The end of schooling, the beginning of education.

Today we begin on a journey. No. That is all wrong. Today we continue the journey of life, uninterrupted. Today is our first day out of school. Let's lay this out, bit by bit.

The Franklin family, in the traditional sense, is comprised of a mother, Angela, a father, Michael, a daughter aged 5, Fair Ophelia, a son, aged 3 named Whitman St. Morgan, and a rough and tumble puppy named Gogol. The Franklin family, in our eyes, and in our hearts is a vast network of beloved people, and every tree we climb, plant we take fruit of, and cloud we see rabbits in. We are kin to the musicians who strum the sound of sorrow and joy, the poets who break the gates of heaven, the painters that steal the colors of the birds of paradise. We are livers and lovers of life.

Recently, Fair became of school age. This spelled out some pretty obvious and some oblivious obstacles, or rather, challenges. Do we enlist her in the state sponsored school compound? Do we shell out more money than we make for specialized school? Do we home-school? Obviously we chose the last, but not initially. We chose to enlist Fair in school. Notice I say enlist, not enroll. We will get that later.

Fair spent exactly 8 days in school, a total of 60 hours, with 4 hours of "free" time in those 60 hours, which included recess and lunch. That is a half an hour every day to perform two of the most important tasks of our day. Playing and eating. Notice that it mimics the 8 hour work day? This is not what we wanted, not what we believe in and not what we were going to do anymore.

On top of this regimented soldier curriculum, another great tragedy was unfolding. Fair and Whitman were separated for the first time ever. The two kids who were best friends (and of course, at times, worst enemies), the kids that taught and learned so much from each other, the kids that were a team of adventurers and spies and detectives and pirates together, were taken away from each other, and all so Fair could be stuck in a room with a stranger, coloring frog pictures. No good, and no thanks.

"I would prefer not to." - Bartelby the Schrivener

Now Fair is here, with her family. We have begun to home-school, and not just Fair, but also Whitman, and ourselves. We are on a grand adventure, where all of life is our teacher and there is no wrong answer, just different paths. This blog is our digest, our catalogue of turning food into energy. Let's see where this will take us.