A few months ago, Marlene shared a post one the Well-Educated Heart facebook group about pasture learning.
“I love the description someone offered me of this way of learning. He called it pasture learning. So you lead your children into this month’s ‘pasture’ topics and you let them graze until they have their fill. And then you bring them into a new pasture to graze. There’s no forced feeding.
I just read a story of Lord Shaftesbury who was friends with the English poet-laureate Southey, who told him he “had six or seven different reading-desks in his study, with a different book or theme on each; … when he tired of one, he went to the other, and found himself so refreshed by the change, that he was able to be in his study from early in the morning till late at night, going to each subject with fresh zest and vigor.”
I know it doesn’t work for everyone that way, but that has been my experience with the rotation schedule going on well over ten years now. The more I learn, the more things I have that I want to learn, and since I am making the connections along the way, it all fits together into one great whole. Sir Ken Robinson said we’ve got to get away from the idea that information=intelligence and the more information we can pour into our kids’ heads, the more intelligent they will be. It simply isn’t true. Allowing them to ‘graze’ allows them to take in that which they are ready to take in. And learning never becomes a chore; rather it is a most welcome activity. The role of the shepherd is to love the sheep and drive the wolves away.” (Marlene Peterson)
I really resonated with this. Of course because I love sheep, but even more than that because this is totally my style of learning, and has been for several years, even before discovering Well-Educated Heart. I am always in the middle of a million books. In fact, it’s a big deal if I actually finish a book in a timely manner. I feel like I am led from book to book and often find that when I pick up a partially read book again after putting it down for a while, I often feel that the message I read right then, at that time, is just what I needed. The “random” messages that I read across multiple books around the same time seem to connect and fit together like puzzle pieces. It is like my Good Shepherd is leading me to the pastures (books/resources) that I need at that time. I never tire of learning because it always feels fresh and knew.
Last night my kids and I went outside to take some class photos for Belle Ame At Home. Something that Marlene had mentioned was that after naming Belle Ame At Home, someone pointed out that the acronym, BAAH, sounds like what a sheep says, “baah.” So between sheep, and pasture learning, I just couldn’t help but take our 2023-2024 class photo out in the pasture with our sheep. This is actually the first time that we have taken an official class photo. I think it will become a tradition. 🙂
I knew it would be crazy so set up my tripod to take some video footage and decided to pull some still images from the footage instead of trying to miraculously get a decent photo. Haha. It was a bit of a circus at times because the sheep kept wandering away and kept trying to eat our books but it was really humorous and fun too. Reminded me of how beautiful (and chaotic) homeschooling is. I put some of the clips together and thought I would share a few photos and this little video on here…
