My Master Inspire Plan

I sat down on Saturday morning with a notebook and a pencil in order to write down the things I wanted to study during my free time everyday.  There are many books I would like to read and many things I would like to know more about.  One of the seven principles of  teaching from TJEd is "You not Them", which basically means that you shouldn't focus on forcing your kids to learn things.  Instead, focus on learning things yourself and then share your enthusiasm with your children, and they will follow in your footsteps.  We ought to lead them instead of push them.

I realize that there are two types of things I want to study during my free time.
1. Things that I find interesting and want to know more about
2. Things I do not find as interesting (yet...  because I don't know enough about them), but that I want my children to  be interested in.  In other words, things that I can't inspire my children to love because I do not yet love them myself.

I have come to see that even subjects that seem boring at first, can be quite fascinating if you choose to look a little deeper.  There is beauty and truth in them that is waiting to be discovered.

After I wrote my list, I realized that it looked a lot like a "Master Inspire Plan" that is discussed in my TJEd basic training CDs, so I wrote "Master Inspire Plan" across the top.  It is a living document (meaning that it will change as the need arises), and it contains the things that I think are most important to my children's education at this time.  I maybe should have waited to write it after the TJEd spring retreat that I will be attending this weekend, or after I finish the Charlotte Mason books that I plan to read this summer - but this is what feels right for now, so I'll just change things as the need arises.

I don't generally like to divide learning into "subjects" because, really, all of our learning is one big subject (truth), but I did divide things into general subjects in my planning in order to make sure that I was exposing my children to a broad array of different ways to seek for truth.

There are things that we do daily - these are ingrained in our daily living.  They do not look like "school", but are just part of the learning environment in our home.  There are also things that I do (or I would like to do) about once a week to inspire the children to look a little deeper at the beauty out there.  I also included a few things that I would like to include monthly because I do not have time to do them every week, but I would like us to be exposed to them periodically.

Again, these are plans I have made for myself.  When I wrote, "Read Story of Science or a math classic" under "weekly" things, it means that I plan to read a chapter of the Story of Science or from a math classic, not that I am planning on reading it to the children - or "Lesson from art book" means that I will be doing an art lesson myself, not giving one to the children, etc.  I am not denying that I made these plans with the hope that they will inspire my children to follow along, but I am not making a list of goals for my children.  That is their job.

I will also admit that one of my main objectives is for my children to read.  A lot.  What I mostly want to do with my free time is read.  I do not plan on taking very long on the rest of the goals I have set for my free time, so that I have time to read.  I want my children to gain an education from the classics (there are classics about every subject) and in order for them to do this, they must develop a love of reading and an ability to understand higher thoughts.

Here is the plan:

Daily:
Language:
Cuddle Time: I take each child, individually, and read them a chapter of a book that I would like to peak their interest in.  I go from oldest to youngest (in hopes that the oldest will be inspired to read more of it, or some other book, during the remainder of their free time) and say, "It's so-and-so's cuddle time!"  They look forward to this, and so do I, since the books I read to them are classics, and I get into them myself.  (Free Time)
Family Reading Time (Evenings)
Journal Writing (Morning List - Personal Time)
Short Story or Play Excerpt (Devotional- Fiction Section)
Poetry (Devotional)
Memorization (Meal Times - Place mats)
Spanish (Speak it throughout work time)
Scriptures (Morning - Personal Time, Devotional, Family Scriptures in the evening)
Math:
Daily Living - Do not answer any mathematical questions that come up throughout the day (there are several) and have them figure things out on their own.
Stories -  Have "living math books" out from the library (find a few from the math section at the library - some examples are here) (Free Time)
Science:
Observe Nature (Free Time)
Gardening (Work Time)
History:
Story of the World or biography (Devotional - Non-Fiction section)
Music:
Learn Hymns (Devotional)  
Listen to Composer - different one each month (Meal clean-up, work time, car)
Piano - 10 minutes per day (I know it's not enough for me to improve much, but it's better than I've been doing, maybe I'll work up to 30 minutes someday) (Free Time)
Art:
Pictures - (to look at throughout the day)


Weekly:
Social (outside of family):
Friends(For me and kids: Tuesdays - Park day, For kids: Friend time on Friday evenings and Saturday after work time)
Groups (For me: Relief Society, Book Group.  For kids in summer: Scouts, Activity Days)
Activities (as they come up)
Math:
Read Story of Science or Math Classic (Free Time - Thursdays)
Art:
Lesson from Art Book (Free Time - Fridays)
Language:
Library (Free Time - Tuesdays)
History:
Book of Centuries (Free time on Mondays or Wednesdays)
Science:
Nature Walk or Hike (Free time - Monday or Wednesday)
Handbook of Nature Studies - one lesson (Free Time - Monday or Wednesday)
Art, Music, Language, Math, Science:
Preparation for Monthly Plans (Saturdays)


Monthly:
These are prepared for on Saturdays and done on Wednesdays - in leu of the non-fiction part (usually Story of the World) of our morning devotional

Week 1:
Art: Read about one artist (put a picture up and leave his/her art on coffee table for the rest of the month)
Week 2:
Music: Read about one composer (listen to his/her music the rest of the month)
Week 3:
Language: New place mats, review old ones
Week 4:
Math or Science demonstration or activity (Number Devil, Mathematicians are People Too, or math in nature)

Field Trips:
As they come up and I see a need for the children to be inspired by them

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I realize that at first glance, this list may seem complicated, but it is really very simple.  In application, it looks like this:

Morning:    Morning List
                   *Breakfast*
                  Work Time (listen to composer and speak Spanish)
                   Devotional
                   *Lunch*
Afternoon:  Free Time (Cuddle time, one weekly goal, read)
Evening:     *Dinner*
                   After-dinner list
                   Family Time (Read Scriptures and a classic)
                
Someone asked me the other day when we were done with "school" for the summer.  I realized that we don't really "get done" with school.  Learning has just become a way of life for us.  I love it.  I love that we are simply living, learning and having a great time along the way.

Some great thoughts I read yesterday:

Children are a Public Trust.––Now, that work which is of most importance to society is the bringing up and instruction of the children––in the school, certainly, but far more in the home, because it is more than anything else the home influences brought to bear upon the child that determine the character and career of the future man or woman. It is a great thing to be a parent: there is no promotion, no dignity, to compare with it. The parents of but one child may be cherishing what shall prove a blessing to the world....

Mothers owe a 'thinking love' to their Children.––'The mother is qualified,' says Pestalozzi, 'and qualified by the Creator Himself, to become the principal agent in the development of her child; ... and what is demanded of her is––a thinking love ... God has given to the child all the faculties of our nature, but the grand point remains undecided––how shall this heart, this head, these hands be employed? to whose service shall they be dedicated? A question the answer to which involves a futurity of happiness or misery to a life so dear to thee. Maternal love is the first agent in education.'" -Charlotte Mason