When we were newly homeschooling, my girls were often asked "What school do you go to?" Saying they were homeschooled often detained them at length to explain the hows and whys, so they decided to name their *school* in hopes that it would change the course of the conversations and, they were absolutely right ... it did.
So GG Academy was born sometime in 2000, and originally stood for Gregory Gals. Surprisingly, no one asked what it actually stood for but would ask, "Oh? Where is that?", their obvious answer being our hometown, of which they'd usually reply insinc. So many people replied with, "Oh, I know where that is!"... and THAT was just an open invitation for the girls to say something like, "Oh, the yellow and white two story, mid block on ****** Avenue? Blue shutters, old swing set in the rear (tongue in cheek)?" Always funny ...
No less confident in their pre-teen years, they changed the acronym meaning to Gifted and Gorgeous. Now as young adults, they've remained committed to and are more appreciative of their unique learning experiences and it's many opportunities, blessings and gifts. The beautiful part of our homeschooling experience had been that our living and learning have become so closely meshed that it's hard to recognise or feel a separation between the two. It allows us all the freedom and time to follow our interests and passions with minimal constraints, maximum support and guidance, from each other, family, friends and even many within our community. It's allowed my husband and I to be the primary influences in our children's development (I get the gist of the villiage mentality but sorry, the villiage isn't what it used to be). In a nutshell, we homeschool because we wanted our kids to be confident, kind, caring, compassionate, loving and respected individuals who can think, act and speak appropriately and independantly of others; regardless of the venue, gender or generation gap.
Whether or not they choose to homeschool their own children remains to be seen. They at least understand that while education takes on many respectable forms, what we've come to know as true knowledge is and should always be an individual and personal attainment that adapts and spans a lifetime of mostly self education, not crammed into the first eighteen years of life and largely determined and directed by others. No matter what careers they choose or what colleges they attend (or not) we're confident that they're going to do well and adjust well to life and all of it's curve balls.
So GG Academy was born sometime in 2000, and originally stood for Gregory Gals. Surprisingly, no one asked what it actually stood for but would ask, "Oh? Where is that?", their obvious answer being our hometown, of which they'd usually reply insinc. So many people replied with, "Oh, I know where that is!"... and THAT was just an open invitation for the girls to say something like, "Oh, the yellow and white two story, mid block on ****** Avenue? Blue shutters, old swing set in the rear (tongue in cheek)?" Always funny ...
No less confident in their pre-teen years, they changed the acronym meaning to Gifted and Gorgeous. Now as young adults, they've remained committed to and are more appreciative of their unique learning experiences and it's many opportunities, blessings and gifts. The beautiful part of our homeschooling experience had been that our living and learning have become so closely meshed that it's hard to recognise or feel a separation between the two. It allows us all the freedom and time to follow our interests and passions with minimal constraints, maximum support and guidance, from each other, family, friends and even many within our community. It's allowed my husband and I to be the primary influences in our children's development (I get the gist of the villiage mentality but sorry, the villiage isn't what it used to be). In a nutshell, we homeschool because we wanted our kids to be confident, kind, caring, compassionate, loving and respected individuals who can think, act and speak appropriately and independantly of others; regardless of the venue, gender or generation gap.
Whether or not they choose to homeschool their own children remains to be seen. They at least understand that while education takes on many respectable forms, what we've come to know as true knowledge is and should always be an individual and personal attainment that adapts and spans a lifetime of mostly self education, not crammed into the first eighteen years of life and largely determined and directed by others. No matter what careers they choose or what colleges they attend (or not) we're confident that they're going to do well and adjust well to life and all of it's curve balls.
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