MI GOLD
PAGE
This unique page features words, works and
wisdom from our
Mothers Institute Gold Members
Being a Mothers Institute Gold Member
has paid off for me in all kinds of ways.
by Oregon Gold Member Sharon Brewer
Being a
Mothers Institute Gold Member has definitely paid off for me in all
kinds of ways.
First, I thoroughly enjoyed receiving my Gold Membership Package which
included the book, Potpourri of Memories, written by MI Founder
and Director Jan Stover and her mother, Hazel Jones. Boy, did it bring
back some great memories for me especially the story written by Hazel
titled Snow Memories. I haven’t thought about making snow ice
cream since my daughter was just a “curtain climber”! Thanks for the
walk down Memory Lane!
Secondly, as a Gold Member of The Mothers Institute, I have the benefit
of using the resources provide on the website’s For Gold Members Only
Page. This page has literally given me access to hundreds of
homework help sites. Though my daughter is grown now, I have two nephews
who can use these free links throughout their school years. The kids can
access and use these links 24/7 ... for what amounts to about .27 cents
a day (that’s what a annual Gold Membership costs per day). You get this
and so much more! Believe me ladies ... its certainly worth 27 pennies a
day!
And last but not least, I think the Mothers for Liberty Magazine
is great! Love reading the hard copy!
Why Join A Mothers for Liberty Meetup Group?
Mothers should join a
MfL Meetup Group to help form a community of like minded moms in their
area. We all have things we want to learn and things that we can share.
Being part of this group let's us do both. Join us!
~ Gold Member Leslie Whitney from Michigan
I really think mothers who are looking to truly make an impact in their
children’s lives and the future of the environment we are living in,
should check out our MfL Meetup Groups!
~ Gold Member Jayme Young from Pennsylvania
Letters/Quotes Added:
11/10/08
--------------------------------------------------
What is an Acrostic Poem?
An
Acrostic Poem uses the letters of its subject word to form the body of
the poem and each line offers a description of its subject. Acrostic
Poems are not required to rhyme and often are written as a motto, slogan
or thought of particular significance.
Below are several Acrostic
Poems Our Gold Members have written using a variety of subject words to
express sentiments in keeping with a particular subject.
Subject: THE MOTHERS INSTITUTE
by MI Founder and Director Jan Stover
Testing the boundaries
Helping our children
Educating ourselves
Mothers here are of
One accord in
This quest for freedom
Heroes of the home front
Ever
Reaching for those
Successes we hold dear.
Independence
Never comes easy
Strive as we might
To guarantee
It for our children's future
Teaching the tools to
Unite a generation and
Trying always to
Evoke a passion for Liberty across this land.
Subject: SUFFRAGETTE
by MI Founder and Director Jan Stover
Systematically
and
Uniformly
Fighting
to achieve
Freedom
through true
Representative
government
American
women
Gained
ground and
Earned
the right
To
vote
Then
and now
Ending
their political status as 2nd class citizens
Subject:
OREGON with
Sentiments of Liberty from
one's own State
by Oregon Gold Member Sharon Brewer
Organizing
our
Radical,
Responsible Mothers
Ever
Growing
Opposing
tyranny
Never
retreating
Subject: LIBER-TEA
(written for a "Liber-Tea" Tea Party)
by Colorado Gold Member
Jessica Perry
Little bit of
freedom
Integrity for spice
Boil in accountability
Each ingredient blends nice.
Responsibility added next
Then bring to a boil
Each to brew our Libertea
And tyranny we will foil.
Acrostic Poems Added:
11/3/08
-------------------------------------------------
Why Do We
Homeschool?
By Oklahoma Gold Member Laurette Lynn
Parents who
choose to homeschool their children do so for a variety of reasons
ranging from academics to religion and any combination therein. For
almost everyone however, the decision comes down to parents wanting
certain things for their children and finding these are better achieved
through independent education, rather than through the
public school system.
I use the term “Independent
Education” because in our family, this
is exactly what homeschooling means - especially
as a family whose views are primarily
libertarian in nature, learning to be
“independent” in all areas of life is of utmost importance
as are the principles of self responsibility, informed decision
making and critical thinking. This just seemed to be the option most
reflective of these values. We choose to teach our children to learn….
independently!
What’s more, I am partial to using this
term, because the term “homeschooling” seems to carry with it such a
vast negative misunderstanding. Perhaps it is the word “home” that
confuses people into visualizing pale children, cooped up in their dark
kitchen all day with Mom glaring down at them from a chalk board. I’ll
discuss this more later, but the reality actually is that it is not like
this at all! While some families may use some sort of “board”
sometimes, homeschooling is not meant to replicate “school” in the
home. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We specifically chose to avoid
a system we disliked for our kids, why would we want to replicate that
same system at home?
So what is Independent Education
then? Does this mean I set my kids off at five years old, wish them
well and say “go learn!” Well, no. Does it mean that we teach them
independently without any guidance or materials? Not exactly.
One of the reasons we made this decision
was that we wanted to ensure that our kids received the best academic
education possible. Schools are required to follow set curriculums, and
adhere to a median pace of the average, thus restricting the learning
experience to the curriculum materials, and restricting the challenge to
a set pace, regardless of the individual child’s intellectual level.
That in mind, we felt it of far better academic benefit, to be able to
keep with the intellectual pace and comprehension of our individual
children. In addition, we can choose learning materials and experiences
that we approve of, that our kids enjoy and that offer the best
challenge and opportunity to fit our family and each of our children.
This makes learning a lot more fluid, far more enriching and just
downright more fun for all of us!
Another important consideration was the
ability to provide our children with the chance to learn how to
learn. In other words, rather than be spoon-fed information and
tested on their memorization of this information, it was important to us
that they actually acquire the critical thinking skills to extract – on
their own - an education from any situation or information. In essence,
we wanted to ensure that they learned how to teach themselves, thus
equipping them with the ability to make informed decisions, rather than
behave compulsively. This talent allows one to stand apart from the
mainstream crowd, thus allowing them to make greater positive
contributions to mankind - not to mention the
decision making abilities required to cast intelligent votes which
decide the actions and directions of our
government and society which comes with an
understanding of basic civics, which is most desperately absent from the
average person in today’s world.
So what about socialization then?
One of the top three most popular
questions a homeschool parent hears (a bazillion times) is “but how
do they socialize?” I have to admit, this
question drives me bananas! It’s not even a valid question; as in and
of itself the question implies that there is some lack of social
experience for a homeschooled child as opposed to a child in school.
Why would anyone even think that? Perhaps it goes back to that
misguided visualization of the pale kids locked up in the kitchen.
Quite honestly, socialization was one of
the more important aspects of our decision to educate independently. We
wanted our children to be able to interact with a variety of different
kids and adults, at different ages and intellectual levels, anytime of
the day or year. This affords kids a regular opportunity to both learn
from, and help encourage each other. We didn’t feel that this
experience was available in the same classroom (typical for younger
grades), with the same 20 -30 kids, the same age, all similar levels,
and the same adult, for ten months out of a year. On the contrary,
having the opportunity to “socialize” with such a rich variety of other
kids and adults at homeschool gatherings, music and sports lessons, the
mall, the playground, museum, zoo etc… offers kids a far greater social
benefit.
The fact of the matter is that this
experience is just not available in the school system. An underpaid
teacher with 20 – 30 other students simply cannot allow every child to
pursue what drives them. Nor can the teacher teach each child according
to his or her own intellectual level. Further, there just isn’t time in
the system to allow children to experience the outside world on a
regular basis. This results in many children being inadequately
educated with an inadequate social experience. This then leads to a
host of other problems ranging from behavior problems to “ADD” to kids
graduating with a 5th grade reading level having been pushed
through the system for the sake of funding.
It is a system that is designed for the
masses, and actually discourages individuality. Many times, this
discouragement is blatantly present in the curriculum material itself.
It’s a system that is designed to encourage assimilation and submission.
So these I would say, are the primary
reasons we chose to independently educate our
children! We wanted them to have the best opportunities available to
learn, grow and experience the world….and the school system just wasn’t
able to offer that.
Now a true libertarian always looks at
the flip side, as did we and certainly there are some aspects of a
school experience that our children will not be privy to. We’ve
considered them and we are okay with it.
Perhaps the lack of classroom environment
will deny them the experience necessary to adjust smoothly to an office
cubicle and/or corporate ladder; but quite frankly, that is just not my
dream for any of my children. On the contrary, I can honestly say I
don’t want them to blindly swim along with the current. I don’t want to
teach them to assimilate or adapt to behavior of the majority. I
believe it is a far happier and more satisfying life for those who
understand their individual dreams and aspirations and make informed
decisions in following those dreams.
Perhaps the lack of experience under
strict rules and authority will not efficiently prepare them for life
under an authoritarian boss who controls their opportunity and income,
and dictates their hours of work. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with it
because I prefer they learn to be the responsible, self reliant,
critical thinkers that independent education offers. So while it may
not prepare a child well for adaptation into the typical working world;
this experience with critical independent thinking does in fact prepare
them to be great leaders, self starters, business owners, inventors,
skilled artists, freelance independents, researchers and even teachers
who can pass along the same wonderfully out-of-the-ordinary life
skills. This to me is the very essence of the American dream, the
dreams and aspirations that this great Nation was once all about… the
dreams that this country was founded on!
What truer way to exemplify the great
American attitude of independence than Independent Education!
This may seem surprising to some, but
there are some things we just do not want for our kids, that we feel
they will surely get in a typical school:
We
do not want
our kids to get used to
a “boss” situation.
We do not want them to get used to asking
permission to stand, sit and pee.
We do not want them to have their lives
dictated by hopes for a raise or worry of getting fired under someone
else’s control.
And we do not want them to learn how to
assimilate.
When we were first making the decision
whether or not to homeschool our kids, we considered the things we
wanted for our children and the things we did not want. Then we
considered what school would and wouldn’t offer them, and we made our
decision based on those findings.
What we do want is the best realistic
life experience available for our children. We want them to have the
best individual education available. We want to ensure the most
beneficial social experience via a vast rainbow of exposure to the
actual “real world” that exists outside of the classroom. We want
to them to learn the responsibility and critical thinking required for
informed decision making. As any parent, we desire for our children to
live their dreams, and thus live a happy and fulfilling life.
We have found that for us, this is by
far, the best way to ensure their opportunity to truly experience life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
….and
that is why we practice “Independent Education”.
Laurette Lynn
Copyright 2008 ©
"Why Do We Homeschool?" article added 10/25/08
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