When you feel like you're not doing enough.

Todd Wilson is great. I’ve seen him in person at conferences many times and I always come away refreshed and reminded of what’s important.

I kind of laughed when I read this thread tonight … Not at all toward the sentiment here or the heartache but because I thought “Aha, Claire, you can make her feel much better as she is likely doing much, much more than you!”  So I took the liberty to post. 

I’ve been reading a lot recently about what makes for success in life and how our varied educational systems and philosophies hold up to the research.  It’s facinating reading.  And very eye opening.  What we think are so key to real life’s success (IQ, cognitive mastery etc) are actually much less important than the noncognitive aspects we overlook in most systems and philosophies it seems. 

I am notorious blog reader.  So I feel your pain and am so sorry that anything hurt you!  I almost had to check myself in somewhere after I discovered SouleMama (more blissful lifestyle than schooling but still) and a few others. But I keep at it.  I like the challenge that these blogs give me to confirm what I believe and to realize my purpose and how they force me to strengthen my character.  It’s like a gut check of sorts. 

And these blogs are so “perfect” for a reason: perfect sells better and no one wants to put up a blog of REAL life.  I mean who wants to come back daily and read the normal day to day failures, mistakes, etc?  And better yet who is likely to reveal that part of themselves online to the world?  I don’t grab the camera when someone’s acting ugly, or a cake falls in the oven.  I don’t judge them but it’s good to see them for what they are – capturing the best of things and not real life.  There are some who balance things better of course.  And everything in between the extremes too.

I tell myself … life is so precious and so short.  I owe everything to making my children’s childhood full of as much happiness, enthusiasm for learning and joy as is possible.  If I’m cramming in academics just to control my children or if I am forcing “learning” and aiming to meet the list or check box somewhere, then what am I really accomplishing?  Nothing! 

Some days look like school and some days look like life.  Both are full of learning and both are enriching.

our day 10/9:

• Woke up lazily and happy only to shoot out the front door to catch the water delivery man and thus scare the socks of one still sleeping child who thought we were under some kind of attack.
• Ate breakfast of leftover dinner!  Yep, meatloaf is good for breakfast too.  I don’t eat breakfast and sometimes no one wants to make it and we have something that needs eating – win/win.
• Went to our weekly horseback lesson for my daughter.  I read a book in the car and opened the mail I’d grabbed before we left.  My son played his DS and read an article in the latest Muse magazine and created animation flips.
• Ate lunch at home and piled back in the car to the spend the afternoon at the Audubon Zoo … where we got wet and ran and played and learned all sorts of pretty nifty things.  One important lesson: when your jeans get wet it will be uncomfortable.
• Came home and studied our foriegn language online for about 45 minutes or an hour to be prepared for the tutor tomorrow.
• Kids ate dinner at home with Dad while I went to a Weightwatchers meeting.
• Discussion of our days when I got home and then tomorrow’s wild schedule while I ate a salad and finally a read aloud book before bed/tucking in routines.

Throw in some laundry, walking dogs, washing up after meals and our own personal chores and that was our day!  Did that look like it would fit a list anywhere??  Nope!!  But it worked and we had a great day and as I am going to be known one day for saying too much:  LIFE IS LEARNING, you can’t do one without the other.

Mrs. K, we’ve been out of town and I just saw this post again. Glad you felt encouraged. I’m sorry I don’t really know how to answer your qu. about h.s. since I’m not there yet! I can understand the pressure.  I felt it a bit this year starting Jr. Hi, and am sure I’ll feel it more in a couple years!  I do think, though, that sometimes the pure volume of the arts in a CM education and seeing it on paper is more stressul than the actuality of spending time doing them. I imagine when I get there I’ll just do what I can. Even learning about one or two artists or composers a year is way more than the zero I learned about in my h.s. and college years:) Sad story….hubby took me to the Sistine Chapel on our honeymoon and I had no idea of the splendor I was seeing…not even sure if I knew who Michaelangelo was!!!

My3boys, glad you’re feeling better! Todd Wilson’s sister is part of my homeschool group, ds does orchestra w/hers. She’s sweet and smiley like him:) I remember in the Lies book how he showed a picture of him, his wife and 6ish kids at Disneyworld all smiling and happy. He noted, though, that minutes before the picture was snapped they were fighting and grumpy and he DID NOT want their picture taken, but another tourist offered. Just an example of how those blog articles and pictures can deny the true reality sometimes:)  Blessings, Gina

Gina,  That is funny about Todd Wilson’s family picture. Maybe if we took more pictures of our kids they would be alot happier.. LOL… I took pictures of my kids a few days ago when the fall colors were perfect.  Boy, I had such good attitudes. It is amazing what a few smiles can do…