"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." 

--Aristotle

But remember educating the heart without educating the mind is also no education.

Heart AND Mind
Faith AND Reason
Art AND Science
Warmth AND Light -- Consider the sun can shine on a seed all winter long, but until the ground warms up, that life force within remains dormant.

Your children are no different. Heart--Warmth--first to start the growing process. The ARTs for the heART.

And don't forget Roots AND Stems--the roots are unseen, but without a strong root system, the plant will never flower.

I find it interesting we even call the Mind subjects the STEM subjects. 

Lesson over.

​Art credit: Sunflowers by Niels Fristup (artrenewal.org)

"I have no patience with the stupidity of the average teacher of grammar who wastes precious years in hammering rules into children's heads. For it is not by learning rules that we acquire the power of speaking a language, but by daily intercourse with those accustomed to express themselves with exactness and refinement, and by the copious reading of the best authors."

--Erasmus

I have seen this principle at work in the lives of some of our greatest authors!

But it doesn't apply just to grammar. We acquire the 'power' of living life 'by daily intercourse with those accustomed to [living life] with exactness and refinement, and by the copious reading of the best [lives]"...not by pounding rules and doctrines of right living into our heads.

​Art credit: The Storyteller by Jacques-Clement Wagraz (artrenewal.org)

"Art comes from within, not from without. Do not force; do not fuss; be quiet; wait for the child to hear the still, small voice from within."

--Richard Wyche, Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them

Art credit: Hide and Seek by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (artrenewal.org)

I learned something new as I read about Marie Curie. The word used for high school was Gymnasium and the reasoning was that it was used as a place to 'exercise' the mind in preparation for the rigorous studies ahead at the University level.

That's how I feel about our focus--it's not about mastering content at this level. It's about exercising and stretching a child's learning faculties in preparation for a  lifetime of learning. When students graduate from formal schooling, they attend a Commencement ceremony--a commencement of learning. Not a conclusion to it.

Art credit: The Lesson by Lion Caille (artrenewal.org)

"The normal [child] demands a story. The Bible does not open with a scientific disquisition upon the evolutionary hypothesis of anthropological origins--it begins with the story of Adam and Eve. Even the Great Teacher did not speak without a parable.

"This is the law of life. It is more; it is as vital as breathing."

--Everett Tomlinson

Art credit: Jungle Story by James Jebusa Shannon

"Mothers, let your minds be sanctified before the Lord, for this is the commencement, the true foundation of a proper education in your children...

"The mothers are the moving instruments in the hands of Providence to guide the destinies of nations."

--Brigham Young

Art credit: The Light of the Home by Harry Roseland