Well, it is graduation season again as evidenced by the messages on balloons sold at the mall.  And the number of calls to graduates to appreciate their education and strive to bigger and better things.  I wanted to share some thoughts, too, but this is perhaps directed more at parents, particularly those with children who have not yet graduated.

We all worry about our children’s futures and often whether we have done “enough.”  In fact, Renae of Life Nurturing Education summarized this perfectly in her comment on The Educational Industrial Complex:

That change affects us greatly, even as homeschoolers. I’ve been chatting with a couple of friends lately who fear that they haven’t done enough this school year. It has been so ingrained in our culture that public school=education that we have to make a conscience effort to fight against it. Otherwise, we will be carried downstream attempting to copy a system.

That is an issue we as homeschoolers often struggle with, more so than the scheduling issues which arise when we are outside the schedule dictating the plans of most Americans with children.  But what is it that will carry a child through the often tumultuous time of early independence?  That gives them the support they need to face a challenge without backing down, to keep going after a failure and to set out on their own path?

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl shares some thoughts in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning:

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears towards a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work will never be able to throw away life. He knows the “why” for his existence and will be able to bear almost any “how.”  (p. 87-88)

Our children need to know things and aspire toward things which are greater than themselves.  They need time to develop a passion, a commitment to something for which they are willing to suffer as they work toward it.  And security in the knowledge that someone is waiting for them.  That has covered the gaps of countless graduates from public and private schools as they enter into fields for which they were not necessarily well prepared.

It can cover any gaps left by home education as well.

When I think of those things which contributed most to my development, it rarely has anything to do with something I learned from the prepared curriculum in my school.  In fact, if I were to write an essay about “What I learned in school,” I think it would contain very little about diagramming sentences and solving quadratic equations.  Perhaps I shall tackle that for next week, but what are some of the things you learned (in school or out) which have led you to where you are today?

And how can we best encourage our children to take responsibility for their own learning, their own education, their own goals?