Why we do this....

So we've become that family. A 2 mom, (mostly) organic food, green cleaning, essential oils, homeschooling, no cable, take your book and go to bed at 8 sorta family.  It wasn't planned.  Hell, it wasn't even on purpose!!  I never intended to homeschool.  Anyone who knows me, knows what a relief it was when my son started full time school last year.  He was gone for over 6 hours a day!!!!!!  Oh my god, the freedom was amazing.  I don't know what changed.  Maybe it was the way that little by little, I saw the excitement for school in our 7 year old diminish.  The way he was being forced to fit into a little box, in a little room, full of 29 other kids, all in a building packed with hundreds of other kids trying to fit into the same little boxes in their own little rooms.  There are so many kids who are on special learning plans, or special medications to allow them to sit in a chair at a desk for 6 hours a day to learn things above their abilities,  or relearn things that they already know all because one kid in the class can't keep up.  And that makes me sound awful, I'm sure.  But why, if across the board, so many kids have so many problems, does it make sense to keep shoving circles into squares?  When can we realize that the school needs more circles? Then it occurred to us that perhaps we could provide a circle.  A space where my kids can learn the way they want to, be loved more than they can ever know and how to adjust to life on this planet.  Education needs to be more than math books and handwriting lessons.  I am in charge of producing two fully functioning, fully capable, productive human beings who are going to be expected to contribute positively to this world.  And let me say, that is a far more complicated task than any math or reading or writing curriculum combined.  So our family is moving back to basics.  We're moving back to love and respect and compassion.  We're moving back to reading and playing as a family and remembering that really, when everything hits the fan, all you can count on are your friends and family.  Spelling, math, writing and science will all be around, workbooks and textbooks still waiting.  And I absolutely want my kids to learn and be smart and succeed in everything they try to do.  But they won't.  So I also want them to have the ability to accept those losses, and move forward with grace and dignity and still be willing to try again.  I don't believe that every kid should get a ribbon for participating.  I don't believe that every kid deserves special treatment.  I do believe that every single child is absolutely wonderful and amazing and spectacular in their own right.  And every one of them will excel in something.  But when everyone is special, doesn't that make nobody special? And if we award mediocrity with a ribbon, why should anybody strive to be the best?  So you might not agree with what we're doing right now, but for our small little family and our children and the impact we want to leave on this earth, its working.  There are still fights, and yelling and 20 minutes of 'get your shoes on, we're leaving' but at the end of the day, we're together.  And we've connected more than a good chunk of families do in a month.  I can tell you exactly what my kid learned today.  Can you?