Recently a question about homeschooling sparked a lengthy, and somewhat heated, conversation on an email list I belong to. It was good that it made all the noise that it did because I usually don’t notice much on this list. But this question made me think about my own reasons for homeschooling and articulating my reasons was a good exercise, as it’s important for us to all understand and review why we choose to do what we do.
Soulful Studies has been hosting a biweekly Classic Book Club for middle schoolers and the first book club session just came to a celebratory end. Robert Luis Stevenson's classic, Treasure Island, enthralled these young minds for over two months as we met and discussed the book in a Socratic seminar format.
While visiting the Emirate of Dubai, we saw vast expanses of brown desert all around us with tall skyscrapers and gigantic shopping malls dotted along highways. This was what we saw, until we arrived at an enclave right smack in the middle of the Dubai desert. Here, the temperature instantly dropped as we entered a man made tropical haven.
When I first read this on my newsfeed, I chuckled a little. Then I realized that in America we have a day dedicated to almost everything. From ‘Fruitcake Toss Day’ to ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’ (no, I’m not making these up), we tend to celebrate inane things. Celebrations for the first time a toddler uses the toilet successfully to the time a senior citizen decides to “celebrate their life”, have become commonplace.
When the intense heat of summer goes down and and number of isles of stationery in a store go up, it can only mean one thing: back to school is just around the corner! While most parents begin back to school planning with supplies shopping, uniform re-evaluation, schedule development and carpool assignments, homeschooling parents began their back to homeschool planning before the school year ended.
Unlike the hands on moms who can pull out the many utensils of art and let their children explore and find themselves, I’m one who pulls her hair out when art time rolls around. Don’t get me wrong, I provide plenty of art supplies and art exploration activities for my young ones, but, the activities are usually constrained to space, material or at the very least, clean up time.
“Devshirme” in Turkish means “collecting” and in Ottoman times, children were “collected” from around the empire and brought into the capital to be taught and trained to serve in various positions in the empire. Students who showed military inclinations were trained to become Janissaries – the Emperor’s closest army.
