Handmade Homeschool Philosophy
January 12, 2008 by prairiepoppins
A handmade pottery mug is a handful of texture and nuance, a unique piece that will never exist again. A human hand and a human mind shaped it just as it is because it was right. A ceramic mug, no matter how cunning or sweet the design, will never have that special touch. Just as a meal from a box will never taste like one chopped up in your kitchen. Just as a print of a painting is flat compared to the texture of paint on canvas. Handmade deepens and enriches and flavours everything we can taste or touch or see or feel.
I want to bring the DIY explosion of energy to homeschooling: make what you want, make it fit, make it yours.
I have gone from a type-A perfectionist, over-achieving academic who was afraid to fail and disconnected from my own life to a woman who has learned to occupy her life. I’m no longer plagued by fear and by a need to put labels on everything. Instead, mothering and homeschooling have taught me to be a part of my life, to have faith in the flow of life, to know that I am strong. I’ve come to see life as an art form - some people are buying their lives off the shelf like TV dinners, but life is a canvas and I’m the artist.
In clothing, there used to be no sizes. There was no average woman and there was no size 8. You took a few measurements, selected the style you wanted, chose the cloth and colour and then you made your clothing or had it made for you. There used to be no average child, too, no Grade 3. You paid attention to the child, taught what was teachable, moved forward from where you were.
I don’t want to settle for a pre-fab life. I don’t plan to settle for a pre-fab homeschool. I believe that we’re all - each and every one of us - the experts on our families. Why do we let others tell us what’s right at which time? Life is the great adventure; homeschooling can be the key to unlocking your own adventure. It can be the leap off the safe ledge into the unknown. It can teach us more than it ever seemed to offer. Yet too many of us, myself included, homeschool like it’s a boating safety course.
Life is an adventure. Be an adventurer.
Your life is a work of art. Be an artist.
Your children are artists and adventurers who need guides and mentors. Be a guide. Be a mentor.
Very good ideas! I need to remind myself of these.
Thanks…I needed that. You say it so true. The kids almost went to school this month (for real)…I just couldn’t do it. I want them to stay artist and adventurers.
What a wonderful job you’ve done of summing up how we try to live. It’s great to hear it from a source outside of myself. Thanks so much!!!
I hear you! I have been thinking on this myself lately - I want my children to have a rich life. We have been doing K12 and it feels too much like “school” at home. The whole point is to create right brained people. Creative people. not little computers.