A Panorama Unfolds: High School as Twice Blessed

Our topic this month is:

The Wide View….  How does your family’s ‘big picture’/goals/educational philosophy affect/guide your planning and translate into what your highschoolers do on a daily/weekly basis?  Do you generalise or specialise?

How does our educational philosophy affect and guide our planning and the day-to-day work in high school?  Profoundly!

Perhaps it would first be beneficial to identify our family home education philosophy for you.We are Classical-Charlotte-Mason home educators that seek to embrace “the balanced whole” of a Charlotte Mason education, not parts or an inspired version of Charlotte Mason.

I do not see the two educational philosophies as mutually exclusive, and in fact, they are indeed quite complementary.  A Charlotte Mason education is a Classical education.

Both philosophies seek to convey a liberal education with living books using methods that make education real with ideas owned by the student.  Both are educational philosophies which are quite rigorous (though this is often mis-understood regarding a Charlotte Mason high school education).  And both present a high school education which is decidedly “outside of the box”: not on a workbook page, not out of a text, and outside of that which can be easily measured quantitatively.  Both educational philosophies seek to nourish a child with a rich and varied feast of ideas so that a young adult can begin to enter The Great Conversation.  (For more on this topic there is a wonderful thread at 4Real with a rich discussion on Classical Education and Charlotte Mason.)

Meaty.  Rich.  Lofty.  Worthy.  Blessed.  In fact, twice blessed: “it blesses him that gives and him that takes”. (CM, Vol 6, p. 27)

And not a popular or common route.

I admit that when my oldest was in 8th grade, I allowed myself to feel the pressure.  You know the pressure I’m talking about, don’t you?

Was it possible?

A popular and prevailing line of thought seemed to suggest that a full, boxed curriculum is necessary for high school, and while that may be the best route for some families, it seemed to delegate and box so much of what made our home education experience twice blessed for us.  An approach that would favor curriculum over books and experiences was the antithesis of our earlier years and seemed incongruous with our family philosophy of education.  So we chose a different route.  Or rather, we stayed the course.  Our course.  Our twice blessed course.

I know what you’re wondering…it all sounds great, but what about testing?  What about the SAT?  The ACT?  Getting into college?  Our experience with standardized testing has yielded good results.  We don’t over-emphasize preparing for these tests (though we did do a few things to prepare), nor their outcome, but I know it’s a big question so I wanted to let you know our experience.  Our high schooler’s experience with testing was good, and the preparations were reasonable, didn’t disrupt our days, nor did they topple our other plans.

Sitting here with a Junior in high school and a middle schooler that is almost ready for high school and surveying our last 12 years of home education, I see a wide and rich panorama that has unfolded in our home education as we’ve met high school days.  I’m grateful we stayed the course.  My high school student has met enough ideas in her literary rich education that these now cross-connect and she can effectively communicate these ideas, as well as her own thoughts on the topic(s).  Subjects are not compartments; history is not separate from geography, the arts, sciences, etc.  Learning has context, and ideas connect to other ideas.  Relationships with ideas and with persons are nurtured in our high school days.  Discussions have taken on a richness and depth which is rewarding and challenging.

As my current high school student looks out beyond home education, the panorama becomes richer, more vivid.  We both step forward having been blessed so richly through our Classical-Charlotte Mason high school experience.  And as my middle schooler steps forward closer to high schooler, I am grateful for the experience of these years which affirmed our belief that an education rich in books and experiences would unfold into a panorama so worthwhile in the undertaking.  Was it possible to continue our Classical-Charlotte Mason philosophy into high school?  Yes, and so much richer than I ever imagined.

For year-specific examples what our high school booklists and lesson plans look like, see: Wildflowers and Marbles: The Paper Stuff.

Our 11th grade booklist with more details will be posted soon.