Habit 1: Be Proactive - Accepting Responsibilty for Your Circumstances

Education is a hot topic. Whether you put it above or below the current economic situation depends on how you view the world. It also depends on how much you recall about US history - and whether you paid attention in economics class. My experience is that it's either the least taught subject or the least respected. If I had a say in education, microeconomics would be a required course because I found it encouraged an increased awareness of consequences.

Newton's 3rd law should remind us that everything we do has a consequence. I don't mean that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world affects the climate of another, but a simple fact: when we pick up one end of a stick, the other comes with it. The choices that have been made in education have brought us the system we have today. Here's the million dollar question: who made those choices? Parents? Teachers? Lobbyists? Politicians?

Habit 1 is, for me, acknowledging that I have the power to choose my own responses to whatever comes my way. It takes practice to overcome reactive habits, but where's the fun in letting someone else run my life? Yes, my parents had to take care of me because I started out dependent on them, but they spent my childhood teaching me to become aware of what's around me, to think before acting, and to be responsible. Steven Covey calls it "response-able", which I translate as being able to respond instead of react.

I think for most - if not all - homeschooling parents, the goal is to raise children to not be dependent on the beliefs and systems of people who don't know the children. One size does not fit all, and is enough for some parents. For my dad, it was the belief that school hinders one's ability to get an education (based on his relative experiences with college and high school), and a distrust of publicly-funded schools. Mom just looked at what I was doing compared with the kids in First Grade, and knew that learning at home was the best classroom for me; it was already working.

I doubt that there is any bigger proactive measure than saying things like the following: "I am responsible for making sure my child gets an education, not the teachers or "experts" or the State. I am in charge of ensuring that they will function as responsible members of society." If anyone thinks this is a daunting prospect, all that's required to start is loving to spend time with your children, and reading with them. Passing on a love of reading is a huge step in passing on a love of learning, and that's the beginning - of everything.

The starting point with Habit 1 is the recognition that we have the power to decide. If we think that we have to rely on others' changes before we can change, then we're in trouble. Isn't it more satisfying to act instead of being acted on? That's the basic method of homeschooling. I'll continue with Habit 1 within a week or two.

Update

With the new year, I have an ungoing project of exploring how The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are applicable to my life. Then it dawned on me that I should explore how they apply to each of the four subjects I'm blogging about. (The other three are yoga, responsible liberty, and writing.)

Applying the 7 Habits fits well with handling concerns about homeschooling and education in general, which I feel is ultra important these days. I will start with Habit 1 as soon as I feel I have a finished post.