The benefits of homeschooling have struck me again. I had the enchanting opportunity to meet one of my students and his family for a picnic at a beautiful botanical garden today. The whole family came along, including mom, dad, and his two siblings. Since much of my teaching is online I often don’t get to see the full picture of who they are unless we meet. This time, like virtually all the other times before, I was floored by what I saw.
The first thing I noticed was how warm and personable the children were. Uncharacteristically so. How many children that you meet look you in the eye when they talk to you? In this digital age when video games and social media fray the focus of developing children, there is an uncomfortable abundance of nervousness in our youth. Not in these young ones, not a shred. They rather spend their time and energy on things like classical music, woodworking, gardening, and cooking. I noticed the eldest sibling was carrying a sketchbook with her. My jaw dropped when I saw the professional quality of her plant sketches, in ability gathered over years and years of play.
The next thing I noticed was their humble confidence. As my student sat at the picnic table carving a tool with some stones I heard how he had recently joined the Boy Scouts. On a camping trip, he became an instant celebrity for being able to start a fire anywhere, anytime, while wearing his wool sweater. For that, he earned the nickname “Icelandic.” He had mastered these skills as a homeschooler.
Children Become Superhuman by Just Being Children
Around 600 BCE, Thales of Miletus successfully calculated the height of a great pyramid by using critical thinking and geometry. He terrified his Egyptian guides, thinking him some kind of sorcerer when he was just exercising normal human capacities. I can draw a similar comparison to the homeschoolers I meet. They appear unusually confident, capable, and self-aware for their age. They are the kind of children parents don’t worry about growing into adulthood.
Such self-realization seems superhuman today, when so many children are fraught with anxiety, depression, ADHD, or worse. What is it? These homeschoolers are doing that makes them so uniquely healthy amongst their peers? They are doing what children should do – playing, exploring, following their interests. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do rigorous and structured academics. This bunch does my lessons, and they are full of rigor. However, that only adds fuel to their fire. Confident children WANT to be challenged.
Then, they take the skills and run with them. At one point, my student and I had a detailed conversation about how to make a good compost pile. He is an avid gardener, tending his own beds entirely himself. I was the recipient of a quart of golden potatoes he had just harvested.
The Benefits of Homeschooling
We are breeding superhuman children just by giving them normal, healthy things for children to do. So, what’s missing from school, even Waldorf school? The schedule is industrial, the programs are boxy, and the freedom to explore is limited. Students often develop complexes despite the best attempts of teachers to provide a healthy social environment. Don’t get me wrong, there are some extraordinary schools out there. Asheville Waldorf School is among them.
However, more and more parents are discovering that the benefits of homeschooling outweigh the conveniences of outsourcing our child’s education. Of sticking them in an institution that is, in some ways, as unnatural as our relentless production schedule as a society. Some parents feel they can’t justify the sacrifice. Yet, what are we here for as parents if not, first and foremost, for our children? Do we not think it will pay off in the end, when they, for example, start their own business at a young age ,abundantly support themselves doing what they love?
I want to reiterate what I’ve said countless times, such as in this post. I am in this field because homeschooled youth are a different breed. They are the ones who will stand out in the future as rare, self-composed individuals that others look up to for guidance and inspiration. That’s why I do what I do.
Want Help Homeschooling?
You don’t have to do it all alone! Come and find out why so many parents are turning to Enkindle Academy to provide or augment their child’s homeschooling curriculum. We offer full length pre-recorded academic main lessons along with live enrichment classes to accompany them. Check our grades pages for more information:
You can also sign up for a free sample block by going to this page: https://enkindleacademy.com/preview-main-lesson-blocks.
We also offer a weekly empowerment class for adolescents and teens, as well as life coaching and mentoring for teens and parents and academic tutoring for students. Fine arts tutoring is also available.
This fall we will also begin offering a twice weekly language arts class for ninth and 10th graders, so stay tuned for more information about that. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay updated.
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