Yesterday I met a mother who describes herself as new to homeschooling. She's been at it with her 13 year old for two years. And this year she brought home her 11 year old as well. They absolutely school at home, from about 8:30 to 1:30 with a standard curriculum, or until her boys finish their work for the day. Apparently, they often take all day to finish. Even though her oldest son is described as gifted and could easily finish much faster. This woman described homeschooling as a personal burden.

She is completely divorced from or unaware of the difference between learning and schooling. She believes, whole heartedly, in schooling. She believes the successive sequential act of schooling has profound intellectual benefit for children. "Profound intellectual benefit" were not her actual words. But is the highest possible interpretation of what she meant and intends for her children.

She asked me how long my children were in school. Never. She asked what curriculum we use. None. We blinked at each other respectfully. I wanted to elaborate on the subtleties of unschooling but there was no time. All we could do was note each other on opposite sides of a deep chasm. This woman is working so hard to give her children the institutional tools she feels are necessary. She is doing, like me, as she sees fit.

We met waiting outside a computer programming class teaching children how to make their own video games. My son has had about 16 contact hours, through two courses. He is programming his own games which are steadily increasing in complexity. This sort of programming requires Algebra 2 level math. My son has never studied math, yet he loves the class and is working at the same level as his peers.

See the chasm? How can this be? Yet, there it is, the difference between learning and schooling. None of which is a burden on me in the least. I work only to hold my children lightly and to be a good example. (Now that, being a good example, is hard for me.) What children learn has always been up to children. What we teach has not much to do with what they learn, most often they learn lessons from our teaching we never intend.

"Guided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries pursued its fixation with fault and failing. Doctors have studied disease in order to learn about health. Psychologists have investigated sadness in order to learn about joy. Therapists have looked into the causes of divorce in order to learn about happy marriage. And in schools and work places around the world, each one of us has been encouraged to identify, analyze, and correct our weaknesses in order to become strong.

This advice is well intended but misguided. Faults and failings deserve study, but they reveal little about strengths. Strengths have their own patterns." ~Marcus Buckingham