This year
Everyday Scholé is taking an in-depth, practical look at the eight essential
principles of classical education. This month we are looking at embodied education.
You can check out the previous posts in this series as well: Charlotte Mason and Classical Combined, Slow and Steady in Your Homeschool, Multum non Multa Exhibited in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool, and Practical Ways to Use Repetitionto Memorize.
I’ve got some great news for those of you
following this series. If you are not even remotely a classical educator, then
this principle of classical education is the one for you. It’s actually
addressed quite a bit in other educational philosophies as well. Charlotte
Mason, Waldorf, and Montessori all address the learning space and what it
should be like. I’m referring to embodied education or making sure all of your
senses are engaged in the learning environment.
Embodied education is probably already something
you are achieving in your home just by virtue of being a homeschooler, as you
will see in the examples below. However, I wanted to give some examples of
exactly what embodied education looks like in our home and I really want you to
share how your homeschool exhibits embodied education as well in the comments.
Hopefully this will become an interactive post where we are all sharing ideas.
The principle behind embodied education is a
simple one. Children learn better when they are comfortable, surrounded by
beauty, and have rituals or routines that focus on virtue and character
formation. And I can guarantee that you are already providing an embodied
education to your children, so that’s encouraging! But what are some more ways
we can practice embodied education?
Make
your school area as comfortable and home-like as possible.
Nothing wrong with desks and tables, but make sure you include comfy cushions
and couches, pillows, and rugs. One way I’ve helped my children with their
desire to sprawl and school, as I call it, is to create little nooks in the
living room for each of them with pillows and blankets so they can retreat
there to work on their independent work. I also give them a clipboard to use
because none of them like to write without a hard surface.
Make
your school area beautiful. In our official school
area (at the end of our dining room), I keep prints of famous artwork on the
wall intermingled with their own art creations. I purposefully chose a soft
yellow to put on the walls in that room knowing it would be our school area as
well. I buy fresh flowers (usually the discounted ones from the grocery store)
and place in a vase on the dining room table for the week or if the children
pick flowers, we put those in there.
Make
your school time a sensory experience. I actually started
doing this at the end of last year. During school time I burn scented wax in a
wax warmer to provide a pleasant smell during the day. I also play classical
music at a low volume all day long while we’re doing school for some background
noise. When everyone gets quiet reading or doing work, it’s really nice to hear
it fill the room. Adding in field trips about the places, events, and concepts the
children are studying in history and science is a great way to bring those
things to life through the senses. It’s one thing to read about Egypt; it’s
quite another to go to the natural history museum in Houston and see actual
Egyptian artifacts.
Create
rituals that serve a purpose. I’m not talking
about schedules or routines, but practices that you insert in your day to reach
your children at the soul level as you form their virtue. While all of that
sounds kind of out there, let me give you some examples. The easiest one is
starting our day with Power Hour (aka Morning Meeting). During Power Hour I try
to focus on good discussion and learning things that are good, true, and
beautiful. Within Power Hour, we have our own routine of always opening by
singing a hymn and then having prayer. That is how we always start out school
day, even if we can’t get to Power Hour that day, and the kids will call me on
it if we don’t.
Over the summer as part of my teacher in-service
(books I assign myself to read to be a better mother and teacher), I read Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World.
It made me realize how I need to be better about cultivating an attitude of
gratitude in our family as a whole. So starting this school year, of which we’ve
completed a week at this point, I began a new ritual where at the end of our
school day, we light a candle in the middle of the table, stand around it while
holding hands, and say the following together, “Jesus, you are the light of the
world. Help us to be lights as well through having a grateful attitude, a
humble spirit, and a love for all.” At that point, we go around the circle and we
each share three things they are grateful for that day. I close out our school
day by reading Philippians 1:3-11 as a blessing for my children and we sing The Doxology together.
I had honestly
never considered how important a pleasing environment and rituals are in a
child’s education, but as I learned more about embodied education, I was not
surprised to see that I’d already incorporated a lot of embodied education into
our day because it makes it more enjoyable for all of us.
I’m looking forward
to reading what my fellow Everyday Scholé bloggers have to say about the
subject so click on the links below to read more about embodied education.
I also want to see
what ways you incorporate embodied education in your homeschool so please leave
a comment below.
Tell me how your homeschool environment is pleasing
to the senses and any rituals you have in your homeschool day.
Chelli
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