Raising Freethinkers: The Education Conundrum

One of the things troubling me as a parent of 3 children who are just a few short years shy of becoming school-aged is how to begin preparing their little minds for the pliability it requires to soak up knowledge. I think a huge part of it is massaging their already established curiosities, taking every opportunity to satisfy the whats, hows & whys that will soon be brewing at their intellectual surface. I'm certain of a few things already:

• I must give them consistent, varied, and unique opportunities to establish their interests. I want them to have a broad range of stimuli available to them so they can explore whatever piques their curiosities. While we'll be limited in some ways (geographically and financially speaking), it will be important to introduce new things, new places, and new people to them. Kids may thrive on routine, but variety will give them the chance to think outside of their little boxes and appreciate things that are unfamiliar. The hope is that this will foster a love of learning and becoming explorers by their own rite.
• I must give them space to grow. I want to raise them to be independent, rebellious, intellectual thinkers. I want them to question authority - even if it's my own. I don't want them to be systematically programmed to just mindlessly follow the rules and float through life on auto-pilot. I want them to cultivate their own self-discipline and have the guts and audacity to initiate change when they feel it's needed. I'd like them to be innovative, unique and constantly questioning their predicaments, looking for ways to improve themselves and their world.
• I want them to be unafraid and accepting towards those who are different than them. I don't want to raise them in a bubble, surrounded only by Mommy & Daddy's kind. I want them to be steeped in diversity, interested in other cultures, and eager to discover new ways of life alien to their own. I want them to be tolerant of practices they don't necessarily partake in, and I want them to establish early on a sense of compassion, empathy and altruism that will extend not only to their immediate peers, but to the rest of the whole, wide world outside of their zip code. I want them to dream of faraway lands and it's residents. I want them to aspire to travel and see the world when they're grown.

These things I know for certain, and while it gives us a good foundation as to how we hope our kids will turn out, it does nothing at all to help me establish how I want them to be formally educated, or if we want them to be formally educated at all! The current conundrum we're facing now is which direction to go as far as how our kids are taught. We've got a good idea of how we'd like them to operate as Good People, but then there's the ABC's, 123's, History, Science, Geography, Algebra ... 

The hard questions here are: 

• How much do they need to know to be prepared for life? Will they aspire to become academically at the top of their chosen field and pursue college accreditation? Or will they hone in on the arts, or a skilled trade? Perhaps their vision will lead them to want to join the Peace Corps, travel to remote corners of the globe and help others. Maybe the (gulp) traditional 8-5 corporate lifestyle will be their preference. However it turns out, we want to make sure even their early childhood education gives them the proper tools and mindset to be able to both discover and pursue their goals. The onus is on us, the parents, to make sure they're given everything they need to succeed.
• Which learning style will suit them best? We've learned an incredible amount about their personalities that have recently formed to know that our boy is a hands-on kinda guy who gets bored sitting still for too long. Will this change as he gets older? Our twin daughters may look alike, but their personalities are as different as night and day. One is introverted, one is extroverted. Do I lean towards these innate traits of theirs and model their education around it, or do I challenge them to go outside of their comfort zone? The fact is, they're going to change as they get older. We need to be prepared to grow with them and be willing to change with them. I'm pretty sure the public school system isn't going to conform to our kid's changing needs or redirect their curriculum to what suits their current interests. They're going to teach them to be autonomous, obedient, and structured to the point of monotony. And we're 100% positive that is not what we want for them. 

All that established, we've made our minds up that home schooling will best fit our family. I'm fortunate enough to have a husband who both shares my vision and is willing to work hard to provide for our family while I stay home and see to it that our children are well taken care of, beyond their basic needs, and flourish as they grow up. I support public schools, as they provide an education, and meals, and the attention that some kids probably do not have the good fortune of getting at home. It's just not for us.

I've been reading and researching and soaking in every bit of information available on the internet as to which method of homeschooling will suit us. In the posts that follow, I'll be hammering out the pros and cons of each.

Everyone admonishes me for wishing the years away too fast and suggest that I cherish this time while my kids are babies and toddlers. I think it's easier said than done. I look forward to my kids relishing in more concrete activities and interests! As I type this, my two year-old son is celebrating the ability to take off all his clothing and strip down naked as he triumphantly tosses his diaper over the child gate while my twin daughters are practicing the highest decibels of their war cries as they take turns yanking at each other's hair. Sigh.