Dreams

In my last post I gave voice to a few doubts I have about homeschooling. To balance that out I'd like to venture in the opposite direction, into the realm of fantasy. Here are my dreams about how amazing homeschooling can be.

> Cutting ourselves loose from the school calendar, we'll be free to travel. In fact, we'll make travel a big part of our daughter's education. Perhaps we'll spend a year in Italy, delving into Renaissance art and architecture...tracing Amelie's paternal roots in Sicily...learning to speak Italian and make a killer pesto sauce.

> Goodbye stuffy school rooms, hello fresh air. When the weather allows, nature will be our daughter's classroom. How anti-life is it to lock kids away from the outdoors, which are more magical than ever when seen through a child's eyes?

> She'll have the time to follow her passions. Maybe our daughter will want to work with animals at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Or she'll become a pro-level mountain biker on the trails up here in the Catskill Mountains. Or she'll become a bad-ass mixed-media artist. My husband has mused that Amelie might want to take flying lessons. I'm not quite as excited about that one. But I'll let him have his little dream.

> We'll avoid most of that ugly teenager stuff. When I hit my teens I became a monster and was very combative, especially with my mother. I think the power of schools to alienate kids from their families has a lot to do with these Jekyll and Hyde post-puberty transformations. Homeschooling will help us stay healthily bonded.

> We'll work less, enjoy life more. Amelie will coax my husband and me away from our computers and all that important grown-up work, showing us what really matters. In fact, she's already doing it.

Aaah. That was nice. A bit of dreaming over a cup of Rooibos tea. Is any of that realistic? I suppose we're bound to find out.

homeschooling