How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard!
Winnie the Pooh
Last week I had a moment when I dropped our five&1/2-year-old off at a PlayBall camp organised by lovely friends of ours. That same bench in the park which was loaded with kids’ lunchboxes, balls and drink bottles, something like 8 years ago was where Pablo proposed to me. Had I known back then that little later I’d be standing here with three toddlers back in Sydney after a three-year sailing adventure…
Where has the time gone?
And tomorrow Noah will start big school and I’m feeling rather sad about it. Last minute doubts and reconsidering all the home-schooling pros and cons. Yes, a hard time letting go. When we’ll be back on a boat, no doubt we’ll embrace home/un/free-schooling in the smoothest manner suitable to each family member. But being land-locked for a few years – I’m keen to equally embrace all that schooling has to offer here in Bondi Beach.
Besides a few hick-ups, I have great memories of school myself and that is despite (or because) of changing school and country many times. Have the ‘hick-ups’ screwed me up? Probably a little, but not less than what the great memories, experiences and friendships have allowed me to become the person I am today.
Where I’m at right now?
Living in Sydney, it feels to me home-schooling my boy who’s 150% ready and keen to throw himself into our local community’s amazing, sustainable and creative school environment would be egoistic more than anything else. When we’ll be travelling again and the world and its oceans will be our home and classroom, it will be a different cup of tea – an extremely stimulating environment more prone to something less structured. And yet, a little bit of structure no matter where and how – although labelled as the ‘baddy’ or ‘creativity-killer’ in most home-school circles – I have found provides children with safety, and through that more smiles, less tantrums, a higher self-esteem and ultimately even more space to explore their creativity in different ways.
As a last word it seems to me that there is no one solution to fit all. Every child is so different. And like in Yoga and Ayurveda, the paramount to optimal well-being on all levels, and there within the optimal space to learn and grow, is taking the individual into account and finding the most suitable approach at the time.
Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is not a preparation for life. Education is life.
John Dewey
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When giving birth, a woman and a family need a nourishing, supportive community around them and that’s one of the very things which boat-life compromises on as you constantly move from one place to another. We’ve had to promise the boys to sail the Pacific the day all three kids can swim and snorkel like little champions while they keep asking for their Happy Dancer pretty much every day. But in the meantime, I’m still treasuring all those beautiful things which land-life has to offer – especially now, bathed in oxytocin, the love-hormone which makes the world go round.