How many times have we thought of knowledge as a destination?
When I get an 'A'...
When I get into the next grade...
When I get into the next math book...
When I complete my homework assignment...
When I pass this test...
When I graduate...
When I pick a career...
When I pick a degree...
When I go to college...
When I go to university...
When I go to vocational school...
Annnndd then what?
What I find interesting is after being in school constantly reaching for knowledge for a certain destination there is often disinterest in learning, dissatisfaction in the career/degree of choice, loss of direction, inability to fully understand your talents and dreams, lack of courage to fulfill and put into action what you've learned, and then essentially going back to school to continue with what is familiar. Or on the other hand that you feel superior or and expert in your field because of all the knowledge destinations you've achieved and you have no need to continue to learn.
Not all of the situations in life fall into these two categories, I've just seen it happen often to others, including myself. I'm in the first option. I learned for grades, I completed homework assignments and tests to move onto the next grade or level or graduation. I went to college with a money making career in mind not what I wanted to learn. I finished college without a degree, without direction, and burnt out from unsatisfying education.
Are all those things bad?
No way! It's good to strive to do the best you can and to improve. It's good to do things you don't always like, to learn things that make you uncomfortable to help you grow, it's good to try things to find out if you like them or not, it's good to make mistakes and resolutions, it's good to seek mentorship, teachers, and others with more experience in the things you enjoy. It's good to get degrees for those jobs that require them. I'll ask again:
How many times have we thought of knowledge as a destination?
When we grew up learning where was our focus? Was it trying to get to a stage, level, grade, ect? Or was it to discover, enjoy, contemplate, expand, understand, and grow?
Learning doesn't stop when we start going to school, when we graduate school, when we start a career, when we have children, when we get married, and not even if we declare we don't want to learn anymore. 😜
No.
We are always learning in everything. Whether we absorb anything is another story. Are we being receptive, open, humble, and seeking growth? If someone says something boarder-lining offensive we have two options:
1. Get offended. We have the right to after all! They hurt our feelings and were most certainly in the wrong.
2. Ask questions. The more we communicate the more we will absorb. We we learn that not only was that person unaware of what they had done because they were raised that way but they also have insecurities of their own causing their speech to be a little aggressive to hide those insecurities. Furthermore, we have a lot in common! If we both put aside our frontline of defense we will see that all we want is love, acceptance, respect, and friendship. We're now open to new perspectives and what the other has to teach us.
This goes into more than just one on one interactions but into everything. Because a good majority of what we will learn while alive on this Earth is through another human being who makes mistakes it is in our best interest to keep our hearts and minds open for opportunities. Some hurt more than others, like, a lot, and our natural reaction is to close up shop for the day and avoid that painful situation again. But if we can hold on just a little longer, find another who's job it is to help in healing, and try and see the other perspective we will draw closer than ever because we are now grafted together to grow stronger.
Bringing it back around to the educational system or "school", my perspective is that school should be about finding the joy of leaning no matter how that's achieved whether you're homeschooled or institutionalized. That means that every moment is a learning experience or the opportunity for one. I've been back and forth about whether to send my children to school or to teach them from home. I tend to lean more towards homeschool, my husband leans more towards public school, we decided together to go with what is needed for the time. We felt that this upcoming school year for Bubba's start in Kindergarten we were going to homeschool him. We sent him to a Montessori preschool last year. The reason I personally lean more towards homeschooling is the principle of freeform. There is no "wrong" way to lear since it's ALL learning. It's not structured or graded or put into generalizations. I realize that some long time homeschoolers with different points of view may strongly disagree with those statements but keep in mind that I'm comparing it to a public school system. I'm not saying that homeschool doesn't or can't have requirements, structure, or schedule in it's own way. The reasons we like a school system, however, is for it's ability to teach the children how to work with others who think differently than you, learn from someone else besides mom and dad, real world communication and interaction, testing the child's opinions and expanding interests, and of course not having to do the teaching. Luckily if you plan homeschool in such a way to include all of those things as well are they really "missing out"? This is when all of those who go, have gone, or have strong opinions about going "to" a school can strongly disagree with me too.
The struggle is real folks.
Moral of the story? If it feels like a good fit and meets whatever qualifications or requirements needed-- then you've made the right choice.
Put what you love to do in the forefront of your decisions and the decisions of the things your children love and then fill in all the requirements and necessary classes or subjects to lift it higher, to expand it, to develop it, and if you have more than one thing that you love, and they don't seem to have anything in common and you can't pick just one then don't! Find your overall purpose and reasoning behind why you love the things you do (helping people? Bring happiness? Communication? Expression? Ect.) and with that in mind set a timeline for yourself and start checking off all the things you love to do. In time they might all start coming together and revealing how they ARE all in common. You're experience with life is and will be unique and impactful on those around you, even if you don't realize it.
"Go, live your dream." -Disney's Movie Tangled.
XOXO
Megan
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