Tour de Quotes: 10 Inspiring Homeschool Quotes
Do you need a little pick me up as you broach homeschooling for the first time?
Inspiration to ignite your flame of learning again? Many mothers have a Common Place journal where they record motivating quotes from books and articles they read. We’ve compiled a few favorites that are just waiting to be added to your favorite journal.
“An alarming number of parents appear to have little confidence in their ability to "teach" their children. We should help parents understand the overriding importance of incidental teaching in the context of warm, consistent companionship. Such caring is usually the greatest teaching, especially if caring means sharing in the activities of the home.”
- Raymond S. Moore, School Can Wait
Each guide at The Peaceful Press purposefully incorporates everyday activities like baking, laundry, and general housekeeping so parents and children can learn to love being together and view everyday life as something winsome and educational.
“My argument to society at large is that we need to stop thinking about educating children and start thinking about how to provide the conditions that maximize each child’s ability to educate himself or herself.”
- Peter S. Gray, PHD
“This is one of the beauties of homeschooling. We don’t have to be afraid of failing our children. They are learning new things every year, and knowledge builds on knowledge and beauty builds on beauty, and we can just keep presenting the beauty year after year, trusting that it is taking root in their hearts.”
Jennifer Pepito, The Peaceful Press
So much of our education must come from within. The desire to learn, versus the push of academia. Taking time to be out of doors, making a mess because it is a type of experimentation, churning butter, shucking corn, all of this is learning that lasts.
“Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education.”
— Charlotte Mason
Snuggling up with a great book might sound like a luxury, but it is actually “school”. Be empowered to write down the books read on rainy days, the learning from these sources is not to be underestimated. Simply hearing a read-aloud is a huge part of learning for both children and adults!
“Whatever education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist.”
John Taylor Gatto
When children engage with new ideas, they often add it to their play. You might hear little Molly reenacting a scene from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe two weeks after you finished the book. This is education. Creating their own interpretation of a story is part of synthesizing information.
“Children become like the things they love.” Maria Montessori
If ever there was a truth simply stated! What we put before our children, encourage them to take interest in, and free them to spend time with, is that which will shape them forever! Choosing good books, getting outdoor time, and offering opportunities for self-led studies are all pertinent components of home education.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Fred Rogers
It’s okay to let them be little. We don’t have to push them swiftly into school days. We can relax and enjoy and smile with them. We can enter in and we can also be spectators. Letting our little ones play is an important part of their learning. It is maybe the most important part of their early years.
“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” John Holt
Habit training, chores, learning to work together…these are important parts of our every day as we raise our tribes. That said, it’s the character we watch for; sowing seeds of goodness, truth, and loyalty with the hope that they will grow deep roots and produce good fruit in every season.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. ~ Plutarch
We can push academics. We can provide all the right books and context and resources and material things. We can even travel and show our children the world. None of it is worth much unless the fire of learning is lit in their hearts and minds. Watch your children. Notice what makes them come alive….then push that! Read those books. Provide those resources. Travel to those places.