Homeschooling
While the phrase does usefully differentiate from public schooling, homeschooling does not adequately define the King’s educational philosophy or practice, which is something other than simply moving school from a public building to a private one. It contends that the real goal of education should reflect the original meaning of the word, (ex ducere) to lead out of, not into, narrow limits of thought and specialized occupations, not to speak of rigid social and cultural biases. Furthermore home-schooling, or un-schooling as it is popularly called, has less meaning for the Kings to the degree that it represents a mere shoveling of information from so-called teacher to student.
Assuredly, every person is a rich source of information which can and should be communicated, but the learning must always be at both ends. The main goal of the King’s educational philosophy is to keep alive the desire, motivation and capability for learning, for teacher and student alike. In addition, learning at Frog Holler has come to be understood in more that a strictly academic sense. Kenny and his dad are indeed learning Latin and physics but Billy’s carpentry and his music, as well as Edwin’s chess, sports and general reading, and Cathy and Kenny’s publication, the Open Page, are equally valid learning enterprises. Home-schooling for the King’s has attempted to be both practical and theoretical, physical and mental, at the same time disciplined and free.