Learning What is Not Necessary

My post, Learning What is Not Necessary, is up over at Life Without School. Actually it was up a week or so ago and I forgot to mention it! Things have been a bit busy here lately. I am just trying to keep my head above water at this point…

So how do we answer the question "what is important to learn?" Every homeschool parent consciously or unconsciously answers this question differently. The key thing to remember is that there is no one right answer. Everyone has their own ideas…each school system, each curriculum provider, each parent, each child. They all have their own ideas and no one is right and no one is wrong.

I think that this is the basis for most of the "debates" among homeschoolers…the unschoolers, the classical homeschoolers, the school-at-homers, the waldof, the montessori folks all have their own ideas of "what is important". But ultimately, despite all the strong opinions on the subject, there really is no "right" or "wrong".

I used to have pretty strong opinions on the subject, but the longer I keep at this, the more that I see that "my way" is not the only way or even the best way for everyone. Not to mention that "my way" keeps changing. I just kind of muddle through and my kids manage to learn despite my best efforts.

I see one of my jobs as a homeschool parent to be that of exposing my kids to a variety of things…to expand their viewpoints. It is something that I am extremely conscious of. It is also one of my jobs to decide how important something is to learn. Sounds scary, but it is true. I have found that I often make this judgment based on how it is affecting my relationship with my child as well as how it is affecting his relationship with learning. Is it worth fighting with my child to get them to learn something they are not interested in?

Interestingly enough, my kids are learning what they need to know, albeit on their own timetable. Are there things that I wish they knew better? Yup. But they have time. We all have time.

Anyways, go check it out. I hope that you enjoy it!

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[Crunchy Mama]

[Crunchy Mama]