31 Days #1 Channeling the Classical Passion Before and After School

This post was the 1st  written in conjunction with The Nester's 31 days Link.
Classical education has become trendy. There. I said it. Everytime you turn around, someone is talking about Latin, putting their kids in CC groups, memory work, grammar. But as it is so well described in Douglas Wilson's book, wearing a uniform & having the right texts on your desk do not a classical education make.
I am a huge proponent of classical education. CC groups, Latin, memory work & even uniforms (they're just .. cute.) But I'm a bit hamstrung right now. We, that is, my husband and I have found ourselves needing the kind of structure that we can't provide solely at home. Likewise, we cannot afford the kind of school that might provide that. And furthermore, we're really not entirely sure that the kind of school (a private classical christian school) might be the best thing for one or both of our children.
But to get straight to the point, I am needing to channel my classical beliefs into the time I have with my kids, outside of the hours they participate in government schools. You may be thinking, if she has all the time to write a blog about it, why aren't the kids at home? Suffice it to say, my husband and I are not in mutual agreement that this is the best for our family. When the home's sanity is in jeopardy, one chooses the entire family's best interest and one's spouse's desire. So off they go.   
But to the point of my 31 days. How does one continue and provide classical content when children are away 8 hours of the day, with homework that may or maynot compliment my desires. 
 Start with the end in mind. Look at the end-game.
Today, my son asked ' will I go to the same school next year?' Like I told him when he was at home, one day, one year at a time. We will assess this, but starting with the end in mind, one must have a plan. Our mutual objectives can be met, if our compromises are not to alienate the other's desires for our children. If we are all honest, we know there are things we disagree on about our children. Some matter, some don't.
I had to decide, does/did it matter to me, whether they were exactly in programs associated with homeschool or classical groups, or if they were just classically educated?
It has been said by many great thinkers, something like ' I never let school get in the way of my education.' I have always felt this way.
What I grew up with was a Dad who conditioned me to know that for every 1 hour in the classroom, there were 3 to be dealt with outside the classroom. Perhaps not in 3rd grade. But the idea was that a lecture does not an education make. What goes on after class is equally as important as what goes on during.
Am I making my kids do 2 sets of curriculum, well, yes & no.
I'll deal with the 'no' first.
I dug deep into the curriculum, and still do everytime the subject/topic/literature selection/math skill/ changes.
Everything is on line. Everything. The curriculum is all there. Georgia is a state notorious for 'low national standards', testing against one'self to keep the bar low.' The good news is GA has adopted Common Core which is nation wide.  (If you are a sold-out home educator this is no consolation, just a fact to be argued, read on if you want, stop reading and find another 31 dayer whose husband is in full agreement with home-education. In all kindness, this 31 day is not meant to be argumentative or undermining. Just one woman's path. documented for 31 days.)
I grab the subjects right there, as the teacher has sent home the assignments(via e-mail) & weekly schedule and I'm armed with what I need to structure home study. He has homework anyway, so I structure it meeting the required work with a sharpened aim.
I break it down into grammar, and work with it. I add what I think needs adding, and go from there. It has been blessing (to me personally) that our curriculum worked well with what I'd planned to cover this year.. the ancient period. They covered a unit in Greece and discussed the influences on our American Government.
While he continued to bring home random library books, (not always my preferred choices) I read 'The Odyssey' with him at night. We continue to compliment the subjects at school with our Classical Conversations CD's for Cycle 1. Our Bible study has been covering the Judges, and likewise the 10 Commandments are a part of our memory work. A song about the Judges has likewise made it into our routine, and we (as a family)have daily read from the same 3 Psalms as well as listened to the entire CC CD daily.
So I threw in some of the 'yes' (2 curriculums) as I went. But you get the idea. Kids are going to be learning something while they are not reviewing their times tables. I need to know, no matter where they are, with whom how long, what is the grammar of my home. What will they find most important, the important grammar.
Fearless Inventory
I have found  it has been easier for me to 'light the fire' as opposed to 'filling the cup', with our current situation. Opposition in our home wasn't over the issue of home/away. It was more about actually getting it done. Peace was not a part of our home. My partner in this effort is now my husband. He's the one reading slowly and methodically with a patience that they will remember on a weekday morning, while I pack lunches, & bookbags. Because they are seeing his participation.
And our mutual agreement. Our united front. The kids know, this is what we'll be doing every weekday morning. If it's not CC, it's a classical music CD. But it's not just the quality of the grammar, or the repetition of the grammar-- it's the environment/ambience of the moment. The spirit in which it's delivered.  
The morning is packed with the 'grammar' of our lives, for some classical music may not be in your grammar. It's in mine. and that's something else I'm at peace with. It may seem 'the thing to do' trendy even, -- to make one's kids listen to classical music so they'll be classically educated. (the use of classical is coincidental) But that really is a part of our world. Allowing them to see that it wasn't just because it was 'required' by CC, and that we really enjoy it, and that the CD's we play were Daddy's before we married, when he didn't even own a TV..... ( I could do with a lesson in Essentials grammar. lol...)  The grammar of our lives and the musical knowledge of our home can be just as easily heard in the cajun, country, or jazz dare I say, even rock in our home? The sacred hymns are integral. Nightly sung.  On the doorposts.
Perhaps what I'll discover in the this 31 days, are the habits we actually do keep (Oh, Charlotte..) Perhaps I'll find out what really happens when this particular change comes about in a family. What we're really made of.

As October rolls around, for 31 days, I hope not only to bring out the fall garland, but maximize on the beauty of Channeling the Classical  Passion Before and After School.  To not just 'fill the cup' but genuinely 'light the fire,' in my heart and my family's with whatever resources are at my disposal.