(I know it's been a while since I last posted - you're dying to know how the house is going... well I'm gearing up to post more, but for now, you'll have to wait a bit more while I share other thoughts...)
On our local homeschooling
e-mail group, we had an interesting discussion about well-meaning loved ones
who don’t understand or support homeschooling.
One parent was sharing a story about a relative who said:
"When she's working,
if her boss gives her something she doesn't see the point of, she can't just
not do it."
 |
| Kid 2 sees the point of cleaning the windshield. |
Another parent had a very
brilliant reply:
“As for the comments about not being able to say no to a
boss in ‘real’ life...well, if you're planning on an extra income stream
through child labour, that may apply.
Otherwise, I'd tell grandma that what makes her think your daughter
won't actually BE the boss.”
 |
| Child labour: Kid 2 is a spackling expert. |
Kid 2, aged 10, is still wiggly, and if he's not
interested, he has a tough time paying attention. But if he is really engaged in something -
either because he is interested, or he is really attached to the person who has
asked him to do it - he'll just knuckle right down and get it done! For example, he hates writing, but today they
were doing some writing at his Soaring Eagle class, and he got to the computer
as soon as he got home to look stuff up and write it down, because he just
LOVES the woman who leads the class. I
can see that being an adaptive attitude in a work environment - you do your
work really well either because you love it, or because you love the people
there - either the ones you serve, or the coworkers, or the boss. Thinking about my own work, I think a little
bit of each applies to me, and helps me get through what are sometimes very
challenging days.
More to the point, schools exist primarily to create
employees. They were intended to create
a uniform workforce, but they’re not very good at producing independent,
innovative thinkers. Or at least they
don’t reward such tendencies. But being
an employee is not the best strategy for an individual in our society. In general, our taxation and financial
systems tend to favour business owners.
Two hundred years ago, just about every “Average Joe” was his own boss,
whether he was a baker or a carpenter or a tailor (or a seamstress or a
laundress or…), other than the serving class who worked for wealthy
families. So while I’m fine if my child
grows up to be an employee, I’m rather hoping that he’ll go out on a limb and
find his own way to do his own thing.
And this is something that homeschooled folks seem to be good at!
 |
| Maybe being a boss means more fishing! |
You go, girls and boys!
Be the BOSSES!
