From me to you.

I remember when my husband, Cy attended the Acton meeting for the first time and came home so excited about the possibility of our son Jackson attending. Being an educator, my response was "did you remember to ask.. x,y, &z" Probably with an additional laundry list of questions. Which was greeted with a blank stare. 

If you are having doubts. I get it. 

I had my doubts about Acton. I will admit, I wasn’t a full believer from the get go. Not because of the philosophy, but because I didn’t trust my son enough. Which is awful. What parent wants to admit they don’t have enough faith in their child to keep motivated and take control of their own education? 

This took much self reflection. Did I really not trust Jackson or was I afraid that if an adult wasn’t in control Jackson would fail? I realized this was a hang up on my end, most likely some childhood experience that I never let go of. When I finally let go of this hang up, and opened my eyes I witnessed an 8 year old by that was more capable than I ever gave him credit for. 

Today, in our home, there is a "work hard, play hard" chart with family expectations. That’s it. No constant nagging, "did you work on math today?" "did you…", "have you finished?". Our home life is visibly more relaxed. We are able to focus on fun family time without the negative energy of me trying to micro manage my sons schooling. 

When we give our children trust, freedom and allow for failure they will amaze us beyond words.