“Live your life, relish ideas, wrestle. Remember, think, and converse. This is a curriculum you cannot buy, but your child’s heart and mind will feast on it for years to come.” – Sarah Mackenzie
When beginning to develop this section, I am reminded of the words and wisdom sewn throughout the lovely book “Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace”. Within this book, Mackenzie encourages homeschooling parents to teach from a place of rest, rather than feeling the anxiety and stress that comes with constantly aiming to complete tasks and keep up with timelines. The quote selected to kick-off this section of the curriculum pre- pages voices with such simplicity and truth the heart of our WonderHere curriculum and its intended design to be peacefully paced in implementation.
Please understand, peacefully-paced is not the same thing as lazily- paced. Check out the Webster definitions of peaceful and lazy below.
Peaceful (adj.): untroubled by conflict, agitation, or commotion; quiet, tranquil.
Lazy (adj.): disinclined to activity or exertion: not energetic or vigorous; sluggish, lax
Did you spot the substantial difference between the two words? While the word peaceful describes being free from the stresses and worries associated with conflict (conflict being anything you struggle with or against such as time or schedules or expectations), lazy portrays a mindset that is unwilling to act and unenthusiastic with regards to effort or toil (work).
Now I don’t know about you, but I am very enthusiastic and deeply committed to the work associated with instructing my child and providing them with the best learning experiences I can. However, I would love to subscribe to being peaceful while doing this important and good work. I want to be quiet and still when I am organizing the week’s lessons, I want to establish a tranquil environment for learning, knowing that how I feel about the instructing has the power to impact how my child feels about the learning.
This curriculum provides the instructor with the space to peacefully pace their movement through and in and about the units. As the instructor, you have the power to make decisions about what you fill your plate with each day and know that the goal is not to do everything and check everything off of your daily to-do list. Rather, the curriculum wants you to breathe and pause when you find it appropriate. If things roll over into the next day or week, let them. If you need to omit whole lessons or take a week or two off at a time, do it! Your child will not be illiterate and unable to add and subtract at the end of their academic career. Be assured, that if you are intentional and selective about how you craft your child’s day, your child will learn and even more important than that, they will love to learn.
