If you’re like me, in the process of homeschooling while woke, you’re listening to podcasts about decolonizing parenting, reading magazines like Yes!.
As adults we can take the scenic route, but what about when you’re raising people who in less than 10 years will be in adulthood?
How do we both equip kids for our desired and imagined future while still giving them the tools to thrive in this broken system? Yes, the SAT/ACT are a scam, but in so many ways and whether we like it or not, standardized tests still act as gatekeepers.
How do we raise free-thinkers who “play the game” well enough to thrive in an economic system that rewards those who don’t rock the boat? How do you push against the system while living in it?
It feels like it’s impossible to do and live with integrity. For this Enneagram 1, that is hard.
I talked about this same theme when I posted a video about my desire to NOT use Amazon and the limits to that desire in real life. (The parents on Facebook had great input. Check out the discussion here.
I don’t have answers. Just questions that become more real the longer I observe my son in a school setting. My 15-year-old started high school at a public charter school this year after a lifetime of homeschooling.
I’m watching closely and asking myself the hard questions. I’m keeping the big picture in mind.
What about you? Do you find it hard to live up to your convictions and beliefs about education, capitalism, and parenting?
Whew. I clicked on this at just the right time. All the questions I’m asking myself. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow, yes. Also an enneagram 1 who has a lot of strong convictions and doesn’t know how to navigate that with kids who are finding their own paths. They each homeschooled until around 11 and are now at a public charter. It’s been a relief to get regular reminders (both from things my kids say as well as from a housemate, who teaches at their school and sees them in that context) that all my pushing against the system has resulted in kids that are more woke than I imagine, especially since our community (school, friends) support them as well. It’s not all on me.