Filed under Wise(wo)men

My motto

“We are social creatures, and it is very difficult for us to behave in ways that run counter to what others perceive as normal. In the history of cultures, harmful normative practices or rituals may persist for centuries at least partly because of the stigma, or perceived stigma, associated with violating the norms. These have included such practices as foot binding in the upper classes in China and genital mutilation in many other cultures. Even people who knew that such practices were harmful did them, because failure to do so would mark the family as “different” and therefore aberrant. School is the most predominant cultural ritual of our time. It is a practice ingrained as normal, even necessary, in the minds of the great majority of people. To counter it, one must overcome not just others’ negative judgments, but also the judgments that rise up from one’s own school-indoctrinated mind.”- Peter Gray writes in an article about the common challenges as named by unschooling families. Being outside of normal may well be a lonely path but i believe it is one worth taking. My motto, which I didn’t know until I heard it sung, is “F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!” (-thank you , you so eloquently spoke my mind. Boy, am I asking for it from my kids! I guess I’m raising them to question everything! Yikes!) As I reflect, I see that it is my eternal inborn drive to question and analyze all accepted “truths” that makes this moto so fitting.

Dropout, or burnout

How sad but true; children with BURNOUT! Here is a quote from” Wikipedia regarding a criticism of the school system and its “subjects”:
“many subjects have been taught too early to students and this has helped cause burnout in school children.”

From the horse’s mouth

An interview with an adult unschooler
http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201204/meet-kate-fridkis-who-skipped-k-12-and-is-neither-weird-nor-homeless

Convenient and Unquestioned

“The founding fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can’t take you and industry can’t take you.” -John Updike

Inspirational People – Muhammed

Muhammed

Just your typical polyglot

Our friend, the kind and gentle Tuareg camel guide Muhammed, speaks his indigenous language, Berber, Arabic, French, English, Spanish and some of many other international languages including Japanese. He grew up in a tent in the Saharan desert and never attended school.

Inspirational People – Little People

Unschooled Vet

The veterinarian at work.

Having a child will beat one’s apathy to a pulp! Here is my little Veterinarian, and my inspiration, performing an operation on her very patient patient, the family dog.

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