Over the last several months, or to be more accurate, since I began home educating my oldest son formally a year ago, I have been thinking more often about my own ability to teach and the quality and aptitude of my brain to provide him with a good, solid academic education.
I had a high school education, and I often feel intimidated by those who have a college education. I see them as very smart and capable, and I see myself as pretty average. My husband assures me that I am smart, and my kids do appear to be thriving so far, but the struggle to "feel" intelligent is real. This is not a post to debate whether or not to go to college. Some are able to and others are not. There are so many variables about college attendance, and I, in no way wish to delve into them right now. What I have to embrace for the now is what I have to work with, and I've been thinking about ways to further challenge my brain.
Pursuing college right now is not an option, but that does not mean that I can't continue to work my brain and develop it. I am a big advocate of physical fitness and health, but my brain also needs some working out. I spend a great deal of my day wiping bottoms, changing diapers, breaking up fights, cleaning up messes.....cleaning up messes.,..cleaning up messes, cooking food, nursing my infant, carrying my infant, and I'm sure busy moms could add a whole list! They are necessary tasks, but often mundane, and at the end of the day I tend to feel a little brain dead.
In this post I just want to share some fun ways I've been giving my brain some exercise lately.
First: I have been focusing on good reading. I have a friend who regularly blogs about the books she is reading, and it inspired me to read more. Then, I discovered Susan Wise Bauer. I'm sure many in the classical education circles and home school circles have heard of her, but I stumbled upon her books in the library. This is a very brief explanation of what I'm learning so far because as you know there will likely be a mess to clean up soon...
She teaches average moms like me how to provide their kids with a solid, classical education, and in another one of her books, The Well Educated Mind she helps moms like me learn how to read good, classic books, think about them with logic, and reason with others about them once the books have been read. So, naturally, I started at the beginning of her suggested reading list and began Don Quixote. I am 100 pages in to the nearly 1000, and I am really enjoying it! My husband is reading along with me, and we've had some fun discussions so far.
Second: Peter and I have been taking some theological classes at church. The one I just completed was on Soteriology, (the doctrine of salvation) and I even had to write a paper at the end! It was taught by a Dallas Theological Seminary graduate, and one of the pastors on staff at our church. I am so thankful to have been a part of this class. One day I want to blog about the highlights. What we discovered in this class is what many in the Reformed line of thinking call, "easy believism", and tend to view negatively, but wow, when you understand that "salvation" has more meanings than just "saved from hell", James, Hebrews, John, and so many other things in the Bible I have been confused about for years, make sense! I don't worry about "losing my salvation" anymore. I finally feel at peace about my eternal home, and I have an fuller understanding of the doctrine of rewards. I'll stop there because I could go on and on. Maybe next blog post! We are currently taking a class on how to study the Bible. I'm excited about this one, too.
What about you? What are some things you are doing to exercise your brain?
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