Hadden, this was a wonderful article! I appreciate the way you lay out 'small' in business, farm, and church. We live on the edge of a town surrounded by Mennonite farmers and thus still have experience connection with a local butcher, a Mennonite-run store where we buy flour, bread, and eggs, and a strawberry farm where our kids can work on the field in the summer.
I would add small to 'school' as well. As you observe, "Few things in life are more joyful than being seen, understood, and known, and a sense that others are participating with you on life’s journey." Homeschooling can offer learning on a 'small' scale: connecting students more deeply to knowledge as they are allowed more time to delve into subjects; connecting them to a smaller group of friends across ages; and supporting a slower pace and closer connection to family.
That is a wonderful point Ruth about small schools, I have benefited from a small university class twice now and the interaction I had with the lecturers made the experience so much more beneficial. And I can see how the same would be the case with a school. In a small class (or much better in a homeschool situation) you can teach and nurture each child as an individual with all their particularities, idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses. In a large class, it's easy for the teacher to teach the class as a mono-unit instead.
I just posted an article on 'How to train sheeple - a crash course in John Taylor Gatto's work on educational Machine resistance" which you might find of interest:)
Hadden, this was a wonderful article! I appreciate the way you lay out 'small' in business, farm, and church. We live on the edge of a town surrounded by Mennonite farmers and thus still have experience connection with a local butcher, a Mennonite-run store where we buy flour, bread, and eggs, and a strawberry farm where our kids can work on the field in the summer.
I would add small to 'school' as well. As you observe, "Few things in life are more joyful than being seen, understood, and known, and a sense that others are participating with you on life’s journey." Homeschooling can offer learning on a 'small' scale: connecting students more deeply to knowledge as they are allowed more time to delve into subjects; connecting them to a smaller group of friends across ages; and supporting a slower pace and closer connection to family.
That is a wonderful point Ruth about small schools, I have benefited from a small university class twice now and the interaction I had with the lecturers made the experience so much more beneficial. And I can see how the same would be the case with a school. In a small class (or much better in a homeschool situation) you can teach and nurture each child as an individual with all their particularities, idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses. In a large class, it's easy for the teacher to teach the class as a mono-unit instead.
I just posted an article on 'How to train sheeple - a crash course in John Taylor Gatto's work on educational Machine resistance" which you might find of interest:)
I shall have a read!