Interesting exercise

or just another case of me thinking too much?

Yesterday I found out that we will not be doing the ISP this year. We sent in our application too late and we only got on the waiting list. But I found a person who's kid is acting and who signed the R-4 and had no trouble getting the entertainment work permit so I have no reason really to go through the ISP. Other than missing the money (we may have to cut a class for Z) I am not sad about it.

But to make our homeschool sound more official (so there are no questions from the work permit people) I was thinking that maybe I would change the name of our school. That does make me kind of sad because Gray's Academy has been the name I have been using since we started three years ago. But I worry that having the school name the same as our last name may look suspicious to whomever is going to send the work permit.

Anyway I am not the kind of person who can just pick any old name for our school. The name has to be perfect. It has to embody my educational philosophy and not already be in popular use.

So I came up with a some names

The Journey School
I was imaging a letter head showing the back of a figure holding a tall walking staff heading off down a path. I like thinking of our education as a journey.

Explore Academy - Education through Exploration
This one gave me a good feeling too. It would almost be a guidepost in our homeschooling. The name might help me to remember that a good education can come from exploring the many wonderful ideas and place in our world and out of it.

I also came up with

Progress Academy
Odyssey Academy
Reach Academy
School of Immersive Study

and the
Paideia School
which, unfortunately is already in popular use. Although the ideas of Paideiaand Arete are very compelling to me and could be a guide in our homeschooling.

I would also love to use the word Study somehow because I love the definitions


-noun
1. application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or reflection.
2. the cultivation of a particular branch of learning, science, or art.
3. Often, studies. a personal effort to gain knowledge.
4. something studied or to be studied.
5. research or a detailed examination and analysis of a subject, phenomenon, etc.
6. a written account of such research, examination, or analysis.
7. a well-defined, organized branch of learning or knowledge.
8. zealous endeavor or assiduous effort.
9. the object of such endeavor or effort.
10. deep thought, reverie, or a state of abstraction.
11. a room, in a house or other building, set apart for private study, reading, writing, or the like.
12. Also called étude. Music. a composition that combines exercise in technique with a greater or lesser amount of artistic value.
13. Literature.
a. a literary composition executed for exercise or as an experiment in a particular method of treatment.
b. such a composition dealing in detail with a particular subject, as a single main character.
14. Art. something produced as an educational exercise, as a memorandum or record of observations or effects, or as a guide for a finished production.
15. a person, as an actor, considered in terms of his or her quickness or slowness in memorizing lines.
–verb (used without object)
16. to apply oneself to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or practice.
17. to apply oneself; endeavor.
18. to think deeply, reflect, or consider.
19. to take a course of study, as at a college.
–verb (used with object)
20. to apply oneself to acquiring a knowledge of (a subject).
21. to examine or investigate carefully and in detailn.
22. to observe attentively; scrutinize.
23. to read carefully or intently.
24. to endeavor to learn or memorize.
25. to consider, as something to be achieved or devised.
26. to think out, as the result of careful consideration or devising.


but then I started thinking about the difference between the word "study" and the word "explore" or even "journey". They really have a different flavor to them. Which one really would define our homeschooling?

I have sometimes described what I am doing with Z as giving her a "gourmet" life. I have wanted to introduce her to the best of everything (plus some Spongebob) and develop in her a taste for it. The best in books, music, art, etc has been laid out for her like a banquet and we have encouraged her to be at home with them.

I didn't do this to make her different, although I knew this would be an outcome, but because I believe in those things and I believe in the power they have to change a person for the better.

I have also always wanted Z to understand her own power and to know that it is _her_ power to draw on. I want to encourage and support her natural passion for learning. Some of the times I have seen her the happiest is when I have seen her work through a daunting challenge and I want so much her to have the confidence to know that she can and will do that again and again.

But I have also seen her happy and relaxed creating something that is all her own, things that I sometimes don't understand. And I want to protect that.

That is what my school is about and I don't have a name for it. We do study, quite passionately and we explore the world given to us with excitement every day and certainly all of our life and learning is a journey that will never end.

Thus I cannot settle on a name for our school because words are too meaningful to me and I haven't found the right one yet.