In looking back
upon the life of Thomas Edison, you may find an inspirational story
for facing tomorrow's homeschool day with renewed inspiration, particularly
if you have pre-teen or teenaged boys who make your days a challenge!
The education of Thomas Edison started unremarkably, like other children
of his era. He attended school when his family work load permitted.
However, Thomas Edison was not your "model" student, and his "public"
school career was cut short.
"His mind often wandered and his teacher the Reverend Engle was overheard
calling him 'addled'." (Addled - [adj] confused and vague; used especially
of thinking; "muddleheaded ideas"; "your addled little brain"; "woolly
thinking"; "woolly-headed ideas" (from the Hyperdictionary,
quote from Wikipedia)
"He was imaginative and inquisitive, but because much instruction was
by rote and he had difficulty hearing, he was bored and was labeled
a misfit [in traditional school]." (from Crystalinks)
(continued
below..)
"The school teacher considered the famous inventor to be a bit dull.
After three months of schooling, one day the teacher called Thomas an
"addled" (confused) student. Thomas hurried home and told his mother.
When she went to the schoolhouse to talk to the teacher, they got into
a heated discussion and the teacher told Mrs. Edison that Thomas was
not teachable.
Mrs. Edison promptly removed Thomas from the school and from then on
he was homeschooled! " (from Homeschool
Learning)
Edison was
schooled "sporadically for five years" prior to his total dismissal
for being "addled". Edison's official schooling ended at the age of
twelve, but we all know that is not the end of the story. "His mother
had been a school teacher in Canada and happily took over the job of
schooling her son. She encouraged and taught him to read and experiment.
He recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true,
so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must
not disappoint." (from Wikipedia)
SOOOOO, ALWAYS remember, a defiant or "addled" twelve year-old boy might
have a spark inside of him that just needs to be lit by someone who
believes in him as a bright child. Who better to light the fire than
a home schooling parent?! I think all of us, with differently spirited
children, have a special and blessed job to do. With my child, I KNOW
I am shaping his future in ways that public school never would have
(especially with the experiences we previously had in PS). Maybe one
day, I'll be the home schooling mother of my great and famous son! ;-D