Life Decisions

So what is this blog about anyhow?

Well if you have read the "about me" in the blog you know it's about meaning and purpose...

For a month or so now I have been reading a blog called 

bedrock and brambles

I guess I have been interested in it because they are very interested in meaning and purpose too...

Their lives and lifestyle remind me of my life and many of the choices I have made over the years.

Flashlights and Arrows has roots that come from living a self-sufficient life....

I don't usually post about about other blogs but today I would like to share this blog with my own readership.

Here is a link to a post they did and a comment I wrote...

Andrew

I have been mulling over how to respond to this post...
Firstly I respect your decision to enrol your child in school.
It was a difficult decision I had to make over 20 years ago for my son and a few years later reconsider for my daughter too.
Both of my children have been homeschooled all their lives. They learned to read and write at the kitchen table...we lived deep in the forest.... How did we make the choice that we did?
Yes there was the school bus issue for us too...it's a long drive for a kid every day when you live at what would have been the far end of their run... but also there was the school system itself. We were very influenced at the time by books written by John Holt, John Taylor Gatto and Wendy Preisnetz.
What about the socialization issue?
I think this question was first asked by school boards concerned about losing students to the home school movement along with the head tax that each student present in the system generates. To be frank the socialization issue is a myth.
What about the driving?
Get ready to become the "Gooderham Taxi Service". School or no school once your kids get out there they will develop a desire/need to get to clubs, friends, birthday parties, events....you won't believe how long and almost endless this list of places to drive becomes. Don't worry it only lasts until they are 16 when they start to drive themselves!
How does homeschooling work?
Well there are as many answers to this question as there are homeschooling families out there. Basically it reduces down to parents helping their children become numerate and literate with parents assuming the role of teacher and then the role of the parent switches to that of a facilitator, facilitating the interests of the children. The children will teach themselves through their own interests. It's true!
What happened to my children?
My son at an early age became interested in community radio and then worked at a professional radio station for a few years around the age of 15 until he began a career in the car industry. Now at 20 he is living quite successfully on his own selling Jaguars and Land Rovers in Toronto (just having moved from selling Audi's). He did this on his own. I see vehicles in the light of utility where as he sees them as art. His fascination with vehicles developed at an early age and now it is a career.
My daughter has become a very well followed artist/photographer.
What do we think now after having been through the whole process?
We were "homesteaders" before anyone popularized the term. It's been a hard go. "Homesteading is a hard life" and "Homeschooling" is equally so. The two activities certainly compliment one and other. We are happy we did both and for our kids it was well worth it.
Should everyone homeschool?
Certainly not. It would be wrong to say so...life is a complicated thing...people make choices...what works for some doesn't for others
This is what I did.
Martin

Life is certainly full of complicated decisions ...

It is about "... Hunting for meaning.  Hunting for vision.  Hunting for happiness and purpose.  

We are all hunters if you think about it..."

Live to Hunt....Hunt to live!

-Martin