What's in a Name?

Boy, have I had a lot of time for blogging over the last two weeks!  Looking back, I've managed to crank out quite a few posts. :)  "So how the heck does one find the time to do that while wrangling a munchkin?," you might ask.  Well, here's what you probably don't know: everyone in our household has been sick...twice...within the last month.  It REALLY stinks - cancelled playdates, limited activities, NO GYM VISITS, watching the same episode of Garfield (outwitting Odie) over and over...a person could go crazy with this much time at home.  So as I sit here sipping on tea and agonizing over a headache and a stuffy/runny nose (it can't decide which way it wants to go), I write yet another post and you get to read about my boredom.  How very lucky you are. :)  I promise it gets better. 


This evening, I received an e-mail from a veteran homeschool mom about the issue of diplomas for homeschool graduates.  While we are nowhere close to the time we need to worry about such, I like to educate myself early on things that may become an issue later, thus hopefully avoiding them becoming an issue at all...like how homeschool students receive an "official" high school diploma that colleges and financial aid administrators will accept.  It's simpler than you think, thanks to the incredible efforts of the HSLDA (you can read about the 1998 Higher Education Amendment here), but it can be a bit confusing.  I find it easiest to think of each homeschool as a small independent, non-accredited (accreditation is not something many homeschooling families want since it implies government oversight...not all public schools have it either) private school, since that's what most laws and regulations define it as anyway.  But back to that e-mail... :)


One important thing that this veteran homeschool parent stressed was that every homeschool family choose a name for itself, something that reflects the vision, mission, and goals of your school.  So "Dudley Homeschool Academy" wouldn't cut it.  Neither would "Shendiggity's School of Pure Awesomeness" as I suggested, but I quickly got overruled.  This name would have to go on standardized tests, it would be mentioned at state fairs, go on college admissions forms - it would need to be something respectable.  I immediately began researching a few Christian philosophers for ideas, when Chris suggested we considering one of the founding fathers.  You know...one of these guys:  

It sounds a little cliche, especially if it ends up being "Thomas Jefferson Academy," "Ben Franklin Academy," or "George Washington Academy," since these three men seem to be honored more by school name dedications than any of the other founding fathers.  So, we came up with a solution:  we let Noah pick...and here's how we're going to do it.


One of the fundamental principles of homeschool is that it empowers students to be self-directed, confident achievers in both life and their education.  Therefore, we thought it would be oh so nifty if Noah selected the name of his school with this principle in mind, which if you know anything about any one of these guys...


Ben Franklin
John Adams
Alexander Hamilton
John Jay
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
George Washington
   
...you'd know that they all amazing men - extremely wise, they created a new nation based upon the principles of freedom, stood up to a king and put limits upon government...and ALL SEVEN were homeschooled. And just like the founding fathers, homeschoolers also revere freedom.  Perfect, right? You got it. :)  So over the next year, Noah and I will work to incorporate a few lessons on a founding father each month.  We'll talk about Ben Franklin's printing press and Alexander Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr (he lost, BTW); we'll highlight John Jay as the first Supreme Court Justice and why George opted to ride that boat across the Delaware as opposed to just simply walking over the bridge.  We'll draw pictures and read stories, and hopefully after we know everything thing there is to tell about these seven great men, Noah will pick a suitable name for his little academy.  


So which one would you pick?