The Birth of the Anti-Fragment

I spend so much time lost in thought over the future of education in this country. It's terrifying. Not only are we failing the children we've promised to nuture and tend, but we're living fragmented lives, thinking fragmented thoughts and speaking in actual fragments.

To be honest, we haven't 100% settled on homeschooling. I don't think you can fully commit until you start to see the fruits of your labor. It's hard to "leave" mainstream thinking and assume a role that other people usually play from age 5.

But when I look at these little people scooting around my house and asking me questions, it occurs to me that the human mind is so powerful and capable of so many great things. The world we live in today is automatic, simple, user-friendly and connected. So why do I feel so disconnected? Why do I feel like my once-busy mind is so stagnant?

I grew up in a rural area, surrounded by adults. I was exposed to many, many ideas and thoughts, raised in a family of thinkers. I spent the entirety of each day reading. If we did watch movies, we watched old movies. Moral characters, well-spoken antagonists, polite children. We really weren't aware of what was really going on out there, but we were blissfully happy. I went to public school until 5th grade, and my mom decided to homeschool us from middle school on. I was fine with that. I found public school to be complicated and busy. Our homeschool education was quite different from our public education. We spent a lot of time reading, memorizing and discussing. So much memorization. Most of what I remember from middle and high school was intense English, literature and history.

When I think of my childrens' future, I'm scared for them. Without a strong foundation, what on earth will they have? The dearth of manners, good judgement and the three R's is frightening. Not just the lack of knowledge, but the lack of discipline. People always seemed shocked when the girls flip around and wait for instructions when I snap my fingers. It doesn't require punishment or anger - it's just a very simple consistent request for respect, and they get it. I thought it was so silly when the Baby Whisperer book suggested saying "please" and "thank-you" to your baby when you changed his diaper. Until I had babies of my own. Children really are like sponges. They soak up what's around them, and they can only give back what's been put in. You give them a little squeeze and they spill out what they've been exposed to. Easy as pie. (And you should give them plenty of squeezes.)

God gave me two (three!) very beautiful little minds to fill. I almost think He'd be disappointed if I didn't stretch those little minds to capacity. Without filling them with everything available to me, how will I ever know what they're capable of? The human mind hasn't changed. It's just simplified itself so much that the art of thinking is disappearing. People used to revel in leisure time. A time to rejuvenate, to to refresh, and most of all, to think. Great minds came up with their greatest thoughts in times of quiet thought. Our time for thought is filled with email, Facebook and tv. How truly sad, to think of the loss of such a powerful tool. Until very recently, I really felt that my degree in Parks and Recreation was so useless. I'm learning now that the knowledge I have of how people choose to spend their time and where we've come from as a leisure society is really, truly important.

My New Year's resolution is this: While I may not know exactly where our homeschooling journey is going, if it's going anywhere, I do know that I have exactly one year to figure out what sort of education I want to give them. So this year, 2011, I'm going to spend the entirety of my year working on facilitating whole thought and encouraging the art of thinking. We're going to focus on keeping the tv off, the music on and the art supplies out and ready. The girls love to color on the kitchen floor, so I'm going to fill the art cabinet to capacity. When I shop, it'll be to buy books, bookshelves and old movies. We're going to spend at least an hour a day reading aloud and talking. That's enough for preschool this year. I just want to nail down the habits that will stick with them for life. Picking up a book before picking up the remote. Speaking in complete sentences and learning when to be quiet. Learning to enjoy a peaceful corner and the art of doing nothing, if only to encourage original and complete thought. If homeschooling is ahead of us, conditioning our leisure time to create open minds and thoughtful children is the first step in a very, very long journey.

2011. The year of the Anti-Fragment.