Key Messages
A Parent’s Guide To Unlocking The Joys Of Homeschooling
When you consider homeschooling, it can be intimidating to think about the many responsibilities and lack of freedom that come with it.
But if you’re interested in homeschooling your children, The Call of the Wild and Free book summary can give you the assurance that if you embrace this lifestyle, then success and satisfaction will follow.
By giving your children more freedom and trusting them, you’ll gain even more freedom yourself – time to rest, replenish energy, be creative and discover your inner child-like qualities.
This book summary provides insights on why traditional school may not always be the right fit for our children, as well as inspiring stories such as how a blind and deaf woman made it through college.
Be inspired by these stories to become the homeschool superstar you were born to be!
The Courageous Choice: How One Mother Grappled With The Fear Of Homeschooling And Transformed Her Son’s Life
When the author’s son started to change, she couldn’t help but feel it.
Her son was losing his childish curiosity and playing less.
He had begun caring about what his peers thought about him and it seemed like the light had gone out of his eyes.
That’s when another homeschooling mother put an idea in her head: homeschooling.
At first, the author was hesitant because she didn’t want her child to grow up strange or lose out on any opportunities for a successful future.
But faced with the prospect of never getting her son back, she changed her mind.
After doing some research and selecting a home curriculum that suited them both, the author decided to give homeschooling a try in order to give Wyatt his childhood back.
With much trepidation, she pulled him out of school and their lives have changed–for the better–forever since.
The Rise Of Homeschooling: Why Parents Are Starting To Reassess Traditional School Systems
Homeschooling is steadily becoming more popular around the world.
In the US, the Department of Education reported that there were 1.69 million students currently being educated through homeschool in 2016 and in the UK, just three years later, we saw a 40% increase in those numbers!
Obviously parents are beginning to question whether traditional schooling is really the best option for their children or not.
After-all, why would anyone willingly choose a system without considering all available options?
It’s important for us to recognize how much public school has been around and how it will ultimately be up to us as individuals to decide what’s best for our children.
We can no longer depend on it being “the default option” as homeschooling becomes an increasingly attractive choice.
How Our School System Ignores Children’s Individuality And Focuses Too Much On Testing And Grading
It’s no secret that the traditional models of education are failing to adequately prepare our children for success.
Countless studies have now shown that the methods employed by most modern schools aren’t meeting the needs of our children and are leading to increased levels of stress, decreased learning outcomes and a lack of appreciation for individual differences.
One of the main issues with our current educational system is its focus on tests, exams and grades.
While these measures may be useful for tracking progress, they don’t measure true learning or account for non-academic forms of intelligence, such as creative or emotional intelligence.
This often means that those who excel in areas other than academia can end up feeling belittled or deficient as they don’t fit into the standardized model of learning.
Moreover, this system ignores the fact that every child develops at their own pace and thus doesn’t take into account each child’s unique capacities.
Instead, it tries to force-feed them a one-size-fits-all curriculum under a strict timeline – producing standardised products instead of well rounded people who can think critically and express themselves creatively.
All in all, it’s clear that the traditional approach to education isn’t working and an alternative solution is needed if we want to give our children the best chance in life.
Homeschooling Offers The Chance To Create A Truly Child-Centered Education
The homeschool model is all about nurturing a child’s individual growth by recognizing their unique aptitudes and interests.
Instead of teaching them what they should learn, they are empowered to choose the type of learning that best suits them.
This approach puts the focus on developing their own passion, creativity and initiative – skills that can’t be taught, but come naturally when children develop an authentic interest in whatever they’re doing.
It differs from conventional schooling where there is an emphasis on packing in as much information as possible into a fixed set of syllabuses.
But it’s more than just about giving freedom – it provides each student with the opportunity to identify their unique talents and develop them further in a way that fit their style of learning.
Parents have the privilege – and responsibility – to handcraft a personalized curriculum for each child based on this concept, allowing children to pursue activities that ignite those sparks of creative motivation within them.
Be it music, photography, art or science – parents have the freedom to help foster their budding interests and tailor education accordingly.
A true education goes beyond mere facts by cultivating a love for learning!
Homeschooling Offers The Gift Of Learning Together And Growing Up As Companions
Homeschooling isn’t just about replicating the classroom experience.
In fact, trying to do so would stifle the freedom of learning and development that homeschooling can provide!
Parents don’t need to be qualified teachers to offer their children a homeschool education either.
Parents are so much more than educators for their kids – not only can parents teach their children how to learn but they can also be friends, guides, and companions on life’s journey.
Plus, no one knows a child better than their own parents – they have an understanding of what makes them tick and what motivates them far greater than any educator out there.
The virtue of homeschooling is that it provides families with an unrestricted path that they can take while providing both learning and life experiences outside of the four walls of a home or within the boundary of a strict schedule.
Whether it’s travelling full-time or participating in community activities, homeschoolers are free to explore and engage with the environment around them in ways that stimulate learning naturally.
As an example, if you decided to take your children out plant a tree, not only do you get to bond as a family but this activity alone introduces various parts of a plant as well as teaching how they work all in one go!
In conclusion, Homeschooling is not all about replicating what the classroom has to offer; there is so much more for parents and children alike when taking this approach as opposed to regular schooling.
With parents knowing their child best, why limit them to only sticking within four walls? Let them soar by being creative and from having unbound freedom – because after all, life truly begins at the end of your comfort zone!
Reclaiming Time And Strengthening Family Bonds: The Virtues Of Homeschooling
For mothers, homeschooling is a great way to reclaim their important role in the family.
With busy schedules encroaching on everyone’s free time, homeschooling brings families back together and restores the motherhood experience that many of us are missing out on today.
Parents can reclaim the full dimension of parenthood by regaining time with their children.
Moreover, when it comes to education, homeschooling provides an opportunity for families to engage and learn together – something that could be lost in a traditional school setting.
Homeschooling gives parents the chance to become teachers themselves and not just hand-out their children’s education to someone else.
Furthermore, research has found that compared to traditionally educated children, homeschooled kids spend more time outside and more time involved in community activities with their parents.
Homeschooling is an incredibly enriching experience for parents and families alike – it strengthens familial bonds while also reviving the parent’s role as educators.
If done right, this lifestyle change makes teaching an enjoyable part of life instead of a chore; it creates lasting memories for everyone involved!
The Five Core Principles Of Wild & Free Homeschooling: Re-Establishing Our Children’S Connection With Nature
Our children benefit tremendously from being close to nature, and reconnecting with the outdoors can provide life-changing experiences.
Nature can help children grow as emotional and moral human beings, as well as providing multiple physical and mental benefits that extend far beyond what technology can offer.
The Oxford Junior Dictionary’s removal of several nature-related words in 2009 provides a testament to society‘s diminishing relationship with our natural world — a rift that has serious implications for our children’s development.
In contrast, through nature, kids can learn empathy and responsibility by interacting with other living organisms, bearing witness to how human activity impacts the environment, or even just discovering something as simple as a dead hatchling.
Time spent outside has also been shown to reduce depression, autism and ADHD symptoms in addition to improving concentration levels.
Exploring nature is therefore one of the best things a child can do for their physical and psychological well-being – not just for now but for the long run too.
Finally, getting children involved in activities such as creating their own nature journal or simply going relevant walks place them front-and-center with satisfying learning opportunities.
Uncovering wonders of the natural world may often require an amount of cajoling – but it’s worth every minute!
Taking steps today will help ensure there are enough warm memories of nature to carry forward into tomorrow.
Unlocking The Power Of Story To Inspire A Love Of Learning
Narratives are a powerful way of conveying information and making it more memorable.
Unfortunately, the traditional school system tends to sideline the importance of storytelling in favor of the so-called “harder” subjects.
But actually, storytelling is an extremely powerful tool for learning, no matter what subject you’re studying.
By using stories as a way to introduce abstract concepts, children are more likely to remember things they’ve read or heard.
It gives them context and makes potential lessons meaningful.
Plus, it’s much more engaging than simply relaying facts and figures!
Narratives can help develop emotional connections and nurture imaginative thinking in our children – something that textbooks alone could never do.
For homeschoolers particularly, this opens up the opportunity to focus on living books rather than textbooks – those great works of literature that have truly left their mark on society and spark our creativity – instead of mere guidebooks that simply pick out ideas from these timeless classics.
Living books provide sightseeing opportunities for children where factual texts only offer exams for memorisation purposes; stories also bring joy to reading which isn’t quite possible with another textbook page filled with facts written by somebody else’s hand.
Narrative is such a powerful vehicle for learning and homeschooling provides parents with the freedom to make this part of any education journey.
Stories move children on a deep level that can be profoundly useful – imparting knowledge on trends, themes and even moral lessons too!
Let’s Embrace The Power Of Play To Unlock Our Children’s Potential
It’s a common misconception that play and learning must be antagonists: that one cannot learn without feeling the pain of hard work.
We’ve been teaching our children for decades that real education must be difficult, boring, and painful, so much so that parents have even been using hydrogen peroxide (notorious for stinging!) as an antiseptic for their children’s wounds- simply because it pained them.
The truth is, children are willing to put in a lot of hard work when they find the tasks meaningful and fun.
Purposeful play is a great motivator, as evidenced by an astounding study out of Germany which found that kids who attended play-based preschools were better at literacy and math than their professionally trained peers, and were more emotionally stable too!
We can therefore conclude that play and learning do not have to be mutually exclusive; on the contrary, when it comes to your child’s education, the two should go hand in hand.
By encouraging our kids to find motivation and purpose through playful activities, we are investing into both their present joy and future success.
Creating An Environment That Facilitates Curiosity And Wonder For Your Children’S Thriving
Creativity doesn’t begin and end in the classroom.
It is an instinctive force, one that knows no bounds when presented with the right environment.
Curiosity and wonder form the foundation of all creativity, and as a parent or educator, it is our job to create an inspiring, stimulating environment where this instinct can run wild.
The “Wild + Free” philosophy encourages just that—free exploration outside the bounds of traditional education methods, setting forth two primary principles central to fostering creativity: curriculum of curiosity and magic of wonder.
In addition to placing emphasis on inquiry-based learning, they also advocate incorporating a wide variety of resources into a child’s environment so that he or she is given ample opportunity to experiment and learn in unique ways—this is known as Simon Nicholson’s “theory of loose parts”.
Items such as musical instruments, technological gadgets, crafting supplies and tools, nature objects collected from outdoor adventures or vintage curios salvaged from antiquated shops are meant to fill a home with possibility; providing countless combinations for our kids to discover on their own volition.
It’s impossible to map out exactly where your child’s curiosity will take him/her – what he/she might discover or create – but by filling their environments with open ended possibilities you are creating fertile ground for the kinds of learning, ideas and inventions that occur naturally when we allow children space to be curious without judgement or limits.
True learning happens when we trust in our children to be Wild + Free!
Wrap Up
The final summary of The Call of the Wild and Free is that homeschooling can be a viable option for parents who want to provide their children with a more personalized educational experience.
According to this methodology, the goal is not to teach in the traditional way, but to enable children to discover, explore and learn on their own.
To do that successfully, start by keeping kids connected with nature, introducing them to stories from different cultures and times, spending time playing together every day and facilitate an environment where new discoveries are constantly being made.
To give you even more piece of mind about this option, take time out to look at what famous people with a homeschooled education have achieved – you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
