'll forgive me for that.  This blog always was more for me than for anyone reading it anyway.  BUT, if by chance anyone out there reading this is considering beginning or continuing their personal journey of self-education, I absolutely invite you to join me and let me know!  Add your thoughts and comments, or contact me personally and we'll chat!  ;)

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