For Love of a Story

When I was thirteen, a friend of mine introduced me to the movie Gone With the Wind. I will never forget how I felt as we came to the end of the movie. I was shocked and devastated, as well as very tired. (I don’t think we even turned on the movie until midnight.) Another friend was also seeing the movie for the first time, and we were both blown away. We stayed up a bit longer to talk about the unfairness of the ending. The next morning, we woke up talking about it. That day, I got the book and started reading. I have read the book over twenty times now.

At the time, I was just a girl who loved a story. I read the book several times. I read about the Civil War. I paid more attention when a book, movie, or lecture was about the Civil War. I learned about the movie, voraciously reading all that I could. I learned about Margaret Mitchell. I learned about film making, casting, and screenwriters because of this book. I was excited about the book Scarlett, which came out that year. I followed the casting of Scarlett and even watched it, wallowing in all its horrible changes from the book.

My love for this one story led to many, many other learning experiences. I remember being amazed that other people didn’t even know the years that the Civil War started and ended. I never worked to memorize those dates, but I knew them because they were part of something I loved.
I attended a public school, and I was doing all this extra learning outside of class time. I was so motivated to learn all I could. When it came time to think about education for my own kids, I thought a lot about my experience with Gone With the Wind. For me, it was such a testament to true learning. I wanted that passion for knowledge for my children. I wanted them to see learning as a natural part of living.

Speak With Conviction

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Jump Rope

I had a professor in college once tell me that I was struggling with my tests because I have a "hyper-active" mind. I believed her because I had a tendecy to get very distracted when I was in a classroom, listening to a teacher. Even when I am interested in the subject. So I solved this by doodling the same flowers over and over, up and down the margins of my paper that I was taking notes on. This did wonders for me. I was able to focus my mind on what was being discussed, to the point of almost perfect recall.

My 6-year-old son tends to have the same problem. He has found a way to solve his distracted mind by jump roping instead of doodling. That's right, today he listened to a book on CD (3-4 grade level) while jump roping the whole time. This repetitive action is just what he needs to focus his mind on what he is listening to. I am shocked that he has the ability to do it for 2 hours straight at age 6! He also almost memorizes what he is listening too. He gets very upset if I or one of his sisters opens the door to the room where he is.

I am so grateful that we are able to Home Educate my son. I just can't picture him in a classroom with 30 other 6-years-old being told to stop jump roping, sit down, sit still and do this work sheet!

"Render Unto Caesar"

It is written somewhere: "Render unto Caesar (or the Governor) that which is Caesar's ***etc.," but I am not Caesar's, neither is my mind, nor are my children, nor are their minds, and for me, and for them, God sets the standards and arranges the program in all things and unfolds it day by day, season by season.

Dr. Frank Merrill

Albert Einstein's Thoughts on Cumpulsory Education

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.

To the contrary, I believe that it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of it voraciousness, it if were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

ALBERT EINSTEIN