Teaching in Your Tiara is a deceptively easy read. I whizzed through it, sort of lamenting the folksy question and answer format. BUT then I kept finding myself referring to the book in conversations, and quoting it to my couple-of-three (that's a Southern turn of phrase) homeschooling friends.
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| Oil and Cold Water, no soap. |
Many of the chapters had nothing to do with me and my homeschooling situation: Deciding to Do It, Talking to Dad, Answering Questions from Dad, etc. Clarity through prayer helped us to see that homeschooling was our ONLY option. Plus, Patrick was and is more confident in my homeschooling ability, than I ever have been.
Personally, I think God knew He had to back me into a terrible corner before I would ever "choose" this path.
It wasn't until later in the book, the chapter on Homeschooling with Different Ages, The Mistakes We All Make, and Keeping Up with the Housework that I really felt Rebecca was having a lovely conversation with me.
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| Oil, Cold Water, and Soap. |
That one statement is so very FREEING! We DO use our home differently!
I put a bookshelf in the hall, near the dining room just to have a place to clear the homeschooling detritus to in time for dinner. There are a lot more mason jars in my kitchen than I'm used to. The stereo is now mostly used for audio books. My scrapbooking supplies have become lapbooking supplies. I spend far more time in my home than I did previously, and I have begun to resent the chores that take me out of it, like Costco.
Rebecca's last chapter, Maintaining Your Identity has also stayed with me. In Maintaining Your Identity, rather than hold up the woman in the denim jumper stereotype (which she does refer to, and explain) she cautions women against "becoming beige."
If you want my opinion (and you bought my book so I might as well tell you), becoming a homeschool cliche is the wrong thing to fret over. I think you should worry about becoming beige."Becoming beige" involves a loss of individualism to the point a woman just fades into the background. Beige. It hides the dirt, but it's so dang ugly.
The list of resources in the back of the book is invaluable. Kindle lets me keep the text I highlight from every book, and you Know I highlighted every single online resource she lists. You can see most of those resources, and Rebecca's wonderful list of Final Thoughts here.
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| Oil, Warm Water, and Soap. |
Speaking of generous hearts, Laura at a String of Pearls is giving away a few copies of her own novel for teens, Finding Grace.
I sometimes get a little wistful, thinking we should have homeschooled all of our boys (we only homeschooled the youngest, from 4th through 8th grade, when the Catholic grade school the others had attended started going in a direction we didn't like). Back when we were starting out, we knew NO ONE who homeschooled--it was not a concept that even came across our radar. When I read all these blogs with large homeschooling families, like yours, I think of how neat it would have been. But I suppose if we were meant to homeschool them all, God would have planted that seed long before He did. And they all seem to have turned out okay. :)
ReplyDeleteI meant to add, for those who do choose that path, this sounds like a good book!
Delete"Large homeschooling families" LOL! My older three never homeschooled, and who knows what will happen with Jill. Large, yes. You are absolutely right about seeds not planted. We do the best we can with the resources and support we have at the time.
DeleteHey, by the way, I just tried to email you but it didn't work. Is your address comcast.com or comcast.net?
Delete.net
DeleteJust caught that and fixed it. Thanks!
DeleteI like the tiara on the cover of the book! The concept of "not becoming beige" is intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI'm linking up even though not all of the books in my review are recent reads (hopefully that's OK?). When I started writing about Code Name Verity (which IS a recent read) I realized how much I like the document format and had to include more books of a similar ilk.
No Rules, Anna! Heck, I even reviewed a book I hadn't completely read once. Or twice. I forget.
DeleteEven as someone who probably is not going to homeschool it was a good read to plan enrichment and the kind of house we want to be!
ReplyDeleteI loved that part about your home will never be the same and you use your home differently when you homeschool. So, very, very true and it made me feel a lot better about our perpetual homeschool mess.
ReplyDeleteI love that bit about using one's home differently. So very, very true. I've been unpacking that thought quite a bit lately!
ReplyDeleteI bought this book because I love Rebecca but have yet to read it. As someone who was homeschooled the whole way, I feel like I know most of what comes with homeschooling, but being a mom this time around does change a lot. I totally understand about the house thing though - I keep telling my husband that if we want to homeschool as the kids get older, we'll need a much bigger house because I'm gonna need some space to get away! We'll see though.
ReplyDeleteI had almost the exact same impression of the book! I was unsure if it was for me as I was reading through sections like "Deciding" and "Choosing Curriculum", but then I got to the second half, and it was like, "oh, now she's talking to me!"
ReplyDeleteThis book looks super interesting and now I'm kind of interested what led you to homeschooling (if you are sharing or have already shared). There are a bunch of moms around here who homeschool and I like hearing their stories : )
ReplyDeleteHere is what happened back in October: http://www.housewifespice.com/2013/10/seven-quick-takes-feast-of-st-jude-and.html
DeleteLoved your reflections on the book, but tell me... WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE WATER/OIL/SOAP?? Is that a standard science experiment that I don't know about? Is there a reaction happening?
ReplyDeleteIt's a super basic experiment how the hydrophobic and hydrophilic ends of a soap molecule rest on the surface of the water. I think. Also, part of it was that soap works better with warmer water. I can't say it was anything mind blowing, just lots of mixing and shaking of jars. This is the same experiment, but they used food coloring too: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/ss/howsoapcleans.htm
DeleteI just found your blog and this link-up and I can't wait to check out all of the links (and then go back through the archives.) This could be dangerous ;) It just so happens that I had written about one of my favorite books of all time today, so I joined the party!
ReplyDelete