“Homeschool? Oh, no, I’d never do that to my kids.”
I actually did say that. In my defense I will say that at that time the only homeschoolers I knew were one very unstable family with three of the very worst behaved children I’ve ever, even unto this day, ever met. Those children might as well not have had parents at all. If homeschooling in general, and unschooling in particular, meant letting children run wild, I wasn’t going to have anything to do with it.
And then I actually had a child. A wonderful creature whole in himself and yet dependent on us, and also contributing to us. “We” was no longer a dyad but a trio, and then more, as we discovered that family was not a number, or even a formal legal relationship, but a all-for-one-one-for-all relationship. Even from baby-hood, and even from that first child, we began discovering a way of being that wasn’t exactly non-coercive but that always did, always does, take into account the well being and interests of everyone in the family, not any single member alone. Because we don’t, any of us, exist alone.
And then the next thing was that I read John Taylor Gatto’s “Seven-lesson Schoolteacher”.The truth inherent in that immediately hit me up the side of my head. School, schooling, and what it is really about. I read everything I could get my hands on in every library in the area. Also important to my education about the true nature of schooling were John Holt’s Why Children Fail and How Children Learn.
So then I had to know what the state’s laws were. That wasn’t too hard, and it is even less hard these days with resources like TnHomeEd out there.
And somewhere in there is when I came to SOFH for the first time. That would have been 1996. I have been very grateful through the years for the support and lasting friendships that have grown from my involvement in this group. In my personal journey through homeschooling, I’m less and less inclined to participate in “events”, in “activities”, in things that don’t grow organically from our lives, but finding like and questioning and open minds is always priceless. That’s been over eleven years now.
It was our doctor who gave me the best quote for why we homeschool. He said, “When people ask me, ‘What about socialization?’ I say, ‘That’s exactly my point.’”
the title is a quote from the best translation of The Odyssey.
5 comments:
it is always interesting and useful to read about someone's journey to a particular place. especially homeschooling. i think of how we came to it and it is so vague, i'm not even sure of the path. we just somehow arrived there and then very gradually to unschooling which i never knew had that name until i saw a book at the library with that title and picked it up out of curiosity and i was excited to find most of what we did there. and my learning grew from there, reading more, meeting more people. support, that has been vital. that is why i am grateful for sofh. support and friendship.
i remember coming to my first sofh meeting in december of 2000 and making christmas crafts with all these people i didn't know just yet and they were wonderful. i met an amazing woman and we talked about the constant cutting of our children's fingernails and how we tried to not have too much stuff that needed dusting. that first meeting led to a long and wonderful friendship and i am so happy to have gone to that meeting even though i was scared out of my wits to meet new people. it has been worth it.
Haha, that first line, I said that same thing. Only about 6 months ago! Cool to read how you got into homeschooling, especially since I'm just getting started myself.
Children do have a way of changing you. I was never going to homeschool, either.
Then I agreed to do it through kindergarten knowing full well that I'd be signing my daughter up for school at the end of that.
And now she is in third grade and we are still doing it.
la! I so remember that meeting too. Sadie in her stroller (with ever present Papa) and T trying to walk and I so love you!
And I would so never institutionalize my children! They are perfect in their oddness.
And so are we. And perhaps it's the acceptance of that . . . .
gosh, i don't know why...but that made me cry.
why do i keep rhyming lately.
i love you too cg!!
Post a Comment