It's A Journey...

You would think after five days of Otherwise Educating that I would have this all figured out, wouldn't you? I would think so!

I'm not the most patient person I know. I'm not even close. So not having this all figured out is killing me.

I feel like I should be doing more. I feel like my children should be learning more. I feel like I'm not as creative as I want to be. I feel like they're bored.

What's wrong with me? It's been five days! They should know all the states and capitals by now. We should be halfway through their math curriculum. And shouldn't my 4th grader be writing a novel? Clearly, I'm a home schooling failure!

There is an adjustment period, for them and for me, but more for me. We're all trying to shake the traditional school mentality of completing an assignment and moving on to the next worksheet. I'm having trouble because I set my expectations too high. I plan to accomplish way more than we can in a day.

As much as I believe in a child's natural desire and ability to learn, I'm having trouble living in the moment and letting them soak up whatever they can. When my daughter jumped up from her spelling work to watch the hummingbird drink from the flowers outside our window, my instinct was to say, "Come back and sit down and focus on your spelling." I had to remind myself that she was learning from watching that hummingbird and that if spelling had to wait, well, then spelling had to wait.

I know we will figure it out and that everything will be fine. I just have to remember that it's a journey, not a race.


"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein