As I was reading through the introduction section for a particular math curriculum, I kept running across this heading, “Teacher support in preparation for year …”. I looked at these pages and found for each year there was a re-cap of the previous year and helpful instructions and notes for how to prepare and teach the upcoming year. Not really anything new for a curriculum, but the words they chose to title these pages…
When I finally stopped scanning and let those words soak in, they were comforting.
Teacher support.
In Preparation.
What a thoughtful way to boost a teacher. The unsure and unsteady footing a teacher may experience could be made solid with a prep course so the teacher could avoid going in cold. Providing a guide to steer the way and alert to what is coming provides assurance and support. The teacher would still have to take this individual journey with her learners- navigating the details, accomplishing the daily tasks, monitoring and evaluating the progress, but to start off with preparation gives confidence.
Walking into a new experience with no pre-planning, thought, or training can lead to all kinds of unwanted circumstances – floundering to all-out chaos. Sometimes there is a carefree, unexpected, bountiful result from an improv approach – planning and preparation are not the end- all- be- all, but sometimes a good plan with a guide is so helpful.
Our homelearning has experienced some of that floundering and chaos. And it was certainly due to the fact that the teacher hadn’t been supported with preparation for the year or really for… a life. So many things I have learned along the way. Too many things I have had to learn the hard way. So much ignorance at so many levels. So little support in preparation that many days and months were an improve- try-to-keep -up.
And while there are many things yet to learn, I have many things tucked under my belt. Many experiences that I have tried, failed, re-tried, re-worked have come through now with the light of a Living Education getting brighter. I have come far enough to determine the goal, see the process along the way, and to glimpse the finished product. It is Living and a Charlotte Mason Education makes it possible. Several years ago, I would have hidden in a corner if someone asked me a question regarding a Charlotte Mason Education that required an answer other than the basic CM lingo. I didn’t have the experience to validate the words I knew. One is always gaining experience with a Living Education, but because I have stayed true to a CM Education even while floundering in the dark, I now can give some of my experiences back to you – to support you in preparation for your year.
I do hope that what you find here will support and prepare. I hope you find encouragement for support when the mothering road is weary, when the homeschooling path seems to dead end, when you feel defeated. I hope you become prepared through knowledge and how-to’s, through understanding and clarity, to carry out your Living Education to its greatest potential.
I pray that here, you will be supported in preparation for all you have to do for this year.