TO HOME EDUCATION FROM SCHOOLING
Why choose to homeschool; that's a question I have been asked a lot over the years. There's no simple and quick answer - which is what most people want - so I usually say something generic eg: "for lifestyle reasons" unless I can see the questioner is someone who is truly curious about the subject. The real answer to that questions stems right back into my own past, to a 15 year old girl who was forced to move out of home because of many, many problems there that I was desperate to get away from. Where did I go? To a commune in the Dandenongs (a mountain range in Victoria, Australia) which is where I spent the next 15 or so years of my life.
There were 20 or so of us and looking back we were just kids but we thought we could answer all of the problems of the world with our radical lifestyle. If I close my eyes sometimes I can still hear Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd; we wore the grooves off that record and the lyrics made a great impression on me. It really is "more than a feeling - when I hear that old song play," to quote another song lyric. Music was a major part of our lives.
It's taken me 30 years to come up with an appropriate label (I detest labels) for that group or that experience and then give myself permission to use it - in the end the commune was just another patriarchal governed system that cleverly concealed abuse, disrespect for women, dysfunction and zero rights for children - both born and unborn, caused by drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness. I completely understand Alan Alda's character in the film Wanderlust when he says that he worries he's "missed out on something real," after spending 40 years in the commune. I had had that niggling feeling for a long time as well before I finally got out (I had a few false attempts at breaking away but somehow always ended up drifting back). Of course, now I realise that the something real was marriage to my current partner and raising a family of our own.
The positive that I took from that time of my life is that I now always look for the alternative in every given situation and creative thinking has become second nature. In fact I would go as far as to say that I avoid the "normal" at all costs because experience has taught me that I will probably not feel comfortable with it but I'm no longer the opposite extreme either - I'm just middle-of-the-road.
So when back in 2007 my husband was having problems finding work as a carpenter and the private school fees were mounting up and couldn't be paid; my eldest daughter was continually ill and missing a lot of school (she has since been diagnosed with and treated for adrenal fatigue as well) and I felt concerned that she wouldn't be able to cope with high school; my younger boy, who is not academic, was struggling at school and his teachers wanted us to have him "tested," which of course I would never do because of my aversion to labels; my youngest child cried every morning and begged me not to take her to school, she hated it that much; there had been an incident with the priest (no further explanation needed) and our much loved Principal left leaving us in the hands of someone much less competent, I knew it was time to listen to the signs. Serendipity is a beautiful thing, it was time to make a change.
Many families home educate right from the start, which is what I wish I had have done and would have if I had known and had the confidence back then to go up against the system and family opinion. Many families see it as a life style choice that doesn't end with the kids going off to school and becoming "normal." I've met people who chose home education before they even conceive their child, more kudos to them.
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