Think It Over Thursday: Why do you homeschool?

I like to hear people’s homeschool stories. Sometimes they’re really sad, or even scary, but usually they mirror our own story in some ways and I don’t have to tell you how good it feels to connect with people who have stories similar to your own. I call it kindred; the Christian moms in our group call it fellowship.

I started out as a teacher myself until I had my own child. After being taught to discipline kids and not really to teach them in college, I was very wary of the school system itself. I read a lot of books by John Holt and other unschooling advocates at the time and thought I would be a John Taylor Gatto in the schools; I would subvert the dominant paradigm in schools, fight the system from inside and be this crusader for kids. Then I had my own and, as they say, everything changed.

I was very good at the school system, and by that I mean I was very good at pleasing adults, following orders and memorizing things for tests. I left the system completely unaware of what I really wanted and maybe even of who I was, having spent 18 years learning to please adults and be a “good girl.” I was also very bored at school nine hours out of ten and always brought a book or an art project with me. Why couldn’t I just do all of that at home? I do not blame the teachers themselves (save for the few who were bullies), but the system overall.

I want something different for Wood Sprite. I want to keep her spirit intact and I want her to know herself and her interests. I want her to follow her passions and not memorize and regurgitate facts to please someone, only to forget them and not even use them in her life. I am raising her as an autonomous, critically thinking person and acknowledging her life and personhood as she is right now—not for when she “grows up.” Why ignore that she is indeed alive this moment?

So tell me your stories! I would love to hear them.

Photo of Tuck courtesy of Sara S. Animals are a big part of our lives!