">Weekly Meme"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." ~ William Butler Yeats
This week, some of us over at The Heart of the Matter are writing in response to the above quote.
I believe if you educate simply to fill the pail (the mind), then you accomplish very little lasting learning. On the other hand, if you set out to ignite the mind with a fiery education, you have learning that is unstoppable, uncontrollable, and wild. That sounds much more fun to me!
The power of one little spark is huge! One little spark can be devastating to a forest. But, one little spark in the human's mind is a blessing, and will go on to blaze a trail of true, authentic, meaningful, and lasting learning.
The lighting of fire in your child's education, is one that should never be doused with water. The fire should be allowed to spread through the excitement that comes from learning new things. I do believe that if educators allow this type of wild fire learning to take place, they must prepare themselves for surprises. When you choose to light a fire, rather than just fill a pail, you will indeed blaze down some trails you never planned to. As a home educator, I hope my children see a fire inside of me...a hunger to know and understand more about God and everything He created. Perhaps, I can be a trailblazer, and motivate them to follow me through the wilderness of our homeschool adventures. As close as we are in this family, I am sure to catch someone on fire:)
