We began homeschooling, which we more prefer the term 'home educating' now, since the girls were sent home during the pandemic and we decided they were not going back. They were enrolled in one of the top private schools in the region where, at the time, Mackensie was just in preschool and Kiara was in grade 1.
It started out by replicating a school day at home but that came with a lot of resistance and for good reason. Learning shouldn't be so artificial. We could logically reason with that but we were schooled kids, so that's what learning looked like for us and it was therefore more “natural" to copy and repeat it.
Since we committed to give our kids the best education and we knew we really hadn't figured that part out yet, we decided to focus on principles rather than school work. This was a pivotal move and was noticeably changing the direction of our lives together. We began by using each moment as a teaching moment. Whatever was happening or had been created, we considered it through the lens of principles and we agreed to change whatever didn't make sense or work effectively.
A big part of this change involved developing our vocabulary. For us adults, we also had to rebuild our foundational vocabulary so we were clear and able to direct the points coming up and not go into old reactive patterns that we learnt and picked up from the environment we grew up in. In every situation, we also had to give our kids more vocabulary so they could understand what we were talking about and that would allow us to build off of to grow their comprehension on the topics and situations in front of us.
Having a robust and constantly broadening vocabulary has opened the door for more solutions to come through and we have seen a significant change in our ability to direct our lives. We used to live a life filled with reaction to what is here. Whether it meant just going along with traditions and the mainstream normal or literally resisting it and feeling apathetic to having no choice in the matter.
As we grew in our vocabulary and directed our decisions with principled focus, we found opportunities and solutions to every day life and life began to turn in our favour where we became captains of our ship and we see our potential to direct what is here to what is best for all in any given moment.
This is what creative genius looks like. When given the right tools and guidance, we tap into our innate ability and deep desire to create and we solve issues as they arise rather than try and cover them up with bandaid fixes.
If we just recreate the same that was given to us, we've done little to affect real change in this world. I commit to share our journey of self realization through education and principled living. The journey to a better way for future generations because when we consider this path carefully, all of us would have wanted it to have been forged for us too.