About two weeks ago we sailed MANDY over a very shallow bar. She sucked in her belly over treacherous coral heads only inches beneath her keel. The squeeze was worth it as the bar gave entrance to the deep and protected bay of Little Harbor, Great Abaco; a haven these days for cruising boats and artists alike.

In 1952 the revered sculptor Randolph W. Johnston brought his young wife and fellow sculptor Margot Broxton and their three sons aged seven, nine and eleven to the harbor in their Bahamian built schooner "Langosta." Randolph had determined that he must find an escape for his family from the modern world of his time. He perceived "the Megamachine" threatened his very existence with the threat of world war, materialism and race suicide through nuclear annihilation. He sought a place he could work in peace, where his soul could take wing and his loved ones would be safe. "What we have to find is a sympathetic physical environment - a good climate and a social milieu in which there will be the least possible interference with our individual lives."

Randolph and Margot literally carved out an existence from the uninhabited harbor. They dedicated themselves to their self sufficient lifestyle and educated their boys through daily communion with nature, the rigors of boat sailing and navigation, house construction and survival through self-reliance. They grew or hunted for their food and each member of the family was responsible for their part in the survival of the whole. This style of organic education is called "un-schooling" today; a name coined in the seventies by homeschooling guru John Boston. Sixty years ago however the idea would have been ridiculed, perhaps even criminalized by the mainstream.

Since visiting Little Harbor learning about its history and reading Randolph's diaries of those years of struggle, I have spent a good deal of time thinking back to our own family's fifteen year experience with "un-schooling" from 1990 until 2005. We were lucky to have had much encouragement from those who had gone before and I can only imagine the periods of doubt assailing Randolph and Margot who it seems were the original un-schooling devotees. "We did not come here primary to grow bananas or dry shark meat but to grow three good men and true." Not only did they raise their sons successfully but in Little Harbor Randolph's sculpting career blossomed and he built and established his own foundry next to the family's home. His work has been compared to that of Cellini, and through private and government commissions he and Margot forged a prominent place in the world of sculpture. Their sons Bill, Denny and Pete became engineers, writers and artists, taking responsibility in the pioneering of the island. From Randolph's diaries wryly called "The Good Life for Those Who Can Take It," it is evident to me as a fellow un-schooling parent that the Johnston boys may have suffered in their physical isolation from a lack of general socialization in their parents' fervor to distance themselves from the Megamachine. However, the young men's carefully nurtured human spirit was the springboard that enabled their bold leap back into the world, certain that they could achieve anything if they willed it so.

The harbor is still home to Pete Johnston. He returned there after several years studying art in Europe, married and began his own family. The beachside gallery is filled with his and his father's work as well as several other Bahamian artists who visit regularly to work in the inspirational island paradise.

Raising and educating children is never without pitfalls, false starts and self-examination, however we choose to do it. Our visit to the shelter of Little Harbor where the Johnston family forged a path was an unexpected personal journey of reflection for me. Our homeschooling experience was not perfect by any means, but like the Johnstons we chose what we felt was best for our family and were rewarded with a unique journey of self reliance and joy in each other.





Sketch by Randolph W. Johnston "Artist on his Island - A study in self-reliance"