My good friend, Margaret Heidenry wrote this fascinating article for the Sunday New York Times Magazine. On newsstands and online now-
My Parents Were Educational (Home-Schooling) Anarchists
The Heidenry family in Mexico 1975 (Margaret on railing at 4 years old)
"Tired of the constraints of the 40-hour workweek, my father, in 1972, quit his job in publishing. My parents were in their early 30s, and they had four children under 7. “But we still wanted to explore the world,” my father recalled recently. They bought six one-way tickets to Europe, leaving only a laughable $3,000 to subsist on. Young and idealistic, they thought they could easily educate us along the way. “Life itself would become a portable classroom.” Read more ...
One of my favorite pictures of Margaret with her dad, Jack walking her down the aisle.
It's a great read, whether you are for or against (any amount of) home-schooling. I've enjoyed reading comments after the piece online, some of the conversation gets quite heated! I had to add my two cents about one of my favorite families-
I've been a friend of Margaret's for over 20 years and know her family fairly well, too. Over the years I've heard bits and pieces about their unorthodox upbringing, but this was eye opening. The transition from home school to public school sounds rough, but the early years of travel and a curriculum that included yoga, tea time & Spanish sounds great. Maybe that combination of experiences with a formal education paid off, because Pat and Jack raised four unusually charming, intelligent and well rounded people! They're an enviably close knit family which must have contributed a great deal to their success as adults. It's inspiring to read about people willing to break from the norm and also recognize when it's time to try something else.
It was a thrill to see this in print this morning. I love looking at the old photos with Mary, James and John as kids & of course the anarchists themselves, Pat & Jack Heidenry ;)
Nice job Margaret! No wonder you're such an interesting fun lady.
If you don't have a copy of this Sunday's New York Times, you can read it online here.
Have a great Sunday!
xo, A
