society

Learning All The Time

I am occasionally asked to explain my reasons for homeschooling my son. I am sometimes asked to explain how it works. I am often accosted by well meaning individuals who want to know why I am warping my child socially by not sending him to school. And every now and then, I meet people who are amazed by my patience and commitment to something “they could never do”. Somehow, I never seem to get asked the question which is most important to me, which is “What have you learned by homeschooling your son?”

My son is at the time of this writing, nine years old. He has never been to school. When he was a baby, we thought that perhaps we would send him to a private school, something with an “alternative” pedagogy, such as Waldorf or Montessori. Then he turned five, and we still couldn’t afford it. Honestly, that’s what it was. And I was most adamantly opposed to sending him to public school.

In addressing my reasoning for refusing public schooling for my son, I can also address the most common concern I hear from people regarding that decision: what about socialization?

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The Art of Relationships: Emotional Bonds and Power Games

 

After a recent discussion as to the nature of relationships in society, Claus Jacobson and I decided to each take on the same concept using our different writing approaches, and see what articles emerged. Kind of a mini-writer’s club. The concept to be explored was outlined thus:

Modern relationships consist of two things, emotional bonds and power games. The ability to keep each other playing up to the same level of skill is as important as emotional reciprocity for the equilibrium of a relationship. That makes it sort of a Renaissance art form, a project and a calculus as much as the art of painting, sculpturing, composing or, say, seduction. Some would think it cynical, a lot would find it realistic to think of it this way, and a few could probably even see some outlandish beauty in it.

What follows is my take on this sentiment, while Claus’s article can be found over here.

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