THE HOMESCHOOL MANIFESTO

By Ann Zeise

Ann Zeise is a former homeschool mom and publisher of A to Z Home’s Cool, http://a2zhomescool.com, and a self-education hacker from way back! For her biography, look here: http://a2zhomescool.com/extras/bio.htm.

Congratulations! You’re on your way to college to learn as much as you can about the real world and the exciting things it has to offer you. As you go out into the world, take this Homeschool Manifesto with you as you enter the cultures of academia and business.

› Access to information—anything that might teach you something about how the world works—should be unlimited and total.
› All information should be free.
› Double check rules and regulations. Promote free information.
› Remember that mentors should be judged by the wonder they inspire when they impart their wisdom, not by criteria such as degrees, age, race or position.
› Create art and beauty with everything you do.
› Self-education can change your life in many positive ways.

This ethic is modified from the MIT unspoken manifesto from Steven Levy’s book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. When I read a copy of it in another book, I thought to myself, “Hey! We homeschoolers create our own (or “hack”) education!”

You have “hacked” an education for yourself when you customized how and what you learned at home, and now, as you enter more structured cultures, you owe it to them and yourselves to “homeschool-hack” them, too.

As long as there is room on the floor, sit in on any class that interests you, whether or not you will get credit or a grade. If you want those things, just keep sitting in, and eventually the professor will let you add the course. Drop courses quickly that seem like a waste of your time.

If you are entering a business at the bottom, use everything within legal means to get free access to the information that will help you learn the business inside and out.

To bottle up information is inefficient. One piece of information may be of no value to some, and of great value to others, or when combined with other tidbits become very important indeed. Information is like snow flakes, it piles up one weightless snowflake at a time and eventually a mighty tree falls.

Double-check rules and regulations given by authorities. When you are a freshman or the new employee, others will consistently, and with sober faces, sometimes give you incorrect information, such as when you must file this or that. Always double-check and check again any time anyone tells you that you must do something or you may not do something. There is always a different way to accomplish the same thing. Often someone in a back office has the key.

Promote free information. Thanks to the Internet, those who think they are in control are really at the mercy of all us little guys who share information. Still, don’t steal the hard work of others. Share your own insights freely as an example to others.

Search out and find mentors for yourself. If their eyes are merry and they instill wonderment in you to dig deeper, then they are the right teacher for you. Do not be impressed by degrees and such. Be impressed by a sense of humor and wit, which indicates a deep understanding of nature and the spirit.

Do not be satisfied to turn in “acceptable” work, but to make each item you create a work of art and beauty. If you write, write eloquently. If you paint, use inspiring sweeps of color. If you engineer something, make it a delight to behold and comfortable to use. If you are a student of motion, move with grace and elegance. If you are a creature of faith and spirit, do so with your whole heart.

Use a variety of means to self-educate yourself. Computers can change your life for the better, but you must only allow them to become your slave and not your master.

Spend time with many different and interesting people. Seek out places where those who wonder hang out, and absorb their delight, for they shall spark your imagination.

Read more books than assigned. Meld and twist what all people, books and computer resources teach you so you can invent new concepts and ideas to make the world a better place.

If this homeschool ethic appeals to you, and you follow this creed, I hope one day we’ll manage to create a means for everyone in the world to become very well educated indeed...one snowflake of information at a time.