Hackschooling: How to be Happy, Healthy and Creative

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original” -Sir Ken Robinson

What do you want to be when you grow up? This was the million dollar question we were asked growing up. We probably had fascinating dreams to be astronauts, WWE fighter or a princess. We grow up assuming that the key to success and happiness is to go to school, get married and get a job! Logan LaPlante, a 13 year old TED talk speaker, plans to be happy when he grows up. It is a simple yet overlooked reality. I was fascinated by this particular 13 year old and his insightful simple but strong message. Be happy, be safe, be healthy.

Logan the education system should teach on how to be happy and healthy. He delineates 8 simple practices we should all incorporate in our lives called Therapeutic Lifetstyle Changes, TLC’s, created by Dr. Roger Walsh:

1. Excercise
2. Diet and nutrition
3. Time in nature
4. Contribution and Service
5. Relationships
6. Recreation
7. Relaxation and Stress Management
8. Religion and Spirituality

Even though we can get these practices through outside experiences our school’s should add TLC’s to their curriculum because they stimulate and inspire happiness and creativity. Logan points out school’s are killing creativity. Creativity is as important as literacy and the education system should incorporate lessons on how to be happy and healthy (TLC’s). It is important to be creative in order to be innovative. Logan calls these creative inventors “hackers”. “Hackers are innovators. Hackers challenge and change the system to make them better”. Our world needs more of these “hackers” and follow the simple Hackschooling curriculum” in no particular order or emphasis:

1. Happy and Healthy 8 TLC’s
2. Creativity Hacker Mindset
3. Experiences, classes, camps
4. Technology and online resources

I was inspired by the truth and simplicity Logan offered in his TED talk. One particular thing that stuck to me was that as adults “we making a living rather than making a life”. Lets start making a life!