Super-Sized, Organic Food Eating, Homeschooling Families have Exploded in America: Why?
Why, in this generation of the 20-30 somethings, are we doing these crazy things?
Why have returned to having larger families?
Why do we favor organic foods over all others?
Why do so many families homeschool their children?
In my opinion, from what I have observed, it is because we want to do it better.
We don't want to settle for 2 1/2 children.
We don't want to settle for truck loads of lab-based, over-processed, fake food.
We don't want to settle for a one-size fits all education.
We are done settling. We want to do it better.
We want to experience what is like to have large families, and we want to love on each child God blesses us with equally. We want to help each child in our family to develop to their full potential. We want them to be able to "discover themselves" in a safe, supportive environment. We want to have as many as we can - we think children are great!
We want to grow our own food - to experience the whole process from seed to table - with our kids! If we cannot grow it ourselves, we purchase the food from a farmer's market or grocery store that we trust. We don't want chemicals in our food. We want homegrown goodness.
We want to educate our children at home - not because we are better than the rest of the world. We want to homeschool because we know our children better than anyone else and we can provide an individual education plan. Children who are publicly schooled only receive an individual education plan (IEP) if they have special needs. Homeschooled children are able to take off in subjects they love, while continuing to progress in areas that are necessary. Instead of reading about science or history, we take them to museums and historical sites. We do science experiments at the kitchen table. We write and illustrate entire books together. We help them find and grow their God-given gifts.
Why do we do all this? Maybe it's not so much that we want to do it better.
Maybe it's because we feel like we've been over-processed ourselves. Limited to small families because that's what everyone else did in the 80's. Ate Cheetos, Twinkies and Kool-aid because they were cheap and yummy and colorful...and easy! And everyone was doing it. We were sent to public school because that's what everyone did back then. Turn 5, go to school, mom goes back to work. That's how it was.
Parents of the 2000's and 2010's are pushing the envelope. We are tired of doing what everyone else does and want to do our own thing our own way.
We want to dig our fingers and toes into the rich earth of raising families, growing food, and educating our children.
We want to experience the depths of love, trials, failure, triumph, grace, and a deep sense of family. We want to roll up our sleeves and do it how our grandparents did it. We don't want everything to be perfectly prepackaged and served to us on a silver platter. We want things to be more challenging, and therefore more rewarding once they are accomplished. We want to grow, harvest, and enjoy the fruits of our labor.
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