Because I love seeing it work!

Written by Claudia Orgill

I have to admit, quite often (and I love these times) I am surprised at the fact that homeschooling works! For whatever reason I just assumed people need to be pushed and told what to learn in order to progress intellectually and educationally. But, especially lately, I step back and see where the kids are heading and am amazed.

For instance Tyra is naturally interested in: German, playing the harp, playing the piano, embroidery, art, sign language, serving others, and writing stories. Ethan is interested in: China, Chinese, karate, inventions, workbooks, science, and most recently, audio book novels. I just find it amazing! There's so much to work with and it's...exciting.

I love being able to tap into so many resources to help these natural interests blossom and I love that it gives us even more excuses to turn to the Lord and ask for his assistance in their progression.

So often I excitedly think of them having all these interests fully developed and am in awe at what kind of people they will have become and who all they can benefit with the developing qualities they naturally came down to earth with.

I love focusing on these things the most and make efforts to mentor them in learning, as I set an example of learning myself, but I also like to make myself feel like the whole picture is well rounded by including the classics, other academic subjects, and outside experiences in their life as well.

Because we are raising a hero generation.

Written by Claudia

There is something called the Millenial Generation. This is the generation that Neil Howe and William Strauss have identified as a Hero Generation. The Millennials have a very specific mission. They come of age during a crisis. They must have the wisdom, courage, diplomacy and virtue needed to lead us through it safely.

I believe there needs to be much more time and attention given to these virtues as I raise my children and I believe that if John and I sent them to school it wouldn't allow us the time, we feel is necessary, to instill these crucial virtues in them .

Some ways we instill these virtues in our children is by reading and discussing the classics, asking questions such as, "what would you do? or what do you think he/she should do?" We also study influential people lives and experiences, people such as Einstein, Florence Nightingale, George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci, or Helen Keller.

These people led amazing lives and one reason why they are remembered even today is because, keeping the above mentioned virtues in tact, they overcame serious obstacles.

As we keep an eye on what is happening in the world around us, (especially) in America, within our own state, and within our own neighborhood, we discuss these happenings, asking our children why they think people are reacting in such a way, why our economy would be doing such a thing, etc.

When the children are young we believe they are in a stage called "core phase". This stage is where they learn best what is good and bad. Therefore we focus on good, bad. Right, wrong. True, false.

We use the extra time we have together in studying the gospel in our morning devotionals, as we recognize and study what is good and what isn't. As we study the gospel, we also focus on recognizing the cycles people go through and what it is they do/turn to/ don't do, which brings different kinds of destruction to their people.

America is heading toward an ugly point in one of the four cycles which takes place within society. (Read the Fourth Turning) Because of this (and other factors) I feel that the things, which are most important, that my children will need to learn, which will help them become the best kind of people, are best taught in the home.

Because I agree with this report.

Posted by Claudia
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Are Kids Getting Enough Play?
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Because God Wants Us To

Written by Claudia

As mentioned in the "Our Aim" section of this blog. One main reason convinced us to catapult into the life of a homeschooling family. That reason was because, quite simply, God wants us to.

For those of you new to this blog here's my summary:

I clearly remember worrying about where to send my child to school. She was only 6 months old. Although I recognize it was the spirit now, back then I wasn't quite sure why I felt this way. Why I had this unsettled feeling. I wanted to protect my child. I felt the school system couldn't protect her like I could.

I considered and looked into everything but homeschooling. (I couldn't possibly do something as extreme as that - nor did I feel capable.) A few years later I was still in constant turmoil as to what I felt would be best for my children. I had considered public school, private school and charter school. And I had just placed my oldest in pre-school.

I now had 2 children and one in the womb and was in the car in between running some errands when I happend to chance upon a speech on the radio given by David McCullough. I remember vividly sitting in a craft store parking lot unable to move. I was transfixed to what David McCullough was saying and listened as he finished his speech.

I felt as though my eyes were opened and I wept. For the first time I cared about historical facts. For the first time I felt sincere gratitude to our forefathers. For the first time I felt patriotism for our country. For the first time I felt a love for America! For the first time I realized that the spirit can be and should be present in the teaching and learning of things outside of normal gospel topics.

Not only did I weep for that reason but I wept because I knew that I had just gained more from this speech than I had gained in 12 years of history lessons. I realized that if I did choose to homeschool and only had this one speech to give to my children as their history lesson(s) they would be better off than I ever was.

Although this incident gave me some confidence with choosing to homeschool, I was still wary and unable to make the decision to do so. It just so happend that I spoke to a homeschooling friend of mine that day. When she began to tell me about the Thomas Jefferson Education the spirit poured over me letting me know that this is a good thing. And I wept again.

Making a decision such as this isn't an easy one. I still needed convincing. I began to read books other homeschooling friends of mine recommended to me. And agreed with all that was being said and written. I hesitantly joined a book club made up of homeschooling mothers and listened to what they had to say. It was intimidating but pushed me to greater heights than I've ever dreamed for myself and my family.

I made the decision to homeschool somewhere during those times. Pulling our oldest out of pre-school. But even then it's been a trying journey. At one point, during a darker time in my life, I was at one of these book club meetings and was outside of their view of things. I remember thinking, "They're seeing things in a strange way. It's weird and they're weird." (Mind you these were women that I had come to love and cherish.)

I didn't even want to go to that book club meeting that day. But, fortunately, I had to because it was being held at my house! During our meeting one of those dear ladies spoke of our children's potential through being homeschooled and the rest I don't remember for the spirit poured itself upon me to the extent that I could do nothing but stare at these ladies and wonder how it was that they could go on in conversation in such a normal way, as if nothing was happening. I couldn't understand how a feeling so strong could affect only one person in that room. It wasn't a short flooding of the spirit it was a long washing which I've looked back upon and gained strength from on my weakest days.

Although fear was the first prodding that led me to gaze in the homeschooling direction. My view has progressed beyond that. Some say that homeschooling our children to protect them is a plausible thing. I haven't given that side of it much thought. I do it for other reasons.

And those reasons are what make up the contents of this blog.

For Freedom.

Written by Claudia

We are official (and legal) home schoolers as of a few days ago. We went to the School District and signed the papers. On the form it asked, "Reasons for homeschooling?" I simply wrote "Freedom".

"What does that mean?" one might ask. I'll tell you what I meant by it...

It meant by choosing to home school our children, I feel we are giving them the absolute freedom to think, to be, and to become. I believe this "freedom" also allows one to imagine, to explore, and to discover and allows free thinking which, I believe, will help preserve America's own freedoms.

I believe there's individuality to an extent within the school system. But so many of these precious children, these "tweens", and teenagers come away thinking that what you wear and what social group you're accepted into (or are the leader of) is what is most important. That THINGS, GROUPS, or POSITIONS are what is most important.

From what I've observed and experienced, education is easily and clearly overshadowed by other things instinctively focused on as one tries to survive within a schools social realm. The grade game is easily picked up on and thus one's education mainly becomes temporarily memorizing facts to be stored (and afterward forgotten) for the upcoming test. Fortunately every once in a while a good teacher (one who actually notices a student on a personal level) and a subject one is interested in, intertwine, and one truly begins to learn a subject. Unfortunately though, drudgery is normally the case as one "gains an education".

I believe in the individual, the American! I have come to realize that a person can develop into something wonderful, unique, and genuine (not to mention capable) when given privacy and solitude and the support of mentors (parents) - when given the freedom. Longing for freedom, seems to me, to be a natural yearning when one is confined to a certain area at a certain time and told what to do.

I believe that we still progress, through learning, in the life after this. Is this what it will be like there?...Most of infinity sitting at a desk having a teacher talk and talk. It's where we'll have to be even if it doesn't interest us in the least. If it does interest us, bbrrrrrrrrrring! too bad, move on to the next room. Tests will be thrown at us to tell us whether we know enough, whether we're worth anything... and if we don't get a good "GPA" well then...we don't deserve to progress and we're not as good as our neighbor.

Let me tell you what I think it will be like.

We will delve in our own education - out of choice. We will earnestly seek mentors who are learned in our subject of interest. Those who are learning from a mentor will sit round him/her in sincere interest listening to what he/she is saying, deeply drinking in knowledge, wisdom, welcoming education. Great discussions will take place. Pure learning will be enjoyed.

Why do we love it so much? Because we want it. I can't see a loving, all-knowing, all-caring, God making his children, making us, learn what it is HE feels we need to learn in order to progress. He'll let us figure it out on our own as we continually study, read, (yes, I believe there will be books in heaven) and seek knowledgeable mentors for our own righteously personal purposes.

There's a little piece of heaven I believe we can have on earth and it can be summed up in one word:

Freedom.

Freedom to think. Freedom to be. Freedom to become.

So We Can Mentor Our Own

Written by Claudia

It's been four years since I have come to the solid decision to home school our children. Because the journey has been a long and hard one, I have felt the time frame has been ten times that of what it has really been.

I have been on the brink of making the decision to send my children to the public school system a handful of times through out this journey, sure that homeschooling them would only withhold from them the many opportunities only school could provide.

This is no longer the case. Nor will it ever be unless some terrible catastrophe strikes our home.

I used to think that homeschooling is not meant for everyone. But, even after attempting to avoid a stout opinion, I am now convinced that most people should be doing it.

I used to think that allowing our children to dawdle away their time would only result in a lazy, naive, and unintelligent character and mind. I now realize giving a human true freedom to the agency they are rightly endowed with only allows for true growth, true self education, creating an authentic character, and, if one chooses to use their free agency at its best, it will admit one to use them self in improving this world because of having been permitted to discover their mission(s) in this life.

I used to hope children could naturally motivate themselves into learning and discovering so I wouldn't have to feel the weight of their upbringing on my own shoulders. I now understand how vital it is to be a mentor for our own children. No, not a mentor in every subject they are excited to undertake. But a mentor of learning and discovering.

To assist in explaining this, in his article, To My Fellow Homeschoolers, Dr Larry Arnoldsen said, "The 'teacher' does have something very important to be doing: engaging in one's own learning and self development. The effective teacher/parent is a model. The effective teacher/parent, teaches what he/she is.

'Thinking' can be learned from a 'thinker', 'patriotism' from a 'patriot' and so on. The teacher is a great learner!!!!"

Adding to this thought, in John Taylor Gatto's book, Dumbing Us Down, he said, "In centuries past, the time of childhood and adolescence would have been occupied in real work, real charity, real adventures, and the realistic search for mentors who might teach you what you really wanted to learn." (emphasis added)

I used to think the home schooling life we have chosen for our family would always feel like a thorn twisting in my side, constantly reminding me of what I should be doing differently, constantly keeping me aware of where I may be lacking, and if I was lacking or if I didn't make changes, if I didn't know how to do it just right, the future of my children's successes lay in my hands and I would surely fail.

This isn't so.

A mother, a father, a family, who have their sole interests in the achievements of one another, who are always engaged in joint and solitary learning, and who trust in God, will always succeed.

Because School Can Only Get You a Job

Written by John

I've been a bit frustrated lately by my courses in business. I am frustrated because the entire focus of both the teacher's instruction and the students' goals' is to "get a good job".

The problem is, however, -I don't want a job! Not only does a "job" go violently against my nature, it goes against what I see as necessary skills for the future.

I have always equated business with entrepreneurship, but, I guess the two are not the same as far as "higher education" is concerned.

Is the only course on entrepreneurship the school of Hard Knox?

Why are we never taught how to make money in a way that doesn't involve a job???

There are lots of ways to make money, but all I have ever heard my entire life is "Get good grades so you can get a job!", "Get a degree so you can get a good job!", "Get an advanced degree so you can get a high paying job!"

Do you want to see the biggest lie we were fed in school?

Here it is. It is titled: "Justification for higher education"

I defy anyone to show me any "job" in the world that will pay you enough to have a beach front mansion with a garage full of high end sports cars.

Supposedly all of this is awaiting the hard working college graduate.

But we're not the only ones. China has a saying that promises gold houses and beautiful women for the diligent student. (Is that why they work so hard over there?)

We all know that it is the people handing out the jobs and not the ones that are getting the jobs that are living in the "higher education poster world". So if any half-witted person knows that all the fancy cars and beach front houses exist only as some sort of sick fantasy, why do none of my classmates want to build a business?

Although there are hundreds of reasons why one would not want to build a business, here is a case I found that might be a foundation to a lot of other reasons.

I stumbled upon an interesting thought when I was analyzing some graphs in my economics book this past week (Microeconomics, McConnell Brue 2008 pg. 77) that lead me to believe that perhaps there is some reason behind the fact that schools focus so intensely and brainwashedly on getting a job.

Take a look at this chart:

To briefly explain some of the expenditures, The "pensions and income security" category include government funded programs to help the aged, disabled, handicapped, unemployed, retired, and families with no breadwinner. This categories' biggest spender is the Social Security program which forks out $432 billion annually. (That means that every year we spend on social security approximately what it has cost for 5 years of war in Iraq)
The Health care category includes Medicare and Medicaid.

So, needless to say, with costs of national security necessarily increasing, aging baby boomers taking their social security from an underfunded source, and a nation with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement demanding more from its' government; they have their hands full with coming up with enough money to pay for it all.

Bottom line: All of this is just to show that the government has a lot of bills to pay.

Here is where the money comes from. This is a chart of the governments' income:

(as a side note- notice that there is a $318 billion deficit between expenditures and revenues. When we spend more than we make, that is deficit. This is on top of the fact that there is an additional deficit in trade with other nations- where we import more than we export, leaving us in debt to other nations.)

The two biggest "pie slices" are personal income tax and payroll taxes. Now in the world of business there or 4 players: Employees, Self Employed's, Business Owners, and Investors. (this is according to Robert Kyosaki- Author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad)

So-84% of the governments' income comes from the taxation of only one of those groups- Employees. (I know that payroll taxes can be argued as a taxation of businesses, but it is a tax on the employee because that is money that can not be given to the employee)

And here is my epiphany- If the main source of income for our overspent government is employees, what should it create more of? Employees! Of course.

Do you think that government might want to have a say in what is being taught in schools? Do you think there is an incentive to mold people in such a way they will be good employees- And look for nothing else in life but to be an employee?

Whether it is purposeful and intentional or accidental and thoughtless, schools masterfully mold and award every graduate with a "Masters Degree" in "employee-ship".

Of course there is! There is an obvious and intense incentive to make this army of employees!
Fewer jobs=less money=bigger deficit=weaker dollar=and so on.
I hate to say this, but...we kind of need lots of employees. We have built our country, economy, and life style around this system.

But what if jobs become increasingly scarce?

Daniel Pink, Author of the New-York Times best seller "A Whole New Mind" developed a VERY important discovery relating to this topic. There are 3 major threats to the giant "pie slice" of employment: Abundance, Automation, and Asia. All three threaten the employee pie slice in major ways.

Here are some of my observations concerning his three areas of concern:

Asia

• China has 1/5 of the worlds population (1.32 billion). In spite of it's major economic and technical advancements, it is still considered a "developing" nation. (again according to my economics book). It has and will have, for a long time, millions people who will work for next to nothing just to compete in the world market. Our "educated" job market will continue to be underbid by them. Jobs lost to outsourcing are a relatively small concern for the time being, but will increase exponentially in years to come. ( I should probably come up with some formula to prove this, but for now, it is just an "educated guess".)
  We have barely seen a sprout budding from the soil when it comes to the force of China in the world economy.
  
• India is the next most populous nation (1.29 billion). The problem with them is that they all speak English. Even though we make fun of call centers that employ these funny sounding English speaking Indians, there are millions of them that are hard working, educated, English speaking people that will work for far less then the average American.
  
  
• Close to home. For most of my life my mom has had a sewing job where she sews a baby product for my Aunt who owns a business that manufactures and sells baby products. Recently my aunt started having this particular product manufactured in China. My mom had to find something else to do.
  

Automation:

• http://www.legalzoom.com/ (did you actually think that lawyers could lose their jobs to automation? They are.)
  
• http://turbotax.intuit.com/ A few accountants lost jobs due to this
  
• Just tonight I visited a friend who was writing a program that would scan documents for a business and automatically enter it into a database. Right now there are a number of full time employees physically doing what one person will do with the aid of this program. When this program is done, a handful of people will have to find something else to do.
  
  As I discussed this very topic with my friend and his business partner, they joked of an acquaintance who often jokes about the fact that every time he invents a new type of robot, someone loses a job.
  
• I took a tour of a CD/DVD duplication plant recently that can produce ten's of thousands of DVD's a day. It takes just a few people to run the machines.

There will always be jobs, but everything that can be automated, will be automated.

Abundance:

Even in light of our current financial crisis, there is not a nation on this earth that comes close to being poised to supersede the U.S. in leading the world economy. Our worst day is still better than even the wealthiest of nations. Let alone the thought of our standard of living as compared to developing nations! We have enjoyed decades of immense abundance and wealth that have created a culture that no longer accepts a cheap, run-of-the-mill product.
(if you disagree on our level of wealth, just spend some time in South America)

The future belongs to the creative. Markets are altered at the advent of an "iPhone", not just another cell phone. Abundance creates those who will pay more just to have an iPhone, rather than settle for a cell phone.

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In summary, jobs are being taken from us forcibly. Not by some military force, but the force of the Free Market.
It is the type of thing that is coming upon us gradually. There will be no "DEF CON threat level" to raise awareness. We will sit like a frogs in the proverbial pot.
I might go so far as to say that the next "bubble" to burst will be the job market bubble. That is to say, that, a day is coming where the loss of jobs due to these the factors (and others like unto it) will have such momentum that the almost sudden drop of government income will cause all non-vital government programs to seize up. (social security, medicare, pensions, insurance). The sudden disappearance of these programs will cause panic among the complainers and freeloaders of our nation (and that would be the majority) and there will be a degree of vulnerability while all funds are directed to national defense. And although well founded businesses will continue unaffected, government backed and insured institutions will suffer

And who will rise up as rescuers in this crisis? The creative thinkers.

The Creative thinkers will not bring jobs back to the U.S. Jobs lost to automation and Asia are gone for good. But the creative thinker will find a way in our diverse free market system to bring wealth once again to our great nation.

So the question is posed: how will you chose to educate your children?
The future no longer belongs to the academically intelligent (well, it never really did. However, it did come in handy during the industrial age). Many "white collar" jobs that employ basic and even advanced academics are the jobs being lost to automation. "Blue collar" jobs like manufacturing are being lost to the Asian job market.

Say what you want about the benefits of public school and how we all turned out just fine...but it is hard to dispute the fact that public school focuses primarily on: academics, job preparation, and doing whatever it takes to get good grades.

When all is taken into consideration, I say a child would be far better off in the world to come by being left to wonder the streets in uneducated (academically uneducated) ignorance than to be slapped on the conveyor belt of a system that was designed for an age close to a hundred years out of date! A system that dams creativity and forces the child to memorize facts to please the SCAN TRON god and seek approval through a ruthless grading system that grants no forgiveness to the academic struggler. A system that labels the kid who is not academically inclined as "remedial" and condemns him or her to a life of serfdom. A system that is the most proficient machine on earth at creating something that the future needs only on a small scale: obedient plebeian employees.

I end where I began. School can only get you a job. That might be all you wanted in life. But our kids will need something else.

To be continued...

In the next post:


- Why the Free Market made us great then, and is hurting us now
- How school fit in to the Free Market plan
- What I see as the essentials of education (my views and those of Daniel Pink) to prepare for the future.

Question

Asked by Claudia

What is it that worked so well for others within the school system which has them sending their own children through the same 12 year process?

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For me, I have found indeed, that the grass is greener on the other side. Not only is it greener but there's a rainbow, a babbling brook, birds which continually sing, there are flowers which perfume the air, there's acceptance of all mankind, there's hope and belief in our blessed America, clarity is allowed and embraced, love is allowed and embraced, God is allowed and embraced!

So we can fly.

Written by Claudia

"You can make a cage look as beautiful as ones abilities and skills allow. You can add the finest of trinkets and toys within the walls the solid bars create, but it will always be a cage.

Freedom cannot be found within."

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My deepest admiration goes to Thomas Edison, Florence Nightingale, Leonardo Da Vinci, Bach, Joan of Arc, and all other influential people who craved the freedom to be and took it even when it involved a hardy price. But it allowed them to flourish!

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There's so much to learn! So much to discover! It's impossible to learn it all in one lifetime. Fortunately, as Louis Lamour says, "It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time."

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From what I've observed, such life changing evolution isn't possible from behind cold walls and scribbled on desks.

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