Schooling and Education are not the same thing.
By Matt Beaudreau, Founder at Acton Academy Placer Schools and VP of Sales at HomeTribe
Schooling is a system. Like any system, it is designed to be a self-perpetuating machine. Cogs are interchangeable and replaceable because a machine has no loyalty to anything other than its continued existence.
When the system becomes a profitable business, the impetus to change or adapt ceases to be relevant as long as the money continues to roll in. The product can become secondary to the process, if the process is producing what’s most financially viable.
Timelines matter in a system, and there is a clear starting and ending point. Desired outcomes are directed by the collective needs of the system.
Education is simply the state of being for any individual. It is a state of consistent growth in any area of life.
When a child learns to walk, a young person learns to code, or an older person learns to shoot a more efficient 3-point shot, education has taken place. Thus, there are inherently a million ways to educate, and no direct timeline that any individual NEEDS to follow, because education happens via our individual experiences, shared experiences, and stories of experiences. Desired outcomes are directed by our individual needs and desires.
In a way, both of them are games. Once you understand the rules of a game, you know how to proceed in trying to win the game.
The question then becomes, which game do you want to play AND get good at? It’s possible to get good at school, but that does not directly translate to education. It’s possible to get good at education, though, and have that make you good at school. Truly, it’s possible to get good at both, but that’s more of a rarity than you might think.
Having the distinct pleasure of being involved in the game of schooling at every level, I’ve personally opted to provide my own children with opportunities to play the education game, instead. If you are following along, you already know that means there are infinite possibilities as to how that plays out, but I’m glad to share with you some of the ideas and resources we use, as well as quickly debunk some of the myths around being “homeschooled” or “self-directed”.
Solo: There are more resources now than ever before, and you can home-educate a million different ways. Remember- there is no one way to learn. Some of the best resources for you to untrain your schooled brain to be ready to educate your own young heroes are here:
Sal Khan’s, The One Room Schoolhouse. Sal also developed www.khanacademy.org which is a platform encompassing most of what you would ever take on from an academic standpoint. Don’t like Khan? There are a number of great learning platforms that handle academia from a traditional standpoint, and others that are more professional development in nature.
Anything by John Taylor Gatto- John will remind you that collecting experiences is what matters in education. That means; projects/challenges, sports, travel, entrepreneurship….all valuable.
Read The Education of Millionaires- This book is a great reminder on how intentionality and paying attention to the future options matters, because college is not the only school game going. (Notice the use of the word school in relation to college, vs. education).
Unschooling Rules
A Thomas Jefferson Education
Stop Stealing Dreams
HomeTribe.com- Full disclosure, I have a vested interest in getting this one off of the ground, but I believe it’s one of the most needed aspects of homeschooling. With no “one right way”, parents need options, and they want to know what options are near them. That’s the beauty of what is being built with the Home Tribe team.
Partnership with Friends: You can create “pods” with friends where you are coordinating schedules and rotating leaders based on availability, skillset, etc.
Leaders can provide everything from lessons to guidance and supervision depending on the desires and needs of the group.
Partnership with vendors: You do have the ability to connect with homeschool charters (still a public entity), map out a schedule utilizing local vendors such as martial arts academies and dance studios, etc.
Partnership with proven models: With organizations like Acton Academy leading the way (over 300 locations, globally), there has never been a better time to be an educational entrepreneur and launch something for your kids, and your community that could last a lifetime.
Acton partners with parents like you all over the world who are committed to launching something for their own kids, helping others in the process. It’s no longer a secret how impactful that network has become simply by unlocking opportunities for young heroes to see what they are made of.
Truthfully, the “how” of home education is nothing that can be fully explored in a simple article, because the “how” in education is fully related to how you live life on a day to day basis, and the ultimate goals of the young people you are leading.
Possibly even more important than the “how”, is the “why”. There are a lot of pervasive thoughts around home educating that simply aren’t true. Let’s debunk a few of those, shall we?
Thought: This is the “alternative” way of educating.
Reality: This is the ONLY way that education has ever worked. Schooling is the alternative, and it’s a 100+ year experiment that is in trouble.
Apprenticeships, internships, and experiences were the status quo long before compulsory schooling.
Thought: I can’t do this.
Reality: You are doing it. Every Day. Your young people will do what you do far before they do what you say, so you are continuously educating them based on how you live your own life. That means that you should be intentional about how you live that life, and be pursuing your own hopes and dreams with reckless abandon, and with the utmost character.
It’s also ironic that the proposed answer for so many parents who feel unable to educate their own children is to put them into the system that ultimately left them feeling incapable of educating their own children. Hmmm…...
Thought: Home Educated Kids are weird.
Reality: Some people you went to school with were “weird”, too. In fact, maybe you are “weird”. That’s ok, just realize that your kids will then likely be “weird”, too. These are not one in the same, nor do they actually have anything to do with each other.
I’d be more concerned about a false “socialization” that takes place in an institution that doesn’t mimic societal realities in any way, and trains a mindset of boredom and obedience, than any “lack” of socialization. You get to control the socialization aspect.
Go outside. Meet people. Do things. Talk to strangers. Talk to family and friends. It’s probably the easiest part.
The moral of the story is, this; you have options.
The world of schooling may not be going the way you wished it would right now, and it’s ok to lament that loss of the way it was. Do it quickly, though, because then you need to wrap your head around the way it is, and make a choice for your family.
The power is in that word.
Choice.
You DO still have choices. I encourage you to make that choice from an informed and intelligent stance vs an emotional or reactive one.
After all, your young heroes do what you do far before they ever do what you say.
- Matt Beaudreau
Founder at Acton Academy Placer Schools and VP of Sales at HomeTribe