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Full Circle
Returning to childhood creative processes
by Lara Kehler, veteran homeschooler

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I grew up on a mountain 15 minutes outside of Abbotsford, a town in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. I was 'educated' alternatively until the age of 17, when I decided to get my high school credits at our local college. Influenced greatly by John Holt's writing and the personal desire for something better than the norm, my parents were pioneers on more fronts then education. This has definitely rubbed off on me, but that could be a whole different story.

In retrospect my experiences as a Home Schooled kid were amazing, motivational, and have allowed me the passion to pursue the things I do today. Yet, there was definitely an internal struggle for my parents in knowing how to facilitate my brother and I in developing our own learning process, to trust that how it looked from the outside was not always representing the value of what was going on inside. Their trust allowed me the freedom to: a) sleep in all the time. b) play computer games all day. c) be bored. And most importantly d) be intensely creative and spontaneous on my own initiative.

Until the age of 8, I spent most of my days exploring and creating elaborate "dwellings" through out the dense forest and rocky cliffs of my mountain. Many of the neighbor kids where*(were) home schoolers as well. Since I was the oldest by four years, I enjoyed taking the "creative" leadership roll and dictating many of the daily routines like: collecting firewood, arrows (spearhead ferns), ingredients for soup (not actually edible, although I think some of us tried) and what ever else our clan needed for survival during the "fierce" storm that was always about to rip through our make-believe camp.

As the enjoyment of roll playing survivalist wore off, I moved into more civilized roll models like "the Scientist". With no coaxing from parents, I set off collecting and documenting the size, shape, possible sex, and location of snakes, snails, frogs and anything else that wondered into our well scrutinized radius.

By looking back at these earlier experiences of my learning, I had been exploring the "exterior world", gathering and analyzing what I needed "out there" through the medium of sight, smell, touch and space. Despite many attempts by my parents to have me read, the most advanced book I had finished by the age of 10 was See Spot Run. Since up to this point my imagination was much more colorful than anything I thought a book could offer me, the thought of gluing my face to pages filled with codes taking the places of pictures held no interest for me.

As a child I was blessed with the experience of owning a beautiful white, Welsh/Arab pony. She came with the name Misty, and although I like the name, it had no particular relevance to me until that magical day when I discovered the book Misty of Chincoteague, a story about a boy and his pony. With the realization that there where words locked away behind this book cover, that described a magical adventure about a child and his wild island pony named Misty, it was more than I could bear! So, after much drooling over the cover and mulling over how exactly I was to unlock the secrets of this book, I went to my room, locked the door, and literally attacked the first word of the first chapter of the first page in the first book I ever read. "Once" - VICTORY!

Probably an hour later, and much excitement, I had understood about 30% of the words on the first page, and the mental picture the author was building for me was beginning to take shape! I used all previous knowledge of my children's* readers and vowel pronunciation to decipher this entangled code we call the English language.

With all the hunting, stalking, and analytical skills I had developed catching snakes and the patience for starting fires out of wet wood and leaves, I hunted the remaining 70% of these devious codes called words on the first page of the first chapter in the first book I ever read. The mystery of the Misty of Chincoteague was mine! Of course there were many occasions in which I burst out of my laboratory for assistance from my learned colleagues (parents) who more than happy to answer any questions I had during my discovery of the English language, until the battle was won and the victory was all mine. Of course a cool side effect from this, was that I had learned to read.

Since my father ran a computer business, we always had the latest and greatest computers to use as we grew up. My brother and I took full advantage of this and played hours and hours of computer games. It was here that I started taking an early interest in graphic design, animation and game design. Around 12 years old I found this fun program for the Mac called Hyper Card. With the same passion that drove me to unlock the coding of the English language, I created a simple yet extremely detailed adventure game including a plot, cast of charters sprinkled with puzzles to detour the adventurer from the final goal of rescuing the Teddy Bear Princess.

At the time, I had no idea how this new found passion would again bring me, 10 years later, to start my own business. Many of my interests during my early teens revolved around computers and graphic design. I had the opportunity to work for my uncle, who was a Graphic artist and desktop publisher. I learned how to use the latest programs at the time and gained much knowledge in regards to layout, logo design, and publishing. I discovered my love of working with talented artists and writers. I enjoyed brainstorming sessions over logo designs and concepts. I really liked how one could use different talents and pull them all together to create an outstanding product. It was after this that I started a news paper with a group of home school friends. We had weekly meetings about different articles we could research, and personal stories we wanted to share. I did the layout on the computer and we printed it after hours at my father's business. We distributed it to family and friends all over Canada for about 8 months. It was a great experience that was rewarding and taught us how to working together as a group.

Around the ages of 14 and 15 most of my friends decided to try their hands at high school. I had taken a few correspondence courses just to prove to myself that I was competent in English and Math, but I did not have the interest in going to school on a full time basis and was probably a little afraid of the idea as well. I choose to stay out of high school, although all my friends decided to go. This time of my life was emotionally challenging to say the least. Not only was I growing up and wanting an identity of my own, but I was also dealing with the fact that I was choosing a different life from that of my peers. Insecurity about my body, loneliness and lack of self direction and purpose are things that most young people go through. I was not excluded from this, regardless of how excluded I felt from my peers. The awkward age of not old enough to live independently and not young enough to be a child was what my parents and I dealt with on a day to day basis

Being considered a Home Schooler when the last thing I wanted is to be associated with was Home, was not the easy part of growing up and discovering my own identity outside of the mainstream. Yet, I'm inclined to believe that it's worth coming to terms with your personal identity with out the added complications of simply throwing yourself into the mesh of pop culture known as high school. How many years did I spend on learning the meaning of that sentence alone?! After the freedom driving a car gave me to find work, attend part time courses at college, and develop a social life, I gained enough confidence to travel to Europe when I was 19 and then move half way across the country to Winnipeg with some friends and go to college. Why Winnipeg you ask? Again, another story.
(also see, "Teenage Liberation Handbook" interview)

After 4 years in Winnipeg, a diploma in Structural Civil Engineering, and some good work experience as a Engineering Technologist I moved to Vancouver thinking I was now headed for the full time job, nice apartment, settling down life that ALL newly graduated people wanted. Right? Wrong. Boring! Skipping a few years ahead, I'm now a self employed, self taught, graphic/web/programmer with my own company, Laramarie Productions, living in Toronto.

My dream? Produce a well designed magazine with its' entire content dedicated to art and ideas of alternative learners around the world! Anything from theories on quantum physics to pencil sketches of unicorns. I'm calling it My Art & Mind.

With this dream I've come full circle, back to the creative processes I loved as a child, the same processes that allowed me to spend hours chasing snakes, cracking codes, rescuing princess, drawing horses, and building miniature worlds out of balsa wood and modeling clay. I had no idea where these processes would lead me in the future, and it's probably good that I still don't. Yet, if it's half as good as where I've been, I'm willing to find out!

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