“Two in the Middle” began as a website to chronicle the various adventures of a mother (Pamela) and daughter (Natalie) during two pivotal years. Determined to see how much exhilarated learning (vs. accelerated learning) would occur without testing and textbooks, they decided to embark on a middle school adventure.
Little did we know what we were about to discover, not just about history, geography, literature, math, and science, but also about mysterious things like life and love. We began by “delving,” found “fertile books,” embarked on a world cruise without stepping beyond our backyard, built a schoolhouse and planted a garden, and slowed down to eat a healthy lunch every day.
We learned what things make life worth living not just at age 12, but any age.
We learned that questions are far more important than answers.
We learned that it’s vital to ignore conventional wisdom when it gets in the way of our well-being.
And that it’s just as important to expand the heart as it is to expand the mind. We learned a lot. Once we got the hang of it, we had fun. In the end, we knew that learning is all about loving.
When the two years ended, Natalie went to a high school and then to a liberal arts college where she was able to ask questions to her heart’s content. She is continuing her study of world history in graduate school. Pamela continues to write and produce/direct short documentary films, with an reinvigorated appreciation for the power of story to change lives. Natalie (aka “the Happy Guinea Pig”) and Pamela have created a new website that picks up the Schoolhouse Experiment, 10 years Later — Visit us at Two in the World.
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