CPQ September Newsletter
We are deep in the mire of academics around these parts. There are books to read, phenology wheels to fill out and recipes to learn. We are doing. the. things. But, as my kids get older, I feel the passage of time rocking my management boat. I have learned how to manage academics. But, to fulfill those requirements and check all the boxes, takes everything we have, leaving very little time left for living together. I find that pursuits of the mind are something I enjoy and believe to be important, but my kids fight against them. They love reading books they love, and they despise reading books they don’t—as one does, right? But they gather around the table when we hang out. Seeing them quietly draw closer for quality conversation has given me pause. It doesn’t happen when we talk about “school.” My family is just not naturally academically high-minded. I know I need to make more room for open-ended quality time. And so, I find the pull-strength shifts from one side to the other daily; do I lean into relationships, picking a few good books and reading them well and thoroughly together but chopping the table off at one end so that part of the feast falls, left for the dogs of time to eat at will? Do I keep pushing forward academically, challenging their minds and trusting the wisdom and knowledge of others to lead my children well into their future?
I don’t have the answers. I slash and burn the curriculum suggestions until there is sustainability and peace. I challenge and lead up to their breaking point but not past. Sometimes, though, if I’m honest, the breaking point seems so close and the academics attainments so far…and I worry. I have done this long enough to know that worrying is unmerited and fruitless but it still happens. However, in the midst of all this unnecessary emotion, God has allowed me to meet and learn alongside other families who don’t all share our same philosophy of learning. Someone said to me the other day that they didn’t really care if their kids studied formal academics. They felt street smarts were more important. The comment gave me pause because I realized, at once, that we were very different and that it was ok for us to be very different. I have re-discovered that there are so many ways to live and to learn. When we live life alongside others in our community, it becomes obvious very quickly that we are not all of like academic mind. But, somehow, we all live alongside one another, and we get to choose to love and support one another despite having different views on how to learn. I find this freeing. I am enjoying learning alongside those who think differently in this season.
I don’t have all the answers.
I am always learning.
Happy end of September friends, may your philosophy of learning and God-provided detours hold you well in the trenches,
Cara
On The CPQ Blog
Tripping and Stumbling into Nature Study
On College (an interview with a homeschool graduate)
Behind the Scenes
Habit of Reading is in layout
Fortitude articles are heading to copyedit
Articles are being turned in for our Upper Years issue
We’ll be reaching out to writers for our Personhood issue soon
The Habit of Reading
As we’ve discussed this habit behind the scenes, we thought we’d put together our best tips for cultivating this habit.
We kid, kind of.
Please feed your people.
On the Gram
“Knowledge if passed,” Mason said, “like the light of a torch, from mind to mind, and the flame can be kindled at original minds only.”
Mind to mind.
Heart to heart.
Nothing’s going to stop us now.
Our most popular reel this month: Check it out!
Get To Know The Editors
What’s Cara…
Reading: Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher and On Reading Well
Making: I-beams out of paper for the Art of Construction class
Eating: Avocado toast with eggs
Watching: YouTube videos on daily colonial living
Learning: How to rest
Drinking: Gatorade because I’ve been dehydrated and sick lately
Listening: to Ivanhoe on Audible
What’s Mariah…
Reading: The Star That Always Stays
Making: Nature journal entries with my boys
Listening to: Keep Me by Novo Amor
Eating: Ham sliders with a poppyseed glaze
Watching: The BBC Dickensian series
Learning: Wonder isn’t heavy to carry.
Drinking: Immune support tea
What’s Sarah…
Reading: Farewell to Manzanar
Listening: To church on zoom because I’m on week 2 of a nasty cold
Eating: Homemade pickled jalapeños from my mom’s garden
Watching: Our Town with my 9th grader. It was wonderful watching him go through all the emotions.
Making: The last CPQ issue for 2023!
Learning: Just because my kids are so much more independent doesn’t mean I get to be less present.
Drinking: Hot water with lime slices
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