[DoubleF]

My wife and I have discussed this. Once both kids are in school, we think we might do it here and there, but perhaps not much more than 3-5 school days max at a time.

But we've also discussed our thoughts on a modern approach to learning for the kids. Many parents seem to assume that nearly 100% of the kids education will be through institutions. For my wife and I we believe it's going to be 80:20 to 90:10 institution and then remainder us in a sort of home schooled environment. Almost like a public school/home school hybrid. If they're doing well in school and bored, we'll get them to learn specific skills and topics on the side. In the summer, there will be work books and reading and misc skills to learn with rewards on the side. This doesn't include the possiblity of summer camps, but we consider this as institutional education.

Sorry for the mind dump...

Spoiler!

Part of this is parallel to a career where learning random useful stuff on the side that is optional or completely necessary for where you are at, but it also sets you up for the next level. Whether this be useful work skills that are boring, or hobby things that are useful for networking/navigating work politics... we think that it'll be a good approach. Institutions don't teach you everything you need to know for your life path forward.

Kids don't get homework anymore as far as I can tell. The closest they have to homework are all the damn forms they bring home for mom/dad/guardians to fill out. They have stuff to bring home and do on occasion, but that's typically work they didn't finish in class. My son never has any homework but loves learning. My daughter I suspect will be the same. That's why it will be important to figure out a way to "home school" other categories of topics and activities. Whether that's a ton of building and imagination (ie: K'nex, Lego, crafts, Minecraft etc.) or dumb things to learn (ie: Random topics on Youtube, random skills like dancing or beat boxing etc. on Youtube, skateboarding etc.) but basically homeschooling exposure to pop culture skills and topics and nurturing the idea of understanding now to navigate many of them even if it's not their specific interest. I've also been specific in trying to help the kids learn failure. They always have to try first before I "help" them (which typically turns into an attitude of something like, "Do it for me instead of guiding me". I feel like many of us sorta just accidentally had this done for us in the past with little planning whether it be sports, collections, a hobby our parents or relatives already had etc. But all of this is important to learn and I want to aim for a bit more specificity than stumbling through it randomly.

The quote that another CP member had on his obituary sticks out for me on this, "This is the first time I'm a parent. This is the first time you're a kid. Mistakes are bound to be made, we'll figure it out together." It's a mulligan, but part of it is also a good and intentional example.

Another sorta annoying facet I've already noticed is learned fear. My kids had little fear and now they're learning "fear" that limits them trying things when they used to try everything. Learning to fear the dark, telling me they are incapable of things they had done just fine in the past. Part of it could be attention mechanisms to get us to engage them more, but I also feel like a part of it has to do with some adults telling the kids they don't do certain things because fear or whatever. Once my kids are like aged 6/4, I feel like I will proceed forward in fighting through fear to learn things with the kids. I think many of us adults haven't truly mapped ourselves out. We realize there are certain flaws in our character that perhaps we don't want our kids to emulate, but we basically just explain its for their own good to fight through that fear and resistance themselves without ever understanding why mom/dad/other adults stopped trying to overcome those things. I don't want my kids to see that in me.

I'll be planning to do controlled battles of bruises and injuries in my 40s to learn to skate board or whatever other such activities they want to learn and we'll bond over it. But I really do want to teach them about a specific pet peeve of mine. There are too many people that seem like they stopped truly learning in their 20s. That's fine for normal people, but I'd rather myself and my kids to be the type to be learning until the very end. I'll be intentional in wanting them to put in 10 or 100 hours on certain activities to learn how the mechanics of the topic/skill works and the skills/difficulty involved with it. If they want to continue on their own, cool. But if not, at least they understand the logic of how to navigate the topic in a scenario that isn't ultra stressful or doomed to failure due to lack of time available for navigation. Then we'd sit down and figure out at a basic level how it could associate with other topics and skills. This goes towards ideas of biking vs skateboarding vs scooters, perhaps flips vs yoga vs swimming vs climbing/heights, or dumb stuff like singing vs beatboxing vs drumming/physical beats and perhaps step up things like building furniture with dad (IKEA), handyman repairing things, changing a tire, driving non-autopilot, gardening, navigating new places we've never been/foreign country etc. This is perhaps a step up than just the traveling concept that proactive parents have.

It sounds crazy. Absolutely. But looking at many of the older people I interact with, many of them sorta just stopped trying after the pandemic. People who could figure out on their own why their car or phone wasn't working suddenly just started acting like it was always normal for them to be hand held through things in getting a solution. I don't want to be that. I don't want to hit my 40s-50s and then sorta be in a rut. I already feel this in my late 30s. I want my kids like me to know things they don't like via experience vs projecting they don't like it without really knowing. I want them to know what they don't know vs assuming certain things.

I do think one of the insanities of the modern future of our children will be forcing them to embrace a chaotic mind. There just too much information at their finger tips and too much emphasis and expectation of people in general that you should know it/know better because you can look it up. I've noticed this for my situations and I only expect it to get worse. Everyone has some level of ADHD in studies, because IMO going forward, someone who cannot think in that manner or navigate information that manner will get left behind or be hand held via AI/targeted algorithms. It's part of why many of my "peers" as parents are so scared. However, I just view it as the same thing my parents generations worried about... automation and increased mental distraction.... just with a different label. Discarded tools of the past may end up as perfect tools for the future. Not quite like reviving things and calling it vintage in a hipster way... but something like Mr Dressup might be an important "down time" like guided experience that will be important in between stuff like the insane non-stop go go go flashy lights kids programs out there.

This prediction of mine factors in the increase in mental stimulation when VR, AR and XR become perhaps more common in 5-10+ years. It'll start innocuously, but I do think it'll happen. Things such as scanning a QR code for a menu is going to expand. IMO, labels will start adding to this stuff for instructions, coupons, additional info and even advertising. I want to be one step ahead from a mental health perspective. It's dizzying, but consuming less as my parents instructed me to do isn't the answer IMO. It's consuming more that can leave a lasting effect vs consuming lots that our brains dump/forget relatively quickly leaving nothing to show rather than add more "mileage" on our mental consumption that requires mental upkeep and maintenance... I want to be aware of that early