Perspective

Perspective.

I was asked recently what perspective I would share with families just starting out on their homeschooling journey that I wish I’d know ten years ago?

1. Choose once. Period. Don’t doubt yourself! You know what you are doing. This applies to everything from curriculum to pencils! Stop looking for something that might be better. Decision fatigue is real, and it makes things seem so much harder than they really are.

2. Focus on the purpose and skip all the “shoulds”. For example, both my children compose beautiful summaries. But when I get them to write them down, these beautiful compositions get chopped and hacked into something short and quick. The purpose of summaries in our home is to show what has resonated from a lesson, so my children can choose to type, write, or create something totally different! “But they should be writing, they need the practice”, says the voice in my head. I can create opportunities for writing practice that are fun and purposeful, like copying the lyrics of their favourite song in their journal, writing a recipe they adapted, creating a birthday list, writing the grocery list (they love the chance to add suggestions, ha ha). Writing is naturally paired with these activities and doesn’t take away from the purpose. Always key into the purpose.

3. Good enough is good enough. I think we all need more good enough in our lives. There is so much striving for perfection that we loose sight of what’s actually important.

4. Let the children figure it out. When my daughter first got icing piping tips, she just went at it. When my son got a whittling knife, he just started playing around with whittling. They didn’t get a book or google to try and learn the best way (I did though, and I would say I’m horrible at both!). They learned through trial and error, gaining pride in their skills. By removing the ‘research’, it removes an image to live up to and the freedom to forge their own path.

5. Learn with and from your children. You don’t need to have all the answers. Sharing a learning experience shows them that THEY won’t need to have all the answers either. Also, I learn so much by watching my children learn. Pay attention.