Especially a young Sean Connery. I was watching From Russia With Love while putting the finishing touches on the It is good enough to be kind post, and first of all, that meant many typos (I think I caught them all the following morning).
But also, I worry a bit about the content.
I worry that it comes across as something of a "mediocrity manifesto" and this is not what I meant to convey at all. We are, after all, plugging away with the Well Trained Mind (heavily modified, I admit), which is not an academically wussy plan.
But homeschooling, and education in general, are just a part of raising a child. I think that for too many parents, the education aspect - especially strict academics - becomes the overwhelming focus of parenting. This is true whether we homeschool or use public or independent schools.
We obsess about methods, early-entry, curriculum, levels, grades, FSA's, french immersion, entrance exams. Are they at the right level? Are they ahead? Are they behind?
Of course we want to prepare our kids for their future. We want to give them all the tools possible to have a happy and healthy life.
But when we get carried away, when education becomes the primary lens for viewing our children, we lose sight of the person.
It's as if we're raising students, instead of raising people.
Our kids are not their education. They're not their marks, or their grade level. They're so much more than that.
And so when we get those panicked moments about homeschooling, I suspect we're focusing in too tightly on this one aspect. We need to pull back a bit, expand the size of our viewpoint and consider how the child is doing as a whole. (And as Linda Clement suggested in the comments in the prev post, lie down on the living room floor until the feeling passes.)
Finally, my statcounter has gone crazy; I know people are here and I've recevied several thoughtful emails, but only a handful commented on the blog ......
:-)
3 comments:
I guess I missed the other post, but YES! BIG PICTURE! It's hard to remember kids are kids sometimes, and there's so much pressure to excel that it's tough to step back, but it definitely needs to be done! It's better for everyone :)
I loved the part about seeing the person! It is always hard to 'prepare' our children for an unknown future. I do not want to over protect but at the same time I see a huge need to protect my children from what is considered normal. For me the best way to protect is through my relationship. When what I think is more important than what their friends think then I feel confident that they are protected. I am one of those attachment parenting types but I also take education seriously and sometime lose focus. Thanks for your thoughts.
i think i read a laura ingalls wilder quote similar to your first post... something about how she wanted to remind people how just being good was enough. i loved your thoughts here. <3
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