I recently had an amazing conversation with a friend that
led us to a shared epiphany. As homeschooling TJEDers, we are both frequently
asked to compare our homeschooling to public school and to more common K-12
homeschooling. My friend and I
were talking about the differences and I was having a particularly hard time
comparing what I do with typical education. “Homeschooling” didn’t cover everything I meant when I used
the word “education.”
As we talked we acknowledged that the goal of Leadership
Education is for a person to realize their full potential while the goal of
typical education in the U.S. is for a person to realize their academic
potential.
Our shared epiphany was this: It is impossible to compare what we are doing – Leadership Education –
to typical education because Leadership Education is concerned with the whole
person while typical education is only concerned with a small part of a person.
It is like comparing holistic medicine to brain
surgery. As a former brain surgery
patient, I can sincerely say that I understand how critical a brain surgeon is
and I’m so grateful for the surgeon who saved my life. But it would be ludicrous of me to
ignore all the other systems in my body and assume that brain surgery would
ensure my entire body’s physical health.
Just as there is more to my body
than my brain, there is more to a person than their academic potential. All the people I know understand
this. I suspect there are very
few, if any, people who don’t understand this. Sadly, society in general
doesn’t live in accordance with this truth. Many, many parents, teachers, and
students are trying to live this truth.
I love Leadership Education
because it embraces this truth. It
is teaching me how to live it.
Typical education may begin as early as pre-school and end
after high school, college, or graduate school. Ideally Leadership Education begins at birth and continues
throughout a person’s whole life – it is never finished. Typical education
happens during school hours and usually in a classroom. As soon as the bell rings or the
student leaves the classroom, education is done for the day. Leadership
Education happens 24-7 wherever the student’s body is at.
As my friend and I talked we started to use an analogy,
probably inspired by Oliver and Rachel DeMille’s beautiful poem about an Oak
Tree (on the back cover of the book Leadership Education). We compared our children to
little plants that we were raising.
We’d already helped them get from seed to tiny plant but we both know
our little plants have a long way to go.
Ever since that conversation I
have started thinking of my children as little plants and myself as a gardener
of children. My goal is to
give my little plants the environment and nurturing they need to grow and
develop and become whatever plant they were meant to be. Each one is unique. They are not all going to become the
same kind of plant. They have
unique needs and unique development paths. I’m certain academics will be something each of them need at
some point, likely many points, along the way, but that is just a portion of
their development. Especially with
my core phasers, academics aren’t a high priority at all.
At the beginning of
the week I try to look at my little plants in my minds eye and ask myself, what
do they need this week to grow and develop? Then each day I try to ask again, which things do they need
most today? This week, what comes
to mind is my 3 yo daughter needs opportunities to work alongside me with jobs
like picking up toys and emptying the dishwasher; lots of snuggle time;
opportunities to improve her hand coordination with activities like coloring
and cutting; and our daily devotional.
Thinking of my 3 yo son, I know right now he needs lots of Dad time;
opportunities to climb and run and jump; recognition of all his good choices;
and our daily devotional. As I
think of my 8 yo daughter I know she needs more sleep; my help purging and
reorganizing her bedroom; opportunities to talk with me; one-on-one time with
Dad; time to ride her bike; lots of time to work with or near me; to be read to
by me; time to read and “play” with the academic subjects she is interested in;
time to socialize with friends at least a couple hours/week; opportunities to
learn more beginning cooking skills; inspiration to read our core book on her
own; and our daily devotional.
This is what I think my little plants need right now. Some of what I think they need is
constant, like our daily devotional.
But most of what I think they need changes with each week, month, and
season of the year. We are
transitioning right now from our “school year” to our “summer.” For my core-phasers, the big difference
will be not going to physical therapy for 3 months and going to weekly park days, but other than that, life will feel pretty much the
same for them. For my
love-of-learning-phase daughter, there are more noticeable differences. The clubs she participates in have
ended or will end soon for a summer break. Now that our Seattle weather is getting warmer and dryer (relatively),
we can spend a lot of time outside and park day with our friends will be what
we look forward to all week.
I won’t be involved in as many of my book clubs and classes so we’ll
have more family time and a simpler schedule. Our daily work will change in response to the change in
season. There will be lots of food
preservation, vacation planning and prep, planning for the next school year,
and yard work. Meal preparation
will be focused more on washing and cutting up produce and won’t involve the
oven, crock-pot, or stove much.
I’m sharing a little slice of my family’s life right now but
it will look different next week and completely different in 3 months. Kind of the way a garden looks so
different each season and the gardener’s work is different from day to
day.
n and 
. 
:
Posts
