John Taylor Gatto: A Friend Remembered

“I’ve concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.”

— John Taylor Gatto, Author, Distinguished Educator

John Taylor Gatto

This month marks two years since we lost our beloved John Taylor Gatto.

John was a man with a brave heart. 

As you probably know, he was named New York State Teacher of the Year one time and New Your City Teacher of the Year three times, and then he suddenly quit.

He quit the public school system for good. If you haven't read John's op-ed announcing his decision, it was published by the Wall Street Journal in 1991.

What struck me about that moment in John's life was that he was older and nearing the time when he could have retired with a comfortable pension for himself and his wife. Yet, he quit anyway.

Courage. To have the courage to live according to our principles, not too many of us can do that.

Why He Quit

Late into his career, John discovered that, in the name of education, public school was harming children, and that was why he quit.

“Children learn what they live. Put kids in a class and they will live out their lives in an invisible cage, isolated from their chance at community; interrupt kids with bells and horns all the time and they will learn that nothing is important or worth finishing; ridicule them and they will retreat from human association; shame them and they will find a hundred ways to get even. The habits taught in large-scale organizations are deadly.”

— John Taylor Gatto, Author, Distinguished Educator

Some of us work at professions that are harmful to others, and we learn how to justify what we do so living with ourselves is not too unbearable.

Rare is the person who will risk the security of his livelihood because of a principle he chooses to live by. Rare is the man who will leave a distinguished career for the sake of not harming others. John Taylor Gatto was a rare man.

Our First Meeting

When I met John for the first time in 2003, he greeted me with a huge, warm, Italian smile. He greeted everyone that way. I had invited him to be a guest speaker at an event on education that my organization was hosting. 

Allow me to share with you a reflection that weekend that has remained with me these past years. 

I picked John up the morning of the event to take him to the venue at UC Berkeley. After settling himself inside my car, he confessed that he'd been up until 3:00 a.m. rewriting his talk. He showed me his pages of lines drawn through sentences in black ink and tiny scribbles of notes piled upon one another in the margins.

The talk he was scheduled to give, however, was the same talk he is best known for, The History of Modern Education. I wondered what he meant when he said he had been awake half the night rewriting it? 

As he delivered his speech, I came to understand his meaning. He had been rewriting it because he gave the talk anew each time. He never delivered his speech the same way twice, as so many public speakers do. Taking the time to refresh his talk, John personalized it for each audience.

There is nothing worse than hearing someone deliver a lecture they've delivered a thousand times before so that even the jokes sound rehearsed. A good teacher knows this, and a great teacher practices it. John was a great teacher.

John refused to give us anything less than his very best each time he stood before us.

It was the ability to see life through fresh eyes even when the eyes were old, to learn as much as he could about many things, not even stopping for death, to experience the ordinary occurrences in life as if they were extraordinary, to encounter each human being as the most precious person he had ever met, and to believe in the magnificent potential of the human spirit that made John such a singular and sublime individual.

There was a vibrancy to John Taylor Gatto, and one felt more alive just from being in his presence. 

“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your roadmap through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”

— John Taylor Gatto, Author, Distinguished Educator

October 25, 2020 was the exact day of the second year of his passing. Please take a moment to say a prayer not only for a truly great man but also for a man who affected so many of our lives in such profound ways.

We are people who refuse to accept the status quo for ourselves and for our children, as John inspired us to do. As we work hard to educate our children and to help them live more meaningful lives, let us not forget that we each carry a little of John Taylor Gatto with us.

May his spirit live on.

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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is an educator, veteran homeschooler, and a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach with 19 years of experience working in children’s education. Using her unusual skill set, coupled with the unique mentors she was fortunate to have, Elizabeth has developed a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child. She devotes her time to helping parents get it right.

Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.

10 Valuable Lessons Owning a Pet Can Teach Your Child

Children are fascinated by animals, and they love pets. Every child, when he or she reaches a certain age, will want to own a pet.

Unless you have always been a pet lover and owned a pet before your kids came along, you may be thinking something like what I thought when my children first asked me if they could have a pet, "Not over my dead body!" 

As if I didn't have enough to do already.

And then they grew a little older, and they persuaded me to buy them one rabbit each, and they promised me until they were blue in the face that they would take care of their pets. 

So I relented.

The surprise was on me: my children learned several meaningful life lessons and skills from owning and caring for their rabbits, and I became convinced that no child should experience childhood without owning a pet, too. 

“Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled”

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Lesson One

The first lesson they learned was responsibility. I made it clear from day one that I would, under no circumstances, care for the rabbits, and I put the onus entirely upon them to ensure the rabbits were fed and had their cage cleaned out once a week.

I don't remember my children ever failing to meet this responsibility, nor do I remember the rabbits ever going without food. 

Lesson Two

I instructed them to sort out who did what and when they did it, which meant they had to practice the skill of negotiation, which they did brilliantly.

They set up a schedule where my son, who was a morning person, fed the rabbits in the morning. My daughter, who has always been a night owl, fed them in the evening. They took turns cleaning the cage out too; one cleaned it out one week, and the other, the next.

Lesson Three

They also had to pay for their rabbit's food out of their weekly allowance. To do this, they learned how to budget their money to keep their rabbits fed.

Lesson Four

Because I worked and homeschooled, my schedule was tight. The pet feed store was about a half an hour away. My children had to remind me in advance when they would need a ride to the pet feed store to buy more rabbit pellets and hay, so I could schedule it into my week. 

I think this would fall under "planning," no?

Needless to say, they fell in love with their rabbits. Stella and Alfie were a source of childhood joy for them; they adored these little creatures.

Lesson Five

They learned how babies were born, too, and witnessed the maternal instinct in action. One day, Stella, the black bunny, started doing funny things in the cage. She was moving the hay around and making a pile of it inside the little house the rabbits had for shelter in their cage. 

A few hours later, we discovered her giving birth to six little bunnies. My daughter had kept saying that she thought she was pregnant, but I kept thinking that was impossible. 

Wishful thinking would be more like it.

Lesson Six

As the bunnies grew, my children gave them each a name based on their particular personalities or physical characteristics. There was one bunny that was the runt of the group, and they named her Shadow.

I loved the sense of poetry in her name; two little kids naming the runt of the litter Shadow. I put this lesson under “observation,” a vital skill in life if you are to understand, not who people pretend to be, but who they really are.

Lesson Seven

They learned about death, too. We went overseas one year for three months and left our bunnies under the care of some friends. About halfway through our trip we received a phone call that the little Shadow had died. 

Grief-stricken, my children discovered that death follows life and that their bunny was now in bunny Heaven. I explained to them that we are given gifts in our lives, and sometimes those gifts are taken away, and we need to learn to deal with the loss and trust that everything is as it should be. 

And I convinced them that Shadow was happy where ever she was, and they accepted her death gracefully.

Lesson Eight, Part One

When we returned home, we found that the white Rabbit, Alfie, had funny bumps in his ears. Off to the vet we went with poor little Alfie shaking uncontrollably in his rabbit carrier The vet announced that he had ear mites and gave us some liquid medicine that needed to be administered two times every day. 

My daughter, a natural caregiver, took it upon herself to give Alfie his daily and nightly doses. We read about ear mites and how much discomfort Alfie was in, and we all felt pain for him. 

We bemoaned the fact that it took us several weeks before we realized he had even been in extreme discomfort, which made us feel even worse.

Children nurture their natural compassion and empathy by caring for a pet. Little Alfie was prone to a disorder that cost us $1000 at the vet the first time he succumbed to it. After that, I did a little research and learned that we could treat him naturally at home. 

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened”

— Anatole France

I cannot count how many nights, over the years, we had to take turns keeping a watch on Alfie and giving him natural medicine until his system kicked back in. Sometimes we would even watch the sunrise together, and the immense relief and elation we felt when he bounced back was indescribable. 

Lesson Eight, Part Two

My kids even wrote a story about Alfie and Stella from a rabbit's perspective.

The rabbits were the civilized animals who were constantly being interrupted by these strange looking creatures who wanted to pick them up and hold them every day and who tried to put funny restraints on them and make them walk in the backyard (bunny harnesses; we never could get them to move) when they would rather eat and lie in the sun. 

From Alfie and Stella's eyes, we learned about the daily habits and peculiarities of my children's lives. 

Lesson Nine

And then we moved. We drove cross-country to Pennsylvania; me, two teenagers, and two rabbits.

It was a long haul for the rabbits, and I wasn't even sure they'd survive the trip, but I took the chance anyway. I knew my children would grow homesick, and their rabbits would make it less so, which both proved true.

What I didn't anticipate was having to make the move all over again, but we did. Only this time, my children and the rabbits were older, and we realized that the rabbits would probably not survive the journey back to California.

So we found a farm with a kind woman who loved caring for animals, and my kids put the rabbits in their new cage. Feeling that they were under good care, we turned around and headed back to the West Coast.

And that was that. A heavy-hearted but brief parting of ways.

Lesson Ten

There was one thing I didn't mention. The rabbits saved me from something I remember my parents having to do that was very awkward. 

Thanks to a book on rabbit care, my children learned about the birds and the bees. They put two and two together, and voila.

One day the lightbulb went off, and they came running to me and said, "Mom, we just figured something out...!"

Don’t miss our free download, Ten Books Every Well-Educated Child Should Read.

When you join the Smart Homeschooler Academy online course for parents, Liz will share her 6-step framework, so you can raise children of higher intelligence, critical thinking, and of good character.

As a homeschooler, you will never have to worry about failing your children, because working with Liz, you will feel confident, calm, and motivated; as she guides you to train your children’s minds and nurture their characters.

Teach your child to read before sending him to school! Learn more about Elizabeth's unique course, How to Teach Your Child to Read and Raise a Child Who Loves to Read.

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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a homeschooling thought-leader and the founder of Smart Homeschooler.

As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, she has 21+ years of experience working in education.

Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child, based on tradition and modern research, and she devotes her time to helping parents to get it right.

Elizabeth is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.

"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”

—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Has Your Child Studied the Greatest Creature on Earth?

What creature is that? You might ask.

It is the whale.

When I think about it, I find it strange that I spent so much of my life knowing so little about whales. I don't remember studying them in school; however, I do remember studying dinosaurs in the second grade, yet, dinosaurs pale in comparison to whales.

But while reading Moby Dick, I find a fascination for whales emerging because they are undoubtedly sublime creatures, if not the most sublime. 

Here are 8 facts about whales that you can share with your child:

Fact 1: They Are the Largest Creature on Earth

Did you know that they are the largest animal on Earth, even bigger than the T-Rex Dinosaur? The nine heaviest creatures belong to the whale family. A blue whale weighs 200 tons, and when they give birth, their babies weigh three tons and gain 200 pounds per day!

Compare this to the largest elephant ever to exist (as far as we know), who weighed only 4 tons, and you begin to realize the magnitude of these creatures. 

Fact 2: They Have the Largest Brains

The sperm whales have the largest brains of any animal, including man. Not only do they have the largest brains, but their brains contain a neocortex, like the human brain. The neocortex governs higher cognitive functions such as planning, memory, empathy, and language.

The sperm whale has a highly sophisticated language that is based on sound. They emit coded clicks at the speed of milliseconds and can emit these sounds at vast distances. 

Scientists today are trying to decode their language using artificial intelligence. Someone even wrote a book about real conversations with whales and how the lessons we learn from them can help us live more joyful lives.

“As for his true brain, the whale, like all things that are mighty, wears a false brow to the common world. ”

— Moby Dick, Herman Melville

Fact 3: They Rely on Sound to See

Because most of the whale’s life is spent at the bottom of the ocean, they must rely on sound to see. The clicks they use to communicate also facilitate them in what is called echolocation. Echolocation is when the click sounds they make bounce off of an object and send back an echo to the whale that tells them where the object is. 

Fact 4: They are the loudest animals alive

They rely on click sounds to see, and these sounds can be as loud as 230 decibels making them the loudest animals alive. In comparison, if you stood next to a jet engine, the engine's sound is about 150 decibels. Whales are so loud that their clicking sounds can kill a man. 

Fact 5: Whales Hold Their Breath for 90 Minutes

Whales can live underwater for about 90 minutes because their bodies can store massive amounts of oxygen in their muscles. When whales surface to breathe, they breathe for about seven minutes before they go underwater again. 

Fact 6: Whales Have Complex Social Structures

Female whales live in multi-generational families while the male whales live solitary lives and return to the females during the mating season.

Whales will mourn the death of a loved one, and they will celebrate the birth of a calf, according to Shane Gero, a behavioral ecologist and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project. They have different dialects for each whale pod.

Fact 7: Their Excrement Is More Valuable than Gold!

Yes, it’s true. Whales eat large squid, and the indigestible parts of the squid are eventually excreted. These excretions float in the water for seven years, going through various changes, and can be washed up on shores in the form of what is known as ambergris. 

“It’s beyond comprehension how beautiful it is, It’s transformative. There’s a shimmering quality to it. It reflects light with its smell. It’s like an olfactory gemstone,” is how Mandy Aftel, a perfumer describes ambergris.

It can sell for anywhere from 10K to 100K, depending upon the size. 

Fact 8: Great Whales Are an Endangered Species

Sperm whales are the citizens of the ocean, and they are dying.

"Why are they dying?" asks Shane Gero. He answers his own question: "It's us," he says. "All of us." 

The deluge of gargantuan shipping fleets on our oceans to bring us our goods from all over the world are killing them.  Calves are born, and they are dying from accidents caused by large freighter ships.

In the 18th and 19th centuries sperm whales were hunted for oil and spermiceti, but now they are killed because of our ignorance. It’s ironic that arguably the most intelligent animal on Earth is going extinct because of man’s stupidity.

Today, six out of 13 great whale species are considered endangered including the sperm whale who was the subject of Melvilles masterpiece.

Teach Your Children Well

Teach your children about the greatest creature on Earth when they are young. After they reach adolescence, you can read Moby Dick with them.

Moby Dick is not an easy book to read, but it's a powerful book with many themes of human nature and human folly woven through the tale of an obsessive pursuit of one albino Sperm whale named Moby Dick by a man with a wretched heart called Ahab.

“God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates. ”

— Moby Dick, Herman Melville

John Taylor Gatto used to have his sixth-grade students read Moby Dick.

Though I never asked him why he chose Moby Dick, my guess is that it was because once you read Moby Dick, you can successfully tackle any other work of great fiction.. 

Don’t miss our free download, Ten Books Every Well-Educated Child Should Read.

Become a Smart Homeschooler and give your child a stellar, screen-free education at home and enjoy doing it. Join the Smart Homeschooler Academy online course. Special Covid pricing will remain through December 10, 2020.

Free Download: How to Raise a More Intelligent Child and an Excellent Reader—a reading guide and book list with 80+ carefully chosen titles.

Elizabeth Y. Hanson is an educator, veteran homeschooler, and a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach with 19 years of experience working in children’s education. Using her unusual skill set, coupled with the unique mentors she was fortunate to have, Elizabeth has developed a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child. She devotes her time to helping parents get it right.

Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.

Cultivating an Independent Mind Begins with a Glass of Water

There is nothing worse than a child clinging to your side while whining for this or that, right? We've all been there. 

We forget that children are capable little beings, and if they want something, they'll get it. When did your three-year-old need help getting the chocolate bar off the kitchen counter or getting a cookie out of the cookie jar?! 

Curiously, children never ask us to help them get things they know we don't want them to have; instead, they get it for themselves because they know that we will not. 

Yet when it comes to something as simple as a glass of water, suddenly, they are helpless as a newborn babe in a mother's arms. 

Being busy and preoccupied, we seldom stop to think about whether or not our child is capable of getting his own glass of water; we automatically get it for him. 

And herein lies the problem: the more we do for our children, the less they do for themselves. Isn't this true in life for adults too?

If someone offers to cook us dinner, we aren't going to refuse, are we? But if they didn't offer, we'd get up and cook it ourselves.

If someone suggested we go out for the day while they come over and clean our entire house, we aren't going to complain, are we?

But if no one cleans our house, unless we have a housecleaner, we will clean it ourselves, won't we? 

Why do we think children will act differently when we offer to assist them or comply to their demands just because they asked?

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

— Dr. Seuss

Children are people in little bodies, as Dr. Seuss liked to remind us.  Do more for them, and they'll do less for themselves, that's why you want to teach them as early as possible to get their own glass of water.

And while you're at it, teach them to make their bed, put their clothes away, and get their own snacks too! 

They are perfectly capable of doing these things as long as things are within their reach, and then you show them exactly how to do it.

Raise them to understand that you expect them to attend to their own needs as much as they are able.

Don't entertain the idea that they are not capable or that you are a bad parent by not excessively catering to your children’s whims.

Here's a novel idea for you instead: you don't meet their demands all day long, but you have them meet yours. Teach your children to get you a glass of water and a snack when you are busy! 

It might sound like child labor to some, but the truth is, it's the best thing for the child's character. The more they learn to serve and take care of others, the more polished their characters will become. 

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

— Helen Keller

This isn't to suggest that you treat your child like a servant, not at all. But if you're lying down reading a book, and your child is playing quietly beside you, you could say something like, "Sweetie, please get me a glass of water." 

When he or she brings you the glass of water, look them in the eyes, smile, and with a real sense of appreciation, say "thank you. How sweet of you to get a glass of water for Mommy (or Daddy)."

And watch your child's face light up. 

You aren't a brute, you are letting your child help relieve your thirst, and we all feel better when we help others. Children love to help, and they take pride in being able to do grown-up things "all by myself." 

Your child just learned that it feels good to do a kind thing for another person, and children who do kind things for other people grow up to be kind adults. That's how character development works.

So why not let them? Why coddle children when it only leads to a sense of entitlement and bad character? 

“He that cockers his child provides for his enemy.”

— English Proverb, c. 1640

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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach, with 17 years experience working in children’s education, and a complimentary background in holistic medicine.

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