In the article about homeschooling on Wikipedia credit is given to a fellow named John Holt as "the founder of the modern home school movement." I was rather surprised to read that because I had never heard his name before. Some of his books sound good, like, "Why Children Fail", and "How Children Learn", but our library here didn't have either of those. They did have one of his more obscure books though, one titled: "What do I do Monday?" (1973) and they also had another book in which he wrote the forward titled: "Better than School" (1982) which turned out to be mostly biographical, but was still a good book. I finished both books this past week and while some of the content seemed as out of date as pinstriped pants, other parts provided quite good stimuli for thinking. The following is one of those thoughts.
Before I had children I had many pre-conceived notions about them. I basically thought that raising and teaching children would be like woodworking or any other project. In other words, what I put in would be what I got out. I could direct them any way that I wanted them to go. But alas! that is obviously not the case. There is beyond a doubt within each of my girls (and I think there is in everyone) innate desires and passions and senses of purpose that I certainly did not put there. In my reasoning the explanation for that of course must be as the Apostle Paul said, "that God hath gifted each one accordingly". And so I have of late had to adjust my thinking quite a bit from one of feeling that I have a responsibility to set the agenda for my children's education to one of recognizing that I have this greater responsibility to assist them in whatever ways I can to find and to do that for which God created them and uniquely gifted them to accomplish.
That is basically what John Holt was all about and I found his book real encouraging. "What do I do Monday" is basically a collection of practical ways to teach that are very non traditional. He believes in a sort of "learn by play" model that develops as a child expands in to the community and world around him.
The book (and John Holt himself) reminded me of this guy who I've heard on the radio that gives career advice that I like very much named Dan Miller. He will often say that it's that thing that gets you fired up, that makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning to go do, that ultimately (but not immediately) will be the thing that you will be most successful at and probably make the most money doing. If that's not true of your job, he will say you're in the wrong field. That seems like hard advice. It's not true of my job. But the real reason I don't pursue the things I love is because it seems too risky. How would I make money doing ____? Or how would I pay for the schooling? Etc. Etc. I rarely feel very passionate about anything anymore, But I don't have to be around my children for five minutes to see that there are many things that just makes their engines race. For Virginia it might be her dollhouse, or the sandbox or cooking or using the computer. For Miriam it might be the harmonica or a whistle or dancing or something else. But what is amazing and beautiful about all these activities is the degree of passion that the girls display when they are engaged in them. Granted, it's only playing, but what if there were some way that I could help them to retain that optimism and passion for life? I want to, and John Holt says that is exactly what I ought to do, when I consider what it means to educate them. I think he's on to something.
I am so thankful for my own experience of homeschooling. I regret not taking better advantage of the opportunities that it afforded me, but if I learned anything at all from it, it was that I wanted to follow that path with my own children. And since I feel at least sort of passionate about pursuing that goal, I can presume that maybe that's ultimately what I'm supposed to be all about.
5 comments:
I can still hear the rattle of the lego pan that was kept under your bed,Luke. That was your passion for many of your years...it started very young, and went on into the teens until you got too busy with grown up responsibilities such as jobs that earn money.
Thankyou for the reminder and encouragment,Luke. It is very easy to forget how impressionable our children are. I know in my case I often treat these passions as an annoyance. I fool myself into thinking they won't notice if I brush them off when they want to show me something they did or tell me what they "did today" while I was at work. I do believe that even at a very young age children are very keen on what we as their parents value and how we prioritize and that they will emulate it in their lives. Thanks again.
Luke, when you wrote about your pre-conceived notion that raising and teaching children was like woodworking, it reminded me of that Walt Disney movie, Pinocchio. But on the serious side, the concept of letting your children excel in any activity they choose is all well and good as long as those activities are not dangerous or offensive to anyone. A child whose natural desire has never been throttled back or taught as to which activities are deemed by you (the parent) to be appropriate and which ones are not, will at some point in their life find great difficultly dealing with situations where self restraint is necessary and even mandated. All children are naturally sinners right out of the box(so to speak)thats a given. I believe its the parents responsibility to be ever vigilant in assisting their young children with separating appropriate behavior from that which is not. So that when he or she is older, will be able to tell the difference.
Pop I hear you. I didn't mean to sound as though I thought that kids "running wild" was the ideal. I certainly don't think that it is. Discipline is an important part of every worthwhile pursuit and a child that can show none or very little self restraint (as many cannot - I've seen those kids in the supermarket) must of course be dealt with for a long time on that level before any real progress can be made with their education. Some of those kids, however, are more victims of their surroundings than others often appreciate. The schools where growing kids have to sit still and not talk for so many hours a day until they're ready to explode and the homes where there is no real human activity or conversation other than television watching and people screaming have to be as much contributing factors to their anti-social behavior as the child's own inclination to evil. When both parents are smoking like volcanoes its not hard to believe that their children have not been exposed to very good models of self-restraint.
Of course I want my children to be self restrained, conversant, polite, loving, full of mercy, and all of those things. And I have every confidence that they will be those things.
I guess I should say that the thoughts I put down in my post are not my final word on the subject in any sense. I plan to read all this year on education and child-raising in preparation for giving Miriam and Virginia a better education. This is one place where I hope to share some of what I find and am challenged by along the way.
Keep us all posted on your progress Luke. We all could use a few pointers on the subject.
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