To have a mind of your own...

I just thought of another morethanfine reason to keep my kids out of school. I was reading the epilogue of John Taylor Gatto's "The Underground History of American Education"* and he writes about George Washington: "As a boy he learned the hard things: duty, piety, courage, self-reliance, to have a mind of his own..." My! How that resonated with me!

If my 3 boys would just grow up knowing these things, I would know I had succeeded as their mom/teacher. I feel like I need to frame those words and put them on the wall somewhere so I will always be reminded that these are the goals, not Algebra II or spelling or high SAT scores. To have a mind of his (her) own is the greatest gift homeschooling can give a child.

Personally, I still sometimes struggle to not "go with the flow" and to have a mind of my own. Actually, I do have a mind of my own, but it is drawing on that tiny reserve of courage and self reliance that gives voice to that mind that is the real trick. The courage and self-reliance was supressed by the public school experience, so the mind is locked inside the walls of dependence and insecurity, until you find your confidence and the mind is freed and the voice can be heard!

A mind of your own and the confidence to express it! That's the goal.

*WARNING! Do not read Gatto unless you are prepared to be radicalized!