Perhaps it is time for a change. An update. An upgrade.
In our modern age of technology, globalization, and information, an update is needed when we talk of "how to do school."
For generations, it has always been assumed that you "go to school" somewhere - mainly a government-run school district where all children are herded in and taught a one-size-fits-all approach to math, reading and science. The only real choice for parents was when to start preschool and maybe a choice in elementary schools. That's what everyone did. You "went" to school.
That approach, if it ever worked, has run out of steam. It has run its course.
Education is no longer inside the box; at least, it doesn't have to be. Education has exploded with opportunity, with change, with new possibilities. It is vibrant. It is dynamic. It is ever-more hands on and approachable. We can learn anywhere. We can travel anywhere. We have all the information in the world at our fingertips, in our computers, and in our textbooks.
This is the beauty of a little competition to the old school mindset. No longer are students forced to "go to school" somewhere. We can "do" school. We can "be" school. We can absorb it, digest it, build it up, and break it down, anywhere and anytime we please.
How do you school is the real question. What methods are you using to interact with your children? What ideas do you have? What science experiments have you done? What books have you read to them and with them? What system are you using to explicate mathematics? How digs so much deeper than where. Our children's' education should reflect that as well.
Parents have every capacity and ability to teach their children. It is incredibly natural. And it is increasingly possible.
It does, however, require a monumental shift in mindset. It requires a leap of faith in yourself. Parents are told by society to leave the entirety of our choices, our liberties and our children in the hands of the government. In this modern century, as government is losing it's iron grip over our decisions, it is attempting to ever-tighten that grip.
Parents - do not relent and do not fear. You can do school for your family.
It is going to be a great day when people start asking - how did you school? Instead of - where did you go to school?
The how is, after all, the heart of the question.
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