"Mother Culture" (Part 1)
The term "Mother culture" was coined by the 19th century educator, Charlotte Mason. Without going into detail overly much, the point of this term is to encourage the mother (as a primary educator and caretaker of her children and home) to pursue various readings and opportunities to continue to educate herself, partly so as to stay ahead of her children as she teaches them, and partly for the simple reason that education will enrich the mother as a person. I stumbled across this concept as I was researching various educational methods (and trying to decided which one I liked best for our homeschool. Unsurprisingly, I walked away with an eclectic collection of favorite bits from each type, and if that doesn't explain my homeschooling modus operandi, I don't know what does.)
Anyway, "mother culture" is something I took and ran with. I love knowing things, and I have a vigorous curiosity combined with an obsessive desire to explore, well, EVERYTHING. But I have never had to actually self-direct my learning, odd though that may sound for someone who champions things like "delight-driven learning," and likes to design curriculum and make up unit-studies.
I have always had a need to research--be it a writing project, the next unit I wanted to cover in our homeschool, a class or Bible study I was in that drove me to new areas of learning...there was always something. One year it was a delightful little art class for my kids and their friends--and I went MUCH further into art-history and technique than I could ever hope to teach a bunch of 5-and-6-year-olds. So along came the 'rona last spring and suddenly...I was fresh out of study spurs, plus there was never, ever a chance to pawn off the kiddos on someone else for a while for me to go dive into study like I normally would.
I know a lot of people are into podcasts, and I've certainly found one or two individual messages that I enjoyed, but it's really not a good fit for me somehow. Maybe because my kids never stop talking?
I did find a few things that worked for me, even in this strange season, and I wanted to share them with you and encourage you as you continue YOUR education--because if we really believe that education is "all of life" like I often say in our home school, we aren't "done" just because we've got that magic paper saying we learned enough or passed that magic age where people finally stop asking you questions about where you're going to school! This isn't to stress you out or make you feel like you aren't doing enough. So, if this idea overwhelms you, stop reading right now and go make yourself a hot beverage and rest.
Seriously--just like most homeschooling "tips," this is not for everyone.
But for those who are interested, these are the places my pandemic-year-off-of-outside-requirements lead me in learning for myself:
10 Ideas for "Mother Culture"
- Documentaries (I enjoyed these research documentaries comparing theories about the Exodus)
- Books on tape (my top authors are P.G. Wodehouse, Dorothy Sayers, and Agatha Christie. I also loved listening to Cold Case Christianity, by J. Warner Wallace, after I frankly struggled to wade through the paper version of this book.)
- Online Seminars, conferences, and summits. (My favorites in the last year have been these online homeschool summits, a police-wife encouragement conference, and a stress-mastery workshop by this girl that I just discovered!)
- Ministry training (we are currently starting up a Trail Life USA troop in our town, and we've discovered the wealth of online discipleship training from TL-USA that has been fabulous).
- Online Lessons (My husband signed us up for this super-fun at-home dance lessons which we try to do as a weekly "at-home date" and it is SO FUN)
- Information relating to special interest and hobbies (We like NASA's monthly and weekly sky-watching tips and info, and I have friends who follow local cooking challenges, gardening gurus, writing groups, and more!)
- Learning Apps (I'm very, VERY slowly trying to dip my toes into Italian on Duo Lingo in the hopes that we will someday still get to take that ten-year-anniversary trip to Rome that was cancelled last spring.)
- Pick a project that demands a new skill (I know people joked about the pandemic turning people to baking homemade bread and such, but is that such a bad thing? I’ve picked up piano again this last year; I try and sit down and paint at least once a season; I’m starting to sew—mostly Barbie clothes— and we enjoyed getting wood-cutting permits and getting our own firewood last fall as a family--everyone learned new skills. Maybe even just dig into your family history and research your genealogy for a few generations!)
- Reading (I challenged myself this year to go through every book we own--and read the ones I think are worth keeping! I just finished Wells' Animal Farm and now I'm knee-deep into Augustine's Confessions and I'm being blown away by the timeliness of both of them!)
- Field Trips or travel! (Research local things and DO them. For example, we went fossil hunting up in the mountains--no people, no 'rona concerns--and then when we came back I looked up everything we found and discovered all kinds of fascinating information about the geology of our area! Or when the opportunity arises, go further afield—my husband and I got to go to England and Ireland for an anniversary, and we dug into the history of areas we were visiting before-hand—so much history came alive!)
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