Embarking On A New Venture: Part 1 – Some History
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2021-2022, Embarking On A New Venture
Yes, we are engaged in a new venture. Perhaps even my final big venture. This is certainly my biggest venture and most likely to be a really exciting adventure. This could be the culmination of my career in education, but God only knows that for certain. Before I get into what this new venture is, I think it would be a good idea to review a bit of history.
My wife, Faye, and I started our home education journey during the late 1980’s. I had been teaching in a variety of capacities for over ten years at the time and I was very disappointed with what I saw inside the school industry. Like most teachers, I had tricked myself into believing that while the school I was teaching at may have been less than ideal, the ones my children attended were somehow better. That “lie” was exposed when I was transferred to the school my daughter was attending.
Without a doubt, my daughter’s school turned out to be the worst experience of my twenty-five years as a classroom teacher. It had an unbelievable collection of the most incompetent teachers I have ever met. To survive, I had to avoid the toxic environment of the staff room, as the talk was not only unprofessional, but constantly dismissive of parents and denigrating of students. Observing my daughter’s teachers confounded me; how did some of these people ever find their way into a classroom? This experience was a game changer for me. I began to question what I had come to believe about education.
I had been in school since grade one, as a student and teacher. This bad school experience made me realize I had never liked school. As a dyslexic, school did not meet my needs, but I was smart enough to learn how to play the system and use it to my advantage.
Not that educational institutions did not contribute to my life. I would not be where I am today had it not been for my school education which allowed me to collect the diplomas and degrees that gave me my career. However, I remember very little from my eighteen years of study and it is life that taught me what schools could not. When I came to see that, I decided we would no longer subject our children to the peculiarities of the institutional school.
Seeking an alternative to what I had experienced as a student and teacher, my wife and I came to the conclusion that the best teachers have always been the ones who have the greatest vested interest in the children’s future well being. We came to see that those who produce the children, namely the parents, have the God-given responsibility to train and teach them. So we pulled our children out of school, embarking on an educational journey that has spanned over thirty years and continues.
One could say the rest is history, but things are actually only getting started. Today is tomorrow’s yesterday so we are always making history. As I look back on my forty-six year history as an educator, I can say I have experienced a great number of things, but this new venture is the best.
We will have to wait until next week to discuss this.
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