The Advantages Of My Sheltered Childhood

My snowy run across the field to the gym is not so romantic and magical when its 35 degrees below zero outside. I couldn't tell you what shape the moon was the last two nights as I was bustling through the frigid air, nor could I feel my legs once I arrived at my destination...brrrr.

Well, I was thinking about the whole private boarding school experience at the gym the last two nights. I went away to school from age 14-18, and yes, it was legalistic and strict, but truly it was a step of liberation from my life before, let me tell you, I don't know what I WAS allowed to do. I wasn't allowed to wear shorts, listen to the radio, dance, pet my cats, watch TV (like, seriously, I got in trouble for watching Road to Avonlee)...let alone have an opinion or personality without being ostracized or made to feel evil and hell bound.  So actually, taking on my Dean who was preoccupied with a whole dorm of girls I felt way more freedom than I had known before, and all of the hours of work discipline and community service were certainly worth it all - at least she still liked me in the end. Man, and I was good at learning how to play my cards, I got myself out of being kicked out on several occasions, and I appreciated Lorna as crazy as she could be. We managed to work well together, as I have never done well in any sense or way with leadership, I think she understood that.
Dorm life was the first thing that felt like family to me, so even though I never agreed with a lot of what went on there, it was an amazing experience that I still value to this day.

Now I had been to much more eccentric shelter schools than boarding school, let me tell you that too! The first private Christian school I went to was in grade 3 and it was in Millicent, Alberta. Millicent has about 4 houses in it, so is that even a village? The school was run out of an old community building. Maybe there were about a dozen of us kids there, grades 1-12, where we were schooled under the ACE program which to me now is completely bizarre. We all sat in cubicles with our little faces to the wall all day, isolated from everyone else, where we worked solo on our work, no interactions unless we raised a flag to notify our teacher we needed help. Is this system even legal anymore?? Who knows, but I wouldn't let my kids touch it with a ten foot pole. Ultimately I was sent there lest I be exposed to the evil teachings of evolution and school dances. When I was in the public school in grade 2, I was strictly informed by my dad that I could not attend the Bunny Hop and should remain at my desk during this wicked event. Well he must have known I'd try to be a sneak and go to the grade 2 Bunny Hop because he spied on me and I was CAUGHT red-handed, lol! So that was my last year at the public school. And well, I did hear all about evolution at the playground - another defeated purpose. And who spies on their child in grade 2?

Well I don't remember why, but then when I was 9 or 10 years old I was going to another private Christian school that was just being established.  Maybe that is why it took place in a garage, yes, like a big truck shop, but they tried to fix it up and all. In fact I just bought my fifth wheel from that same garage this fall, which is now fully restored back to the functioning shop that it was designed to be...so surreal that I actually went to school there. Then a building was built in the country, which now still exists as the Duchess Christian School. So all of my schooling from grades 3 - 9 took place in the country under the ACE system.

So yes, my sheltered life as a child does seem rather weird to me now.
In the end I have learned a great deal through those experiences and have gone to great lengths to find a school for my kids that introduces them to holding a world view, how to live through their whole being and treats every one of them as the competent thinkers and leaders that they are. wooo hooo! Maybe if my school years would have been NORMAL I would have settled for less now. So, in the end I am grateful for everything in my life, knowing it has led me to broader horizons.

“It is a wonder that curiosity survives a formal education.”  Albert Einstein

with care,

Karla 

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