Opensource

It's not easy to home-educate. I'm often at work during the hardest times, but I certainly feel Deb's pain when I hear about the various antics that are playing out at home. It's hard not having a break, sure. But what an honour to be valued and respected as a teacher by your own kids. What a pleasure to see them form ideas, search for answers and create theories. Sometimes I see our role as facilitator to their learning but it is more than that. The home-educator is an enabler, providing wise council and direction to the eager learner.

'In open source, teaching is a function. Not a profession. Anyone with something to offer can teach. The student determines who is or is not a teacher, not the government. In open source, you don't need a licence to teach any more than Socrates did. Right there you can feel how different the basic assumptions of open source are. No student faces failure for deciding not to learn from you. In open source, students are active initiators. It all sounds too undisciplined, I know, but life beyond schooling is exactly like that. You either write your own script, or you become an actor in somebody else's script.' John Taylor Gatto

I love how Gatto asserts that 'the student determines who is or is not a teacher'. This is quite brilliant, and very true. How many professional teachers have you encountered that failed to inspire you, failed to challenge you to think, failed to engage you at your specific point of interest?  As someone who spends part of my working life as a 'professional educator', I feel that being regarded as a successful teacher (or a teacher at all, as Gatto argues) is much more about rapport than reports. It is more about character than curriculum. The way I see my role (enabler) is as someone with a story and a passion, advocating for my subject as something worthy of engagement. I do not have all the answers, nor would I wish to provide them in any case.

I am quite happy for some of my students to determine that I taught them, and some that I did not. This is not threatening in my view, but healthy. Each learner needs to be reached differently and there are endless opportunities to engage with potential teachers. We have settled for the lie that says that we can only learn from 'qualified' educators, and what we can learn is defined by whatever agenda-laced curriculum is being peddled.

I greatly desire for my kids to be opensource learners. I most definitely encourage my students to be opensource learners. I hope that more and more people with 'something to offer' find ways to share with those eager to learn.