Vanity blogging

Hello everyone.

Our beautiful daughter was part of the team that won the Junior Girls Basketball Grand Final last night. We are very proud.

The other day a dear friend described the kind of blogging I do here 'vanity blogging'. I'd never thought of it like that before, and I've been thinking quite a lot about it this week. It is quite a confronting thought actually.

Now obviously a post like this is a bit boastful, I'll admit. But it's not me showing off about me, it's me skiting about my daughter's success, and she really loves it when people congratulate her on a job well done. I figure that I'm doing it for her. And the team, of course.

So what about other posts? My friend who mentions vanity blogging writes erudite academic philosophical posts. I love them, and I love her blog, and I love her, and I admire her wisdom greatly. Occasionally I write that type of post too. Only rarely, because I'm just not that sort of clever person. Sometimes I write about Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education, only I don't do it nearly as well as my friend. I don't really like telling other people what they should do. I don't mind explaining how I implement Miss Mason's philosophy in my home, but goodness - you're a grown up - who am I to tell you what to do in yours? (Not that my friend does this either, by the way.)

I think my forte is living a Charlotte Mason lifestyle. I am passionate about this type of education, I am well read about my subject, and I want to help others to live it it in their homes too. I love literature, I love science, I love geography, I love languages - both English and foreign, I love the performing arts, I love raising my daughter to glorify God and to enjoy him, I love the homeschooling life. I first started A Peaceful Day because I thought I had something to say about living a Charlotte Mason lifestyle here in Australia. I hoped I could help others Australianise predominantly American curricula to make them work for us here in the Antipodes. Mostly I wanted other Aussies to use Ambleside Online, because I believe it helps us better than any other curriculum to implement a type of education that is as close as possible as that that Miss Mason implemented in her own schools and correspondence lessons. That was my aim.

To this end I post about the books we read, the traditions we celebrate, the meals we cook, the holidays we take. I tell you about the Australian books that, in my opinion at least, measure up to the exacting standards Miss Mason had for books in her English schools. I blog about new books. Isn't it wonderful that living books are still being written!

On the way I tell you about some of my interests too, so that you know me as a person. A liberal education of the type that Miss Mason advocates allows us have to have varying interests as wide and diverse as wabi sabi aesthetics, South East Asian textiles, human genetics, gardening, Asian cookery, Reformed theology and travel in countries far and wide. I talk to you about these things because they interest me. They might not interest you, but at least it gives you an idea of the person behind the screen as it were. I love knowing more about the folks who write the blogs I read. I love knowing about the friends who read the blog I write as well. Maybe you like to know about me. I don't know, but that's why I write about myself.

For what it's worth, I don't write about my life because I have an overinflated opinion of myself. I do not assume you want to know all about me. Actually, if you do, you'll be rather disappointed. There are many parts if my life that are not very peaceful. They're not Charlotte Masonesque in the slightest. Those bits rarely get an airing in cyberspace, though. I don't need to air my dirty washing. I don't need you to know when I yell at my daughter and when I'm angry with my husband and when my best friend does something silly. Or when I do. They happen, but I don't need to write them down. I don't need to remember them forever, and I don't need you to either.

So is this blog mere vanity? Sometimes, I guess it is. If you'll look at my sidebar I tell you I've been nominated a few times for Homeschool Blog Awards. I'm pleased about that, and I'm really grateful to the lovely ones who nominated me and voted for me, but I'm under no illusion that my blog is in the same league as the ones who actually win that award. I am incredibly gratified if people follow me on Google Friend Connect or on our Facebook Page, and especially if you feel lead to leave me a comment. That really delights me because it means that someone is actually reading what I write.

Is that vanity? Maybe, but sort of not really because I don't write A Peaceful Day for me. I am not a journal keeper. I write it for you, and if nobody likes what I'm saying then I'd rather stop and spend more time with my family.

Have I succeeded in my original aim? Not yet. There are not hundreds of people using Ambleside Online's wonderful curriculum because of me. I do hope, however, that there are many who are implementing Mason's methods and who see how it looks in my home.

If that's what a vanity blog is then I guess A Peaceful Day is one. It's not why I write it though. I hope you know that.

Now. Back to Jemimah. Her team won the basketball. Without their best player. She's the one on crutches above. And with their coach in hospital. It was a close game, but a good one. And they won. My daughter won. And I, for one, am very delighted. And if that is what vanity is, well so be it. I'm not often thought of as vain, I don't think, but maybe I am after all. I'm certainly very proud of my daughter.