Week 1: Take a Risk: Have the Homeschool of Your Dreams!
July 16, 7 PM EDT
The fantasy homeschool that lives in your imagination is a good one. It’s haunted by a invisible spirit called “The Ghost of Public School Past.” Her name is Mrs. Cox, she holds a red pen, she whispers in your left ear: “By this age in school, your child would already be…” Make it stop! That voice leads you to do all kinds of schoolish activities in the name of taking education seriously. It also leads to all kinds of unhappiness, tedium, and feelings of failure. What would happen if you could brush her off your shoulder? What can you do to gain confidence to follow the fragile, bright vision you have of how life at home could actually be? Let’s explore a new kind of homeschool paradigm together.
Week 2: Creating a Language-Rich Lifestyle
July 23, 7 PM EDT
The best way to cultivate rich self-expression in both writing and speaking is to create a language-rich environment. Julie explores the role of nature study, art appreciation, film, poetry, literature and word play in the development of great writers. She looks at the concept of “party school”—how to research a report and turn it into a party! Don’t miss this workshop. It brings the “home” back into your homeschool. Promise!
Week 3: Updating Charlotte Mason to the 21st Century
July 30, 7 PM EDT
We all love dear Charlotte, but let’s face it. She didn’t have to contend with video games, Netflix, or cheap Van Gogh prints in McDonald’s restaurants. Moreoever, the world has changed in a century. How do we translate all the good in her thinking and educational philosophy into a robust, technologically-current, globalized educational model that she’d applaud today? This seminar calls for an update—Can we be brave enough to expand on Miss Mason’s fabulous, child-oriented, expansive vision of education? The answer is, “Yes, we can.”
