"It is a happy talent to know how to play." Ralph Waldo Emerson
About a year ago, we built a playset in the backyard. Honestly, we didn't know if Kathryn would actually use it because she never almost never played outside. She'd sometimes play outside at a friend's house, but she was never one of those kids who wanted to stay outdoors. Then Lacy joined our family, and running around with her is crazy fun, even for the adults in the family! Gradually Kathryn became more willing to play outside a little because there was a silly dog to accompany her, and a swing set on which to play. She still doesn't like playing outside in the hot summer, and I can't protest too much because I don't enjoy hot weather myself. Now that it feels wonderfully like fall, however, Kathryn and Lacy are spending more time outside. I think our nature studies have encouraged her in this, too, because they've gotten us outside more often, and have helped us learn to pay more attention to all the wonderful things to discover out in God's creation.
All that being said, I've been fighting with myself the past couple of weeks because I have been feeling like I need to get that School To-Do List checked off. There are projects and lessons that aren't getting done. But for the first time in Kathryn's life, I've had have to force her to come inside. As soon as she's dressed in the morning, she's begging to get outside and play. I've been watching her and Lacy run & jump; I've been suppressing my clean-freak tendencies when I see her wallowing in a pile of leaves; I've been laughing as Lacy uses her snout to bulldoze through a pile of leaves Kathryn has just raked, and as Kathryn leaps into the midst of the pile. I've been impressed that Kathryn has made her own broom out of pine needle bunches tied onto a stick using grass as twine, so she can sweep the fallen leaves out of her little playset house. I have suppressed giggles about all the stores of "food" she has gathered to store up for winter. But then that to-do list beckons again. Is this school? Is this valuable?
Charlotte Mason had this to say in regards to children's play:
I see so many kids who know all about video games and television and animated toys, but if all those were to disappear, I don't think they'd know what to do with themselves. In our home, our favorite toys are dolls, stuffed animals, and Legos. Books are Kathryn's favorite form of entertainment. The only TV that she usually watches is Alton Brown on Thursdays nights when she & Ken hang out upstairs while I host my Bible study group downstairs. (All part of my plan to get her excited about cooking so she can take over in a few years! Bwa ha ha!)
Charlotte Mason also said,
I've often wondered where my imagination went. As a child, I had a fabulously creative side. As an adult, I feel like my imagination and creativity dried up like Lake Allatoona in this summer's terrible drought. I have to work at it nowadays, and I have seen some of it come back, but not like it was. What happened? I think well-meaning teachers and adults taught me that I must be practical, and with all that practicality, the creativity within me withered. I don't want that to happen to Kathryn!
So what about all this free play I've been allowing? Is this slacking off from what is important? After much thought & prayer, I've realized that this is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing. We still do our readings, math, Bible lessons, and handwriting. But the other stuff can wait. There will be rainy days, and plenty of time in the hot summer when we can catch up on all of that. For now, I must try my best not to stifle the joys of play. Even in this, she is learning about nature, learning about God and his creation, and developing the precious gift of imagination--things that no textbook can teach.
All that being said, I've been fighting with myself the past couple of weeks because I have been feeling like I need to get that School To-Do List checked off. There are projects and lessons that aren't getting done. But for the first time in Kathryn's life, I've had have to force her to come inside. As soon as she's dressed in the morning, she's begging to get outside and play. I've been watching her and Lacy run & jump; I've been suppressing my clean-freak tendencies when I see her wallowing in a pile of leaves; I've been laughing as Lacy uses her snout to bulldoze through a pile of leaves Kathryn has just raked, and as Kathryn leaps into the midst of the pile. I've been impressed that Kathryn has made her own broom out of pine needle bunches tied onto a stick using grass as twine, so she can sweep the fallen leaves out of her little playset house. I have suppressed giggles about all the stores of "food" she has gathered to store up for winter. But then that to-do list beckons again. Is this school? Is this valuable?
Charlotte Mason had this to say in regards to children's play:
"There is a little danger in these days of much educational effort that children's play should be crowded out, or, what is from our present point of view the same thing, should be prescribed for and arranged until there is no more freedom of choice about play than that about work."
I see so many kids who know all about video games and television and animated toys, but if all those were to disappear, I don't think they'd know what to do with themselves. In our home, our favorite toys are dolls, stuffed animals, and Legos. Books are Kathryn's favorite form of entertainment. The only TV that she usually watches is Alton Brown on Thursdays nights when she & Ken hang out upstairs while I host my Bible study group downstairs. (All part of my plan to get her excited about cooking so she can take over in a few years! Bwa ha ha!)
Charlotte Mason also said,
"Boys and girls must have time to invent episodes, carry on adventures, live heroic lives, lay sieges and carry forts, even if the fortress be an old armchair; and in these affairs the elders must neither meddle nor make. They [the elders] must be content to know that they do not understand, and, what is more, that they carry with them a chill breath of reality which sweeps away illusions."
I've often wondered where my imagination went. As a child, I had a fabulously creative side. As an adult, I feel like my imagination and creativity dried up like Lake Allatoona in this summer's terrible drought. I have to work at it nowadays, and I have seen some of it come back, but not like it was. What happened? I think well-meaning teachers and adults taught me that I must be practical, and with all that practicality, the creativity within me withered. I don't want that to happen to Kathryn!
So what about all this free play I've been allowing? Is this slacking off from what is important? After much thought & prayer, I've realized that this is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing. We still do our readings, math, Bible lessons, and handwriting. But the other stuff can wait. There will be rainy days, and plenty of time in the hot summer when we can catch up on all of that. For now, I must try my best not to stifle the joys of play. Even in this, she is learning about nature, learning about God and his creation, and developing the precious gift of imagination--things that no textbook can teach.
