Truth, beauty, and avoiding burnout

"Children not only need a diet of truth to thrive, but they also need to be surrounded by beauty."

As I assess my first full year of homeschooling, I remember what my husband said when we found each other again after the ten year hiatus, "you will be a source through which truth and beauty will flow into my life again." When I have a hard day, I go back and open that journal we used to pass back and forth during our long-distance courtship between Ohio and NYC. 

In homeschooling, I'm starting to see what other mothers have shared about avoiding burnout by using real books rather than just mountains of text books. I like this article about burnout: http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-recover-from-homeschool-burnout.html

She notes, 

The object of children's literary studies is not to give them precise information as to who wrote what in the reign of whom? - but to give them a sense of the spaciousness of the days, not only of great Elizabeth, but of all those times of which poets, historians and the makers of tales, have left us living pictures. In such ways the children secure, not the sort of information which is of little cultural value, but wide spaces wherein imagination may take those holiday excursions deprived of which life is dreary…” Charlotte Mason, British educator

Wide spaces sound wonderful, but I also like that this co-op and Classically Catholic Memory expose our young children to information they will remember and build upon for years. It's fun to hear what you all use for curriculum - anyone want to share in the comments? 

I have been enamored with the many homeschooling philosophies I have encountered this year, amid the vast curriculum choices.

- Seton

- Kolbe

- Mother of Divine Grace

- Catholic Heritage Curriculum (I use this)

- All About Reading - Spelling

(To name a few...)

The Math options are vast, as well. This book has proven interesting to me in math considerations: 

Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma

I've found truth and beauty through prayer, really looking deeply into my kids' eyes and listening, reading and writing blogs, watching all of you in all of your beauty, and good books like "Holiness for Housewives," not a new book but one from the 50's, a time for which I am nostalgic. I also love Small Steps for Catholic Mothers by Foss & Bean. What are you all reading right now?

Seeking truth & beauty,

Mrs. K