What’s Next?

I’m at this point in life where I often feel that I don’t know what to do next. My job is ok for now, but It was never supposed to be long term, it was supposed to be an in between thing. And now I’m quickly  approaching two years there. I don’t want to do it for two more. I’m frustrated with a feeling of getting stalled. I see Ace making progress with his dream while I feel like I’m floundering.

I realized that I need take these frustrations and focus them on achieving what I’ve always wanted to, starting a skatepark. When I sit and think on my options in life that is the only one that sounds totally appealing. I think about in-home daycares, and urban farms, and homesteads and they all have some appeal. But I think about a fantastic, clean, modern skatepark, with a youth center, and classes, and camps, and healthy food and I can’t stop the joy and the dreaming. It takes all my passions and funnels them into one amazing thing. Its just a really really hard thing to make real and it’s overwhelming thinking about what it will take to make it happen Then I think about the people in my life and the things I’ve been a part of and I know its possible.
I’ve always worked for small businesses or jobs where I was basically in charge of myself; dog sitting, the local skatepark, my family’s pizza restaurant, doggy daycare, nannying. Heck, I already helped start a business when we started Light House Church. I was a key member of the launch team and designed every single program for the kids from the ground up. I didn’t use any curriculum the way it came. I dissected them and rebuilt them into what I wanted. Typically it was something far less structured and allowed for actual discussion, not just parroted answers. I learned a lot about how to start a not-for-profit in a different state. Now I need to figure out how to start a for profit business in Oregon. It seems so overwhelming, but yet totally possible at the same time. Maybe that’s why it’s a great idea.

I left Light House to start another church community from the ground up. That wasn’t terribly complicated to be honest. It mostly took a big heart and lots of time, but it is another thing that has helped shape me into who I am. Its another experience in managing a small group of people.

When we came to Oregon we came hoping to start a small business. It was the plan. Then the plan got sidetracked, partly because our down payment on our house used most of our money, and partly because Ace was inspired by the thriving Portland music scene to give his music a legitimate chance in a new place. After some floundering of his own and trying lots of venues and genres for his music he discovered YouTube. Through YouTube he’s found the widest audience for his music yet, as well as a growing community of creators for which he can do custom projects.

I came here hoping to be a stay at home mom. It was soon apparent that we weren’t going to be able to afford that unless Ace got a 9-5 job. I don’t wish that torture on him, so we both got part-time jobs while he pursued his music. He was basically forced to quit his job at the beginning of the year and since has been pursuing music full time. We’ve cut down our bills enough to be able to afford this for now, as long as I’m working about 30hours a week. Now I’m really ready to find something new. I’ve been itching to move on for about 6 months now. I know what I’m going to do. I just need to figure out how to do it.

Skating in the Wheels of Fortune contest in Seattle.

“The LEGO Movie” Mini Review

Just got back from “The LEGO Movie” and I was pleasantly surprised at the great plot, and at the beautiful theater we saw it in. 

I’m used to living in suburbia. I grew up in the sprawling “suburbs” (how can you call something 50miles away a suburb!?) of Chicago. I watch the farms turn into best buys, and condos, and libraries. Everything there was MEH it was all OKAY. Nothing was really nice or really bad. 

Here in the city, in Portland, there are lots of really scary crappy places, but even more beautiful places. Places I only used to see when I would visit “The City” (Chicago). Here I drive 10 minutes to Hawthorn Boulevard to check out the “Bagdad” theater. I tried to do this theater justice thought my typed language, but I can’t so I’ll quote the website to help you get an idea of its magnificence. 

“This marvelous relic of Hollywood’s Golden Age is a movie palace full of wonder and surprises. For nearly four generations now, the Bagdad’s Mediterranean/neon persona and daily films have made it an icon of Portland’s vibrant Hawthorne District. The interior is an attraction in and of itself, with barreled arches, ornate wrought-iron fixtures, brilliant mosaics and painted Mediterranean designs and characters.”

Before the movie even started I was happy just to be in this beautiful building from another time. I’m so glad McMenamin’s does what they do in preserving these fantastic historical buildings. The Bagdad is also a “Brew and View” meaning you can purchase a lot more than your standard concessions. It was too early (for me) for alcohol so I got a burger. It was delivered right to my seat! There also wasn’t a bunch of fluff before the movie like at the other chain theaters. There was one preview, and it was for the next family movie coming to the theater. Awesome! 

The movie itself started strangely as you just jumped right in to the action. I was unsure if the movie had even started! Being right in the action was pretty much the rest of the movie. t was very fast paced and action packed, I’m sure Mark only picked up the very very bare bones of the plot. At some points the non-stop action was hard even for me to follow. 

The plot was fantastic and, without any real spoilers, I can say that it was a very unschooling friendly movie. The LEGO Movie pits conformity and creativity against each other and of course creativity is what becomes the most valued by the end. The cast is incredible with many of my favorites including Liam Neeson, Chris Pratt, and Will Arnett (I vote he plays every batman ever from now on). It also included some appearances by some much love cult-icons (I won’t spoil it). 

I do have one other criticism besides the non-stop, overwhelming to small children action. That is the lack of female characters. There are three, in the whole movie, and more men that you can count. One of the females is a kitty-unicorn-thing with obvious anger issues and another is wonder women who gets all of 3 lines. Why can’t movies have, oh lets say, approximately HALF female charters, you know, like life? I would really like it if they just took some of the exact characters they already had and just made them female, change the look just a smidge and change the name. Thats it. Ok my little “almost feminist” rant is over.

The twist at the end movie ended up being better than I expected and even Mark was moved and had to hug me several times. It will hit all the families right in the feels and make all the unschoolers silently applaud their own awesomeness (don’t go thinking you’re above doing that). 

In short, go see it! If you have kids who are overly sensitive to high action films maybe wait for the blue-ray. I loved it and we are already talking about seeing it again when it hits the second run theaters around here. This is probably going to be one of the top family movies of the year, if you like movies, you’ll love The LEGO Movie!

Seedlings!

I’m finally getting started on growing my own food! Last week Mark and I planted a few seeds in some old strawberry containers. We did one on of spinach and one of early cherry tomatoes. In the processes I accidentally got ALL the tomato seeds wet! In an effort to save some I put a bunch in a wet paper towel in  plastic zip lock bag (like in grade school). If they sprout, then my first plants in my aquaponics will be a TON of tomatoes!

This is my very simple seed starting set up. Old (well washed) strawberry containers filled with fresh clean seed starting mix placed on plastic (water proof) plates. With this set up you can water from the bottom without needing to buy a seed starting tray from a graden supply, and you can’t beat free (well almost, I bought the seed mix).

Here are the extra tomato seeds I’m trying save. 😦

Here are our two little spinach seedlings that have sprouted!

Tomorrow I need to move my grow lights and get that set up so I can get these guys under them! At the same time as the seedlings are maturing I plan on fish-less cycling my tank so in 1-2 weeks its ready for plants and fish all at once.

New Years Resolutions

I don’t like New Years Resolutions, but I do them anyway. But to me its more of an “After Christmas Resolution” as I LOVE Christmas. I spend all year waiting for Christmas, and then when Christmas comes I eat whatever I want and do whatever I want “Because its Christmas!” This year this was compounded by a vacation 2 weeks before Christmas. Christmas + Vacation + a well intentioned Mother in Law giving you way too many sweets is a bad combo! 

Anyway, Christmas is my time to fall of the bandwagon, on EVERYTHING (well, at least I didn’t get drunk). So this is the week I pick myself off, dust myself off, and think “How am I going to fix this?” This year as a family we really have one major focus, becoming more self-reliant. We want to earn our own money, grow our food, buy our own stuff, take care of ourselves. There are two focus, finances, and health. 

Financially we are better off than most of the world. I realize this. We are in a good place. But we want to take better care of what we have, and make our money go further, so that we can do more, and help more with what we have. Ace has the goal of either doing music full time or opening his tea shop. My goal is to actually outright own our home, both take a lot of money.  I am working on a budget, and keeping track of ALL our spending. Our biggest waste by far is eating out, followed by entertainment and buying stuff we plain old dont need. 

Our second goal is to take better care of ourselves. I’m going to hit this one from many angles (most of which will benefit the first goal). First, we plan to grow as much of our own produce as possible. That means we have lots of healthy (organic, heirloom)  choices we will be excited to eat. We have a long growing season here, with lots of plants that do well. Our yard already has 2 kinds of fruit. Soon I will be starting, lettuce, tomatos, cherry tomatos, watermelon, strawberries, and peppers. I hope to add to those as the season goes on. I am also building an aquapoics system to grow fish and food together in a soiless medium (more on that in my next post). 

Second we are taking more walks and bike rides. I try to take Mark out everyday to walk or bike for a half hour (or more). I take one of the dogs along and we all get some good free exercise. So far, this has been really great! In the summer I hope to find some parks and hiking areas and bring lunch with. Its a great way to wear out Mark for his nap and help me stay active. 

Finally, we are tracking our weights. I made a chart and every sunday we are going to weigh-in. In 6 months we are going to take a little 1-2 night trip and who ever loses the biggest percent of weight is going to pick where we go. I’m pretty excited. 

Steps Towards Self-Sufficiency: Sustainable Urban Farming

I’d love to be able to be completely self-sufficient someday, in case of an emergency or disaster,  but that day is a long long way off. In the time being I can take steps to get us closer. My hope is have a healthier, more frugal, more sustainable way of life that we can keep up even if the rest of the world was to fall apart.

There are several things I’d like to do eventually, they include; learning and buying firearms, buying and installing solar panels, harvesting and re-using rain water, stocking up on basic necessities and food that can be stored long term (dired and freeze dried, canned, frozen), and of course, growing our own food.

I was going to wait till spring to start a garden, we have an area planned for raised beds that is currently coved to kill the grass and keep the soil warm through the winter, but now I’m thinking I may try a different approach much sooner (we’ll still start a summer garden as well). In fact if I didn’t have a sick toddler who’s been sleeping most of the day, I’d be out in the garage figuring out what supplies I have and what I need right now!

I’m going to try my hand at aquaponics. In short aquaponics is growing plants and fish in harmony in a relatively low maintenance environment that yields very high amounts of fish and plants for the food and energy put in. I’ve read that aquaponics uses 1/10th the water of traditional gardening in the soil, and the only food you put in is whatever you are feeding the fish (which I’ve read of many creative ways to feed your fish for cheep or free). I’m hoping to start a small system using either a fish tank or a plastic bin and ordering a few fingerling fish to start. The waste water from the fish tank would be pumped up into a medium sized growing tray where the plants can use the nutrients naturally created by the fish and the bacteria, creating clean water for the fish to grow in. The water would then flow down back into the fish tank. Some people use siphon system, but I think I’m just going to go ahead and use a fish tank pump on a timer to start. I plan on trying indoor and using grow lights. Even if I can just grow enough lettuce for Ace’s sandwiches and a few salads I’ll be pretty happy.

I have bigger dreams too. I got my hands on a free pool last fall that I planned to set up for Mark to swim in, but it may turn into a much larger fish tank. If I can get a few other people on board to help. I’d love to set up a large aquaponics system and share the fish with other families that help maintain and build the system with me. If I can figure it out on a small scale, why not a large scale? If we grow enough plants we could even sell them and make money. Currently selling homegrown aquaphonics fish is illegal, but you can sell the plants.

As I’m dreaming of this I think of all the things I wanted to do and haven’t, that’s why I decided to blog it. If I put it out there you guys can keep me accountable (all 3 of you that will read this). Either way it will motivate me to actually do it. If I can get this going along with a traditional garden we will be rolling in produce this year and it will save us LOTS of money!

Screen Free?

The last week or 2 or 3 or 4… not sure how long. I’ve been feeling pretty low. Not sure why, I look around and things are ok. But, I’m not motivated, I don’t feel well, I’m just… meh…. Its one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging, its just doesn’t seem to matter.

So next week I’m going to try to go screen free M-F (though I may need to post about how amazing Rush is, its pretty much all I’ve been looking forward to for over a month). I’ll take some pictures of our adventures, and get back to you next weekend. As of monday I will be shutting my laptop for a week. I’ll update the music on my phone before then, and I’ll check my e-mail from my phone. But my goal is to keep the TV off and the laptop closed as much as possible.

It Is a Windy Day, Fall is Here.

It is a windy day, fall is here. The leaves blow across our path and make a wonderful crunch under my feet and the wheels of the red wagon. We meander slowly through our neighborhood taking the time to look at everything we want to. Mark says “Hello” and “Bye-Bye” to every person, dog and motorcycle. Three little dogs chase us along the fence line and we laugh at them.

As we walk my short brown hair stick out from under my black cap and Mark’s wispy red hair blows in the wind. We take our time enjoying the warm sunshine and the cool breeze. We find an end of a 2×4 in the road and bring it home, who knows what it may someday become. Our path is unplanned and we find ourselves on a dirt road on a windy day. The dust blows around us, but doesn’t bother us too bad. We say hello to two more dogs and continue towards our house. This is just another day, but its special, it’s the first day it feels like fall. It is a windy day, fall is here. 

School Daze

Why do kids grow up thinking school is this amazing wonderful perfect place? I’ve noticed this in my nephew  He’s 3.5 and thinks school is the greatest idea ever (right next to the cow that gives you ice cream), that is until he really thinks about it…

First he starts with “School is so fun, I can learn and play with friends!” Then I ask, “But what if you want to learn about dinosaurs and its time to learn math?” And he gets a puzzled look… I say, “At school you have to do what the teacher says.” He says, “What if I’m hungry?” And I tell him, “Then you have to wait till the teacher says you can eat.” He looks upset and thinks for a while.

Long before they are old enough for school the media is already indoctrinating kids to how great school is. Its like the magic school bus! Everyone is happy and you always learn interesting things, all your needs are met, and no one is mean (except maybe long enough to learn not to be mean)! But its not like that… Or this wonderful picture below…. Its not like that at all.

The “Perfect” teacher, clean and smiling.

 

As he thinks a little more my young nephew say, “But if I’m gone all day I’ll miss my Mama! And I like to play, I don’t want to sit.” And I respond, “That’s why some kids don’t go to school, then they can do what they want during the day! They can eat when they are hungry and see their Mom’s all day! They can learn about whatever they want!” Then I go on to tell him we are going to meet some kids who do exactly that tomorrow and he gets excited. I ask “Would you like to meet some new friends who don’t go to school?” “I would like that.” he responds.

School isn’t what the media portrays it to be (when they decide to portray in a perfect unfailing light). Its a place of confinement, breaking up families more than building them. It puts labels on children (Gifted, Mainstream, Special Ed) and keeps them categorized the rest of their lives. Kids must do what they are told, they must study for the test, not for the love of study. No learning about dinosaurs till we get to the dinosaur unit young man.

The schools aren’t flawed, they are doing exactly what the are designed to do; create consumers. I could go deep into the German history of our compulsory education, but I’ll keep it short by saying that the schoolers were designed so that only the elite could really succeed. They are designed to keep the masses the masses. The schools keep the “average joe” (95% of the population) from becoming above average. They create factory workers (now mostly office workers), people who will consume and who won’t ask too many real questions. People with unwavering loyalty to the elite that controls them, employees them, and sits back and makes millions selling products to them. There are very few schools (and certainly no public schools) that truly allow children to live and learn. That’s why I’m choosing to say no to the system, I’m keeping my son (and my sister is keeping my nephew) out of school.

For more information on the history and real purpose of our school system read “Weapons of Mass Instruction” by John Taylor Gatto, and Long time public school teacher and even “Teacher of the Year” for New York he reveals what most people choose not to see that the schools we grew up in did us a disservice, and continue to hurt our children more than help them.

Working Towards a New Lifestyle

Since moving we kind have been floundering in our everyday life. With no job, school, or even scheduled hobbies to structure our life things have been…. laid back… to say the least. Its been nice though just spending time with each other and exploring our new city and neighborhood. I’ve learned the Public Transit, been to the zoo, countless food carts, finally figured out a grocery shopping routine, even had issues (now resolved) with the neighbor. We’ve had visitors for the first time now and that really marks the end of our time of settling and now its time to get into gear.

There are several changes that seem to be happening quite naturally. The first is that our baby is no longer a baby, and we are starting to treat him a little different because of that. Its nothing we really planned its just happening naturally. Mark is wanting and we are allowing him to have more time by himself. Often he wants to just play with his cars or his trains, sometimes he ‘reads’, or draws or just wanders around our front yard. I check in on him from time to time, and remind him to use the bathroom, but more and more he’s just doing his own thing for periods of time. We are also letting him fuss more and are not catering to his every want, or just making him wait a minute. We don’t make him wait just for the sake of waiting (we do love him, and that’s not cool to do to anyone you love) but we let him realize that we also have needs and wants and that he needs to learn to respect all people (and their things). This in itself could be a whole blog post, but lets just say Mark is moving from baby, to child.

We also seem to be moving away from screen time. Part of it is the great climate and culture here, we just want to be outside or other places, not sitting around in the house. Part of it is that we are all trying to read more. You don’t have much time for the TV or computer when you are trying to read every extra minute of the day. Whatever the reasons, moving away from screen time is a good thing. My migraines have totally stopped since I lost my phone a week ago and stopped staring at the tiny screen and my son isn’t constantly asking for TV. Its nice. Right now he’s sitting on the couch “Reading” a book of poetry.

Another change we would like to implement (we haven’t succeeded yet) is eating at home more. We said that when we moved to Portland we were going to “get in shape” and “be healthy”. Well, with all the delicious, not great for you food out here, that hasn’t happened. Ace stopped losing weight and I started gaining weight. There are tons of healthy options to eat out with here, but the BBQ, noodles, and sushi, are often too tempting. I love a good pulled pork sandwich or a slab of ribs covered in sauce with a big piece of cornbread, but its not exactly the lunch of champions… So we are trying to get better. This week I planned to eat all our breakfasts at home and planned out 3 lunches and 3 dinners. We have food for a little more than that, but I know I will be cooking 3 dinners at home this week. That will be the best since we moved (yeah.. there have been a lot of pizzas and burritos the last few weeks). Hopefully we can save a few dollars this was too, but the quality of the food I’m buying makes eating at home just as expensive most of the time.

We are also becoming more relaxed. That’s just how things are around here. The neighbor across the street runs a garage out of his…well, garage… and he works at his own pace. It was a little annoying how long it took him to look at my car, but I learned a bit about how Oregonians work and live and became a little envious of him. He said “I work on farmer time, but I’ll only ever change you book time, probably less” (in fact he did my car for free that day). Somedays he takes all day to get one car done, other days he’ll push though four in a few hours, but most days are the former. Its importnat to note that its culturally acceptable to drink beer or smoke pot pretty much anywhere at anytime, so that certainly helps people to relax. Our mechanic neighbor has offered me beer as early as 10am. This isn’t to say there aren’t busy people, but here in SE Portland they are sparse, and I like it.   I’m learning from the neighbors how to relax and not always be in a hurry, this is causing us all a lot less stress. Somedays we just sit around in the front yard. I’m take the bus places, which means walking (sometimes 6 blocks to the 19 route), waiting (up to 20 minutes), then riding (up to an hour), all opposed to a 20 minute car drive. Making life slow down a bit. But when you have time to spare its not a big deal. You meet interesting people and expose yourself (and your child) to new experiences. Our pace of life is just slowing down and I like it, a lot.

The last part the puzzle that needs to fall into place is making money, and becoming more self sufficient  I’ve already started by trying to do my own minor repairs and installations around the house. Some I’ve succeeded in, (refurbishing a table, installing curtains), some not so much (like that shelf for the bathroom that is now in the closet). I never leaned how to use drywall mounts or fix a toilet or make compost as a kid, but thats not going to stop me. With books and the internet I can do almost anything. Once I can buy a saw I’ll really be set. Its looking like Ace is going to get an awesome part time job teaching guitar and piano, between that and renter income we should be set. If I can make a few bucks here and there building or fixing something and then selling it, even better.  I’m considering trying to build basic skate ramps and selling them. In our neighborhood alone, I know that would be a hit.

Our lifestyle is changing a lot, but its for the better and I really like it. I’m hoping along with these changes means more writing and regular blog posts too, so keep checking back.

The Learning has no Beginning and no End

Everyday I observe my 23 month old son learn, and boy does that boy learn. He is more spongy than he’s ever been, sometimes saying a dozen new words a day. Today he learned a lovely one, “Suck” luckily he can’t say “S” quite right and it comes out “Luck” so only I (and Dad) know what he’s actually saying. Though he is getting that “S” sound better everyday so I’m sure soon he will be saying that and other not so great words (that he may have picked up from me) in a perfectly understandable manner.

I’m also learning a lot. I’m learning that I still have a lot to learn. I’m learning how to fit reading into my day of child-rearing. I’m taking that time to read about learning. Children and how they learn has always been of interest to me. I starten baby-sitting at a young age and have always loved kids and been involved with them. Being a mom is the ultimate fulfillment of that, and wanting to be a good mom I knew (many months ago) I would need to research schools and teaching methods pretty diligently to make sure my son got the best education he could. At first I thought “Anything but public school” then that morphed into “Anything but traditional schools” this then morphed into thinking Waldorf was the answer, while I still think its a step above public school, its still traditional in many aspects. Namely, the kids have no major say in the curriculum. If they want to read early (depending on which school they are at) it may be discouraged, or simply they aren’t helped along since that’s what the class is doing right now. Even though they are more relaxed in the younger years than a normal school, it is still scheduled: Now its play time, now its snack time, now its time for art, music, language, etc…  After I decided I didn’t much care for Waldorf I read up on Montessori.

I liked Montessori much more and still do. There is a curriculum, but besides a short lesson each day the kids are free to work at their own pace on whatever subject they chose (or don’t choose) so long as they aren’t disturbing other kids. Much of the curriculum is working though understanding each of the materials. They are not allowed to use ones ahead of where they are, but will always have several options across the subjects available to them. EG, they can’t use the brown stairs until they master the pink tower, but if they don’t want to work on the pink tower they can go work on their available language  or practical life activities activities. There are always lots of options, and most schools allow kids to choose not to work or to free read as well.

Ace has always talked about homeschooling, but I often dismissed it thinking it would be nice, but that I couldn’t do it. Why I dismissed myself when I taught years of mixed age children in our church I have no idea, thats much more difficult than one child. I always told him I’d see what our child was like and decide from there. Well I’ve noticed this, my son is bright, curious, and will seek out knowledge with no pushing from anyone. He is naturally curious and is learning a lot of things with only basic work from me. Things such as, providing him books and reading them when asked, aswering questions as best I can or looking up the answers, finding videos and turning them on, taking him to lots of different places when we are able.

Before we moved I listened to a lot of Unpluggedmom.com and it really challenged me to re-think my responsibility as a parent. It also challenged my thought that private schools were significantly better than public. I decided to look into it some more and read “Teach Your Own” by John Holt and that is what convinced me that I can and should homeschool. Homeschooling and specifically unschooling makes sense for me for many reasons, more than I can talk about here. But I’m going to tell you the first and most practical one and that is that learning has no beginning and no end.

Years ago Rob Bell challenged the idea that we have a “Spiritual Life”.  He argues that there is no way to separate our spiritual life from the rest of our lives and that is how the hebrew people lived (and still do). Many unschooling advocates  point out that separating “learning or “Education” from the rest of our lives can be very damaging, especially when children are forced to “learn” (rather memorize long enough to keep the teacher happy) something they don’t want to. They quickly learn that “learning” is something that is boring and not fun, a necessary evil, or a means to an end and often separate “learning” (something done in school and in homework) from the rest of life;  having fun, doing stuff, making things, etc…. When you are told what to do 8 hours a day (then told to do MORE of it at home) 9 months a year for what seems like your whole life,  you often learn to dislike school. There are high points to school for most kids for sure, for me it was band. I lived for band (and for skating after school) and I trudged though the day so I could do well enough to get to what I really wanted to do, play trumpet and go skate.

After reading and a lot of reflecting on what the school system is really like and what its true purpose is (to create obedient workers and soldiers, just skilled enough to be able to work the machines, but not smart enough to really think for them selves and to mess up the system for the elite) I realized that my only real choice to let my son realize his own potential is to home school. Right now at home he generally pursues what ever interest his little heart desires. Today he colored pictures of food, animals, and farm equipment at the farmers market. Unfortunately we had to stop him before he wanted to stop (in general I try not to do that) so we could get some lunch (or breakfast, or brunch… whatever). When we got home he needed a bath (after a big poop accident) and he played in the tub for a long time. Then he picked out his (hilariously mis-matched) clothes and a book to read before taking a nap. When he woke up we went out to eat where, as much as possible, he chose his own food. When we got home he rode his bike for a long time, and played with his tucks making a parking lot in the driveway, then he and the neighbor kid and I moved heavy chairs to the back yard. The boys learned how to use a skateboard as a tool to help move the chairs and moved the last two with out me. Later he rode his train while looking at a book about trains, then he got out coloring supplies and colored (on his own). As Mark gets older he naturally is exploring things developmentally appropriate and I just don’t see a good reason to hand over the majority of his waking hours to a stranger in the name of “education” at whatever age the state dictates.

In short the way he learns won’t radically change at any given age so the way he is taught shouldn’t either. Homeschooling is the perfect extension of attachment parenting, libertarian/anarchist politics, and living in community, all things that our family highly values. For us homeschooling makes just makes perfect sense.