Have you told yourself that you’re an underdog? Maybe you don’t think of yourself as the underdog but you think of yourself as the kind of person that is on the side of the oppressed?
You root for Luke and Leah, you want for the Rebel Alliance to defeat the Empire but what about in your real life? Think about how many days you’ve sent your little Storm Troopers in training off to be indoctrinated by team Death Star and ask yourself again if you’re for freedom and the “little guy” who’s actually fighting for freedom from the overlords. Well Dear American, welcome to team Death Star!
While the American story is about us running around the planet doing good, if you’ve been paying attention you might have noticed a lot of that good is not so helpful. Have you noticed? As an adult have you recognized that the “history” you learned in school, both government and private, isn’t very accurate OR leaves out many of the details that tell a different story?
Authority isn’t the side with the biggest weapon, it’s the side with the best story. Why didn’t the giant USA take over all of Korea? Vietnam? Afghanistan? In those regions the locals had a story that gave them the authority to sacrifice and die in the face of a giant. These stories determine how we see ourselves and the world around us. You can throw rules, statistics and facts at a people group to persuade them to turn but if you can’t tell a better story you won’t be able to defeat them. Story doesn’t just invite you into the community, it holds you fast when it’s done well.
So, which story are you going to lean into? Masking your Storm Trooper in training at the government indoctrination center and telling yourself because you’re in America you’re free? Are you going to maintain the same story because it is by far the easiest thing to do? This is the way we’ve always done it. Never having to change, find new friends, move to a new location, or anything uncomfortable is an actual unspoken goal of most people. Don’t rock the boat. Don’t upset the apple cart. Don’t do anything that will cause change or having to rethink how we’re living. We’ll just be faceless, useless eaters . . .
Can I share a whole new world view with you? Here’s my story. An invitation to join my tribe. Not to destroy our team Death Star but to strengthen America by strengthening the family unit and spreading true freedom across the planet.
Be the parent and teacher for your own children. Stop following the “experts” in the education field and start asking your children what they want to learn. When I graduated from highschool and headed to college in 1982 there was no opening for podcaster, digital creator, and many other jobs available today. ATMs were rare but to become all the rage, yet their usefulness with digital money will be obsolete. Team Death Star since the beginning of projecting the future job market has yet to be correct and with the coming technology shift we can assume that once again they won’t know what they’re talking about.
What does that mean for your child today and their education? Masked Storm Trooper or unmasked free rebel? Oddly, the skill of the future will be actual, in person, face to face, speaking and interacting with real humans! This is my projection. Knowing certain facts or minute details about history or a science field they have zero interest in will have taught them to turn off learning and just consume junk. The goal of Death Star! You have this moment, here today, to hold in your hand. Team Death Star is telling you lies about what is best for your children. More and more the “teaching” field is occupied by people without children who want to control your children. You can say no.
If you only had today to teach your child one last thing, what would you want them to know? Do what you’re told? If you only had a year, what schedule would you design to fill that year with adventure and opportunity to create a love of learning that would never leave them?
As a young homeschool mom in the early 90s I was so driven to prove that I could teach my children better than school that I absorbed the methods and failed my kids. We moved from the early Montessori activities to curriculum and being ahead of “level.” This seemed to work great for kid #1. But I can see now that if I’d allowed him to forge his own way and embrace what he loved, life would have been more interesting and enjoyable. With my next child, equally talented, but not in “school” stuff, we both struggled to find the right balance instead of just letting her find her own way. I continued to repeat this struggle. Being torn between each kid staying on task to please the perceived “level” and teaching them a love of learning.
I didn’t break this cycle until kid #5 went to 9th grade for one year. When I realized the extent of the waste of time, resources and joy, it shifted my homeschool to one of great joy. I no longer had to serve Team Death Star even in my own home. Team Laprise works on Math, Language Arts and loving to learn. When we co-op various subjects like poetry, science or history, I stopped thinking about test scores and created opportunities for conversation about what they thought was interesting. As we travel across the USA in our RV we explore history and science through literature, nature and museums. It’s how we began our homeschool journey but I fell into the “expert” trap and “level” trap. When you get out and touch the world you’ll know way more forever than what you studied for a test.
As an old mom of 59 with our current roadschooling crew of five fabulous adopted kiddos ages 6, 7, 8, 15, and 16, I’m very aware of the sands of time sifting through my fingers. Thanks to the Covid response by Team Death Star and the advance of technology, I’m pretty confident that what will be the desired skill of the future is the knowledge and enjoyment of human interaction.
You may not even recognize it but you’re leaning into a story. Which story are you going to lean into? Storm Trooper status on the side of Team Death Star or being the ultimate rebel and embracing freedom?