(learn)

Education at home as our norm

I watch an America simultaneously unable to confront its past, or cling to it less willingly. We all used to homeschool. What gives?

I see the product of copy-paste-delete education. The cognitive dissonance you see, feel, is partly because most of us had our education chosen for us.

Sure, we chose classes, schools even. But very rarely did we get to choose what we learned in that class–I only had a handful of teachers willing to go “off book” and let us explore our interest.

We homeschool (and home educate in other ways), because encouraging independent thought should be the goal of all education.

When school isn’t teaching

Those standardized tests really put pressure on them to complete a unit, not teach it well. Wasn’t gonna happen in a room of thirty 14-year-olds with 8 learning styles between them, anyway.

And I know I had it easy too. Practically no distractions in terms of health, or home, or safety.

But I was overloading myself with college level work from about 8th grade onward. I pushed through what I know now was soul-smothering anxiety until college—then it struck me.

My schools had somewhere along the line stopped teaching me how to think.

I had trouble adding new information, which was now presented without rubrics and study guides.

Critical thinking, as much as it was espoused, was unrelated to the regurgitation of information required of many of us.

Our return to home learning for all

The “old fashioned” ways of learning appealed more and more—family or small class sizes, community outreach as rule, child-led learning.

Homeschooling, outdoor schooling, road schooling, unschooling—we try to not define our home but use aspects of all of these!

Standardized school systems are relatively new, and their origins in America a fascinating subject of my study.

With so many people able to be around their children during their education for the first time, I think we are seeing a revolution. Parents are seeing the struggle for students and teachers firsthand. I can’t believe how many people I see on social media trying to determine whether or not to even go back this fall.

I wasn’t homeschooled; I’ve been doing this from scratch (a fancy way of saying pullin’ it outta my arse) for years and I hope my blog helps you realize whatever learning goals you or your family have are totally attainable.

Comment below about how your education can/will/does shape how you educate your family!