So many interesting people, I wish we were taking this class live, or at least that all of you were in my livingroom watching it with me!
I am a 33yo homeschooling mother of 5 kiddos. We live in Central Illinois, countrified city folk, giving our kids lots of room to explore, freedom to choose what they learn, but also lots of hard work- good for character! They rise to the occasion and take their responsibilities very seriously. We raise sheep, chickens and rabbits. Next year we will begin producing our own raw dairy from our sheep. I’m a foodie, and lean strongly towards the paleo diet.
Ron Paul is one of our heroes! When I became interested in homeschooling about 8 years ago when my oldest daughter was preschool age, I began reading everything I could about it. I stumbled upon the writings on John Holt, John Taylor Gatto, Charlotte Mason and other educational thinkers who preferred putting control over what children learn into the hands of the children themselves– giving them the freedom to learn what they love, for children come to this earth hungry for learning and eager to learn! What happens to children to make them hate learning as they get older? They are forced to learn!
I read the book “A Thomas Jefferson Education” which goes very much along the same lines as these, but emphasized how important it is for a free society to be educated (rather than highly trained as our society is now,) and also the importance of educational example set by the parent or mentor. This set me off into reading as much as I could about history and as many classics as I could get my hands on.
This led me to opening my eyes to my complete and utter lack of real education! I became very interested in the constitution and in government, and in 2007, learned about Ron Paul, and that started my political activism, though my efforts have been meager, as I balance the responsibilities of being a patriot with those of being a homeschooling mother. Raising my children in a state of freedom will prepare them to be free and to value freedom when they are grown.
We are devout Mormons, and one of the central tenants of our belief is the agency to choose is a gift from God and Satan’s desire is to exert force over us, so naturally, a voluntaryist political philosophy is second nature for me. I wish more of my fellow Mormons understood liberty, but unfortunately, society as a whole has lost this understanding.
I love learning about history, and I have been addicted to Tom Woods videos for the past several years, so how could I pass up this phenomenal opportunity?!