Gel Pen Learning

If you follow the logic of our modern education system to its natural conclusion, you’ll find a stark contradiction: the system is fundamentally antithetical to creating truly educated people. You can’t standardize outcomes in a system that prioritizes critical thinking. If you then argue its purpose is workforce development, you hit another wall; we have no idea what jobs will even exist when our children enter the workforce, making that goal just as murky.

Recognizing the disconnect between what the school system says it does and what it is actually doing is why I pulled my kids out of school. My children were in lower elementary school, and their teachers decided they would never be able to read or be proficient in math, and they decided that this outcome was acceptable. It was not.

The One Question You Must Answer

If you are in that similar place with your kids and the public school system, before you yank them out of the classroom, I have one question for you: Are you willing to learn with them?

While you can purchase a boxed curriculum, follow a script, and homeschool your child, you can’t educate your kid that way.

Remember Your Favorite Teacher

Think back to your favorite teachers. They weren’t the ones who just followed a script. They were the ones so deeply versed in their subject that their passion was contagious. They could handle any curveball question and turn it into a lesson, simplifying the complex and making it exciting.

The Secret to Teaching Well

Before you object that you suck at math, hear me out. You don’t have to be an expert. The secret is to be willing to say, “I have no idea, let’s figure it out together.” But here’s the crucial part: don’t immediately reach for Google or an AI for an instant answer. Instead, sit with the question. Wrestle with it. Follow the first thread of a rabbit hole. Model for your children what it feels like to genuinely discover the answer, not just receive one.

This is how you create educated children. You teach them to ask the questions, guide them in finding answers, and demonstrate through your own actions that the journey of learning never truly ends. Sometimes, the answers we find at the end of that journey are not the ones we were seeking, and that is the most valuable lesson of all.

Let’s Chat

I want to know your thoughts on what it means to be educated and the steps you are taking to ensure that your kids are ready for any future challenge. Let me know in the comments below!