I once asked Andrew Kern how to seek  the true, the good, and the beautiful when we’re so bogged down with the need to drill and review things like grammar and math.

Of course, his answer was that grammar and math are very beautiful (I knew he was going to say that!). Then he issued this challenge: see the beauty of bringing order out of chaos.

In everything, ask yourself- who am I imitating?

This week, I’m contemplating this note from Ann. She wrot:

How can we illuminate truth, beauty, and goodness when we are covering nuts-and-bolts subjects like math and grammar? I know conceptually that math is lovely and orderly and related to music, but how can I get there when we’re in the thick of drilling addition tables? I would love to hear others’ practical ideas!

Well, quite frankly, so would I! :)

It doesn’t really feel like we’re illuminating truth or contemplating beauty when we’re drilling the multiplication table or memorizing prepositions. But if what we are really doing is bringing order out of chaos, then we are participating in a most creative act.

That is, after all, the work of Our Creator: bringing order from chaos. It’s part of what we, busy homeschooling mamas managing homes and little people all at once, do every single day.

We know that teaching is the art of being imitated

We know that God delights in the order of His creation- whether that be a mathematical equation or a perfectly diagrammed sentence. But how do we make evident the truth and beauty therein?

In the comments of our Sister-to-Sister on Imitating Delight, Lisa Amer shared this quote from Charlotte Mason:

The principality of Mathematics is a mountainous land, but the air is very fine and health-giving… you cannot lose your way, and… every step is taken on firm ground. People who seek their work or play in this principality find themselves braced by effort and satisfied with truth.

On her blog, Lisa goes on to share her experience of recently falling in love with mathematics, even though she never thought of herself as a math person. That’s the kind of teacher I want to be!

A teacher who falls in love with the truth and beauty in what otherwise would be considered a mundane slog.

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