Yesterday at the library, my artistic daughter checked out a book about drawing, and a book of the great masterpieces of the Boston Museum of Art.   As she curled up on the couch, she kept exclaiming; “OOooo!  Mom!  They have a Monet!….and here’s a Degas! ….they even have a Van Gogh, Mom!”   As I listened to her, my worries over our lack of “school” during the summer vanished.  A few quotes flickered in my mind, and I help up the picture of my girl on the couch against the standard of those quotes. Balanced against each other, the quotes and the girl, it all weighed correctly.  My personal touchstones had shown the happenings in my living room to be genuine and full of worth.

I think all people have a touchstone of one sort or another.  In ancient times, merchants would keep a physical one to rub coins against.  If the gold or silver were genuine, it would show up to be so on the touchstone.  My Touchstones are ideas, values that want my home and family life based upon, summed up in a few succinct quotes and scriptures.

“You have set my feet in a very large room.”   ~Charlotte Mason

“Education is not the filling of a bucket….but the kindling of a fire…”  ~Yeats

Whatever is true…whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable…think about these things.”                ~Phillippians 4:8

“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and give me life in your ways.”  ~Psalm 119:37

The first two quotes refer to the feeling I want our homeschool to have; life, energy, joy, interest.  I want my children to come out of each year of learning with a greater appreciation of how vast and varied this world is; with an enthusiasm towards discovery of knowledge rather than a boredom about their lessons.  My search as I look ahead each year at new curricula are for formats that will be interesting, full of real information, not bogged down with soul-killing busywork.  The Charlotte Mason ideals resonate strongly with me, with the emphasis on living books, meaningful assignments, and an aversion to that wonderfully described “twaddle.”   When I hear the children pretending something about history, exclaiming over a connection between a historical person and a geographical location, or bringing me a sample from nautre that they were just learning about, I know that the enthusiasm is there, that there is life in their education,  that I have kindled a fire.

The thing with starting a fire is that everything has to be ready and prepared before you see or feel the results.  We once had a woodstove to heat our home, and it could actually be quite some time before a fire got going enough for us to feel its’ warmth.  Long before a flame is even lit, there is planning and preparation.  My husband cut the wood each summer to give it time to dry and be ready to catch the spark; the tinder must be accumulated and the matches ready.  I was never able to go straight to lighting a large log with its potential for sustainability and life-giving heat; I had to start with twigs and sticks and kindling.

In lighting a fire of education in my children’s minds, I must go by the same principles, and this is where the two scripture verses come into play.  Having good materials, prepared and presented in an appropriate order, will help ensure that the spark of the match will actually accomplish something.  By surrounding my children with things that are lovely and true, I am hoping to prepare their minds for that flame of interest and self-motivation.  I think that it is equally important to safeguard against thing that are worthless; they act to smother that spark and close off the room, creating mental immobility.  In our home, T.V shows are the greatest source of worthlessness, although there have been some books and some really irritating, heavily-marketed toys that are also in this category.  I don’t think that all T.V. is worthless, but there is just so much that is.  My eleven-year-old son, in particular, is often drawn to what I consider “Cheez-whiz for the brain.”  The more lax I am about letting worthless things in, if I don’t see them as outrightly harmful, the less of a spark I see when things that are “commendable” are before him.  Checking the things allowed into our home against my touchstones helps me to draw a line between allowing what is lovely and true, and rejecting what is worthless; between seeking things that encourage life, and blocking out things that stifle it.

One of the things I most especially like about touchstones is how flexible they are.  An ancient touchstone would reveal a coin to be genuine irregardless of size, form, or what it was used to purchase.  My educational touchstones have guided me no matter what age my children were, what kind of structure our days were taking, or what branch of knowledge they were learning.  When I have been unsure of a book/curriculum/program/activity, I can compare it against these touchstones and not just get a sense of its actual value, but have a good solid reason for my opinion. I am so grateful for the stability and bedrock wisdom in these four ideas; it has helped so much through the years to be able to weigh the activities in our home against a standard.  The outcome shows its promise in that girl on the couch, exclaiming over a Monet.