Confidence in Parenting

I was inspired by the writer from Study in Brown where she addressed life,learning and schooling so well. I so often am far less gentle in my words. The following mental response, not necessarily an aswer to a question posed, to her thoughts, came about after reading her article the road less traveled. Visit her site, you'll be inspired too.


I'm finding the site Simply Charlotte Mason very intriguing. I am a firm proponent of The Well-Trained Mind's philosophy in education, for home-schooling or after-schooling(yes, many parents take this approach). However, sometimes there are compelling differences where one must decide, which approach to take.


Parenting is personal. And when you decide to school at home, parenting becomes almost overwhelming, ie; the fear of missing some important thing, burnout, trusting yourself.


But this isn't exclusive to home-schoolers. Most parents these days seem to be at a loss when it comes to trusting their own judgment. They lack the confidence of Maria(Sound of Music), and find themselves spending the day asking comparison questions to other parents, who are just as lost as they themselves. Or perusing the internet, looking for the right blogger to guide them. (Can you hear my laughter at myself..?) One parenting specialist (who laughs at that very title when applied to himself)talks alot about this. Being confident, not foolishly proud, but confident in your decisions. Make a decision and stick by it. What if the president of US(no matter who he was) wiggle-woggled about every decision, wringing his hands going back and forth. We'd begin to wonder, losing our confidence. Children need to trust their parents to be confident in what really matters.


I would suggest that this particular free down-load from Simply Charlotte Mason includes such entries as Confidence in Parenting (p.16), and can be extremely helpful in finding our strength in God's authority as our motivation to parent with strength, love and even fun. The scriptures there are extremely uplifting. Whether you are schooling at home or not.

I included this crazy picure of Jack, because sometimes, it sounds, to me, like we're sitting around reading books about Ancient History already. Like most things, it's easier said than done, and for the most part I'm preparing myself for the years ahead. I'm building my confidence by preparing myself with long-lasting resources. I don't want to get to our 3rd year and panic. I don't plan to, but it would be easy to do in our modern educational climate or when aquaintances or friends express concern. Seldom are parents accepted as sufficient to the task of educating our own children. But that is another subject. I digress. I will mention however, my thoughts traveled to Susan Wise Bauer's Bio, who wrote with her mother, Jessie Wise, The Well Trained Mind . Bauer often expressed confidence in the average parent to be a successful teacher to their child. (p.39 WTM, "I've become convinced that any dedicated parent can do what I did.")

I don't think we are at the point where long history lessons are necessary or appropriate, but there's something to be said for observing behaviors that would put together this ensemble. Reading Charlotte Mason or those who have well analyzed her method's only reinforces my determination and confidence that we are on the right path-- for us.

Before too long, I'll have to write my statement regarding blogging. Blog/Journaling is one thing to be able to reflect on oneself for further growth. In some ways this is an internet journal entry, but also a way for me to converse with others regarding certain subjects, while connecting to certain references available on the internet. I actually pulled my copy of WTM down from the shelf to look up a quote. But the internet helps me connect with others finely tuning resources for many things. This entry may have seemed extremely tedious, but it is what it is. Just call me tedious... :) but, please, never forget to call me for dinner.