Ok here is another favorite of mine. It is always a surprise to me when Joyce Swann comes up in conversation and people draw a blank.  The Swann’s created a bit of a sensation in the early 90s as one after another of their children graduated with advanced college degrees in their teens years.  The Swann’s are responsible for the Calvert School envy that remained with me for a LOT of years.

Joyce’s Homeschool Tips made a big impression on me. I am just now approaching that level of organization. As in seeing the destination somewhere in the distance….She is still my hero.  <g>

Alexandra, her oldest, wrote a book about their family’s experiences. While it drew no small amount of controversy and naysayers it has always impressed me that she maintains that she loved school from the first day til the day of graduation.  Further, if given the opportunity, she said she would repeat her mother’s  efforts as closely as possible with her own children.  That is the highest testimony a mother can get imo. 

Acceleration is not the draw for me. It is the enthusiasm, the organization, and the openness to life they demonstrated.  While they worked darned hard and made remarkable progress they also only worked 3 hrs a day. Though they used a structured rigorous curriculum, they had their afternoons and evenings to create family plays, run outside, and let their imaginations run wild. They had almost no outside commitments. When their family’s story hit the presses Joyce did not become a ‘professional homeschooler’.  There was no Swann empire.  She continued to do what she had committed herself to doing – raising well-educated children in a loving well-run home.  Lots of food for thought there.

* Just a side note – I am just sharing some of the early influences upon my mothering journey. Please do not misinterpret this as an invitation to debate the merits or shortcomings of other families as at least one stranger hoped to do with the Duggar family post.