Monday, June 16, 2008

Scattered Thoughts about CC (see below)

So I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in VA at a Classical Conversations Practicum. It was very worth my while. I came away with Four Major Thoughts.

One: This is such an amazing time to be entering the world of homeschooling. Back in the day, when my mom and I spent one miserable and desperate year homeschooling, all we had at our disposal was A Beka and some weird math thing (maybe it wasn't weird, but I didn't like it). I remember crying every day and my mother being very frustrated, reasonably so, with my rebellious and stubborn spirit. But now, all these years later, there are so many different resources available, so many people who have done it, so much encouragement online, and so many different philosophies of education. At one point the speaker at the practicum asked if anyone had been home schooled when the idea was still new, back when 'you didn't leave the house until 3pm when regular school let out'. One person had. The culture has completely changed. Home schooling has proven to be a reasonable and effective alternative to traditional education.

Two: Ordinary people do it.

Three: It is as sin filled an endeavor as any other activity in life. If anything, I am expecting to be shown more than anything the falleness of my own nature and my need for God's grace. The child is a sinner, I'm a sinner, the directors are all sinners, the tutors are all sinners. And so moment by moment its an opportunity to seek God and be changed by him.

Four: It ought, from all I've seen and heard, to be really fun. If I can pull it together and be organized and realistic about what we can accomplish and what is not worth our time, I think we'll have an impressively good time.

And, in the spirit of being realistic and having a good time, I am now going to lay all this aside and organize my house, have my walking shoes cobbled, record our night time songs on mp3, gather all the insurance cards in one place, replace the broken zipper in the beautiful skirt I plan to wear to the Holy Sepulcher, and carefully and thoughtfully pack my bag because in Only Three Days we go to GAFCON. I can't begin to express to you how excited I am.

5 comments:

Kerry said...

You will be blogging from GAFCON won't you? :)

Anonymous said...

I’m praying that you’ll have a VERY SAFE and WONDERFUL trip, and can't wait to hear about it. If only I were going there and not to Yaounde, Cameroun I think everything would be perfect. Fly safely with all my love and prayers.
ME

Anonymous said...

Anne--Can we try to catch a conversation re homeschooling/ministry stuff while at GAFCON? I'll try to look you up from the hotel. Nancy Bergner nancyberg2001@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you're going to Gafcon - I hope you will report from it - or certainly reflect on it for us. I've been praying daily for the conference and those who are going. Blessings - CT reader

Dr. Alice said...

Three: It is as sin filled an endeavor as any other activity in life. If anything, I am expecting to be shown more than anything the falleness of my own nature and my need for God's grace... And so moment by moment its an opportunity to seek God and be changed by him.

It's interesting that you say that. I look at my job (practicing medicine) in much the same way. I absolutely do not want to find myself self-righteously lecturing patients for the very same bad things I do myself, and the temptation is always there.