Our week is Wednesday thru Saturday instead of Monday thru Friday (to match my husband's work schedule), but that frazzling feeling is definitely there at the end of our week. I will admit, that anyone thinking of educating their children at home (even with the curriculum and backup of your chosen school's educators), it's a LOT more work than I thought it would be. My children are doing WAY more work than their peers in the same grade. We've just finished 12 weeks, and each of my children have four 2" binders completely full of their turned in work. I'm contemplating how to 'archive' all this work to keep from buying yet more binders!
I came across an article the other day that helped me remember one of the many reasons I frazzle myself out every week:
Valedictorian Gives Graduation Speech Against the US Education System:
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen?......
Read full article at: http://expandedconsciousness.com/2014/05/18/valedictorian-gives-graduation-speech-against-the-us-education-system/
Read full article at: http://expandedconsciousness.com/2014/05/18/valedictorian-gives-graduation-speech-against-the-us-education-system/
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Here are a few of her comments that really resonated with me:
"I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him."
"We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt."
"To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking?" Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?"
"Here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change."
"We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation?"
"We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still."
"I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition."
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After reading the article, I reminded myself of the infinite number of reasons we are doing this. We can and will show our children many of the other places in this world that are so vastly different from our own. Our children can and will be human beings that are thinkers and adventurers - not workers. Our new life goals will constantly require the use of 'critical thinking'. One of the many reasons for this is so that our children WILL NOT mindlessly accept others opinions as truth (including the opinions of their parents). We WILL runaway and give our children an education that enlightens. That education will be only a small part in the vast world's lessons and insights obtained. Yes, for us, the change will be well worth the weekly frazzle!
