We are often asked, why wolves as the mascot?

Wolves are mysterious, and, like homeschooling, are often misunderstood.  Childrens' fairytales and parables, such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, have all given wolves a rather unfavorable reputation, even demonizing them.  So too, in a society where education is standardized, conformity is revered, compliance is rewarded, and "success" is measured by how well one comports to a predetermined set of criteria, individuals  who choose an alternative path, who ask questions, who... wonder, can become demonized. 

 

We believe that wolves are amazing, beautiful and wild creatures, not to be tamed.   So too, is homeschooling.  It allows for individualization, customization, creativity, and innovation.  When wolves are tamed and alterantives are stifled, we, as a society, all loose out.

 

Take this, true "story" of the wolves in Yellowstone.  In the 1930s, wolves were killed off in Yellowstone National Park.  It changed the entire ecosystem: without wolves as predators, the elk population increased; the elk, not without the predatory pressure of wolves to move, decimated young willow and aspen trees, which beavers relied upon as a food source.  This impacted the beavers' ability to build damns, which reduced ponds and affected streams and water flow, which not only impacted the fish and amphibian populations but also, by extension, the bird population.  The reduced willow and aspen trees further reduced the songbird population, as they have no to little habitat without them.  In short, when the wolves, a mysterious and misunderstood, perceived predator disappeared, the entire ecosystem changed:  trees, streams, fish, and songbirds disappeared with them.  Rudyard Kipling once said, "For the strength of the wolf is in the pack, and the strength of the pack is in the wolf." 

 

We wonder... is the strength of our world, not in our individual differences, and are our individual differences not our strengths?  

We believe that homeschooled children that wonder are like wolves, which makes them our perfect mascot!