Why "Dangerously"?

So why is the blog "Learning Dangerously"? Why isn't it "Learning Happily" or "Learning Confidently" or, if my life is any indication, "Learning in ratty t-shirts and yoga pants"? Because education is a risk. At many times, it's a zero-sum game; if you put your child in School A, they can't go to School B. You decide to let your child become a high-level gymnast by 15, they aren't going to have the time to become a professional pianist by 17. When confronted with this fact, we parents do the research, think about the needs of our family, cross our fingers, and plunge in. After we make the choice, we frequently act as if a) that was the only possible choice or b) it was the best possible choice. But what it really is is a gamble. It used to be that if you behaved yourself, got the grades, attended the right schools and chose the right major, your life was secure and predictable until retirement. That's not true any more. So if the tested path isn't a guarantee, then maybe there isn't a reason not to try something new. Take a chance. Learn dangerously. Maybe we will as a society look back a century from now on this generation of homeschoolers and view them with the same affectionate contempt we reserve for people who used to think you could determine personality traits through the shape of the skull. Or maybe a few of these individuals will have changed everything. Either way, people are learning dangerously, and oddly, and wonderfully, and I plan to keep watching them.