Possessions I Desire, Value, and Cultivate

This week, I took the time to schole a bit more than usual. I read...a lot. I studied...a lot. I have been sick, and physically exhausted, and I had nothing on the schedule outside of our home. Oh, what bliss! Sometimes, you need a leisurely learned week. This was that week.

During my reading, I was challenged to reevaluate my homeschool goals. I have goals, I actually write goals every year, but I haven't deeply evaluated them in a good while. I would also add that I haven't deeply evaluated them through the lens of the Christian, Classical, Charlotte Mason education that I am wholeheartedly seeking after. My goals have been more practical in format, and I was challenged to dig deeper than that, which turned out to be incredibly restorative to my weary soul.

I was most captivated by this question "What do I want my children to have when they leave my home?" I begun, immediately, to evaluate what I wanted them to leave with. Other than a few material possessions, what can our children truly possess when they leave our home. Sure, there are things that I want them to be, and things that I want them to have achieved,  and things that I hope they spend a lifetime doing....but when all of those things fall short, are fragmented by life's toils, or are just so difficult that they find themselves floundering, what will they own, aside from their Bibles, that will anchor them, orient them, and bring them to repentance and restoration over and over?

I spent some time on this list, praying over it, but honestly, most of it didn't change from the moment I pondered the question and my heart began freely flowing...to the moment that I printed the final list and put it on my wall. I share with you my list of possessions that I am working for, desiring, and daily cultivating the growth of in my homeschool...but much more importantly, I share with you my desire that this challenging and probing question will cause you too, to evaluate your homeschool goals, anchor your heart and efforts in what truly matters (you will no doubt notice that my list doesn't include science fair trophies or sports championships), and to allow the restorative power of this evaluation renew your homeschooling hearts.

Possessions I Desire, Value, and Cultivate…
Through Education and Faith
1. A Sense of Wonder
2. A Unquenchable Thirst for:
 Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
3. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit
4. The Ability to Counteract Hubris
5. An Understanding and Value of Schole
6. A Humble Realization of All That Is Still Unknown
7. A Reputation of and Desire to :
Love Much and Love Well
8. A Desire to Behold the Lamb and Be More Like Him
9. An Awe of the Creator and All Created Things
10. A Love of Language and the Ability to Use it Well
11. A Habit of Slow, Careful, Wide Reading
12. Ownership of and Accountability for Their Own Faith and Relationships With Christ
13. Memories of Laughter and a Peaceful Home
14. The Ability to Laugh at Themselves, Give Themselves Grace, and Challenge Themselves to Grow
15. An Understanding of Habitual Repentance and Surrender to Sanctification
16. A List of Great, Good, and Lovely Books Both Read (Aloud and On Their Own) and To Read
17. An Identity Anchored in Christ
18. A Respect for and Ability to Care for Their Whole Selves: Body, Mind and Soul
19. The Ability to Order Their Affections Through: Liturgy and Habit…
Carefully Formed and Faithfully Observed.
20. Respect, Empathy, and Compassion for All Persons

The post that challenged me so profoundly:
Paideia Fellowship


Would you do me the honor of sharing with me some of the possessions that you are cultivating and desiring in your homeschool?

May All Your Days be Spent...Delightfully Feasting <3
Crystin