I remember not long after my first daughter was born, both my parents came to visit me to see how she was doing. We were having lunch and my mother quite causally said,
" it wouldn’t be long until you will have to register her for school". I look at them both and said,
"I have no intention of sending her to school". I said.
They both looked quite shocked, this was obviously not the answer they were expecting. But I had thought long and hard about the many reasons why I would not be sending her to a mainstream school.
We are born into a world where we are constantly forced to live outside of ourselves. Where we are taught to depend on others, more than ourselves. From a young age it is expected that children listen to their elders and that they look to them for guidance and in order to learn about the world. I agree with that to some extent, but I do not agree that we should always look to others to show us the way or to learn.
All children are born with a huge drive and desire to learn. They observe everything and teach themselves to speak and to walk. These are huge accomplishments and they do it all by themselves, by observing and figuring it out for themselves. Why then do we as adults feel the need to jump in and show them the way.
I have always valued my ability to follow my own instincts, but I really struggled with it when I was in school. Having to follow everything that they say and being in an environment where the teachers always knew more that me and where one could only learn by following their instructions.
Introducing the idea that we need to be taught by others, in order to learn, which is a load of bull. Because if that was the case then how did we all learn a to speak by ourselves?
On top of that is the idea that children are mostly taught one way and if you can not keep up or understand then you are labelled as slow and/or difficult. We are all so wonderfully diverse, so how could it be possible that we all can only learn in one way? I am very hands on and in order for me to learn I need to really get a feel for things, act them out in a way. I could never learn by memory, I had to add more flavour in order for me to retain it.
Of course I had no idea how my daughter was going to learn, but I was adamant that she would chose that for herself, that she would be under no pressure to conform and that she had the freedom to learn at her own pace. I had and still do have full faith in her abilities.
In my eyes schools really prepare you for a working life, a 9-5 lifestyle, where you are geared up to follow orders and commit yourself to whatever they wish without asking any questions. School does not prepare you for life!
I wanted my children to have life skills, I understand the importance of reading and writing, but they are just a small part of what they need in order to thrive in life. Having the ability to problem solve, having the confidence that you can achieve anything you wish, is something that we are born with, but over time we seem to lose that.
So many people spend their lives searching for something, so many take time out to go find themselves, yet who they are is already within them, but most of us were taught that we had to travel outwards in order to learn, when all along the answers lie within.
I was adamant that my children would hold onto this, that they would know the value of themselves and be in touch with the power they hold within, because of this I choose to home educate my girls. I am also really lucky to be in a position where I can, but then I have made decisions in my life that have led me here.
This is my answer to last weeks 
8 Pillars of TribeSteemUp
