“School was the unhappiest time of my life and the worst trick it ever played on me was to pretend that it was the world in miniature. For it hindered me from discovering how lovely and delightful and kind the world can be, and how much of it is intelligible.”
Did you love school?
I did, at first! Every school year I was sparkly eyed and eager for new books and new things to learn. I could hardly sit still I was so excited. Of course this got me some inaccurate labels and teachers who just wanted kids to read the material, not actually engage with it. I found myself disappointed so often and like so many kids, too often the social disaster that is the the school system, much like the prison system, got in the way of my education. It was maddening! As I got older I craved the real world, I was bitter about the time wasted in class rooms with busy work. I felt like I was just a number pushed through a system. I loved my friends and my time with them but it seemed like I never had time to follow my love of learning WITH my friends. It was a shame, a real shame.
Maybe your experience was different than my own, than my husbands, than the Author E. M. Forster? If so, I think you got lucky!
Because of these reasons and so many more my husband and I now homeschool our children. I am sure it isn’t perfect, but goodness one thing is for sure, they are spending more time in the real world than most kids are and their learning isn’t limited to that of work that can be done sitting at a desk 6 hours a day.
