A Human Master and Example

I am so impressed with Jake Weidmann and cannot wait to introduce him to my children next week when we begin the next phase of "Make the most of yourself..." The videos below are inspiring!

I have been lamenting the demise of handwriting in schools for a while now and even in our homeschool no argument I've given thus far has spurred all of my children to believe it necessary. If this guy doesn't inspire them, nothing will! Mostly my arguments have centered on handwriting being a "language." After all, if you know nothing of handwriting you can't read Grandma's letters, or anything in your family history papers that isn't an official document. And I think it a terrible travesty if one cannot read the Declaration of Independence--one of the greatest things penned in the history of the world--in its original form. But some of my children have been certain they will never need that skill and thus think it a waste of time to develop it. Jake has compelling reasons for every child to learn handwriting. 

I've also been arguing more and more frequently against the mechanising of people. While I do love my washing machine and dishwasher, and I'm obviously finding a (hopefully) good use for a computer, I mostly adhere to the adage, "When you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something from the man." We are human beings and shouldn't be reduced to informational texts (no thanks, Common Core) but should relish in the creativity, honesty, and humanity of excellent literature; and while there are many useful blessings of technology, it should never replace the face to face, real human touch. Again, Jake's example of mastering a human skill is breathtaking.

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men.

No machine can do the work

of one extraordinary man."

-Elbert Hubbard-

Being Present - Look Up

The spoken word film "Look Up" by Gary Turk is quite possibly one of the most brilliant thing written--especially for the present generation.  Published for the world only three weeks ago, this video has had nearly 40 million views already and been shared many, many times.  It's interesting that it's delivery and fame comes through the very technology it warns of, but how else to get the message to those who need it?  I hope everyone is really letting it sink in and making concerted effort at reform.

You may be asking what this has to do with homeschooling and why on earth I'd share it here.  For one, I have resisted social media and refused to blog for the very reasons this video so poignantly displays.  I'm also really tired of telling my older teens to stop texting and pay attention to where they are and what they're doing.  (We only have the most basic phones--archaic, according to most--but they still have texting... barely.)  I showed this to my family today in hopes that it would mean a little more than my broken record griping.

I am sad and anxious for my children's generation.  Fewer and fewer of them actually know how to behave in general and/or interact in real, live relationships.  This is both a result of living in an over-teched world and a result of having parents who are less and less present themselves.  Those adults who want to connect with teens use their technology and methods of communication to do so.  It's necessary, I suppose, but as we found that baseball coaches will only communicate via text, it forced us to get phones for kids before we wanted to and it contributed to the feeling that the Borg from Star Trek is taking over and "resistance is futile."  I'd just like to see less of screens and more of living things and for people to remember they're people--living things--not robots.

So for all the time spent in education on cool and cold technology, I hope we'll be wise enough to spend just as much time, if not more, learning how to be real, alive, feeling, present, and warm human beings.  And if we could express ourselves as astutely and poetically as Gary, that would help too.