Sometimes, we wake up in the morning and want to know exactly how we’ll spend the day. We’d like someone to say, “This is what you need to do today,” and lay out a plan for us. Perhaps we’re too tired, distracted or unsure about what we should be doing to make our own decisions.
I guess that’s why curricula are so popular: “If only I find the perfect curriculum, our homeschooling life will run smoothly. We’ll cover everything our kids need to know.” We’d get up each day knowing exactly what we needed to do. We’d follow the plan, feel confident we weren’t wasting time, and believe our kids were getting a perfect education.
Imagine: we make a comprehensive plan or buy yet another curriculum. The perfect one must be out there somewhere. Perhaps this time, we’ve found it.
But after a while, our kids protest, bored with the learning on offer, preferring to explore all the things they’re naturally curious about. So, what do we do? We’re reluctant to let go of our beautiful curriculum. It promised to make our lives easier. But we realise it’s making it difficult because we don’t like battling with our kids. Instead of getting up each morning feeling happy because we know exactly what we need to do, we’re facing the day with dread. Should we abandon the curriculum? But not having a plan might be difficult, too.
Allowing kids to follow their interests opens the door to doubts, criticism, and hard work. We’ll need to search for resources, get involved, and be a good example of learning ourselves.
We’ll need to work on our connections with our kids, find out what’s important to them, listen to their ideas, and trust them. They’ll need to know we’re trustworthy too. That might involve many conversations, discussions, one-on-one times, and coffee.
Life won’t be perfectly organised. It will flow here and there. We won’t always know what’s ahead. Life will become an adventure.
Choosing adventure? Perhaps that sounds good after all. Even if unexpected things happen, as long as we’ve got each other, we’ll be equipped to deal with them. We’ll face life head-on together, ready for joy and the inevitable challenges. We could enjoy an exceptional unschooling life.
Isn’t that better than adopting someone else’s plan, letting them decide how we’re going to live?
Is It Time to Have an Unschool Adventure?
Words Matter
This week, while strolling through the wattle-studded bush next to our home with two eager dogs sniffing up the smells, I listened to a couple of episodes – 380 and 469 – of the podcast Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee, featuring Jim Kwik. Back at home, while the podcasts were fresh in my mind, I wrote this in my notebook:
We need to be in the driver’s seat, not the passenger’s seat, taking responsibility for our lives. We can’t live reactively, letting other people and events push us passively along. We can’t think of ourselves as victims. Sometimes, we can’t change what happens, but we can always control our reactions and attitudes. We should examine our excuses for not achieving what we should or want to do. What do we tell ourselves and other people that’s not actually true?
Jim Kwik suffered a brain injury as a child. He was slow to learn such things as reading. His teachers excused his lack of progress, labelling him as ‘the boy with the broken brain’. They didn’t expect much of him, so Kwik didn’t expect much of himself. He believed he was incapable because of the words of those around him, which became his own. I guess somewhere along the way, Kwik changed those words because today, he is known as the world’s number one brain coach.
Yes, words matter. It matters what we tell ourselves:
I can’t unschool.
I can’t write a book.
I’m too busy.
It matters what we say to our kids:
You’re lazy.
That’s a silly idea. It’ll never work.
When will you ever learn?
You’ll never make a living out of…
Who knows what we and our children will achieve if we change our words?
The Power to Make People Grin
I’ve ordered Jim Kwik’s bestselling book Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster and Unlock Your Exceptional Life. I was telling my husband Andy about this book, the podcasts and Jim Kwik’s ideas today while we were enjoying a Saturday morning coffee at a cafe. I listed all Kwik’s recommended brain foods – from memory – and later, we went to the supermarket and filled a basket with some of them: avocados, blueberries, walnuts and broccoli. We also bought dark chocolate!
An Analogue Life
I’m always making notes about the books I’m reading, the podcasts I’m listening to, and the thoughts and ideas that occur to me throughout the day. I copy quotes, scribble down my reflections, and review my days, looking for the delights and difficulties. So far this year, I’ve filled almost four journals with my jottings. I have a refillable notebook. I use a black gel pen. And I add colour with my highlighters. (I bought a fabulous pack of 24 colours.)
I tried journaling digitally but soon returned to a paper book. I like the feel of real paper and enjoy moving the pen and seeing my gel-inked words appear. Although I appreciate technology and all it allows me to do, an analogue way of life attracts me. Perhaps writing in my journal, disappearing into a print novel, chatting with a friend face to face, and strolling through the bush with our dogs dissipates some of the overwhelming tension that builds up when I spend time online.
I sometimes get ideas for my analogue life by watching YouTube videos on Barry’s channel, Barry’s Analog Insights.
Here are a few things I’ve picked up from Barry’s videos recently:
- If story writing seems too difficult, why not start with a tiny 50-word tale written on paper? I have no trouble writing, but can I write something worthwhile using only 50 words? That’s a challenge that intrigues me.
- Instead of sending someone an e-birthday card, why not post them an actual card with their own 50-word story written inside it?
- We could carry a thank you card in our notebook and give it to someone we encounter in our day in appreciation for their help, kindness, and encouragement.
All my kids used to keep journals. At homeschool registration time, I’d gather them together as evidence they’d done plenty of writing. But I never allowed our authorised person to read my kids’ entries. Journals are private, aren’t they? We need to know we can trust those around us not to pry into our secret written worlds without permission. We need to treat our kids with the same respect as we expect from others.
Achieving Our Goals
My big achievement for this week was uploading new versions of my first children’s novel, The Angels of Abbey Creek, to Amazon. I’ve updated the words and images but not changed the story. I put off doing this work for a long time. I got distracted by other things. I found lots of excuses not to begin. Then, one day, I decided to prioritise revising this novel. I knew what needed to be done, so I did it.
The Kindle version of The Angels of Abbey Creek is now ready, waiting in my Amazon account for me to press the ‘publish’ button. I’ll do that when the print version is ready, too. I’ve ordered a proof copy of the book and hope I won’t need to make any corrections when it arrives. I can’t wait to send my new editions of The Angels of Abbey Creek out into the world.
There always seems to be so much we want or must do, doesn’t there? Where do we start? Do we work on one thing at a time or move from project to project? In his book Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, Cal Newport suggests the most productive way to work is to focus on fewer things. And that’s what I’ve been doing. Revising my novels and writing blog posts are my top priorities at the moment. Everything else will have to wait.
Personal Stories
I wrote another password-protected post this week: Is It Wrong to Love Without Limits? That means I included a more personal story I don’t want the whole world to read.
Passwords protect our words from those we’d rather not share our stories with, but they also prevent them from being read by people who might find them thought-provoking, helpful or encouraging. At the moment, only a handful of people have donated the price of a coffee so they can receive the password and access my private posts. If you’re unsure whether you’d like to Buy Me a Coffee, perhaps this will help:
Six Reasons to Buy Me a Coffee
- You’ll have access to my more personal stories.
- You can read my children’s stories.
- If my blog has helped you in any way, and you’d like to thank me, a coffee would make me smile.
- Coffee encourages me to keep writing.
- It also helps keep my blog online.
- You can join the inner circle, a kind of private community where you can comment without the world reading your words.
Of course, if you can’t afford to buy a coffee, I’m happy to give you the password. Just let me know!
Image
Some wattle-studded bush.
So, What Do You Think?
Are you in the driver’s seat of life, choosing adventure with your family? Do you keep a journal? Analogue or digital? And are you working on a project of your own that’s important to you? Why not stop by and say hello?
