“Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health,
so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that
it takes in.”
-Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

‘Nuff said!

-Mish

“It is almost a miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiousity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything, besides stimulation, is freedom.” - Albert Einstein

I just love this quote. I have an interesting opportunity to compare my oldest, who is now 16, and my fifth child, Jack, who is almost 4. I was so concerned as a first time parent that my child be able to do everything. I made sure that he knew his letters by the age of 3 - he was reading by four, knew his numbers, could write his name, etc., etc. I admit it, particularly in his younger years, I pushed and pushed. Mostly because he just seemed so smart that I felt if I didn’t I was neglecting my duty as his mother.

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I was reading a post at Natural Fatherhood about positive discipline and permissive - or non-permissive parenting, and it got me thinking. He cites this quote: “The world is full of followers, but you’re not one of them.”- JL Glass

I started thinking about this quote in a different way.

We are pretty unconventional people. We homeschool. We are self-employed. We are anti-TV. We only own one car (which is actually pretty unconventional where I live!). We use cloth diapers and make our own salsa and tomato sauce out of tomatoes we grew. We don’t really care about money that much.

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I am a subscriber to several homeschooling magazines - among them The Old Schoolhouse.

I was reading through their email newsletter this morning and found this from their editor, Nancy Carter:

“It’s so easy for us to see the absurdity of focusing on teaching a duck to climb instead of encouraging it to swim. But many of us are guilty of being so concerned that our kids are “keeping up” with where the other kids are that we focus more on covering our bases than allowing our children time to explore and develop their interests.”

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Each year before the official first day of school, I have a few doubts. I wonder, yet again, if I am doing the right thing by keeping my boys home and educating them here. It’s not so much that I doubt my ability to do it - I just feel a little bad that they miss the thrill of going to school - even though I know that thrill subsides very quickly.

Anyway, this year, when that feeling came around, I was fortunate to find “Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey,” by Gregory and Martine Millman to keep me inspired.

The Millmans have six children - all of whom they have homeschooled. Three of their children, at the writing of this book, are in college.

Sitting at the “Back to School” picnic last night (something we go to because it’s a community event and my oldest daughter goes to school), I was assured once again that I did the right thing. But wondered if my children would pay the same price I have paid for choosing freedom over convention. Fortunately, they have a loving family and lots of friends who understand the choices we’ve made - where I was not always so lucky!

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I will admit that I always feel a little guilty on the “First Day of School” in our town. We live in a very small town and all of the kids go to the local school, so all of my kids friends go there as well. The only homeschoolers we know live in other towns. So, there is a bit of a build-up to the “First Day of School.” Now, while most of the kids are lamenting their lives come the second day of school - I do remember how it felt to go to school on the first day when I was younger. I remember the chemical smell of the newly cleaned classrooms. I remember the note my mother would put in my lunch box. I remember the nervousness of meeting new teachers - and the resolve with which I went into each year, determined that this was the year I would not only be a straight A student, but also well-liked, neat and organized and very popular. What ambitions I had - and what a disappointment when, come October, I was back to my “sneaking a book under the desk, crap falling out of my locker, eating lunch alone,” ways.

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Just wanted to put this link out there for a cool blog - Nerd Family

They are hosting the new edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling…check it out. I love blog carnivals, as they are a great opportunity to see some blogs I might not have found otherwise!

Watching my children go through the paces of trying to figure out who they “are” and what they are going to “be” in life has given me a lot to think about recently.

Of course, watching my children grow up, I have always harbored some secret desire that they were geniuses. That perhaps they would go to medical school or take on some other lofty endeavor. It’s funny that I’ve thought that way because I’ve done the exact opposite with my life. I didn’t finish college. I’ve done all kinds of things for jobs that people have thought to be quite crazy - like dogsledding, or being a writer.

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Sarah writes:”How does this [unschooling] enable your children to get their diploma and college level education? I don’t know what it’s like in Vermont, but in Ontario certainly having some sort of post-secondary accreditation is necessary to get a decent paying job.

“I am for homeschooling to some degree, although I also see some benefits in public education for Christian kids, and also like the ideas of Montessori. I plan to homeschool my daughter for her first few years and then supporting and tutoring her through public school, but my main desires are to a) bring her up to know and choose God; b) to equip her for life and work in the world; and c) to give her a basis on which she can understand and relate to others to effectively be a witness in the world. If I can accomplish these goals, she will have the best foundation I can give her.

“While I understand the concept of tailoring education to a child’s needs, particularly as advocated in Montessori, I’m not sure how you can truly allow child-directed education without ending with gaps in their knowlege bank / skill set.”

First off, thanks so much for writing.

Ahh…the “decent-paying job,” it’s the foundation of our motivation for almost everything in our first 18 years isn’t it? Getting rid of the notion that I had to gear my life and my children’s life in order to get a decent-paying job is one of the first hurdles I had to leap. I have found that the majority of very unhappy people I have known in my life work in “decent-paying jobs.” I don’t want my children to have that as their motivation for living. I don’t know how else to say it. Working hard at something you love must be paramount. I’ve learned to be very frugal so that I could work for $12 an hour as a reporter for a daily newspaper. Without that experience, I would never have had the opportunity to publish books and articles with major publishers and publications. I’ll leave it at that for now…I have much more to write on the topic, but I risk losing the main idea behind this particular article.

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