Between Fairies and Phonics: Navigating the Big Decisions of Early Education

WRITTEN BY ALICE LEWIS

This spring my first daughter turns 5. Where has time gone? I still feel like a brand-new mother trying to figure out the dayto-day with my little ones, yet she somehow can now put on her snowsuit on her own, pour her own cereal bowl and write letters on a whiteboard. Still so little, playing imaginative games of princesses and fairies and yet so eager to learn, to understand words in books, to count to big numbers and learn about her family history. Five means that this fall she should be entering kindergarten. Parenting sometimes feels like a million little choices, each with the weight of the world. As we approach school age, I find myself as undecided as ever. Is she ready for kindergarten? Should we wait another year? Will she still have enough time to play princesses and fairies? Will her curiosity and love of learning continue to grow? How do we pick a school? Should she even go to school… at all? And on, and on and on.

To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know what the best education option is for her and for our family. What I do know is I want to spend lots of quality time with my children, allow them to have as much free and imaginative play as possible, prioritize time spent in nature, foster a true childhood and, most of all, inspire a lifelong love of reading, learning and curiosity about the world. At this moment, some form of homeschooling feels like the best option for us. But what does that even mean?

Homeschooling can invoke so many opinions. Homeschooling in general has seen explosive growth in the last decade and especially since the pandemic. But what is homeschooling?

That seemingly straightforward term comprises a wide spectrum of seemingly incompatible ideas. Unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Classical education, Waldorf, eclectic blend, nature schooling, local co-ops, etc. So, I set out on a mission to explore all the different aspects of alternative schooling, their methods, what they look like day to day, how families manage it with kids of different ages and personalities and how to blend it in daily life. Follow me along in this column as I explore all these different educational arenas, review books and different homeschooling philosophies. I’m eager to explore these topics as a mom who is an expert in my own children and, like moms everywhere, wants to provide the very best for them.

For the next issue of Montana Parent, I will be reviewing and comparing the two books:

» How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson

» For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please feel free to share your thoughts: alice@royalroadbookstore.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/royalroadbookstore/.

Exploring education, motherhood and the joy of books, Alice Lewis is a mother of three and owner of Royal Road Bookstore.