From: Dan Glover (daneglover@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 06 2005 - 04:18:01 BST
Hello everyone
>From: "Sam Norton" <elizaphanian@kohath.wanadoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
>Subject: MD home schooling
>Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 21:14:14 +0100
>
>Hi all,
>
>My wife and I are considering home educating our children, and I was
>wondering if there was anyone on the list who had gone down that route
>already, or if anyone had particular thoughts on the matter. It would seem
>to be a natural progression in one sense from Pirsig's arguments in ZMM.
Hi Sam
I've had some experience in the home education arena but I don't think I can
tell you anything that you don't already know or will figure out quite
easily on your own should you and your wife decide to go that route. I do
have a story to share which may pertain to the issue though.
Like David and Matt P., I disliked school intensely. When we received our
testbooks for the year, I would go ahead and read through them in the first
two weeks only to have to sit in class going over the same stuff for the
whole year watching the other kids struggle to learn what came to me so
naturally. No one liked me; I felt they were jealous that things came so
easily for me. My brothers and sisters were intensely jealous too. I had no
friends. I would sit inside at recess, reading. I felt isolated from
everyone, especially after my mother passed away when I was eight years old.
I don't want any pity; I just mention it so you might better understand what
follows.
I remember once a year we'd have to take these all day tests -- they must
have had a name but it escapes me just now -- and I knew that I did very
well on them. I would always finish first and I knew I answered all the
questions correctly. When I was done I would look around me and see the
masks of concentration on everyones' faces. I didn't want to draw attention
to myself so I would wait -- sometimes a half hour -- until some other kid
would finish and rush up to the teacher's desk, proud that he or her had
finished first. Then I would go ahead and hand in my test.
But it seemed to me that no matter how well I did, nothing ever came of
those tests, so after a while -- I don't remember for sure now, maybe it was
fifth or sixth grade or maybe even seventh -- I just quit trying. I didn't
even read the questions. I would just go down the list and fill in the
spaces. No one ever said anything to me about that either.
My father passed away in 1996 and since no one else wanted to do it, I was
elected to go through his things to see what was of value and what wasn't.
Way in back of a closet, I found an old folder from thirty years ago and
oddly it happened to have my name on it so I opened it, curious. Inside was
a letter from 1965 with some other assorted papers that came from a science
and math academy. The letter informed my father that I had tested in the 99
percentile for my age group. The letter offered me a chance to attend the
school free of charge with other kids of like mind. I would have cut off an
arm to go to a school like that.
My father never mentioned the letter or the school to me. I don't know why
and I guess I never will since he's dead and there's no one else to ask. It
bothered me a bit as my father used to chide me, telling me that I could
have been someone if only I had applied myself. I always thought I was
someone, running a successful business and all, but apparently not in his
eyes. I guess he thought I could have been a doctor or a lawyer, someone
important. I've tended to put all that past me now though and I hesitate to
bring it up but the tone of your email seemed to warrant it.
I tell this story on the off chance that you might actually consider asking
your children what they want, and listen to them. It's about them, after
all, not about you and your wife. That's the only real advice I have to
offer.
Thank you for reading,
Dan
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