{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"North Carolinians voor thuisonderwijs","provider_url":"https:\/\/nche.com\/nl","author_name":"Amy Sloan","author_url":"https:\/\/nche.com\/nl\/author\/amy-sloan\/","title":"Are My Children Really Learning Anything? - North Carolinians for Home Education","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"D56pCtl62D\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nche.com\/nl\/blog-are-my-children-really-learning-anything\/\">Leren mijn kinderen echt iets?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/nche.com\/nl\/blog-are-my-children-really-learning-anything\/embed\/#?secret=D56pCtl62D\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Are My Children Really Learning Anything?&#8221; &#8212; North Carolinians for Home Education\" data-secret=\"D56pCtl62D\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/nche.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>","description":"What\u2019s the point of a great education if your children can\u2019t seem to remember most of it? Tell me I\u2019m not the only one. You spend hours crafting the Ultimate Book List. You incorporate hands-on-projects. You basically make learning awesome and fun. And a few years (or maybe even months or \u2013 worse \u2013 weeks) later, your children don\u2019t seem to remember\u00a0any\u00a0of it. It\u2019s tempting to get a little grumpy about the perceived waste of time and effort. I\u2019ve been thinking about this phenomenon a lot recently while planning book lists and setting course goals for my high school students. I am a second-generation North Carolina homeschooler, and I think this perspective gives me unique insight.\u00a0You see, my parents gave me an amazing education.\u00a0It was rich in language and great books and original sources and philosophy and discussion and hands-on practicality and fun and adventures\u2026 and did I mention the hundreds of books?\u00a0But there are so many details I can\u2019t remember (what exactly was Adam Smith\u2019s main point in\u00a0Wealth of Nations? and which constitutional amendment says what?)! So was all that education a waste if I can\u2019t remember the details?\u00a0Was all that reading a waste if I can\u2019t even remember all the main points, let alone the details?\u00a0If education is merely the accumulation of knowledge, does my forgetfulness over the course of decades mean my education has failed? What is the point of providing a true, good, and beautiful education if our children may not even be able to remember most of it? You could ask a similar question about sermons.\u00a0How many of us can remember details (or even the key points) of sermons from 6 months or 5 years ago?\u00a0Does it then follow that they are a waste of our time?\u00a0No!\u00a0For the grace of God is at work transforming our hearts through those simple words each week.\u00a0We may not be able to list out or measure what we\u2019ve heard in the past, but we see the results in who we are today. Thus it is with the education we receive and give. These days, I may not be able to debate with you the finer points of Augustine\u2019s\u00a0City of God, Aristotle\u2019s\u00a0On Rhetoric, or Schaeffer\u2019s\u00a0The God Who is There, but those works and others were part of the incredible process God graciously used to form the human I am today. I don\u2019t know now (and certainly didn\u2019t fully recognize even in the past) each stroke of the chisel, each swipe of the sandpaper over my character.\u00a0But those millions of words shaped and nourished the way I think and what I love. The experience of being challenged by the things I learned gave me a passion for continuing to learn and question and grow that remains today. This gives me great hope and renewed enthusiasm as I direct my own children\u2019s education. My goal is not for them to indefinitely remember lists of facts. It\u2019s not for them to pass reading comprehension tests.\u00a0I don\u2019t have to despair if my kids don\u2019t remember the cool projects we did during history lessons\u00a05 years ago. We can trust the process.\u00a0We can trust that God is at work.\u00a0We can trust that the \u201clittle drops of water, little grains of sand\u201d are forming our children.\u00a0They\u2019re learning not\u00a0what\u00a0to think, but\u00a0how\u00a0to think. Education is repentance.\u00a0Education, pursued well, leads to humility and doxology.\u00a0Education must not ever be reduced to merely filling our minds with information. So, let\u2019s keep crafting epic book lists\u00a0for our family read-alouds and read-alones. Let\u2019s keep having deep conversations in addition to random discussions about the little things that make up daily life.\u00a0Let\u2019s keep reading the Bible\u00a0and memorizing beautiful words\u00a0and worshiping God and praying alongside our families. And we can stand still and watch the beautiful work God continues to do in all of us, for His glory and our good. Amy Sloan is a second-generation homeschooler by grace alone to five children ages 5 to 15. \u00a0The Sloan family adventures in Holly Springs, NC.\u00a0 Follow @HumilityandDoxology on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and at HumilityandDoxology.com\u00a0","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/nche.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/SloanBlogFeb20.jpg"}