Keeping on...

In contemplating this first half of the homeschooling year which we’ve come through, and looking back on the highs and lows, I ponder the thoughts I had of sending our children to public school next fall. As difficult as the first few weeks of January were, a mere few weeks need not dictate my ability or inability to homeschool.

Yes, the pressure is great when I think about the WHOLE picture of my children’s education. Pressure to succeed, pressure to excel, pressure to connect all the dots in my children’s learning… I could go on and on.

But I think I won’t. Focusing on the doubts and pressures, that is. As I am learning how to teach, what to teach and when to teach, I am choosing to allow room for both growth and failure. I think this is an arena where perfectionism won’t be given center-stage.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Thanks, Thomas Edison, for the example you set when developing the light bulb. Thanks for trying and trying again, not giving in to failure, but instead setting the stage where ‘keeping on’ means just that. When failure is either only felt or actually experienced, try again, don’t quit.